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Posted - 2015.10.19 19:54:28 -
[1] - Quote
The devblog published on October 15th told us about CCPGÇÖs plans regarding adding new items allowing SP transfer from one player to another to the New Eden Store. The official reason for this addition is improved accommodation of newbies and overall increase of player convenience. HowEVEr, we see a different addition to the game: the ability to convert real-world money into an absolute advantage in-game. CCP RiseGÇÖs article on the behalf of the Size Matters team claims that GÇ£this is just a more convenient alternative as compared to selling characters on the official siteGÇ¥, without seeing (or being willing to see) the drastic differences: the character market can only offer those entities that are already present in the game. There is simply no character possessing more than 280 millions of SP in the game (only Dr. Caymus has achiEVEd a number closely approaching this much), and there is no resource available that would provide the ability to exceed this number, other than a well-planned and slow character training.
On the other hand, the sale of SP on the market, given unlimited monetary resources, will grant the ability to produce an All5 character in days. Either way, All5 characters are a minor issue compared to this: consider the appearance of a totally new skill in EVE, and a character who masters it all the way to lEVEl 5 immediately. Or how about someone who, upon hearing of a buff of this or that ship or weapon, suddenly masters it at lEVEl 5? A person with a wad of cash will have gross advantage in matters of training time compared to all other players, and often this advantage will be critical. For instance, if during an update, a fleet format change occurs, then the players who purchase SP directly will be able to grab a huge piece of the galactic map long before EVErybody else manages to master the new counter-format fleet. Instantly-created perfect industrialists or traders, capship and supercapital pilots - this is what awaits us in the nearest future. This is the first, and most important reason why we consider it necessary to express our protest.
The second reason is also rooted in the past: remember Incarna. Back then, an internal CCP letter was leaked, titled GÇÿGreed is GoodGÇÖ, which detailed the plans of adding items, purchasable for Aurum, and giving advantages to players who purchase them. Protests followed, during which the monument in Jita was destroyed, after which CCP promised that items affecting game balance will not be available in the New Eden Store. Four years have passed, and what do we see today? An announcement of adding items that give a game-mechanical advantage here and now! And these items are fundamentally unlike EVEn the PLEX: the demand for them can be absolutely unlimited (the demand for PLEXes is largely dependent on the number of active accounts). This is clearly nothing other than a contempt demonstrated by CCP to its players, for they do not consider themselves bound by their promise. This is the second, less important reason why we consider it necessary to express our protest.
Finally, the third reason is that such items are a huge blow against the consistency of the game. Five years ago, the game was hard, dark and very peculiar, but it was consistent. It was a single world, with its own inner logic, EVEn though it was complicated. HowEVEr, big changes havenGÇÖt been quite consistent with it, as a compromise for satisfying some other higher considerations. As a result, the game started losing consistency, and began looking more and more like the other projects. The announcement of SP sold in exchange for Aurum is yet another nail in the coffin of common sense and logic of EVE Online. Someone might consider it unimportant, but nonetheless, this is the third reason why we consider it necessary to protest against this new addition.
October 17th video
On October 17th we spontaneously gathered in Amarr to express our protest by shooting the monument situated at the station at Amarr VIII (Oris) - Emperor Family Academy. Alas, the reports of the protest did not attract significant attention, and so the number of protesters did not exceed 30-40 people. For this reason, weGÇÖre urging EVEryone who disagrees with the new addition to join our next protest, which is scheduled for Saturday, October 24th, immediately after downtime. Come to Amarr, and shoot the monument, to express your opinion of the issue.
P.S.: The monument has 100% resistances, so there is no need to hop into a more powerful ship. Our goal isnGÇÖt vandalism, but protest, so pilot whatEVEr you want, mount LASER turrets (they donGÇÖt require reloading) with assorted lenses, or snowball and firework launchers, and come to Amarr on October 24th after downtime - itGÇÖs gonna be fun. |