CCP Zulu has once more sallied forth from behind the barricades. Once more he has been sent scurrying back to the trenches by a fusillade of fire from the awaiting muskets of EVEs citizens. And small wonder:
“Over the past days and weeks, CCP has been doing extensive and intense introspection and revitalization. The result of this is a refocusing and reprioritization on a scale unheard of within our company.
These are indeed defining times”. – CCP Zulu
Defining times indeed. Defined, it seems, by yet another Dev Blog of no substance with the usual :soon: / :awesome: hints at great things ahead. We have, of course, heard all of this many times before (a la Hilmar’s “you called bullsh*t on us” speech) and witnessed the depressingly predictable results – or rather lack of them. EVE’s contentious issues used to be about lag (a fairly common issue in online games) and the merits of nano ships or if Amarr were OP. Now it seems as if the conversation revolves less around EVE and more around the strategy, approach and communication skills of CCP itself.
EVE of course has had its defining moments – the infamous GHSC heist, The Great War, the fall of Band of Brothers, the routing of CVA, EVE Bank scams, and so on and so forth. It’s worth noting of course that these ‘defining moments’ were not scripted by developers or written in code but emerged unbidden by the actions and efforts of the players.
It very much remains to be seen what CCP has in fact planned to ‘deliver’ and the hints coming from certain quarters of the CSM suggest that even with CCP there is a conflict as to what should be produced which is less than encouraging news. For now we can only watch and wait to see if CCP really can pull EVE from the brink.
C.