On the topic of Micro Transactions… Eve Online’s impressive Incarna update went live, bringing with it some excellent character customisation and a pseudo cash shop.
In a game where real money trading goes on all the time (players can buy PLEX, which can be used to get credits, or money for character customisable items) this isn’t a new thing, but what’s made it interesting, as someone who doesn’t play the game, is a leaked document which lays out a path towards pay 2 win and buying non fluff like ships and superior munitions.
The community is somewhat annoyed at this, hence the image at the top of the post, that’s the main trade center being blockaded by a fleet of ships constantly bombarding it with everything they’ve got. This is lagging the server, preventing any trade from happening and probably completely mystifying anyone who bought the game when it was £3 on steam last week. The games lifeblood is it’s economy, if it stops, the game will surely grind to a halt rather quickly.
As I don’t play the game, I’ve been watching the drama unfold on 4chan’s /v/ imageboard, I’ve always been fascinated by Eve’s world of politics and lovely spaceageness, but this has put me off a bit if I’m honest.
Anyone playing currently who has a bit more information on whats going on out there?
Related posts:
The cause for rioting is multi-faceted.
1. CCP promised not to introduce microtransactions last year many times.
2. They promised to only introduce Vanity item MICROtransactions this year.
3. The leaked internal newsletter essentially stated they were ready to go MT-happy and milk the playerbase for everything they had.
4. They attempted to sell a gold painted Scorpion (type of ship), which was quickly shouted down.
5. They attempted to charge 3rd party apps and fansites a 99$ fee to operate, which was quickly shouted down.
6. Introducing ship/ammo/fittings for a $ cost destroys a section of the economy that produces these items in-game. This is a HUGE deal as everything you purchase in-game is player made, and this would bring up extremely unfair competition. Pay-to-win.
7. The initial and follow-up response from CCP Zulu was insulting, dismissive, and felt forced if you've ever talked with CCP Zulu in the past.
8. CEO Hilmar sent an internal email, which was also leaked, stating that all this would blow over and the playerbase was being very predictable. That we wouldn't take any actual action, as this was all talk.
9. The player elected CSM (delegates to CCP), have had no communiction with CCP over any of the events since Incarna launched, and were never consulted about the pricing scheme for Vanity items after specifically requesting that information pre-launch.
Thank you for that information, Grimnir, I see from their dev blog they're backtracking a bit, but it's an awful shame if they kill off the community of thousands of players just to make a bit of extra cash.
I am a die-hard Eve Online player and I must admit that I was more than a little surprised by all the drama. Faceless corporations have no honor. This has been true from the beginning of time. So when CCP introduced a cash shop I was unimpressed.
Well, that's not entirely true. I was stunned by how many people actually paid $68 for a stupid monocle. I figured that if anyone had a problem with micro-transactions that they would write a short letter to CCP explaining their displeasure and leave it at that. Then when the letters piled up and virtually no one spent any money in the cash shop that CCP would realize what a silly mistake they had made and abandon the whole idea.
Instead what happened is people cancelled their subscriptions, then went to the Eve forums and told anyone that would listen to cancel theirs as well.
If that wasn't enough…
Then hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people started shooting up the major stations to make some kind of point that they thought CCP would understand.
Really?
So we all just throw a group tantrum when things don't go our way?
I don't really care what CCP does with microtransactions.
I play my game like they never happened in the first place.