CCP is Killing Eve
It is easy to write off the dissatisfied players and bittervets as anomalies. But are they really only anomalies? Why has nearly every recent devblog produced a threadnaught? Why is subscription plateauing? Is it because the players are becoming less thankful toward CCP?
No.
It is not the players who are at fault. It is CCP, for CCP has forgotten what Eve is.
Eve is not remarkable because of its spaceships. It is remarkable because of its players. The players who run the market, engage in huge fleet fights, and create resources in and out of game are unlike those in any other game. The players are not numerous – only a hundred thousand or so – but they are active and passionate.
CCP, like other MMO creators, wants to expand. But that desire has consumed CCP and blinded it to the players’ wishes. CCP no longer cares about the players. It only cares about the revenue.
CCP’s latest actions have been complete fiascos because of their changed mindset and priorities.
Why does CCP want to implement microtransactions and Aurum? Microtransactions in a free-to-play model are understandable. But Eve is a pay-to-play game.
Why licensing fees for anything and everything related to Eve? CCP is trying to stick their hands into the pockets of players who create killboards, apps, and resources for free. Those players create things and share it because of their love for the community, not because they want to make money off of Eve.
Why only new content? CCP releases new features late and broken, promises updates in the future, and never touches them again. Large chunks of Eve are nearly a decade old and feel like abandonware.
This complete disregard for those who made Eve what it is is incredibly saddening, and I cannot help but wonder what Eve will be in a few years if that continues.
Yarrbear Tales 
Consider that CCP considers old parts of the game and code from those components Legacy code, which they have, (Through Team BFF), continued to work on anyway, and that 8 year old code becomes a unwanted timesink.
The new Carbon Framework and UI are among the first steps in replacing all this old code, and updating those forgotten features, while allowing for vast improvements in game design, and reduced lag through code optimization and new developments.
There is no reason to believe that CCP has forgotten the playerbase, or is conveniently focused on revenue rather than player retention. Future changes to EVE, are dependent on these changes, while the implementation of them must allow for old code to retain it’s function.
A lot of work is going into improving EVE, reducing lag, and widening the target market to bring in new players. 8 years from now, where will we be? Beholden to old technologies, or richer for our experience, and functionally set in the future with firm footing?
EVE is expanding, adding new horizons, and paving the way for future technologies. From my perspective, that can only mean good things to come, though I am disheartened by the playerbase reaction to all this. Change is a good thing; we should be willing to embrace it.
change is fine, as long as they don’t try to dip into the pockets of those trying to enhance the game experience for no reward, bar a few donations. How the Devs can think this is good news is beyond me. Greddy ****s.
Since when did you become such a bitter vet?
Since CCP stopped caring about the players.
Change is a good thing, but are these the correct changes? Making the game more like the Sims makes it less like EvE. Building an entirely new engine to make the game run better is fantastic, but most of the dev effort has gone to making new things, like Incarna, run at all, thereby wasting the potential benefit to EvE. Carbon is a big step forward. If we polled the player base whether they wanted to use that tool for new ship models, or a working UI, or space barbies, which would they select? And as far as attracting new players goes – what does CCP think will happen the first time a space barbie player undocks and gets owned and podded by a hardened vet with no portrait? They quit.
As CCP says themselves, EvE is hard.
I think you are right. CCP doesn’t seem to be using the CSM either, once they got certain players to jump on the nerf 0.0 to hell bandwagon. Luckily, there is WOT!
Devil’s advocate here: If CCP only cared about the revenue, they would charge $8.99/month and sucker in a lot more people (some who think that amount is less than $99/year no doubt).
PREACH BRUTHA
Sad to hear CCP thinks this is a good idea.