At best you made a case for not expanding the NeX.

I missed the part where you justified the costs of removing it.

You try to argue that the mere presence of the NeX makes people quit the game by saying that it won't attract new players?
"The NeX is fundamentally gamplay displacing, and thus a drain on the overall game value of EvE, nobody is out there saying "Hey come play EvE because you can buy shoes for your avatar without playing the game""
that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

What "costs" would those be?

A couple of days programming time to reallocate the NeX store clothes to the character designer / placed in loyalty point stores ...

And if CCP compared the list of credit devices & accounts subscribed against those of the failquitters, wanna bet what that delta would yield?

I'd just about guarantee those failquitters really WERE fail-quitters, as in they still play.

CCP makes money on the NeX crap, and it's not going anywhere. They will find new ways to make real money, and will exploit it. It's the way the business model works.

Why not let CCP have income from those willing to spend on NeX as long as it stays vanity and actual game development isn't hindered?

I have never bought an item from NeX, because they have yet to hit the sweet spot for my space vanity fantasies. I suppose a Jack-O'-Lantern-paintjob Brutix might do the trick..

Why not let CCP have income from those willing to spend on NeX as long as it stays vanity and actual game development isn't hindered?

But but I like my replica goggles and military heels...

Jade ... Nex never was implemented for the core player base that flies in space,
it was implemented for the other kind of players, that like to run around in Avatars.

These people like to pay money for useless stuff that's just there to "show off". I don't see any issues with that, as it doesn't have any impact on EvE/SpaceShips.

Again ... we made quite sure this won't happen.

But but I like my replica goggles and military heels... and would like to see them only available from the NEX store...

Why?

Because you think that makes it "exclusive"?

Its common as muck. Anybody with a CC can click button and replicate eternally.

If you wanted genuine exclusivity you'd argue for them coming as rare drops or at the end of some complicated player-led industrial function with an eve price tag in billions.

Or do you like to pretend these things are exclusive because you see eve as an essentially single player game?

CCP has said that they feel that FtP / microtransactions, as opposed to the traditional subscription model is a growing trend, and at minimum they want to have a system in place in case "customers demand it". Well.. they are right, it is growing, or at least was. However, this is because the vast majority (if not all) top tier mmo's that use such a system have just been wow clones, clones that do the wow model slightly differently, but always more poorly than wow itself. So of course, just doing the same thing over again, more poorly than the last time, will find it hard to attract subscriptions. Other games, such as farmville and it's ilk, are just simply not good games, they couldn't make money under any other system. There are also some people that feel they cannot afford a subscription.

The natural progression of this line of thinking is "How do we integrate the two systems, so that we can attract more customers that are used to a FtP model". I would argue that this line of thinking is a fallacy. You do not fundamentally attract customers by diversifying your payment options, you attract them by making a good game. In addition, EvE is a niche game, the people who play it are attracted to that niche. Your goal is not to change EvE in such a way as to make it more palatable to your typical WoW player, but rather to invite them to join our niche on our terms, because eve offers that fundamentally different experience.

"EvE is forever", It's a good mantra, and it's the best way to think about your business. EvE is your business, your not going to make EvE2, your going to continue to expand on, redo, and maintain EvE. On that road you will have to take radical steps that shake people up, one day you may have to take a hard look at the skill system for example. However don't sacrifice short term gains for long term growth and stability.

The NeX is fundamentally gamplay displacing, and thus a drain on the overall game value of EvE, nobody is out there saying "Hey come play EvE because you can buy shoes for your avatar without playing the game". So, as you've said in the past "HTF", admit that it was a bad choice, and just get rid of it. Perhaps have the NeX items be distributed via semi-rare drops from faction bs's, commanders, plex's, etc. Ship skins are a good idea, but should expand on the manufacturing gameplay, not pop into existence via the NeX. All in game items, with the exception of plex should be derived from player actions in game.

Know what EvE is, attract EvE players, don't suffer from multiple personality disorder. MMO's as a whole are a dime a dozen these days, being niche is a GOOD THING :)

Keep focusing on what EvE is good at.

Purpose of NeX: to reduce PLEX liabilities in CCP's books.

Pffft... No, I don't think of it as anything exclusive and don't really care about whether NEX is there or not. I just play with it since it is available, nothing more.

Purpose of NeX: to reduce PLEX liabilities in CCP's books.
Cost of removing NeX: loss of presumed (uncalculable) ROI (i.e. no reduction in liabilities).

Nothing wrong with NEX

Untangible benefits in a business case should always be quantifyable. They are "uncalculable" but you can still assign a dollar amount to an expected benefit.

Nothing wrong with NEX, use it or do not. For some players it may very well add value to the game experience and for others, they may never even touch it but to not have it at all....that doesn't make sense.