ccp

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-07-22

This CSM seems to be bubbling over with ideas and enthusiasm despite other pressures! Let's hope it's well rewarded!

Mynxee has launched an IdeaScale site focussing on Low Sec issues in Eve Online. The basic idea (sorry) behind it is to get as many people involved as possible to throw their ideas into a pile and the ones that are the most popular will get submitted to CCP so they can put together a "Story". This is basically parlance devs use to build a framework of tasks into a queue. Basically.

Anyway, I'd best quote Mynxee as she sums it up better than I!

Quote:
I originally had the idea of confining ideas to the "Criminal Industry" theme that was discussed in my Focus Group. But ... brainstorming is better done in a more wide open environment. So...have at it. Whatever idea you have that you feel would improve Low Sec is welcome there.

In a few months, when themes and ideas have had a chance to coalesce and the community has had a chance to weigh in, the CSM will see if it is feasible to write Low Sec "Story" as suggested by CCP Greyscale at the June 2010 Summit and post it as a proposal.

"But CCP said Low Sec was off the radar for like FOREVER!" you cry in anguish. So? Doesn't mean we can't get our ideas documented and rally community support for them in a more organized fashion than Assembly Hall permits. Consider this a creative exercise and an experiment in community brainstorming. It's fun! If you enjoy it, participate! If you don't, no probs.

Take part here! Making Low Sec Matter

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-07-20

Welcome to the nineteenth instalment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This months topic comes to us from @evepress, and he asks: The CSM: CCP's Meta Game? - The CSM, an eve players voice to CCP. Right? In the grand scheme of things yes, the players bring up issues and the CSM presents them to CCP. But in its current iteration the CSM was supposed to be given small authority to assign CCP assets to projects that the CSM thought needed work on. As it has not come out this was not the case. So fellow bloggers, is the CSM worth it, has the CSM improved the game in any way, or is it just a well thought out scam by CCP to give us players a false sense of input in the game? What's your take?

It's all about the CSM, baby!

 read the rest of this post»

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-07-13

Frankly I am at a loss of what to post. I like to try to be upbeat while also delivering criticism but only if necessary. With the release of the latest CSM minutes I'm finding it hard to be upbeat and even harder to restrain from launching into a full on emo rage.

We've been misled for the last couple of years regarding resourcing being diverted to projects other than Eve and in the next 18 months we can't expect anything being really fixed because there are NO resources being applied to the current Eve client (read FW and other fixes et al) as we know it, instead they are diverted toward DUST514 and Incarna.

This may not bother you. In fact, it seems that the decision makers at CCP think this is the case. They are working on the premise that they are providing excellence which flies in the face of the evidence in this thread where an unprecedented and since unmatched level of support has been reached with not one Dev comment.  read the rest of this post»

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-07-11

Perhaps my last blog entry was taken a bit too far by some people because it seems Ankhesentapemkah has been having a little drama with CCP and achieved a level of infamy few would care for. Of course, noone beyond Ankhesentapemkah or CCP actually know the details and as such it's wise to stay a bit quiet on that one. So that's going to be the sum of my input on that subject, praise be to Google.

Moving away from that particular incident but still with the CSM, I notice a general sway now of CSM members toward a “we represent the players” stance away from “I stand for this particular issue”. However this was not the case during the elections with many being pushed and delivering promises on particular stances. I think one of the best examples of this general feeling is by Teadaze in this thread and confirmed later in the thread by Sokratesz.  read the rest of this post»

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-07-06

Look At Me

I'm just reading the latest issue of EON (number 20) and was just thinking to myself what a great community we have in Eve Online. Despite many ups and down we have a large number of Pilots who have grasped fully the ethos behind Eve Online and really shaken New Eden by the shoulders and screamed “Look at me!”.

A point that is sometimes missed is that Pilots are supreme beings amongst humanity. As Zapatero points out, from a sea of billions only 300,000 or so are chosen to be Pod Pilots. Think of it in those terms and a sense of perspective starts to dawn on you.

Oh, The Humanity!

He mentions in EON 020 about the hope of a crew being introduced into Eve and also better use of the human resource in Planetary Interaction, These are great ideas and something I would like to see too, perhaps DUST514 will be the answer here or are we maybe hoping for too much? You may find out in EON 020 where this is discussed!

Regardless of that, even at the more basic player level as a member of a small corp or even playing by yourself you still have the potential to be so much more. There is nothing to stop you from doing what others have done already with your own twist. You could be the new Molle or the new Dianabolic who are both mentioned in EON 020. You don't necessarily have to be better, just confident enough to try.  read the rest of this post»

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-06-26

Let's start at the beginning. First a move to new hardware was announced for Eve Online. TQ Level Up

Fantastic. It's all part of the continued growth of Eve Online and something to be applauded.

The estimated downtime was somewhere in the region of 6 hours, details of which are posted here:
http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1337468&page=1...

Then, disaster. And anyone who works in IT will tell you that when you least expect it, disaster can and will occur. There was a protracted delay in getting services online and throughout the player base were provided with timely information on progress and eta's as and when information was made available.

If you have dealt with a major IT incident as I have, you will know that sometimes if something is broken and someone quite reasonably asks when it will be fixed, frustratingly you often cannot answer as you need to know:

1.What is actually broken
2.What is then required to fix it

If you are at stage 1, the diagnostics stage, you cannot give an answer. Some people I have dealt with in my environment who are otherwise reasonable and intelligent seem to turn into petulant babies when an answer cannot be given. Others, probably a 50/50 split, understand and accept.That percentage is guesstimate and highly reliant on moods!  read the rest of this post»

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-06-16
See video

EDIT: Breaking Blog News - CCP StevieSG speaks out!

World Cup be damned. The last two weekends have been the ultimate in geekery for me and it's been bloody marvellous.

I've had TweetDeck on one PC and Gwibber on another chirping away soothingly in the background while watching the Alliance Tournament #8 on my HDTV in the living room. Settled on a luxurious leather upholstered reclining chair with drink of choice in hand. I simply can't imagine a better way to spend a few weekends - aside from inviting some other fellow Eve aficionados to join in too!

As this is the equivalent of our World Cup, it's fantastic to see CCP really getting behind it now. The dark years of no Eve TV seem to be over and the new age of streaming HD feeds and a full blown Eve TV Studio Final is very welcome indeed. Not many games can pull this off with such a sense of community and belonging. Eve is awesome.

I'll leave you with an idea, why not arrange events next year in strategically located pubs/bars with large screen TV and show the final there with a couple of hundred fans in different countries? Anyone interested in this then we may need to join forces! Get in touch.

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-112-05-31

Over at the Eve-O forums Dierdre Vaal of Eve University has launched a proposal in the Assembly Hall.

Essentially it is aimed at directing CCP to live up to it's own internal promise and corporate aim of "Excellence".

Citing such failures as Faction Warfare, Treaties (where did they go?!) and the launch of Tyrannis as but a few examples, all supporters are calling on CCP just to live up to this aim and not just pay it lip service.  read the rest of this post»

Transmitted by Max Torps | YC-111-10-08
See video

This was my second visit to Fanfest and I'm absolutely certain it wasn't the last!

Each time I've gone though I have been expecting some wild announcement or earth shattering news about the game that non-attendees would not hear about until afterwards. Each time I've been slightly disappointed. But that is the only thing I have been disappointed with, everything else is great fun and CCP really do pull out all the stops to make it as engaging and fun as possible.  read the rest of this post»

Arrival at Hotel Cabin