How it looks when business replaces passion

[Owledge]

Here is a download link for an internal bulletin of an online game company that got leaked to the public two years ago and gave such a disillusioning insight into what kind of mindset dominates enterprises like this today that very many players immediately cleared their accounts and unsubscribed permanently, even regardless of whether this was actually planned to be implemented no-matter-what or just talks about ideas.

http://eve-files.com/dl/244496
(password for the PDF is dominixevenews24)
For reference, the article with the link:
http://evenews24.com/2011/06/22/greed-is-good-purportedly-leaked-internal-bulletin-shows-ccps-refreshing-new-direction/

While I know very well how business people think these days and all the fear-based causes for it, it still was slightly puzzling to me how so much fear could dominate a business that provides a service that is virtually without competition. EVE Online is pretty unique; there isn't another game like that that people could move to if dissatisfied with it. But the document sheds light on the madness that stems from removing everything from the equation that is not of the beancounter world, so to speak. They actually see themselves as in competition with the whole of the entertainment industry. Thus, they are signaling a lack of confidence in the uniqueness of their product/service. They seem to totally not understand that there is a reason why people play this game and not any other. They are blind to sincere passionate fascination.

In a way, this is SO classical and fitting very basic metaphors. The heart is missing. They're dominated by a fearful mind. Their own hearts cannot 'see', thus that factor doesn't exist in their perception of the world.

Furthermore, at this point I realized a new strategy that CCP is running and that I also suspected regarding Blizzard (World of Warcraft): Because the customer base of an existing game won't accept certain profit-driven changes to the game, they develop a new game that incorporates all these changes (and thus attracting a different kind of consumer that then becomes the 'new breed' for the future).
Also an almost ironic part of this is that this strategy will draw resources away from the established game, which further reduces customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, a tragical aspect regarding CCP is that the new games they're developing are of a genre that the market is already filled with and that are already using all the new profit models, while the game they're 'draining and torturing' (EVE Online) is the one with a unique position in the market.

P.S.: And in very recent news, CCP hired a guy with 'many years of experience in the market'. A guy from Electronic Arts.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Owledge

[Flolfolil]

lolololol. my favorite part of everquest 2 is that you can't use the broker so you can't buy anything important unless you buy gold subscription....