Khanid Voltar
Night's Dawn Investment Fund
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Posted - 2011.06.24 10:22:00 -
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Edited by: Khanid Voltar on 24/06/2011 10:24:43
First of all I would like to state that these are my own opinions, and may not represent fully the breadth of views that are held amongst your player base.
I learnt a long time ago there was little point in forum raging at CCP about a new feature, buff or stealth nerf. Examples of this could be 'Walking in Stations' way back to when it was first announced, the speed buff, or the abolition of ghost training with 1-2 days notice. And I guess with time, for the most part i have been able to see that actually these changes have actualy benefited the game, however much I may regret the change.
For that reason, after 4-5 years of hype, I was actually quite looking forward to seeing CQ in all its glory, even though I didn't want it and could see it was a poorly (if at all) disguised excuse to develop a WoD engine using Eve Dev time.
Do you remember way back when one of the best things about Eve was the close bond between Dev's and players? OK the players reaction to the T20 incident may have acted as a catalyst towards the expanding gulf between Dev's and players, but lets be fair CCP's reaction of banning Dev's taking part in 0.0 alliances seems to have have led to a complete lack of understanding of how godda** awful the Sov replacement system has been. Nor has there been any attempt to iterate it or explain how it will be eventualy when Dust comes out.
Anyway that is neither here nor now, I only mention it as an example of how things once were, and how things are now.
I don't really have a problem with vanity or non-vanity Micro-transactions (I know I am in the minority here), as long as they can be traded for isk. I have a problem with them being indestructible (OK that's fine for Dust, but for Eve it entirely breaks the immersion factor for me - I can die and be podded and lose my implants, but I retain my clothes?
Really?
I do however have a problem with Macro-transactions, which are the MT that was introduced with Incarna. I won't go into the detail of that as it has been explained many times before. Simply put your NEX items look so expensive it really looks as if CCP are trying to fleece their current player base, and force them into a shop (aka CQ) to buy stuff. And you know what? If the prices were more realistic ,your playerbase for the most part would
have aquiesed (see Jade Constantine's post re: bling etc). I had certainly bought a plex or two to convert into Aurum but after seeing the Nex prices I decided not to.
I guess most of all that is my problem with CCP (note: not Eve). CCP seem to see their player base as a cash cow that they can milk as much as they want to fund other games.
That newsletter... it is worst example of PR I have ever seen in my life. You see so many companies IRL that start off small and focussed, then grow and need to change their ideals. Break promises that were once made. It happens. CCP does not exist to entertain me, they exist to make money - we all understand that business isn't personal; it's business.
Anyway I am waffling and I apologise. Effectively I am pointing out where CCP once were CCP now is. If you want to milk and mislead your player base that is your perogotive; many if not most large businesses do. But don't be suprised one day when that upwardly trending graph of subsrciber numbers starts to plummet, because you are effectively selling our loyalty for RL cash.
And as soon as a decent alternative comes up you can bet your bottom dollar that people will leave en masse. They have lost all faith in CCP as an ethical and caring business.
The only reason most people are still here is that there is no alternative available :yet:. Why be loyal to an organisation that shows no loyalty to you?
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