Originally by: CCP Pann

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The newsletter was not fake. I guess this is how it feels when someone reads your diary, something you hadn't intended anyone else to see. Not to deflect the heat but to explain why what I'm about to say, I wasn't involved with writing it. The only reason I mention that is because I am not going to presume to know the minds of the people who did have comments in there. I am not going to throw people I love under the bus or to the lions or whatever. I can't/won't answer questions about what they said or why they said it.

Our newsletters are written as a means to bring about discussion (that sometimes can even become heated debate) among our coworkers. That's really all I can say about it. I am not a game designer. I'm a mouthpiece. I'll admit it. By the time I get involved, the decisions have been made. Not making excuses for myself, just explaining.

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Originally by: mobius nm

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Oh look, exactly what was predicted.

A non response and faux-apology designed to redirect player ire and dissatisfaction.

I will not be redirected.

Incarna is still a massive cluster****, you have not commented on CCPs intention to expand MT in game-breaking ways, and completely miss the reason most of us are upset.

Bravo, 0/10, subscription cancellation sustained and reinforced.

I realize you, specifically, may not be to blame. But you're willing to come out and be the buffer, and that's enough to make you complicit in my book.

Do not be fooled fellows, this non-response is merely the start of the CCP wagon-cricle.

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Originally by: Angel HUN

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The time to fight for the game we love is not in six months time when these concepts have bedded down and CCP is feeling bold enough to start selling Noble Faction ammo and +9 implants. The time to fight is now. Because this newsletter embodies everything that many of us feared but didnÆt want to believe CCP were becoming capable of. It is a massive betrayal of the compact we shared as players and developers of this game and indicates that CCP is preparing to leap down a very dark and deep path of self-immolation in the months to come.


Jade is right, its do or die for you CCP.

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Originally by: CCP Manifest

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Hey, I'll be tossing out some answers here as best I can as well, so forgive me for a second as there's a LOT of posts to digest in this particular thread and I'd like to get to as many as possible. I have been, along with MANY others at CCP, reading forums, Twitter, Facebook, blogposts, petitions, etc for some time now, so it's not like much of it will be a surprise, but still each person here deserves eyes on their post so here we go.

I also must emphasize that, as Pann said, we'll have a more "substantive" answer for you tomorrow "from CCP" on many of the things you guys are talking/questioning/legitimately complaining about... so I wanted to make that clear.

There have been a lot of meetings and, as I am sure you can all undertand, these aren't quite the easiest things to unravel, reravel etc.

Silence sucks, it's been too long.

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Originally by: Soden Rah

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I wanted to add my support to this

Originally by: Seleene

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Valerie,

If you really want to understand how a lot of folks feel in a short amount of time, I suggest you read this as it sums up a lot of player feelings:

Originally by: Jade Constantine

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Sure when you have been playing Eve as long as we have you learn to take the rough with the smooth but you do so with the general feeling that CCP developers understand and ôgetö what makes Eve great û and thatÆs the problem now. This internal newsletter (if real) shows that one of the leading developers does not ôget eveö does not care about eve, and simply sees eve as a cash cow to be milked ferociously to fund other projects. This is about keeping the golden goose of eve subscriptions (on a drip feed if necessary) while chasing and grubbing every little loose cent he can from the player base.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how this can and does (and has already) impacted our enjoyment of this game:

1. The Captains Quarters û itÆs not gameplay its a display cabinet for vanity items. And the price of this display cabinet for you and I is that multi-client performance in stations is now terrible û if you have a bad graphic card itÆs a jerk fest û if you have a decent graphics card itÆs heat-fest. I can run 3-4 clients with CQÆs turned on û I can run it smoothly û but do I want to? Hell no because my Gtx 580 sounds like its melting my motherboard now! So I need to turn off the CQÆs on multiple accounts and as a result have more limited functionality on those accounts and an ugly wallpaper. No more station environment, no more clicking on my ship to open cargo hold, no more dragging ship to the hanger to board it. The delivery of the CQ vanity item display case has impacted my gameplay.

