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[Devblog] Fearless, Virtual Goods, And Rage
batolemaeus
Member CommonPosts: 2,061
Dear concerned citizens of New EdenThis week has seen quite a controversy unfold. In almost the same instant as we deployed Incarna - which by the way is one of our more smooth and successful expansions, not to mention absolutely gorgeous - an internal newsletter with rather controversial topics addressed leaked out. To further compound the confusion there was a clear and rather large gap in virtual goods pricing expectation and reality with a large segment of the community. Im going to address both these issues right here.
Fearless
Fearless is one of our company values. Its also the name of an internal newsletter that has been designed and developed specifically to catalyze discussions on controversial topics. One of the biggest elephants in the room these days, not just for EVE but for the gaming industry as a whole, is virtual goods sales and microtransactions.
Therefore we dedicated an entire issue to exactly that topic. Its worth mentioning that the topic of the issue was "Greed is good?" as a way to ask a question that would then be debated back and forth and often exaggerated purposefully to draw contrasts and make points. The result of that is now widely available on the internet.
The opinions and views expressed in Fearless are just that; opinions and views. They are not CCP policy nor are they a reliable source of CCP views as a company. The employees who submitted articles to that newsletter did exactly what they were asked to do, write about theories and opinions from an exaggerated stand.
While its perfectly fine to disagree and attack CCP over policies or actions we take, we think its not cool how individuals that work here have been called out and dragged through the mud due to something they wrote in the internal company newsletter. Seriously, these people were doing their jobs and do not deserve the hate and shitstorm being pointed at them.
Pricing structure
People have been shocked by the price range in the NeX store, but you should remember that we are talking about clothes. Look at the clothes you are currently wearing in real life. Do you have any specific brands? Did you choose it because it was better quality than a no-name brand? Assume for a short while that you are wearing a pair of $1,000 jeans from some exclusive Japanese boutique shop. Why would you want to wear a pair of $1,000 jeans when you can get perfectly similar jeans for under $50? What do other people think about you when they see you wearing them? For some you will look like the sad culmination of vainness while others will admire you and think you are the coolest thing since sliced bread. Whichever it is, it is clear that by wearing clothes you are expressing yourself and that the price is one of the many dimensions that clothes possess to do that in addition to style and fit. You don't need to buy expensive clothes. In fact you don't need to buy any clothes. Whatever you choose to do reflects what you are and what you want others to think you are.
We will gradually introduce items at other price points, definitely lower and probably higher than whats in the store today. We hope you enjoy them and are as passionate about them as you are of the current items that are for sale.
I hope Ive addressed your concerns and cleared up a lot of the issues youre having. Well continue monitoring the forums and other communications channels and pick up and reply if there are concerns not covered by this blog.
Thanks,
Arnar Hrafn Gylfason
Senior Producer of EVE Online
Comments
I'm at a loss for words.
. hm .!.
Guides & Trials for EvE Online:
At least my 1000 dollar jeans make me look good for (insert population of earth here) people. Rather than 60,000 at peak times... Sheesh people are taking this way too seriously lol... Who honestly cares if an in game item costs 1 dollar or 1 million dollars. Its all just vanity gear that some shmuck will pay for in the end.
THESE PEOPLE ARE RUNNING A BUISNESS NOT A CHARITY. Coming from a buisness owner, if I could sell services or goods for any extra amount of money that will allow my buisness to grow I most certainly would. They do things like this to make money and to keep good employees. I can give plenty of examples of why this is viable from a buisness standpoint ESPECIALLY in the gaming industry.
Oh, and Morals when it comes to thinking of the little guy who can't afford it.... Yeah... Those don't matter, if you can't afford to shop in my store its not my problem.
Currently playing : World of Tanks, LoL
Waiting for: The game of my dreams
Played: Everything
Favorites being Eve, UO and SWG Pre-CU
I think they are saying their news letter was suppose to be the "devil's advocate" which everybody was suppose to present counter ideas?
That's exactly what it is. SH*T.
