CCP Layoffs

CCP just laid off 20% of its task force. It's nothing the CSM can really say about it, so these are my personal thoughts...

We still don't have clear answers as to who got laid off, but the first I can see a sizeable part consists in "new" hires and WoD people.
The part that annoys me is that the people responsible are still going to be there to repeat their stupid mistakes.
It's fairly simple... Layoffs happen because cash is not available.
Cash is not available because subscription for Eve are not where they should be, and the growth does not provide indication enough that the prospect are overwhelmingly positive, so investors are not going to poney up cash if there's no good prospect.
The reason the subs are not where they should be is because of 2 failed InCarna expansions. We warned CCP it would happen, employees warned it would happen, and yet they went through with it.
Hilmar may have come forward to take the blame, and that's fine he's the CEO after all, but eventually one has to realize that Hilmar bases his decisions based on more than just himself. "People" had been pushing for that ridiculous plan. Yet they don't seem to have taken any blame for that.

In addition to which NeX could have been a success and a show for growth. Once again the release was botched, and the people responsible for the insane pricing structure are still around.

Bad decisions happen, especially when you try things out. A string of bad decisions in the face of contrary evidence however should result in sanctions.

Lay-offs, if they're unavoidable, are a good opportunity to get rid of the dead weight accumulated over the years. In every company there's people who are redundant, unproductive, and some who got there because of nepotism, sometimes all of the above. On this scale it's unavoidable that good people get eliminated who shouldn't be, but they can be a minority.

It seems that instead of axing the people responsible and the dead weight, CCP managed to botch its round of layoffs as well... Sad...

So once more, good luck and godspeed to the good people at CCP who got axed.

Once more into the breach, my friends

Verily, the bards will tell the tale of those valiant knights who went on to storm the castle, forsooth! Or something.

We showed up fresh for the meetings. There was one item on the agenda and that was to solve the non-vanity microtransactions. We went on over the messages, the historical and recent posts, we went over the intentions behind the words, past and present, we tried to tackle the problem in broad terms, in precise examples, eventually settled on leaving the easy stuff aside and attacking the problem by the middle (the grey areas).

We discussed the merits of precise (as in contractual) statements as opposed to vaguer statements. We discussed the definition of words. It wasn't easy. But we understood our mutual stances and worked from there.

Then we worked on the statements that each (the CSM and CCP) would publish following this summit separately then compared notes. Upon doing so, a 2 hour discussion flared up on an agreement we had met yesterday where one of the party was not in agreement anymore. Except it turned out they were and what each meant was not what the other meant. All in all, we all finished and agreed on the respective statements and went through with them.

Those statements are being translated, rereviewed and published most likely today.
There are always caveats when we can't talk about absolutes in such a tense situation. But I would advise the reader not to nitpick too much the wording.
I take the fact that CCP and the CSM argued so much over the definition of words and the statements in general as a sign they mean what they say.

The result is positive to me and I get out of the summit satisfied that I have done my job correctly, even though some things didn't go as far as I would have wanted (or as soon), but progress has definitely been made and the statements as they are stand on their own and it is my personal impression that this should restore a situation where we can finally start shooting one another again.

It is less important, but in addition to these things, we were shown parts of the next Eve marketing campaign (looks great), and received some surprising and welcome news as to the directions and progress several teams had made with their projects.

I am still in transit back from Iceland, and couldn't post yesterday due to hotel internet malfunction, but I'll be back home in a few hours.

If the devblog gets published and you have questions, I will log into Eve and here and on eve-o etc right as soon as I'm back home, so don't hesitate to ask questions.

Edit: while the released blog doesn't specifically address it: the player economy will not be circumvented. a painted/remodeled ship bought in the NeX store will require the regular version to be provided as well as AURUM.

Emergency Meeting

Day 1 of the emergency meeting is practically over. Now we have the "informal meetings" that happen over dinner and beer. (No, these are not attempts at buying us off, though I'd love that).

I won't be able to discuss some specifics of the meetings until the thing is over and we've cleared everything, but a status update is in order.

The atmosphere within the attending CSMs was relatively relaxed. Unlike other times, there was no discussion about World of Tanks or other non-CSM things however and all of the time spent yesterday was spent talking about the issues. There is general consensus on the situation with some slight nuances when it comes to specifics.

Today, we started with the "easy stuff". InCarna perception, CQ, Nex Store useability and pricing structure, we also touched up a bit on the 99 dollars program. Tension was present in growing quantities over the day, but the conversations were constructive and not overly confrontational. Points were made clearly and unequivocally, but in a decent atmosphere.

The Employees within CCP who don't participate in the meetings and knew us took the time to discuss aspects of the issues during lunch and breaks, on both sides, either appreciating our perspective or playing devil's advocate or providing mitigating (but still reasonable) points to the discussion.

As far as the meetings are concerned, progress has been made on some points, elements of answers have been found for others. Overall I deemed this day positive with one caveat I will get into after the public announcement has been made (note to self:230).

The toughest day will obviously be tomorrow, and we'll see how that goes, but considering the conversations we've had both with people who will participate to those sessions and others, I have good hope things will turn out fine. Hope I won't be proven wrong.

Sorry for not getting into the gritty details, but it would be unfair to promise or incite to rage either way until things are set in stone.

Now off for debriefing with the CSM delegates. Will update tomorrow.

PS: I don't have *real* internet access, please repost this to the appropriate channels as appropriate.
PPS: Sorry for not answering all your evemails, there was just too many to respond to individually, I read them all up to yesterday.
Stephan aka Meissa Anunthiel