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Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

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Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#21

Post by cynest »

MaxGabriel wrote: post #9

When I played Runescape, we had similar massive riots over the removal of free trade and the old pvp system (wilderness pking). The pkers were on average decidedly less mature than the average player, so there was really poor communication from them, but also from the company Jagex, who struggled to explain the 'why' behind the changes. Can anyone who plays Eve comment on how the company is responding?

I remember when that happened. Cancelled my sub immediately afterwards. The reasoning was to kill real money trading by any means possible. The problem with runescape at the time was that the economy started to revolve around using alchemy to transmute mainly items into gold, adding new money to the system, and each step along the way was incredibly repetitive and easily bottable, resulting in a feedback loop. I'm not quite sure why Jagex thought their solutions were the best available, seeing as fixing all prices hurts the entire economy unnecessarily.

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#22

Post by JonnieCache »

Virtual riots. Fascinating. SPACE ANARCHY!

Are they destroying in-game property by their actions? Or is it just noise? The post talks about the capital 'burning.'

All we need now is lulzsec to inject their galleon into the server to take everyone's credits in some kind of hilarious mirroring of the mtgox debacle.

Surely the opportunity for nautical/piratical double entendre, and apocalyptic nerd-drama is too much for them to resist?

EDIT: do the SA forums still control the eve universe these days?

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#23

Post by DannoHung »

wccrawford wrote: post #4

You know what the best way to protest a game is? Stop playing for a while and send an email. I know this sounds absurdly little, but look at it this way: If you're out doing other things, you might find something you like and -never come back-. This scares the bejeezus out of game developers who exist solely on the fact that people are addicted. If their playerbase actually went and did other things, they couldn't ke…

Okay, two things that are relevant to this particular instance of outrage that you may not be familiar with regarding EVE:

1) The real rage is not over the Incarna vanity items, which are priced silly, but ultimately pointless. It is over a leaked memo which suggested that RMT was planned for game affecting items like ships, weapons, and faction standing.

2) If you quit EVE for even a little while, you are ceding control over space and resources to other players in the game. EVE is one of the few games that has fulfilled the promise of a truly persistent and meaningful game world. In the major alliances, there are political and military structures designed to ensure control over null-sec systems and the planets and facilities that can produce high-grade equipment.

For your suggestion to work, either players would have to decide that their protest is worth throwing away the time and effort they've put into territorial control and asset development OR that everyone in the game would have to agree not to take territory while the protest was going on.

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#24

Post by kevingadd »

pnathan wrote: post #20
dpcan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your imaginary world is all you have, is it not your real world?

After a few years working in academia, I have a simple statement: That which pays thy bills is the real world. It can correspond to another statement: that which feeds thy mouth is the real world, too. I can't eat virtual bread. It's not the real world.

Funnily enough, there are people who either supplement their living expenses or entirely earn their living expenses by selling EVE currency for real money. The actual number of people who do this is disputed, but it's been a well known fact among EVE players for a long time. So, in a way, their real-world bread is on the line if EVE changes significantly enough to destroy their source of income. It's a weird situation.

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#25

Post by sanswork »

JonnieCache wrote: post #22

Virtual riots. Fascinating. SPACE ANARCHY! Are they destroying in-game property by their actions? Or is it just noise? The post talks about the capital 'burning.' All we need now is lulzsec to inject their galleon into the server to take everyone's credits in some kind of hilarious mirroring of the mtgox debacle. Surely the opportunity for nautical/piratical double entendre, and apocalyptic nerd-drama is too much for…

Just creating noise mostly.

http://dl.eve-files.com/media/corp/verite/influence.png

The top left yellow area is SA forums. Below them TEST ALLIANCE PLEASE IGNORE is mostly Reddit.

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#26

Post by cowkingdeluxe »

antihero wrote: post #14

Really, people are getting this raged about shit in an online game? Take to the streets, my friends. Fight for the real world, not an imaginary one.

You shouldn't shit on what other people do for fun or in their free time.

Some people use online games like this to escape their real life, whether its to escape disease, sickness or other less serious things.

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#27

Post by kylemaxwell »

And now an email from the CCP CEO has leaked, which ignores the significant problems with the deployment and essentially says that he will not listen to the users (cloaked in some otherwise reasonable language).

http://www.evenews24.com/2011/06/25/ccp-hilmar-global-email-...

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#28

Post by Unseelie »

pnathan wrote: post #20
dpcan wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your imaginary world is all you have, is it not your real world?

After a few years working in academia, I have a simple statement: That which pays thy bills is the real world. It can correspond to another statement: that which feeds thy mouth is the real world, too. I can't eat virtual bread. It's not the real world.

Sad life if your entire world consists of bare survival.

Certianly worth revolt, of course, if your first life is a horror.

But to then argue that anything other than that life is not worth struggle is a blatant denial of value of anything above bare survival.

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#29

Post by tsotha »

DannoHung wrote: post #23
wccrawford wrote: post #4

You know what the best way to protest a game is? Stop playing for a while and send an email. I know this sounds absurdly little, but look at it this way: If you're out doing other things, you might find something you like and -never come back-. This scares the bejeezus out of game developers who exist solely on the fact that people are addicted. If their playerbase actually went and did other things, they couldn't ke…

Okay, two things that are relevant to this particular instance of outrage that you may not be familiar with regarding EVE: 1) The real rage is not over the Incarna vanity items, which are priced silly, but ultimately pointless. It is over a leaked memo which suggested that RMT was planned for game affecting items like ships, weapons, and faction standing. 2) If you quit EVE for even a little while, you are ceding con…

People in empire corps could take a month off without risking anything. When I was playing all the action was in 0.0, but most of the players were in high security space.

Re: Thousands of EVE online players riot over microtransactions

#30

Post by tricolon »

cynest wrote: post #8
kevingadd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the big problems with 'stop playing' protests is that gamers have to pay for a month of playtime in advance, and in many cases, they pay in 3-12 month intervals to save money. This is the case for World of Warcraft subscriptions, for example - they give you a discount if you pay up front. If you stop playing after you already paid, the company isn't really going to suffer any immediate impact, and any visible…

Also, Eve especially has problems with continuous commitments to your alliance. No spaceholding alliance would give up defending their space to protest vanity monocles and the possibility of microtransactions.

Some alliances are, as a means of protest, banning players who buy the new vanity items.
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