CCP Zulu
Quote:
Hey all. To clarify this blog, its intent was to address two topics and two topics only;
1. What Fearless is and the nature of its content
2. The pricing strategy behind the NeX store
I do realize there are other concerns you have and those will be addressed, but doing it all at the same time would make the messaging tricky and muddled and not allow for a focused discussion. I understand a lot of the frustration going around but if we want to discuss then we need to do so in a constructive and focused manner.
Thanks,
Arnar
If thats true why did they call the dev blog Fearless, Virtual Goods and Rage?
Also they didnt really address the MT concerns in that blog.
F2P/P2P excellent thread.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/282517/F2P-An-Engineers-perspective.html
Basically its what I was telling people it was in corp chat the other day. Lots of companies do this stuff, One of the other bigger shitstorms from something like this was one Microsoft had that would of required you to download windows everytime you booted your computer up to prevent piracy. Most companies do this from time to time at some level in the company. It helps prevent a company from getting stuck in a single mindset and losing out on oppertunities. Problem is most of these memo/newsletters/etc... are just one sided papers, they often present an exaggerated side of something with no responses at all the opposite direction, this means when they get out they often look horrible for the company.
Damage Control. The document is perfectly in line with their planning.
The situation would be relatively easy to resolve, simply reaffirm CCP's previously stated comittment to not sell non-vanity items. They did not, so I'd guess they're going to.
This is the money quote: "I hope I‘ve addressed your concerns and cleared up a lot of the issues you‘re having"
Oh but he has! I love CCP now. We must thank them for offering us the chance to purchase the means of expressing ourselves and be stylish! God, I was blind but now I see. MT are our misunderstood little friends! xoxoxo
But even if they did say that, would you believe them? As has been mentioned over and over they said a year ago that they wouldn't have ANY item shop.
Edit: In all honesty, I could care less about cash shops, they don't bother me. But if the company and/or a spokesperson for the company of the game I was playing said no item shops and then a year later there was an item shop, I'd at least like to think that I would quit. It's not happened that way in a game i've played, so maybe I wouldn't, but I would at least consider it.
That mention of a year ago is so wrong, not even a single quote to back it up. Here's a CCP blog from almost a year ago.
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=815&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=update&utm_content=devblog&utm_campaign=eveonline
Note the date: 2010.11.22
"Virtual goods sales in EVE Online will evolve through sales of vanity items, first in Incarna but later in-space features. The scope will be (and there‘s no design has been done around this, we‘re just talking strategy now) that anything that doesn‘t affect gameplay directly can be, potentially, sold for PLEX or other means. Ideas that have come up include Incarna clothing and furniture, logos on spaceships and swapping out portraits. This is by no means a comprehensive list, nor is it a commitment that said items will be available for sale, I mention these as an example for what type of items we‘re thinking about."
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I'm glad you bring that up as I have read hundreds of posts today and I bet 10-15 percent of them mention that CCP said they wouldn't have an item shop. Thanks for the correction.
Here, from a year ago, and now retracted (nice job trying to rewrite history ccp, btw.)
http://hosted.corelicorp.net/micro.jpg
I said almost a year, didn't say a year. I was shy a few months sorry. Still haven't seen a quote stating the opposite.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Thanks you for an actual quote, so it doesn't say we will never have MT in EVE, just that we have no plans for them at present, things change, this is a far cry from what people are saying they said.
BTW I find your condescending remark about a year pretty funny considering this is only a month before mine :P.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I am sorry but any company that saw the amount of income Blizzard produced from a mount would be stupid not to try it as well.
People need to get over it, Item sells will be here forever, hell just give it time and you will be buying gold as well, ok ok maybe not gold but you get the picture.
The opinions and views expressed in Fearless are just that; opinions and views. They are not CCP policy nor are they a reliable source of CCP views as a company.
VS
We have communicated our intention here internally in very wide circles through the Virtual Economy Summit presentation at the GSM, our Fearless newsletter, sprint reviews, email lists and multiple other channels. This should not come as a surprise to anyone
BestSigEver :P
