EVE General Discussion

Also that e-mail chain is just disturbing. A player (Somerset Mahm is, first and foremost, a player) communicates with a CCP exec as if they are business partners. He may generate lots of ETC sales for CCP, but I don't see why that should open the door for regular personal communication with high-level management. Players who get scammed might also buy timecodes/PLEX to recover their losses, but I don't imagine that scammers have much direct communication with CCP execs.

Now, I could see why players like Chribba or Squizz could have direct lines to API developers as they create a lot of API traffic, and have enough users that they need the ability to quickly resolve any technical issue - eveboard and zKB are so interwoven with the game that getting blocked by CCP's firewall due to a mishap would be a bad thing. I could see why senior TMC writers could have a direct line to CCP PR leads - they may be players, but they're also part of the gaming media. But eveboard, zkillboard and TMC do not primarily exist to improve any player's position within the game. Blink, on the other hand, does.

I don't presume to make it my business how CCP interacts with its customers in any case, but regardless, that stinks to high heaven. Unless of course it was the result of a simple chain of escalation, or the VP of Sales basically is Sales.

You say that, but this runs a close second:

On and Falcon... How come you can't quote until the end of time and I can't?!?! WANT MOAR QUOTES!

Waiting for CCP to class this as 'Emergent Gameplay'.

So if CCP wants to allow *any* entity in game with tonnes of ISK (can't imagine *WHO* that might be) to start making real dollars, yen, centavos or whatever off their game then they don't address this.

Somer went too far this time.

That reply makes no sense, it doesn't answer the question at all?

If this gets the OK, it might be a good way to cash out though.

From my original post:

I'd just like to give a huge thank you to the CSM for their dedication to assisting in taking care of this.

They've been amazing through this, and have been willing to show up for all the scheduled meetings that we've had at short notice at ridiculous time with a very clear, constructive and unified voice on what should be done to fix this problem. This all during pretty much every member of the CSM working hard to prepare for the Summer Summit.

<3 them all.

Thanks also to all of you guys for your feedback, your comments, and sharing your feelings on this, as it's something the community team also feels very strongly about. <3

That jumped out at me as well.

Not only that, but if Noizy is right about this, then we have a real problem:



Nobody who is just playing the game is going to be "impatient with the speed with which the legal department was working." Nobody who is just playing the game is going to be impatient enough to wheedle the VP of Sales. Most of us are satisfied with clarifications from a GM. Why would this be such an urgent thing unless there was more at stake than space money? This kind of badgering should send up HUGE red flags.

Never mind all the cozying up, which is frankly creepy.

It was worth reading this entire thread just to see CCP Falcon kick our resident spewer of tinfoil into touch.

Please be careful using the word "stakeholder" :P Before you know it folks will call other folks on sticking to what that means properly again :P

Sorry, I honestly could not resist that open door :-) (and no, that was no pun intended) :-)

Serious though, good approach from CM to the current situation, especially in light of the timeline since public awareness on the matter.

I don't envy Lisa though, this really is one of those cases where venture targets must always be held against the dynamic the venture sells. It is incredibly easy to fall into trenches like these, it is even easier to be tricked into that, when work prevents living and breathing what is sold. EVE's not a product, nor a service.

I'm sure the former economist's SQL experts can lend a hand, or it'll be a very tedious investigation. Maybe another eh, intervention, may be required, who knows ..

If I may offer one tip, CSM as just a feedback instrument is nice for channeling things when they get hectic, nice to cherry pick ideas and nice to funnel emotionally charged customer trends - but every time something like this happens and they can't really talk about what was said at what point as things unfold it diminishes the customer value of that instrument.

On a sales angle, let's be honest (and I'm sure Lisa will come to see this as well) it's reached a level where a choice has to be made on types of accounts. I'm not saying you should have business accounts (though I am sure folks will see many sides and points for & against it - but that is an argument of revenu), but the current EULA simply prohibits these matters by default.

There's no need to go into a revival of what can happen when monetary influence gets an in-game life. EVE has had its share of issues with that in the past. The only difference here is one of scale. Remove those already existing barriers, and you allow a trend of monetised influence on an in-game level on top of the revenue challenge that comes when third parties start competing for in-game reward mechanisms. I can imagine the headaches at marketing of trying to keep up with that kind of race >.<
Honestly, you know how we players go for min/maxing overkill above & beyond. Taking chances with that has backfired each and every time. Kieron learned that lesson, Oveur learned it, just remember: we're batshit insane, individually and collectively.

Good luck.