Rolinthor
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Posted - 2007.06.07 17:11:00 -
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Edited by: Rolinthor on 07/06/2007 17:11:47
OK, I'd like all the flamers who get off by getting their rage on to read that New York Times piece linked earlier, again, here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/arts/07eve.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Seriously, it's not that long, and it talks about some pretty significant developments. First of all, it means that CCP now understands that these kinds of episodes can't be kept quiet or in-house. And 2) It means that they're taking it seriously.
A couple of things to point out about the piece: It shows that CCP understands that any business relies on the trust of its customers, but that this kind of organization--like a newspaper or an auditing agency--relies on trust to a greater degree than your everyday widget-hawker. The reporter was right to refer to the new players' council as filling a role similar to that of an ombudsman at a paper. Such employees are contractually hired, usually from outside the company, for a specified, limited time period, and they have contractual assurances that their criticism will not be restricted or buried, and won't result in any kind of retaliation. That's the kind of new position (or player's council) CCP needs to rebuild trust.
I would hope that the new members of this council, whoever they end up being, would take their new role as more than just a free trip to Iceland to hobnop with Devs and GMs. I would hope that they would have the opportunity to conduct thorough audits of both internal CCP procedures (such as how petitions are assigned, escalated and resolved) and how faithfully those procedures are carried out. I would expect them to be able to interview select individual CCP employees about player-related procedures. And finally I would expect them to compile the results of their investigations (barring necessarily proprietary data) into a thorough and clearly written annual audit report.
These players' council spots would be positions of very serious responsibility and hard work, without much immediate reward, and I would sincerely hope that the Eve Community could put down their player corp hats when the moment comes and select their reps based on the individual's commitment to do the job in a way that benefits Eve as a whole, first and foremost.
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