One problem that continues to make itself known when trying to talk to CCP, as a collective organization, is that of reception.
If you talk about CCP positively, the positive message will be embraced and proudly displayed. The circles of validation in use within the company, which many employees have embraced, result in a cycle of clinging to the positive messages and a pattern of reinforcement. These validations become a shield against criticism that is extremely difficult to breach.
If you talk to CCP in a neutral manner, the message is generally ignored for being too bland to write home about.
If you're negative about the message, well, your opinion tends to be dismissed. It's all but impossible to address points of concern with EVE Online or the company. Anything said that is negative seems to be treated as a personal point of contention with the workers, rather than the work itself; trenches are dug, and it becomes a situation of Us Versus Them.
I want to talk about the potential EVE Online has to be truly great. I want to speak gushingly about how cool the things players do in the game are. I want to be able to share a positive experience with other players and would-be players. With the state the game has been in since Dominion, I couldn't do it.
The last two years have distressing to behold; features that add little value to the end user experience were added in bulk. The balance of the game was left to languish while development resources were poured into pet projects. Bad things were happening, and the shields held until Incarna delivered a catastrophic blow to CCP's subscriber counts and the development of the Winter Expansion shifted into full on appeasement mode. Good things are finally coming, but these measures, which we have suffered long for, strike us as just that; a temporary bump in the road before the company goes back to the same bullshit that took us here in the first place.
How do I talk to you, CCP? What am I to do if the truth is not all roses? How can I talk to you about the game I, and many others, want EVE Online to be without being vilified or ignored by the men in charge of EVE's destiny? I can’t figure it out.
Unfortunately CCP may only listen when we all begin to talk with our wallets. But then I fear, it may be too late.
ReplyDeleteIf you talk negatively, yours will be a voice in a sea of bitter old vets and won't really be heard because of that (unless it's the best presentation of the same argument everyone else is making).
ReplyDeleteIt's harder to be positive in the current environment, but you underestimate the impact. It's the playerbase that will hear you, not CCP and many players could do with being reminded of the good things about EVE. It hasn't survived and grown for 8 years without reason.
If you get abused for your opinion, fuck 'em. You can be content in the knowledge that your detractors are so lost in their own discontent that you could give them free money and they'd complain it was the wrong denomination. The whining negative bastards should find something else to spend their energy on. I'm sick of them.
http://failheap-challenge.com/showthread.php?4109-How-does-one-talk-to-CCP&p=244044&viewfull=1#post244044
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