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EVE Online monument commemorates the summer riots
Back in June, the EVE Online community reacted negatively to the release of a lackluster Incarna expansion and controversy over microtransaction prices. Complaints eventually erupted into in-game riots with the leak of a company newsletter on microtransactions and an internal memo from the CEO denouncing complaints as noise. Players got together in trade hubs across the game to protest EVE's development direction, attacking a pair of invulnerable monuments outside the systems' major stations. As a nod to players' refusal to accept the status quo and force change, CCP recently altered the Jita monument that was the main focus of the summer riots. The statue now stands destroyed, and its plaque congratulating Heinky and Shin Ra of Burn Eden for solving a riddle contest several years ago has been changed to the text below: "This was once a memorial to the winners of a riddle contest sponsored by late entrepreneur Ruevo Aram. After standing proud for half a decade, it was destroyed in late YC113 by capsuleers who were staging a mass uprising against an intolerable status quo of intergalactic affairs. Today, the ruins of this once-great work of art stand as a testament to the fact that change is the universe's only constant." The change is currently only live on the test server, but will likely come to the main server on November 29th when the Crucible expansion launches. Thanks to Drew for the tip!
EVE Evolved: The human casualties
This time last year, EVE Online developer CCP Games was an untouchable powerhouse in the games industry. In addition to servicing around 350,000 EVE subscribers, the company was also developing the World of Darkness MMO and the full scale MMOFPS DUST 514 set on the planets of EVE. Everything seemed to be going fine, but with the release of Incarna at the end of June, CCP faced the biggest crisis in the company's history. Due to a series of missteps and internal leaks that has come to be collectively known as Monoclegate, player confidence in CCP plummeted to record low. Following the CEO's recent letter of apology promising a refocusing of development on in-space EVE features, news of highly requested features due for inclusion in EVE has gone a long way toward restoring confidence in CCP as a developer. With the return of ship spinning earlier this week and news of updates from hybrid turret rebalancing and implants being added to killmails to the release of the player-designed Tornado battlecruiser, the process of refocusing on EVE is well underway. Unfortunately, the good news of upcoming gameplay updates has been marred by the sobering reality that over 20% of CCP's worldwide staff have been laid off as part of the refocusing effort. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the human casualties of the recent EVE drama and speak to an insider at CCP about what's going on within the company. Unless quotes or facts in this article are specifically attributed to this insider, they are my own views and opinions based on publicly available information.
CCP Games CEO issues letter of apology to EVE Online players
Just over three months ago, fans of EVE Online looked on in disbelief as the game they loved faced its biggest crisis of confidence since 2007's T20 developer scandal. The long-awaited Incarna expansion was pushed live with no multiplayer environments and only one race of captain's quarters. Players were forced to use the feature every time they docked, and it seemed that its only purpose was as a display case for overpriced cash-shop clothing. While players debated the controversial cash shop prices, a leaked company newsletter titled "Greed is Good" and a leaked memo from CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson threw additional fuel on the flames. In a letter to the EVE Online community today, Hilmar delivered a humble apology for everything that happened. "The estrangement from CCP that many of you have been feeling of late is my fault, and for that I am truly sorry," he began. "In short, my zeal for pushing EVE to her true potential made me lose sight of doing the simple things right. I was impatient when I should have been cautious, defiant when I should have been conciliatory and arrogant when I should have been humble." The letter goes on to tackle everything from the removal of ship spinning and the release of the captain's quarters as a full expansion to CCP's plans for the future. In an accompanying devblog, CCP Zulu provided an impressive list of in-space features aimed for the winter development period. The list includes the long-awaited hybrid weapon balance changes, assault ship bonus reworks, capital ship rebalancing, and even iteration on faction warfare.
CCP releases EVE's emergency CSM meeting minutes
There's no drama like internet spaceship drama, and the boohoos stemming from last summer's EVE Online Incarna expansion -- and the associated monoclegate controversy -- continue to make waves. CCP has finally gotten around to releasing the minutes from the "emergency" Council of Stellar Management meeting that took place in Iceland from June 30th through July 1st. According to CCP Xhagen, the lengthy delay was due to the fact that "it takes time to create a document that everyone can accept. It is important to keep in mind that CSM meeting minutes are not released unless both CCP and the CSM give their approval." The document summarizes the discussions and presents the brouhaha surrounding captain's quarters performance, the Noble Exchange, and CCP's future plans for virtual goods from the perspective of both devs and player representatives. The PDF ultimately serves as a useful summary of EVE's latest drama explosion, and you can read it in its entirety by following the link below.