CCP could have made it optional and given us the option of keeping the old hanger view and added a ôdisembark shipö option to the UI but ôoh noö to do that would have meant we werenÆt being forced to look the vanity display case that marketing insisted must be front and centre if weÆre to even think about buying these ridiculously overpriced items from the Noble store.

2. If you read the newsletter youÆll see reference to saved fitting slots û and I donÆt know about you Verone but in JF weÆve run out of saved corp ship fittings. We want CCP to up the limit but is that really going to happen while the ôbiz-devsö talk honeyed words about how to squeeze extra income from players for such ôminor upgrades.ö? How long till we pay aurum for extra corp standing slots? For wardec options? For a usable corp management screen?

3. And who develops these vanity items? Yes thats right its Eve artists and developers whose salary we pay with our subscriptions. Given the choice wouldnÆt you rather have engine trails and flashy cyno effect for all players rather than a bunch of overpriced tat in the Aur store for a fleeced few?

Because that is precisely the compromise being made here -> CCP using our subs money to pay for vanity item production they want to sell back to us for greedy prices and it is something you SHOULD get mad about.

So hereÆs the thing.

The time to fight for the game we love is not in six months time when these concepts have bedded down and CCP is feeling bold enough to start selling Noble Faction ammo and +9 implants. The time to fight is now. Because this newsletter embodies everything that many of us feared but didnÆt want to believe CCP were becoming capable of. It is a massive betrayal of the compact we shared as players and developers of this game and indicates that CCP is preparing to leap down a very dark and deep path of self-immolation in the months to come.

I donÆt want to see Eve Online die Verone. That sounds dramatic I know, but gameworlds die when the dreams and visions are extinguished and that can happen through a succession of bad ideas foisted on a community by people who really donÆt have much of a clue in business.

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Originally by: CCP Manifest

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Originally by: AdmiralJohn

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Edited by: AdmiralJohn

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Do you have any definitive idea of the future of Aurum?

Aurum is here to stay. The cycle here isn't changing soon.

However, I feel like none of the concerns of the community have been addressed. Worse, I feel like these concerns are being swept under the rug, and even treated with outright contempt.

That was not on purpose and I sincerely apologize for that. We've asked you guys to digest a lot of very quick changes and did a suboptimal job at walking beside you during the past month. Dev blogs and test servers and AT interviews and such didn't quite cut it for everything. There is NO contempt against our players.I've witnessed some extreme amounts of exhibited patience for the nastiest of the nasties who have threatened lives, engaged in character assassination and such--and that's because we as developers realize there are a lot of hurt/angry people out there.

Features that many players want are ignored, while decisions that are questionable at best are made without regard to the concerns of the community.
I won't make excuses for those features we know are much wanted or the ones people want us to go back and "fix". Heck, I want some of them. Soundwave and Eyjo and Dropbear and TonyG and Fallout want them too. BUT, making and designing and creating a game isn't pick and choose, especially when it comes to introducing something like Incarna or devoting significant dev time to rewriting old code backbone so we can grow again in the future. We know the other stuff is wanted. We know Incarna is also wanted and are working towards what many of you have wanted out of it. It just takes time.

I don't think that it's too late to save this special little den of internet spaceships and internet spaceship captains; however, this trend cannot go on forever and it has all the signs of fail cascade written all over it.
Word.

CCP, your players really do care about you and about your game. It would just be nice if the feelings were returned.
I could profess my love for each of you and really really mean it. Yes even you back there! But we all know its going to be more about showing you and not just saying it.

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Originally by: Riflin' Betty

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Originally by: CCP Manifest

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Aurum is here to stay. The cycle here isn't changing soon.

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That is too bad, because it's going to cost you your job.

Quote:

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That was not on purpose and I sincerely apologize for that. We've asked you guys to digest a lot of very quick changes and did a suboptimal job at walking beside you during the past month. Dev blogs and test servers and AT interviews and such didn't quite cut it for everything. There is NO contempt against our players.I've witnessed some extreme amounts of exhibited patience for the nastiest of the nasties who have threatened lives, engaged in character assassination and such--and that's because we as developers realize there are a lot of hurt/angry people out there.

