Friday, 15 April 2016

Final approach

Post #100 and this seems an appropriate time to wind up proceedings. I have been blogging for just about a year and fanfest is just around the corner.

Over the course of the year I have got to know so many wonderful people. It has been a privilege. Eve was and is an amazing game. Infact it is going through a bit of an Indian summer with the war going on and CCP taking it to new places and that is great to see. Recent financial returns suggest CCP are in a good place and the troubled times are firmly a part of history. Eve Valkyrie and Gunjack look like success stories and there are other games being developed. Exciting times.

However, being ever the contrarian, fanfest will likely mark my departure from Eve. The three possibilities that could avert that would be:
  1. NPC tax stick to be removed or
  2. Medium citadels are allowed to have markets
  3. Some other yet to be announced change that favourably impacts 1 and 2 above.
The choice of either bending the knee and use the company store or be taxed regressively is not one I am going to entertain as an independent player. Now I am pretty sure CCP have bigger fish to fry and keeping Kong a happy bunny is not on their priority list. So I have no expectation that these changes will be made.

The broader context to my decision are the other changes that have happened this year. SP extraction was a point of inflexion for me. Eve was about the journey. Now the journey has become irrelevant - you can just buy your way there, but the implication was that CCP were going in a direction that in terms of my game would be pretty much make Eve just like any other game out there. The proposed dailies although being "experimental" confirm this but Serenity suggests this is just the tip of the iceberg. With no journey, no unique gameplay and the sandbox option restricted to the alliances and oligarchs, the engagement for me has gone and it is time to move on.

Although Eve has drifted away from me that doesn't make it a bad game. It is a great game and has a fantastic community. But it isn't a game for me at this point. As I've mentioned before, I dumbly bought a 6 month sub so that account stays live until August. It is a zombie SP farm so there is no gameplay going on. So between now and then there won't be much to write about. Thus we have probably come to an end  because I feel it would be a bit hypocritical to write about a game I have effectively stopped playing.

Fly safe o7  

17 comments:

  1. I for one am sad to see you go friend. You were and are one of the most creative, ingenious and intelligently unique writers I've ever had the pleasure of working with. o7

    /N

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    1. Thank you. You are too generous. Writing for Crossing Zebras has been an absolute highpoint. If I did write something half decent then is was purely down the care, effort and support you and others invested in me. It is no fluke that CZ is nailing this war.

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  2. Woah! This would be a sad loss. You've been the best new blogger I've read in a while, tinfoil and all, SP disagreement or not. The NPC station tax issue (and lack of markets in Medium citadels) do feel like a shove in the back to play a certain way. I'm going to stay, see how things settle and then if my favoured way of playing is gone for good I'm going to try a few new things. If they don't take (probably won't - I'm stubborn) then I'll burn some ISK and go out with a bang.

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    1. Thanks you are very kind. Bottom line is if you are still having fun then keep playing :)

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  3. Sad to see anyone go from the EVE player base but I'm sure you will always keep half an eye on the game and meta

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    1. Well if you keep up the good work then it will be hard not to :)

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  4. I am sad to see you go, even if we disagreed on the CSM. Between Gevlon leaving and you now, the game is losing two significant and truly independent voices :(

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    1. I always enjoyed our sparring. Good luck with your election. And yeah Gevlon. My commute to work will never be the same again without reading his blog. Take care.

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  5. Why is buying your ships on a player run market so much worse than buying ships built by players?

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    1. Nothing wrong with that. To use your scenario, the question is why can't I buy and sell ships on my own market when other more powerful operators will have the opportunity. If the unfettered neoliberal laissez-faire vision that CCP adheres to is to be followed then everyone should have the opportunity to set up (and to fail) a market. As it stands only the groups with large amount of capital can do this. So the game is being rigged to provide passive income for a minority at the expense of the many and we will be taxed if we don't do that. This is the best scenario. There are other more alarming scenarios. Eve players are a creative bunch. If you haven't bought a 'permit' you could be excluded from a particular market for example either as a supplier or customer. Or.. well nevermind. If it doesn't concern you and you are having fun then it isn't an issue.

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  6. I have liquidize my assets into isk and have been docked in Hek for over a month. I'm trying to think of a way to make the new EVE fun, but if Citadels released as is, I'm looking for a new game. The last 5 years has been great for Dilagant but I just don't like way it's looking. Maybe CCP has a trick up their sleeve that will make it great but I fear they don't.
    Wish you the best, fly safe.

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    1. Maybe fanfest will surprise us. But if not, all the best o7

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  7. Will you blog about Fanfest, or is it goodbye permanently?

    I have to say, this is a particular shame. You may not have achieved notoriety, but for those of us who have read your blog, it has been insightful, humorous and always interesting.

    It will be a shame for Eve, and the blogging community in general, to lose you.

    Please don't go :(.

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    1. My expectation is that it is permanent. Again thank you for the kind comment. I have been taken aback by the response both privately and publicly and genuinely surprised that people actually read this blog. Very humbling. But if I am not playing the game then I do believe it would be hypocritical, parasitical even, to stand on a pedestal and talk about Eve.

      But I never say never. Maybe Eve will swing back my way or maybe I am just wrong. I will keep weather eye on developments certainly so who knows. Fly Safe o7

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    2. An now I know it is permanent after watching the keynote speech at fanfest. Yet more citadels, some new ships to oggle at, the usual CSM bollocks and an app. Nothing about SP but then there never has been at any of the events. The app looked good I guess. So that is it.

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  8. Good luck in your next adventure. With all the heat over the new taxes and player markets, I am curious to see how it actually affects the ecosystem, if at all. Interesting times ahead.

    "SP extraction was a point of inflexion for me. Eve was about the journey. Now the journey has become irrelevant".
    Watching a SP clock tick surely was Eve's greatest value. It sounds like a very boring journey.

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    1. Disagree about the journey aspect obviously. It was only dull if you didn't have the imagination. So It wasn't about watching the clock, it was about the challenge of working with the skills that you had and improvising. Much more of a challenge than just buying the solution. Now it is no challenge at all in that regard.

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