The MMO Report: Oh come on can we please just drop it already edition
Welcome to this week's edition of The MMO Report. The first order of business on The MMO Report this week is Age of Conan: Unchained. Funcom's bloody MMO went free-to-play last week, and also released their new Blood and Glory PvP servers yesterday. Next up we have BioWare's latest class video for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It focuses on the Bounty Hunter class and details the progression options available to Boba Fett wannabes. And then it's... Oh, not again. Monocle-gate, okay? Do we really need to say anything else? Lastly, we come to the announcement that Blizzard's project Titan is going to be a casual MMO. Considering the fact that, as Casey puts it, many players consider World of Warcraft to be casual as it is, what this means for Titan is ambiguous at best. For the full MMO Report, including (for the first time in a while) Uncle Casey's Mailbag, jump on past the cut.
EVE Online press conference answers vital questions, transcript inside
After what should have been the celebrated release of the long-awaited Incarna expansion last week, the EVE Online community erupted into flames. The controversy began when players realised that the vanity clothing items in the game's new cash shop were ridiculously overpriced. The $68 monocle became a centerpiece that the media latched onto, in the same way that World of Warcraft made the headlines when Blizzard had the audacity to sell a $25 mount. The story should have ended there as a piece about a crazy Icelandic game company selling virtual clothing for more than real clothing. Unfortunately, some conveniently timed leaks from inside CCP caused this simple issue to escalate to the point of panic, causing in-game riots and a significant number of subscription cancellations. The company's silence on the simple question of whether non-vanity microtransactions would be introduced was seen as an admission that gameplay-affecting items would end up in the cash shop. CCP flew the Council of Stellar Management, EVE's democratically-elected player representative body, out to Iceland for an emergency meeting last week. The result of the meeting was a joint statement between CCP and the CSM addressing all of the major concerns players had. Last night, CCP ran two press conferences over Skype to give EVE fansites and the gaming media a chance to ask additional questions that weren't covered in the official statement. Skip past the cut for our in-depth three-page transcript from the gaming media press conference, including answers to several pressing questions sent in by Massively readers and some great issues raised by other participating members of the press. Comments can be posted on page 3.
The Tattered Notebook: Looking back at RMT through a futuristic monocle
As I logged into EverQuest II this past week, I was greeted with a promo to redeem my free festive sparker. Sorry, make that my FREE festive sparkler. Anyway, as part of the promotion, I could visit the Marketplace, scoop up my sparkler, and then use it to participate in the lighting of fireworks at the major cities in Norrath to receive place-able fireworks for my house or guild hall. I have to say, it was an odd moment. First off, I had to pause to make sure I hadn't accidentally logged into my Free Realms account that I play with the kids because sparklers and fireworks seem more appropriate there. Second, I was trying to recall a time in EverQuest II when an in-game quest, tied to a live event no less, actually required possession of an item from the Marketplace. In EQII, we've come a long way when it comes to cash shops and microtransactions, and EVE Online's recent controversy surrounding the Noble Exchange really puts things into perspective. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll look back on EQII's RMT evolution -- through EVE's ill-fated monocle.
CCP responds to monoclegate, reaches consensus with players
This has been a difficult week for EVE Online developer CCP Games, with massive controversy hitting the media surrounding what should have been a momentous expansion release. The first stage of the eagerly awaited Incarna expansion went live this month, bringing with it the new captain's quarters. Unfortunately, simple complaints over some very overpriced microtransactions soon escalated into outright panic and even in-game riots with the release of an internal company newsletter and subsequent internal email casting doubt on the game's vanity-only microtransaction policy and its development direction in general. A devblog released in response to the issue only served to make things worse, so CCP opted to fly the game's democratically elected Council of Stellar Management to Iceland for a series of emergency meetings to get a handle on the situation. Those meetings were concluded yesterday, and both the CCP and CSM made statements today to clarify the decisions reached. During the meeting, the CSM negotiated on behalf of the playerbase to hammer out an agreement on EVE's microtransaction policy, overheating issues with the captain's quarters, and other recent hot topics. Skip past the cut to watch the video accompanying the statement, and head over to the EVE devblog to read the official statements. If you have any further complaints or issues relating to the recent controversy, please mail them to brendan@massively.com or leave them in a comment and I'll do my best to ask the CSM delegates or pose your questions to CCP at Tuesday's upcoming press conference.