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It has nothing to do with walking besides us. And it has nothing to do with us not understanding.

It has everything to do with a cold, calculated scheme to turn "awesome spaceships" into "sustain our expensive drug habits at any cost"

Yes, I phrased that offensively, and yes I did that on purpose. Don't spin this Ned, it's not going to work. You (CCP) are on a path to just try to extract the absolute maximum amount of cash from us at any cost, with no regard for us, our feelings or your own ****ing original mission statement (read it on your corporate page)

Quote:

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I won't make excuses for those features we know are much wanted or the ones people want us to go back and "fix". Heck, I want some of them. Soundwave and Eyjo and Dropbear and TonyG and Fallout want them too. BUT, making and designing and creating a game isn't pick and choose, especially when it comes to introducing something like Incarna or devoting significant dev time to rewriting old code backbone so we can grow again in the future. We know the other stuff is wanted. We know Incarna is also wanted and are working towards what many of you have wanted out of it. It just takes time.

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I call bull**** on this Eyjo and Soundwave only want money, they are part of team :awesome: and :graphs: that just live a self-masturbatory fantasy where they are rockstar gamedesigners.

They are just little failed John Romeros, and we know how that ended up.

I truly believe there is a lot of lovely people at CCP, dedicated and with vision. But you need to cut out the cancer before it kills you. And as you can probably tell, this week will determine if you have homes next summer.

Plan your next move very carefully, and divest yourself of corrupting elements.

Quote:

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I don't think that it's too late to save this special little den of internet spaceships and internet spaceship captains; however, this trend cannot go on forever and it has all the signs of fail cascade written all over it.
Word.

CCP, your players really do care about you and about your game. It would just be nice if the feelings were returned.
I could profess my love for each of you and really really mean it. Yes even you back there! But we all know its going to be more about showing you and not just saying it.

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This is. your last chance.

Heads must roll. They should have rolled already when you released the abortions that are EVEgate and the new Forums.
They should have rolled the moment you broke your "no MT ever promise"
They should have rolled yesterday when you were celebrating your "amazing and above expectations launch"
You are deluding yourselves, you buy your own publicity, but we no longer do.

I know you won't answer me, since I'm you big "troublemaker" but there you go.

Signed,

Helicity -****ing- Boson's Alt.

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Originally by: CCP Manifest

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The designs we will implement in game will not **** over the sandbox.

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Quote:

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Are you moving beyond VANITY AUR items?

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Originally by: Manos Heimenbarger

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I think whoever leaked that document deserves a huge THANK YOU for forcing this issue. If this situation is turned around and CCP leaves the destructive path they are on, I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that they saved EVE.

I just hope we can get that kind of result.

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Originally by: CCP Manifest

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Still reading. Progress? I am at post 325.

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Originally by: Jonny Utrigas

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Probably would have gotten better, more informative posts from the CCPers if there wasn't SO MUCH ****ING COPY PASTA. Plus, if you read a single wall of text post, the thread grew by 1-2 pages. No wonder they gave up.

Not white knighting, still ****ed about the newsletter of fail, but I had hoped to see a useful response from the Devs.

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Originally by: Che Jin

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Originally by: Andrew Charante

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Are you moving beyond VANITY AUR items?

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The answer is YES. Look on page five of "Fearless - Greed is Good". It is part of the CCP corporate plan for EVE and subsequent MMO's:

"Not all virtual purchases will focus on customization: some will simply be new items, ammunition, ships, etc. that can be purchased outright.... Incarna and flying in space... are merely aspects of the EVE Online experience; in virtual sales, as in development as a whole, we must all adopt this way of thinking."

Julian Assange couldn't have done a better job exposing this dirty little secret. Everyone who subs up for EVE Online needs to read that document and decide for yourself if EVE is still going to be the game you've been playing, or quite possibly the game you used to play before CCP changed it.

