EVE General Discussion

To poster above, profit is generated from consumer revenue when it exceeds operating costs/debt, not from investors. Investors provide capital in exchange for shares, which translate as ownership and potential dividends, whereas consumers provide revenue in exchange for the product/service. The interests of consumers and investors do not always align.
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It can be said, that it is far more difficult to afford to PLEX with ISK, than it used to be.
Roughly twice as hard as in 2014-15, even accounting for inflation and game changes.

This is all well and fine, especially since PLEX famously is almost entirely a player regulated market, with the exception of CCP re-introducing confiscated PLEX and indirect developments such as injectors, aurum, skins etc. The reasons for such a dramatic price escalation are an issue for other dedicated threads and have been hotly debated for years with very strong arguments for any number of hypothesis.

My point is not to argue "entitlement" or the prerogative of wealthy/poor players in ISK or real money.

My angle is simply to bring into discussion the changed economic landscape ingame, its impact on player behavior and how that reflects on healthy growth/retention of players.

The real value in PLEX ingame, aside from its ISK value which is ofc primary to those that purchase it and introduce it to the market with real cash, and its investment value for PLEX speculators, is in gametime. But even more importantly, in player SP development. A sub already covers playtime, but PLEX is the real key to dleveraging ingame character development so as to build a character base with which to generate greater profits, and more importanttly, diversify or specialize a players ingame potential and access to areas of the game.

Older players have benefited from a far cheaper and more liquid PLEX market in preceding years, to the result they have been able to leverage that into character development so as to increase their capacity to generate ISK. It is, today, MUCH more expensive to achieve that, both in terms of ISK but also directly interms of real cash. Not because real cash prices have increased for subs/plex, which they have not, but because achieving the same result ingame with ISK is twice as demanding.

Hence in part the proposed alpha/omega system, and earlier, the injector system which allowed also old/poor players to liquidate SP for ISK profit to help them overcome the PLEX price increase.

The situation is similar to the current IRL "baby boomer" phenomenon, where an older generation ehich enjoyed its success under more favorable circumstances, is becoming dependent on a smaller newer generation to sustain it, but which has to expend exponentially more inorder to create the basis of potential, to do so..

Do you see what I mean?

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I think it is extremely important for older vets, whom are the fundamental basis and driving engine of the games content/economy and continuity, to understand/internalize that it is today atleast twice as hard for newer players to achieve the same as they did in their own day.

Ideally so that established vets actively support, incentivize and subsidize newer player development and integration into their organizations.

Its an equitable quid pro quo, and a mutual dependency. Newer players are faced with far higher costs to generate a sustainable basis for themselves, especially in a largely congealed game environment. Older players are faced with the health of the games population and future, and hold the assets which ultimately decide that future systemically.

This is a player community issue resultant from hard economics and a generational cascade. CCP choices are secondary and in anycase beyond player control. It is now, more than ever, crucial that the powers that be within this game, in the community:
a) recognize the exponential difference in cost for newer players, as compared to their own day.
b) recognize that they hold the assets with which to ensure their own interests, by investing into newer players.

This is the true meta/trajectory that should primarily concern the serious powers that be in this game to whom isk/plex are abundant.
This is enlightened self-interest.
This no longer about ISK or PLEX price. Its about content and more players creating that in this generation.
This attitude is already lamentably too far delayed considering the changes in the last few years.
It becomes even more poignant if this alpha/omega change goes through, which hopefully will result in a substantial influx of new players and returning players.

Now take into account that especially faction ships and many faction items got cheaper, many isk earning activities got easier: MJD lowered the entry point for lvl4 missions significantly, tanky barges reduced the mining risk by great amounts, Astero made null exploration earlier accessible, ...
Selling a Plex for ISK will get you way further in the game than ever before.

Skill injectors can speed up the process of catching up immensely, bringing you much faster to a point where you can use necessary tools helping you to achieve a steady high income.


For some month now we also have the situation that you can actually play for free or at a reduced price by using SP extractors (as it was already mentioned above). You can decide for yourself how much progress in terms of skillpoints you can afford or want to have by extracting a third, two thirds or all of your monthly SP gain and selling it again. Selling all will cover of the costs of the extractors and the Plex for the subscription.
With Alphas the gap between needed SP for extration and SP you can for free will be almost gone. You will be able to play a full acount without any extra costs (and little extra work) indefinitely. The obvious downside is of course the much slower SP progression which is then directly tied to the isk you earn in game (and therefore need not make through selling extractors).

And here is some information about what CCP had to say about inflation in the game from last year's Eve Vegas:
https://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/eve-economy-update-eve-vegas-2015-report/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qcua87EJUQ

Which is what the posters you are replying to wrote. Investors are risking their capital to get their share of the profits.

Consumers and investors are on opposite sides of a voluntary mutually beneficial transaction. In that regard the interests of both are being served by the transaction.

What part of my post could be construed as me whining? I'm educating the Op about the realities of life.

Hey Guys,

Since this thread has run its course and is now touching the RL politics rule I'm going to close it. Thanks for your feedback.