CCP, the Time for Greatness Is Now

Last week, CCP released a dev blog about the CSM. Judging by the community reaction, it was a doozy. I'm referring more particularly to the newly released meeting minutes of the CSM Winter Summit. Here's a direct link if you don't want to give CCP's blog any traffic.

According to the general consensus, the meeting minutes painted a bleak picture of EVE and CCP. The words "dark" and "depressing" got thrown around a lot. I decided to read the minutes myself. As someone who has all but been on the CSM myself, I think I can speak with some authority on these matters.

I have to say that initially, the minutes didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary. There was a lot of the typical fluff: CSM members agreeing that the sov system and Citadels are broken, but having absolutely no idea how to fix them. And, of course, there was the standard begging for nerfs to highsec PvP, because highsec isn't safe enough.

Sort Dragon points out that the wardec system needs to be addressed to help retain players and avoid the harassment which is occurring from war dec corps targeting rookie corps.

You know, the usual.

But then I got to the final section, the "Summit Close". And yes, things got dark in a hurry. Here's a little taste of that section:

Yukiko Kami feels that there is only one team in development which addresses features which interests them and could address the concerns brought up.

Innominate is tired of the NPE stuff, working on it is cool and all, but short session gameplay is always being worked on with the same results.

Sort Dragon expresses worries that the Strategy Team will pick the wrong route and make the whole summit worthless... CCP Guard urges patience and good faith. Sort Dragon clarifies it's just a gut feeling he has. The want is there, but the allotted time to address problems at hand feels lacking.

Innominate has a feeling that very few of the developers are working on what they want to be working on, and that he and Sort Dragon feel that the producers are unable to get the time to work on the pain points brought up in the summit.

NoobMan feels there are more and more content creators leaving with fewer of them emerging.

NoobMan points out that the remaining players are more the smug survivors who still play the game despite the brutal state and stagnant nature.

Sort Dragon comments that some devs look defeated to him.

CCP Falcon and CCP Guard both agree that if they didn't see a solid and bright future for EVE, they wouldn't be here.

In a word, yikes. If this section went on any longer, we might be reading the first Broadcast 4 Reps post to make it into the meeting minutes. And if this sounds bad, remember that this is something CCP reviewed, edited, and chose to release to the EVE-playing public.

All that having been said, keep in mind that the Winter Summit took place in January, before we announced that CODE. had inflicted a record-breaking 2 trillion isk in damage for a single month. That news might've lifted some spirits.

Even so, the general atmosphere reflected by the minutes definitely carried an "EVE is dying" vibe. We know, in fact, that EVE is dying--for more Code.

Speaking of which, let's talk about saving this game. A few months ago, I wrote in explicit detail about precisely how CCP can save itself and EVE Online. As of this writing, CCP has not yet implemented my directives. It seems like they're going to need to, though.

Sort Dragon says the devs look "defeated"? We in the New Order can recognize that look, as we've seen it on the faces of so many highsec carebears and Anti-Gankers. The solution, as ever, is the Code. The CODE always wins. Always!

If CCP simply reads my MinerBumping post and acts on the wisdom they gain from it--I'd suggest they do it immediately and surprise us with a weekend patch--then they can start winning, too. Just think of what the next CSM meeting minutes would look like!