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EVE Devs Admit To Misconduct
RidinThoraxes writes "The Escapist has published a complete investigation of what they're calling Jumpgate. The ongoing scandal of dev-backed cheating in the game world is fully explored, complete with a confession from the offending developer, emails from their community managers, and an interview with the enterprising player who uncovered it all."
I couldn't agree more. Some of my friends can talk hours on end about WoW. It drives me nuts. I can see that they have so much passion for overcoming challenges in their virtual world. It's just sad that there are so many challenges in the real world that are being ignored, but people rather level up their fishing on their paladin.
Abaddon: An Xbox 360 Indie game
I hope you will speak with your wallet if you actually care about these issues. Otherwise you're just another whiner.
That's a very good perspective on the issue. However, without the pure capitalism they have in game, EVE just wouldn't be EVE. The game is built on how cut-throat it is. So it's all right that major power blocks control the economy, because that's just the nature of the beast.
However, when a DEVELOPER OF THE GAME comes in and deliberately tips the balance in favor of an alliance he's not only friendly with, but helped RUN, then there's a real problem. The economic model is no longer cut-throat and capitalistic, it's just unfair.
What you describe makes perfect sense to me.
Your friends:
1) Feel like they have some control over that environment
2) Understand its rules, and how to get things done
3) Can quickly implement the solutions they have found, on their own or with a small group that they have some influence with
None of these things exist/are true in "real life". The worlds problems are not as easily solved as a raid-boss and even if they were (some problems are simple) they are impossible to implement because it requires getting through some sort of bureaucracy/other people/entrenched interests to get accomplished. Your friends could spend their whole lives working on "it" (whatever it is) and accomplish nothing. They can spend a few days/weeks and accomplish their task in WoW (or a software project, or anything else they enjoy).
How many geeks have gone through the phase of becoming very interested in a particular social/government problem, studied up on it and learned all they could, then come up with a solution. (This is the sort of things engineers/geeks will do - and the way they will approach problems) Then when they get done, they realize there is no way they can implement their solution because:
1) The issue is too steeped in politics/corruption/ignorance/bullshit
2) There is no way, as a single person, they can hope to affect any change - even with the best idea in the world
They then realize the futility of it all and go back to solving problems/accomplishing goals that they can actually do something about themselves.
Why, yes I have been touched by His noodly appendage. And I plan to sue.
Bah. The cut throat and capitalistic nature of the economy is based upon the conditions which are preset. The entire BPO idea was fundamentally flawed, and invention has not solved the problem. It will not, without much higher run BPC's.
My little site.
There's two main acts in any scandal like the one in which Eve is involved.
Act One: in which the offender denies everything, then finally admits the truth but tries to weasel out of doing anything about it.
Act Two: in which the story becomes so big as to affect the bottom line (this could mean stock price, subscriptions, or perceived loss in prestige and industry standing, which could limit future earnings). At this point, you start to see heads roll and something actually done about the problem.
Eve is right on the cusp of Acts One and Two. This little drama has become so common that it's become common behavior for corporations to wait to see if Act Two actually starts before acting positively.
As an Eve player and someone who has a fair amount of professional interest in MMORPGs, I plan to wait to see how CCP plays out Act Two before I give up on them and encourage other players to do so as well. But the clock IS ticking, and the intermission is almost over. You hear, CCP?
You are welcome on my lawn.
So in this case, the interesting dynamic I was waiting for was to see an emerging mob of the underpriviledged banding together and saying to the T2 cartel, "Yeah, you've got the good stuff and it's better than our crap, but we have so much crap now and we're dumping so much of it on you, that you are going to suffocate in the stuff and we win anyway."
Alas, it didn't get there, but I was hoping. By far the most fascinating thing about Eve is it's ability to encourage group dynamics. Real corporations comprised of hundreds of people, interacting with each other on the battlefield and in the economy, in a way that more closely parallels the real world than any game I've ever played. I've played more than my share of WoW, and it's got a strong appeal, but the group dynamics are absolutely nothing compared to Eve. There is no other online game with that degree of dynamic. For that, my hats off to CCP, cheating dev and all.
For the most part, only mature adults play Eve, I think. The appeal of the game is too deep, it's not a fast moving game most of the time. Manipulating stock markets, building corporations, obtaining resources, training over the course of a year of real time. It doesn't have the immediate gratification of a WoW, but it is amazing for what it is. I'd be interested to see what the player base would have been capable of on its own as far as restoring balance even in the presence of a monopolizing cartel of T2-lords.