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Originally by: Snake Scofield

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Originally by: Republica Winder

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The newsletter that was leaked CLEARLY shows that you WERE DISCUSSING a plan to introduce items to the cash shop that WILL grant game advantages.

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Fixed for you.

Wow so many pages and no more blues. Maybe the adults will speak when the children quieten down.

CCP needs to spank some of these kids.

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Originally by: Smeedly

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If AUR moves beyond vanity items, I will take my money elsewhere.

There, I think I've condensed the nuances of the player response enough for anybody.

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Originally by: neuroticdax

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now that is out of the way here is a newsflash for the people un-subbing because of the newsletter: its pointless and you srsly need to grow up as it stands ccp is a company and as such want to make money witch is understandable. but raging when some of them voice their opinion on the matter is just silly.
however when arum was announced it was said with explicit emphasis 'none of the items will alter anything in game other than apperence' this is the only reason it was aggreed with so far as the NeX is concerned so long as it dosnt interfeer with game mechanics imo its fine.

also while +9 implants and buying faction standing sounds awesom and is far easyer than waiting or doing the hard work its a sure fire way to break the game almost irreprably

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Originally by: Deimos Barret

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I know this has been addressed in one or two posts already, but this thread is already a bit of a TL:DR. SO- This LEAK that hints to CCP making AUR usable to buy items that will give an IN-GAME, MECHANICAL advanage over players: Is it true? I have been playing for 4 years, and have multiple accounts. Many here i know have more and have been here longer, but just the same, if CCP goes this cheap rout, enabling IRL rich kids to gain any MORE of an advantage than PLEX has already given, i will quit this game. This is the ONLY MMO i play and i would hate to see this happen. CCP, YOU NEED TO RETAIN YOUR INTEGRITY. That is one of the CORE reasons you have the fanbase you do here when compared to other MMO makers.

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Originally by: Vaerah Vahrokha

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Originally by: The Mittani

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For me, the long knives come out if they start trying to mess with the gameplay itself with micros. Gold ammo, ships that are different from existing ships statswise, etc.

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In case you did not notice, the topic of the protest is exactly the plan at exactly making this.

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Originally by: Constantinus Maximus

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Originally by: Cailais

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Originally by: Crye MultiCam

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Originally by: Da Gooch

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Are you moving beyond VANITY AUR items?

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!!

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Originally by: Constantinus Maximus

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Originally by: Gabriel Arxangel

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I have been here a while, I remember t20. I remember the reason for starting the CSM. There is no doubt that selling valuable items through MT has the potential for making significant money for CCP, and I understand how a company would desire to pursue that. Ironically enough I'm one of those in position to take advantage of the MT market. Real money for unbeatable ships or t3 ammo or even extra skill points certainly wouldn't break me. But I know it's wrong. It destroys the "sandbox" concept that eve has valued for so long. It cheapens the game.

It is very disturbing that anyone who works on this game could even contemplate such a game destroying feature. It does not 'cross the line' it leaps over it. Eve is based on you taking what you want and fighting to keep it, everyone starts the same and goes from there. Giving players the option of buying what they want devalues the cornerstone of the game. That's why it is so wrong for eve. I always thought the biggest fans of eve were the devs who loved and cared about this game, I see now that isn't the case, at least for some.

I blog won't fix this, neither will any grandiose promises. PR won't stop this, perhaps even Helmar can't stop this. I am not upset about the system demands of CQ, and believe in the vision of increasing player immersion. When CCP shared their vision of a total sifi MMO, I cheered. Could CQ have been implemented better, sure. Could some the players ideas be included to improve the expansion, sure. Do I believe that CQ is a bold leap forward, yes and I applaud the effort.

But allowing out of game advantages to spill over into the game is 180 out from the sandbox concept eve has prided itself on. It is so wrong on every level, and the fact that anyone involved in the development of this game fails to see that is truly frightening. I am not ready to rage quit, I am not threatening. MT for in game advantages is NOT in place yet, and hopefully never will be. If/when it becomes a reality, I will have some hard choices to make. I truly hope CCP never asks me to make that decision.