EVE Evolved: The day that EVE Online died
I think it's safe to say that this week has been an unmitigated disaster for CCP Games. Following last week's $99 license fee fiasco for third-party developers, CCP Zulu managed to claw back some player support with a segment addressing the issue during the alliance tournament. This week CCP followed up with the release of Incarna 1.0 and its long-awaited captain's quarters. Players logged in to walk around their private rooms and check out the various cosmetic items available for purchase in the new microtransaction store. It didn't take long for people to realise that something was fundamentally wrong with the prices on the Noble Exchange. At around $40 for a basic shirt, $25 for boots, and $70 or more for the fabled monocle, items in the Noble Exchange were priced higher than their-real life counterparts. As players made some noise about the ridiculous prices, an internal CCP newsletter all about the company's microtransaction plans was purportedly leaked. In it, plans to sell ships, ammo, and faction standings for cash were revealed, plans that strictly contradict previous promises on gameplay-affecting microtransactions. Shortly afterward, all hell broke loose as a private internal memo from CCP CEO Hilmar was leaked to the press. In the past few days, I've been contacted by dozens (if not hundreds) of concerned EVE players who are afraid that the game they love is coming to an end. I've even been in contact with an insider who is scared of the risks CCP is taking with the jobs of over 600 employees in four countries, scared enough to leak internal documents and emails. In this week's colossal EVE Evolved, I delve into EVE's latest controversy and shed some light on the biggest community flashpoint since the T20 developer corruption scandal.
CCP issues brief mea culpa, EVE CSM to meet with devs
It seems as if an olive branch has been extended in the escalating conflict between CCP and hardcore fans of the company's EVE Online MMORPG. Arnar Hrafn Gylfason, otherwise known as CCP Zulu, has issued an apologetic blog post as a followup to the controversial piece he penned last Friday. Zulu chalks up the confrontational tone of the previous post to the stresses surrounding CCP's recent data leaks and also advises fans that the company is flying the Council of Stellar Management to Iceland for meetings on June 30th and July 1st. More importantly for players chaffed by CCP's assumed about-face regarding game-altering microtransactions, Zulu finally answers the burning question regarding whether or not EVE Online will eventually see pay-to-win cash shop items. "There are not and never have been plans to sell 'gold ammo' for Aurum," Zulu writes, alluding to fan reactions to the Fearless newsletter leak. While CCP certainly isn't out of the woods yet with regard to this public relations nightmare, the fact that the company is acknowledging a serious breach of customer trust, coupled with the "no gold ammo" quote, seems to be having a calming effect on the community as it waits for details to emerge from next week's emergency CSM summit.
EVE Online controversy erupts in protests
Over the past few days, our inboxes here at Massively have been positively overflowing with tips and comments from readers about the ongoing turmoil in EVE Online. It all began with the Incarna update, which added an item shop to the long-running sci-fi sandbox. Players began to voice their concerns over the bizarrely high prices of items in the shop, with one particular item reaching an insane $68 US. Before this hullabaloo had the chance to so much as come to a simmer, an internal newsletter from CCP was leaked to the internet. The document outlined the introduction of microtransactions into EVE and mentioned that at some point, ships, ammunition, and so forth may be available for purchase with real-world currency. This naturally sent players into even more of a frenzy. The whole ordeal came to a head yesterday when CCP Zulu attempted to douse the flames by addressing the issues directly in a dev diary. The play backfired, however, as players took issue with the dev blog's tone and attitude toward the upset players. Not long after that, an internal CCP email was leaked explaining the reasoning behind the controversial blog post, which only added fuel to the flames. The result of this blazing hellstorm of controversy? Riots, of course. Players have gathered en masse at Rens, Jita, and Amarr to show their displeasure. As of the time of this writing, the protests are still going strong and show few signs of stopping. What will come of these protests, though? Hopefully we'll be finding that out soon enough. Be sure to stick with Massively in the coming days as our resident EVE expert will be covering the topic in his column this Sunday while we await response from CCP Zulu. Until then, be sure to go check out Brendan's appearance on EVE Radio for an in-depth discussion of the issues at hand.
CCP addresses EVE controversies in new dev blog
As controversy burns through New Eden like white-hot internet spaceship exhaust, CCP higher-ups have at last reached out to the EVE Online community via a new dev blog. The piece, authored by senior producer Arnar Hrafn Gylfason, tackles the week's two hot topics in brief fashion. First up is an attempt to quell the brouhaha surrounding the internal company memo that leaked earlier this week and brought to light some of CCP's discussions regarding future microtransactions. Gylfason defends EVE staffers, who he says were simply following orders by discussing microtransactions in ways that were "exaggerated purposefully to draw contrasts and make points." He also points out that EVE's future RMT implementations are not contained in the memos, as much of the discussion was theoretical in nature. Finally, Gylfason addresses the hugely controversial prices in EVE's new item shop, and despite the public outcry, he doesn't seem too apologetic. On the contrary, he intimates that the prices will stay and that CCP "will gradually introduce items at other price points, definitely lower and probably higher than what's in the store today." Stick with Massively for more from resident EVE expert Brendan Drain as he talks candidly with CCP about Incarna and the week that was.
