EVE General Discussion

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You are intentionally trying to downplay what happened when every time you talk about it you spend half your time talking about how "usless these 20b isk value ships are."

If that was all it was, I wouldn't feel nearly as strongly as I do about the gifts. Somer Blink is not only in the business of making ISK, but also of converting it into real money.

I'll borrow the tactic CCP Guard used when he said he wasn't trying to be a smartass and say, "I'm not trying to accuse Somer Blink of RMT, but they do convert ISK into real money." I'm not saying what they do is wrong, since it's CCP's role to enforce the EULA and CCP is apparently very happy with Somer's business model. And I'm not saying making a profit from EVE players is bad, especially when, by and large, most of their customers seem happy with the deal. But if their motive was to accumulate ISK rather than real money, why would they pay you ISK credit to go to another site and purchase GTCs?

I have no inside knowledge of how much ISK or dollars pass through Somer's hands. For all I know he could be rich or he could be on the verge of bankruptcy. Between Blink prizes, employee compensation, and event sponsorship, he may redistribute all the ISK he takes in. It's a lovely business model, in which much of the payroll and advertising expenses can be paid with ISK rather than real money. Obviously there are other expenses, including web servers and development, but I can only assume these are covered by the commissions on GTC sales.

The point is that Somer Blink is not just an in-game company in pursuit of ISK. They operate both in game and in the real world. I guess that's what makes them special to CCP. The GTC's they make their money selling represent income to CCP, and from the sound of it, not an insignificant amount of it.

Those of us who find fault with CCP's decision to provide in-game enrichment to Somer Blink and its employees have been called everything from idiots to jealous crybabies. We've been told to HTFU, and that we should not expect fairness. Life is not fair, so get over it. Yes, the unfairness of life is one of the things that make online virtual worlds popular. We pay real money for the chance to escape into these worlds. When our crybaby sensibilities begin to see EVE as inherently unfair (and by unfair I do not mean cruel or hard - there is a difference), we aren't likely to continue our support of it. It is up to CCP to determine how important our money is to their bottom line. Maybe they don't need us. Maybe Somer Blink will keep them afloat.

When I buy a scratcher from a store, it isn't the fun of rubbing a coin across the grey material.

It's to win money.

Somer Blink is not a community site. It's a business.

While CCP can and will do whatever they want, they also want feedback from us. Keep in mind who the OP is and that should help clear up any need to post here if you really do not care.

Some of us do care, and CCP is asking for our input.

We are giving it.

You've asked for more clarifications a few times before in this thread and I´m not sure how I can clarify this to your satisfaction. I think it's fairly well covered in my reply why we thought it would make sense to explore a relationship with them during a time when we are thinking a lot about more tournaments and competitive events. If you just plain don't like lottery sites or SOMER in particular then of course you're just going to disagree with that judgement call and that's perfectly natural.

To answer the fansite question, they haven't been a registered fansite but we work with other types of enterprises than registered fansites.

Well, answering my direct questions INDIVIDUALLY with SPECIFIC answers instead of vague generalizations would satisfy me. Otherwise your responses thus far seem to be intentionally vague word crafting, and as such I am requesting that you be more specific.

Also, I'm asking these questions so I and others can make informed decisions. I have not stated any position regarding lottery sites, or SOMER, but, putting your assumptions aside, if you provide specific answers to my very simple questions you may assist me in forming an opinion one way or another.

I suppose I could play this game with you and make assumptions about your position, and say you just plain don't like the questions because the answers are embarrassing and that's perfectly natural, so you are just going to continue to evade them, stating they've already been answered. .

PLEASE prove me wrong, by just answering the questions individually, without being evasive.



Except you did not answer what is a simple yes/no question, and answered a question I did not ask. Regardless of whether they registered as one, does CCP consider SB's lottery to be a "fansite"? Yes, or No?

And one you have yet to address:

Is CCP's official stance that SB is a trusted entity, and that players using its services can have a reasonable expectation they won't be scammed? Yes, or No are possible answers here as well.

Um. We don't like the idea of ccp cavorting with any in game corporation, especially one that tosses isk around and engages in questionable RMT practices. This isn't a judgement call. It's a conflict of interest, done. In fact everything you post proves you are not impartial.

And it's not a lottery, it's a penny auction, something many feel is a scam of sorts.

But you love them - because they spend isk. LOL. It's almost laughable that you don't see the failure of your argument.

Will start unsubbing all but one account. Unfortunately I have a corp of people who rely on me, or i'd unsub them all.

I toss isk around at players in my community, and I help new players get into incursions. Can I get my T2 BPO yet?

as others have hinted at, i suspect this has more to do with the encouragement of a third-party site that brings revenue to ccp via plex sales, than anything else. if this is true, i think it should be approached in a different way. rather than calling it a reward, which implies that the recipient is receiving something for a good or noble deed, call it what it is: compensation.

there's nothing wrong with compensating those that help you improve your bottom line. but why not offer something that they really want and is more in line with compensation, like cash. this way you don't effect the game economy at all and are able to give the recipient something they really value. there's a reason bonus's work so well at encouraging certain behaviors in the real world, because people like money.