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Well said.

but to quote another thread..

Originally by: Mater Dolorosa

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"We need to milk them 9 more months to get enough cash to finish Dust & WoD. Be brave guys, in 2013 Eve will be a f2p and we'll get rid of them..."

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They can and did contemplate it.

This is why CCP is in fact over regardless of any action they take save sacking the whole team.

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Originally by: Aineko Macx

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More fuel to the fire:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/CCP-Games-Reviews-E159347.htm

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Originally by: Traderjohn

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T'Amber did not overreact. This whole situation is rediculious. This matter should be reviewed by CCP Internal Affairs. To try and give a none bias opinion. Clearly so many of the playerbase are not happy with this with events, it needed something to bring alot of these to a boiling point before it exploded.
Just a few of the issues which members have commented on, RMT, AT9, Incarna. Things are not being done fast enough to satisfy the player community. So again I strongly surgest things start to change. Or really its the playerbase which will just move to another game.

TJ

P.S <3 T'Amber :)

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Originally by: Isis Soryu

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Quote:

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CCP Fallout
Arnar's blog should be ready and published in about an hour, but that is an estimate.
51 seconds ago

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Why we aren't hearing from Hilmar him ****ing self is beyond me.

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Originally by: T'amber Anomandari Demaleon

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Originally by: YarrMama

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blog up

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Originally by: CCP Zulu

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Dear concerned citizens of New Eden

This week has seen quite a controversy unfold. In almost the same instant as we deployed Incarna - which by the way is one of our more smooth and successful expansions, not to mention absolutely gorgeous - an internal newsletter with rather controversial topics addressed leaked out. To further compound the confusion there was a clear and rather large gap in virtual goods pricing expectation and reality with a large segment of the community. Iæm going to address both these issues right here.

Fearless

Fearless is one of our company values. Itæs also the name of an internal newsletter that has been designed and developed specifically to catalyze discussions on controversial topics. One of the biggest elephants in the room these days, not just for EVE but for the gaming industry as a whole, is virtual goods sales and microtransactions.

Therefore we dedicated an entire issue to exactly that topic. Itæs worth mentioning that the topic of the issue was "Greed is good?" as a way to ask a question that would then be debated back and forth and often exaggerated purposefully to draw contrasts and make points. The result of that is now widely available on the internet.

The opinions and views expressed in Fearless are just that; opinions and views. They are not CCP policy nor are they a reliable source of CCP views as a company. The employees who submitted articles to that newsletter did exactly what they were asked to do, write about theories and opinions from an exaggerated stand.

While itæs perfectly fine to disagree and attack CCP over policies or actions we take, we think itæs not cool how individuals that work here have been called out and dragged through the mud due to something they wrote in the internal company newsletter. Seriously, these people were doing their jobs and do not deserve the hate and ****storm being pointed at them.

Pricing structure

People have been shocked by the price range in the NeX store, but you should remember that we are talking about clothes. Look at the clothes you are currently wearing in real life. Do you have any specific brands? Did you choose it because it was better quality than a no-name brand? Assume for a short while that you are wearing a pair of $1,000 jeans from some exclusive Japanese boutique shop. Why would you want to wear a pair of $1,000 jeans when you can get perfectly similar jeans for under $50? What do other people think about you when they see you wearing them? For some you will look like the sad culmination of vainness while others will admire you and think you are the coolest thing since sliced bread. Whichever it is, it is clear that by wearing clothes you are expressing yourself and that the price is one of the many dimensions that clothes possess to do that in addition to style and fit. You don't need to buy expensive clothes. In fact you don't need to buy any clothes. Whatever you choose to do reflects what you are and what you want others to think you are.

We will gradually introduce items at other price points, definitely lower and probably higher than whatæs in the store today. We hope you enjoy them and are as passionate about them as you are of the current items that are for sale.

