Jun 15
Massive Date.Up
Just over a month now, and still (I’d like to think) going strong. Massive Update #5 is available for your perusal, at your leisure, if you so desire. Apparently, with a new format, too. Who knew? I know that 1up users have expressed enjoyment of the feature’s usefulness, but is anybody else liking it f’reals?
EVE Online’s tear-soaked drama session back in May has resulted in a stunning announcement: EVE Online is going to have a user-elected governance council.
This was unveiled in the New York Times article from last week, but a week has seen commentators taking up positions around the concept. Raph Koster is ambivalent about the decision, as he’s wanted something like that in previous titles he’s worked on. The inherently cynical nature of Massive game players, he fears, will stop them from treating it seriously.
“Anyway, the thing that makes me ambivalent about it is actually what the role of the group is, and how they do it. They’ll be flown out to CCP’s headquarters (on the company dime) and they will be there to check for evidence of corruption on the part of the staff. First off, a player-elected group of any sort can’t do this effectively in any way. Nobody just walking around an office can detect it effectively. Corrupt game admins don’t have posters on their walls saying “This is the gear I stole.” You can really only detect that sort of activity via careful monitoring of logs. In other words, an Internal Affairs department, which CCP already has.”
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EVE Online is going to have a what? You’re torturing me with anticipation!
I’ve been enjoying them.
Sure there’s some cross-over from stuff I’ve already read in other places, but there’s usually a few gems that I’ve missed as well.
Oh sigh. Thanks Alan.
There been any specific news on how the “user-elected governance” will actually work yet?
If the players are just supposed to fly there, and poke around, I think it’s a great PR job as they’ll never find anything, but if they are to be a conduit for specific high level complaints (like ombudsmen) it may work.
Though as has been pointed out in other places, if CCP add some “hard and fast” rules for developer interaction and make sure IA, CR and PR all do their job they shouldn’t really be needed.
Let’s wait to hear how they plan on doing this. So far, the only source we have is that article with the NY Times; we’ve got nothing from CCP. So whatever is being said so far is but mere speculation.
I say we wait until CCP elaborates on how it plans to do this, then we can critique and shred them to pieces, or praise their vision.