EVE General Discussion

There is a huge difference between having an affiliate link on a fansite and giving players an isk reward for using that link. The difference is RMT, and it is what separates what other sites do from what SOMERblink did.

Fair enough.

But just to point out one small detail. Falcon IS the Community Dev. It is his task to talk to you and get the information needed.

I and the rest of the CSM were elected to represent the players, not CCP. We have been doing that, this past day and will continue to do so. Yes, we have our NDA and yes, that gets irritating. I am going through this thread looking for new details, new ideas or requests.

But some see it as trolling or whatever.

Look to out website and see how many of us have written things in the past 36 hours about this. Talk to the people who you think best represent you on the CSM (whether you voted or not). Keep posting here, I will keep reading.

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Mike, do you know anything more about this than what was already posted in this and previous thread? Because from where I sit case is simple: either CCP agreed for SOMER's scheme or they didn't. Former makes it clear: all is cool, move along. Latter makes it even clearer: SOMER lied and it's plain old RMT which is bannable offense.

Nobody can deny real world currency is getting exchanged for ISK here, only thing "community" doesn't know is CCP role and stance about it. And how much "investigation" is needed to answer one simple question: did CCP allowed SOMER to put his idea in motion? Don't they know that?

Smoke and mirrors are fine, they can make torch light really breathtaking to observe.

None of the above.

Yet.

I personally expect this to turn out to be a case of Somer misleading CCP, CCP not thinking things through (never happened before, shocker) and agreeing to something that may or may not exactly reflect what Somer is doing.

Once CCP figures out everything (they're in progress of doing it), most likely Somer's thing will be stopped, CCP will do mea culpa on the process that got it kinda-approved and the crowd is told to disperse.

(alternatively CCP gets really pissed that Somer is doing this and applies banhammer / severs business ties, but honestly I do not expect this to happen, no matter how many people call for it)

Remains to be seen what happens to PLEX referral systems. This is clearly abusing such a system, but once the cat is out of the bag, there is a big risk that such abuse will happen again, trying to fly under the radar...

Actually, everyone playing this game agreed to the TOS and the EULA, and they are pretty clear about not using the game for profit making purposes. CCP hf and all its shareholders are of course the ones trying to stay in the black here.

They chose to implement third party resellers (for various very obvious, and some not so obvious, reasons), that basically function as for-profit business partners. Qualifying as one of these resellers, as well as the restrictions placed upon them, are quite stringent.

Then there are the referral links, which are intended to help defray costs of things such as web hosting for community sites; players here can speak with their wallets with who they chose to support. It is in this same spirit of support for the game (which frankly all leads to increased advertising and exposure of CCP's product they are marketing) that certain real life services (such as artwork) can be exchanged for in game currency, as long as they are properly documented in the Sell Orders forum. This group of business partners fall into the nonprofit organization category.

Now perhaps the party in question is functioning like a NPO, and funds realized through these transactions will not be used to benefit any owners (if this type of scenario is what theoretically was approved by legal). It still falls short of meeting the EULA regarding income seeking, regardless of the intended purposes of said income. This is the crux of the situation that has to be dealt with. Regardless of what was approved, what was intended, or what was spoken (or lied about), this is the issue that has far reaching repercussions.

I know where my money goes when I pay for my subscription. I can choose, based on merit, who sees a percentage of the amount I spend on a PLEX. I can additionally choose when to stop supporting EVE, Valkyrie, and (theoretically) Legion, as soon as I don't agree with their business practices.

In the end, it is up to CCP hf to decide what to do with its product. If it chooses to alienate the customer base that has an interest in seeing their product thrive in order that individuals content to make a buck (even if they have to break every kettle and sink every boat) can continue to do so, so be it.

Since people love to gamble, CCP should just make an in-game lottery system.

Letting a third-party manage so many trillions of ISK - and so many PLEX sales - is unhealthy for their business.


EDIT:Great minds think alike. +1

CCP would be immensely stupid to make any legally binding agreements with any of their players beyond the EULA.

When an MMO developer regards any individual player as a "business partner" rather than a customer, they're effectively sending the rest of their playerbase down **** creek.

First thing - I have flown with Mike, talked with him and know that he anything BUT a simple shill for the CCP Kool-aid™. He has always (even pre-CSM) been concerned with the improvement of the EVE universe and not just doing what he was told.

Second - This is not to say we have not been sold lines before or even drank deeply from the Reality Distortion Field fountain. We have all wanted to sincerely believe that the asset managers, the developers, the designers and their corporate overlords are all committed to making EVE enjoyable and lasting for ALL of us.

Third - This whole situation indeed tends to make one skittish of seeing old rumours, demons and ghost return to plague, bite and haunt us again. As Mike mentioned the verdict may seem foregone and the sentencing a formality, we do need them to avoid the reality that we are just the vindictive mob.

Given all of those, I have to give Mike (and begrudgingly most of the rest of the CSM [I reserve the right to hate individuals irrationally and without limit for perceived injustices however slight or imagined]) the benefit of the doubt that he is doing what he can to communicate those things he can to us and trying to move us toward understanding. It is a royal mess and I am fairly certain that none of us would like to have anything similar come to roost in our own business, and yet is has and needs to be dealt with.

tl:dr; Mike is good. CCP has not always been stirling. The mob is restless. Let's hold them to their promises without burning down their castle.

Yet.

Except that Legal could never go along with this. That would invalidate the EULA in almost any future circumstance without a complete rewording. [u]You cannot make money off of the game.[/]u]

that and people could have kept their jobs while EVE appealed to new demographic(s).