It all started because of an internal newsletter talking about micro-transactions. CCP affirm there ”are no plans” to sell ”game breaking items or enhancements”.
So riled up was the EVE Online community that a huge protest took place in-game where a monument was attacked at a trade hub by player ships en masse.
”It is CCP’s plan that the Noble Exchange (NeX store) will be used for the sale of vanity items only,” said senior producer Arnar Hrafyn Gylfason. CCP and the CSM put together an emergency summit to deal with the mob.
”There are no plans, and have been no plans, as per previous communication and CSM meetings, to introduce the sale of game breaking items or enhancements in the NeX store,” continued Gylfason.
”The investment of money in Eve should not give you an unfair advantage over the investment of time. The CSM, under NDA, has been presented with CCP’s plans for continued evolution of the business model and agrees that nothing they saw breaks this principle. CCP has committed to sharing their plans with the CSM on this front on an ongoing basis.” Lack of communication to players was the problem, say CSM and CCP.
”We believe that the situation that has unfolded in the past week has been a perfect storm of CCP communication failures, poor planning and sheer bad luck,” added CSM chairman Alexander Gianturco.
”Most of these issues, when dealt with in isolation, were reasonably simple to discuss and resolve, but combined they transformed a series of errors into the most significant crisis the Eve community has yet experienced.”
”We hope that this meeting will be the first step in the restoration of trust between CCP and the Eve community, and we will keep the community informed as to CCP’s efforts in delivering on the commitments they made to us and to you.”
The player-run council is happy that the studio doesn’t intend to sneak in any game breaking goods, but only sell new ship skins and avatar customisations.
”We are convinced that CCP has no plans to introduce any game-affecting virtual goods, only pure vanity items such as clothing and ship skins,” continued Gianturco.
”We have been repeatedly assured that there are no plans for ‘gold ammo’, ships which have different statistics from existing common hulls, or any other feared ‘game destroying’ virtual goods or services.”
”We have expressed our deep concern about potential grey areas that the introduction of virtual goods permits, and CCP has made a commitment to discuss any proposals that might fall into these grey areas in detail with CSM at the earliest possible stage.”
The council did say they ”sympathize and agree with those players offended and disgusted” by the leaked global email from CCP CEO Hilmar Pétursson. It was an ”atrocious and out-of-touch” message to the EVE Online community.
For the full report check out the official EVE Online website.
