Sonic Katana
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Posted - 2007.08.21 23:03:00 -
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Originally by: Virtuozzo I shouldn't say it, but I can't help it. I love EVE.
In recent past we've seen an increase of the pace and the severity of screwups, both out of a severely increasing complexity of the product on sale here, and because of a sharply rising trend and refocus in marketing, management and communication methods and styles - internal to the corporation and external towards its customer base, which in commercial venture terms would get flagged with "withdraw investments / interests".
Here's a brilliant product, with such an immersion and exposure factor that you do not need to dive into low level crap like viral marketing setups, exposure deals, technology acquisitions or the likes. As a company CCP have always had a strong focus on their product, and their customer base - but through growing pains and detachment both for internal and external processes both the focus and the affinity with product affairs are gone.
Again we see an event which could have been not just handled better, but which should have been handled better. It isn't about moving from volunteer structures to internalised structures (or even who you are moving those to btw), but it is how you handle that. This is commerce. Corporations have migration processes for such things, particularly to minimise impact for both employees and customers. Still, this is just one angle in just those debate, and there's a myriad of facets applying here.
In slightly less then recent past it's been clearly demonstrated how perception rules in game affairs. Sad but true, perception also rules out of game affairs. EVE is a game, and a product. I'm quite sure the recently acquired economist regardless of economical school of thought can provide the basis of economics: trust. Lacking communications, uncaring attitude, detachment from product affairs, look at the course of this thread - already subscribers are making one reference after the other to other commercial MMORPG products which, well, went shall we say .. boobies up. Not because of being bad in concept, or implementation, but because of disregard of trends and subscriber behaviour, because of the big divide between the "want" for the state of a product and the "actual" direction of the product use, and because of the intrinsical need for balance between quality & satisfaction factors and cost/benefit parameters.
Let's stop beating around the bush. The amalgam of changes to communication style, the amalgam of abrupt single focus changes to product dynamics, the amalgam of commercial ventures currently being undertaken in parallel and in cooperation .. EVE as a product, is at a turning point.
At every commercial phase of product management you float in that balance scale - ideally between well defined and planned for margins up and down the scale. When you show signs of moving from one excess to the other, that is where the product line starts to break, applying to internal corporate processes, external customer behaviour and continuation of account capitalisation and product evolution alike.
erm wtf are you on about? can't u just keep something simple and say bad idea or good idea?
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