EVE General Discussion

Much like the ToS debacle, unless there is something substantially erroneous in statements already made by CCP this is not an issue which requires further clarification, it's a problem which requires action and change. If CCP isn't going to do something to actually fix this problem, please just let the matter drop instead of further insulting your player base trying to justify it.

next time you take half the company on vacation, please communicate that

Thank you, CCP Manifest. Hopefully, with whatever you guys come up with, will muffle the continuous whine that has transpired over the past week so we can all start getting back to the ole regular gripes and complaints that we are accustomed to. You know, like AFK cloakies, Null Sec broke, CCP never listens, Goons being mean, blobs not fair, nerf the buff, buff the nerf, expansions never enough, bumping should flag, NPC corps not fair, ISBoxer is cheating, blah, blah, etc, etc.

No, never take time out of your vacation to answer people throwing shitfits on the forums. Yes, it will suck, but your family should come first, and your sanity a very close second. We might be mad, but if you're on a vacation, then you're on a vacation and we'll suck it up and move on.

This. Done in secret, I consider this to be GM-player collusion which poses the question - "which other player groups get secret GM handouts?". Were it done openly, I would still be opposed to BLINK getting given things, but I would let it slide.

Also, there is a pretty widespread belief that this was a favor from a CCP employee that is personal friends with SOMER's directors. This could be wrong and CCP as a company may have honestly believed that SOMER deserved recognition for GTC referrals or some other reason, but given the history of GMs colluding to give at least one alliance tech 2 BPOs, I am not convinced. This seriously undermines the integrity of the sandbox - if CCP intervenes into the market for rare ships secretly, do they also intervene secretly into Alliance Tournament matches? Nullsec sovereignty fleet fights? Highsec freighter ganks?

What I want to see is:

- A list of all CCP gifts that have been given to players secretly in the past
- A reason for each (such as 'GTC referral', 'thanks for helping Fanfest logistics', etc)
- All future CCP handouts (possibly excluding trivial value items) to be publicised 7 days before the handout is made.

You'd be a fool to give up vacation time and "real" time with your loved ones to deal with game related issues. I hope you had a wonderful time and created memories that your family will remember for many years.

[and now back to the meta game]

No good will come of this. All you've done is expand the meta game and stoke resentment.

Hi CCP Manifest, hope you had a good vacation.

This is my simple suggestion to solve the whole SOMERgate issue, and allow you to reward people you feel deserve kudos.

You have the ability to introduce collectable type items..like, the Unit of Lag, the NEO cards. Make something similar when you want to reward a group. It means something sentimentally to those it's awarded to, and is worthless to the vast majority of EVE players.

Honestly, I'd rather have a personalized in-game "thank you" card from CCP that's worth 0 ISK, than "here's a reskinned ship we hand out to anyone we want".

Needs to be stickied since there are several who feel they have been gagged in the forums are topic flooding.

Very much looking forward to CCP's response to this, once they've had the time to give it due consideration. Thanks for posting this, Manifest!

Welcome back. I am glad that you are signaling a willingness to address player concerns over the main issue, and all subsets of the issue. I hope that the rest of CCP shares your willingness. I do hope there will be a productive discussion on this matter, and an ultimate outcome that I believe most people here want to see; an end to in-game rewards for non-publically enrollable non-documented competitions and an end to the community service ship-grant program.

There are other ways to honor communities that do not involve isk. Monuments, for example. CCP has shown a lot of creativity in the creation and gradual improvement of EVE, I trust you can do a lot better than spawning rare ships for people.