Welcome to the nineteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than 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, who 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 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?
Uh. I admit that the recent back and forth regarding the CSM has been something that I have not been all that interested in. Something hit the fan while I was on vacation and the result has been a lot of teeth-knashing, emo raging and speculation... that simply doesn't interest me all that much. It is hard to generate sympathy for people who not only volunteered for the CSM but actively campaigned for it, all the while knowing what they were signing up for. Now all we're getting is a bunch of whining about it. I have zero sympathy.
Uh. I admit that the recent back and forth regarding the CSM has been something that I have not been all that interested in. Something hit the fan while I was on vacation and the result has been a lot of teeth-knashing, emo raging and speculation... that simply doesn't interest me all that much. It is hard to generate sympathy for people who not only volunteered for the CSM but actively campaigned for it, all the while knowing what they were signing up for. Now all we're getting is a bunch of whining about it. I have zero sympathy.
The above statement is erroneous in specific. Others (Like my friend CK) have addressed that issue, so I'll leave it. But the CSM has operated well over the years since it was established (by CCP btw) and the rules are plainly posted for all of us to read.
In my humble opinion the CSM is extremely worth it. Years ago I served on a similar forum group for Adobe and we had significant impact on the development of several important pieces of software, mostly Photoshop. Was it easy? No. Did the developers always implement our ideas? No. But we didn't expect them to either. It's called a two-way street people, give and take, back and forth. But enough about that, other people care about this more than I do, so I'll let them speak to the issue. I have a slightly different take that I'd like to share.
I don't want Eve to die. So many great companies with great products simply don't make it. It happens. Personally I'd hate to see CCP fail. So for Eve to last, I want CCP to succeed and prosper. A strong CCP means a longer life for Eve. If that means CCP needs to expand their offerings then I fully support that idea. Eve is a great thing, but it isn't for everyone. New avenues to a wider audience is what DUST and Incarna represent, an expansion into new markets, new audiences and new opportunities to cross-promote. But more importantly to grow revenue.
I don't understand Incarna, but I also don't understand the Twilight phenomena and it is making tons of money. I want CCP to make tons of money, to keep Eve healthy and in development and improvement cycles for years to come. This is classic expansion growth people, diversification of product offerings and revenue generation. It might not impact the game immediately, but without it there won't be an Eve much longer.
The CSM can be part of that process, guiding and influencing the path of Eve's growth... or they can be regulated to the sidelines. As far as I can tell, that decision is largely in their hands.
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