I hope Iæve addressed your concerns and cleared up a lot of the issues youære having. Weæll continue monitoring the forums and other communications channels and pick up and reply if there are concerns not covered by this blog.

Thanks,

Arnar Hrafn Gylfason

Senior Producer of EVE Online

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Originally by: Debrue

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CCP, looks like it's time to get back to the drawing board. End the thought of having MT in the game. Fix the graphics overload caused by your marginal upgrade that few care about. Get back to making upgrades that enhance player enjoyment, good market opportunities, upgraded ships and fittings. Listen to your customer base. Before I rage threat to cancel my accounts, I'll play the wait and see game. Admit failure and move on.

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Originally by: Misanth

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Originally by: Maro Hakaari

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I can only hope that there is currently a war inside CCP, and that the good guys are winning.

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Originally by: Peter Powers

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Originally by: leth ghost

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Originally by: penifSMASH

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look at this nerdvention. what are you angry nerds even angry about?? stupid monocles that no one is forcing you to buy? QQ more nublets

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GOOD TROLL

or are you just un informed or too dumb to realise

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Originally by: Manos Heimenbarger

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Edited by: Manos Heimenbarger on 25/06/2011 00:04:52
GM in Jita chat still doesn't get its a bad idea to disrespect your customers.



Apparently their customers are just random guys on the internet?

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Originally by: Misanth

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Originally by: Valari Nala Zena

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People who cancel their subscriptions will just pick it up again while their account is running out.

I'm sure CCP is making lots of profit selling vanity items, way more than the few who unsub for real.

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You're at least partially wrong. I've eight accounts cancelled, and even if I decide to stay I will not keep more than max three of them running. They've lost at least half of their income from me. And I bet there's people arguing on the same level as me. We'll either cancel this hobby completely, or reduce it significantly.

Either way, atm CCP doesn't deserve our money, as they are not only not delivering, they're even insulting us while doing so. Nice way to treat your customers. I doubt people will accept that.

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Originally by: Sunbird Huy

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Originally by: Salt Ravins

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TBQH, fanfest is going to be incredibly awkward next year.

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LOL. and now we know, while the fanfest date was being discussed during the AT9, why they "couldn't" give exact date. LOL.

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Originally by: JC Anderson

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Any comments on the leaked Hilmar email that they just read live on Eve Radio?

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Originally by: CCP Zinfandel

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Right now it can only...

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Originally by: Warvan

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How to properly quit a game
derp.

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Originally by: XIRUSPHERE

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Originally by: Vaerah Vahrokha

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Wasn't CCP Manifest meant to post something by now?

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They wont come out of the bunker till patch tuesday when they try to placate the masses with some sort of ignorant fluff

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Originally by: Constantinus Maximus

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Originally by: Lupus Aurelius

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But, if ever CCP decides to SELL that, SP, faction standings

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Too late.

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Originally by: Cyber Duck

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Looks like we're on track to reach OVER 9000!!!!!! posts and over a million views at around the same time... this threadageddon, threadnaught, threadnarok, threadocalypse, will be eve's final swansong before the peons move in.

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Originally by: Gwenywell Shumuku

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Originally by: ALEXANDER RO2

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Seems next year's FanFest will be called off :)))

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Well, wasn't it very convenient not to mention ONE WORD OF THIS at fanfest this year? it would have been a funny event.

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Originally by: Gwenywell Shumuku

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Originally by: Koba Kyogen

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Can't believe this still hasn't been addressed.

What the hell are you doing CCP?



Koba

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They are sitting it out over the weekend, and then announce everything is under control and the player community has readily accepted the new shop and direction, and all is happy hippo land.

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Originally by: Warg Matar

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Originally by: Constantinus Maximus

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Originally by: Kahldor

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Luminaire Titan being attacked!!!! Need more firepower. It CAN be destroyed!!

Vid Feed

Titan

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wd putting the eve-radio feed on that!

LISTEN TO THIS **** IF YOU THINK THIS IS JUST TROLLS!

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+1

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Originally by: Slaqer

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Who is up for 10000 posts?

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