This post is gonna be long as I'm probably not going to post about Eve for 'a long while'.....
It's been hard to remember the way I created some accounts. There've been a lot of iterations of 'trial' accounts in Eve. I've waffled before and placed a link to the promotion of the day just as many times. 7 day trial, 21 day trial, 30 day trial, Alpha accounts....
With alphas playable all the time it's not a 'real' trial account let alone a demo. No bad thing for a gamer. If a gamer knows what they want but there are catches. The evolution of trial to always on Alpha to Alpha with freebie goodies to Omega with more freebie goodies is as typical as CCP. CCP is CCP. Marketing and make money sense. It's both good and bad for the customer in the long run. A harsher perspective perhaps but I am a ye olde bitter vet and all. Hard to explain gut feelings. It's hard to not sound like a hater even if I lean that way and try to be (somewhat)balanced. CCP does as CCP does for the money, the gamer is a secondary consideration. I wish that was not so. Which is why I was surprised by the 7 day free claimable.
Anyway, the latest iteration of 'getting' gamers to play and hang around to spend cold hard cash is the equally convoluted recruitment link. Both a whole other ball game and yet now an intrinsically linked part of gamers 'trying' and 'staying' with the game. I'd say it's insidious but the gamer(both sides of the link mechanism) do get benefits. Worthy benefits; Which feels so off brand for CCP actions. Maybe I'm too cynical.
Eve Hermit has done two posts worth a read on the RECRUIT A FRIEND link. A look into the hows and whys of the system. In which he asked for readers to reply with their own links... Which I did.
A big Thank You to him as he used it(his follow up post here). So now my main account is 14 days good with Omega time and boosters for enhanced training. The rewards have become convoluted as I did the link with my main alt account to my main at the same time. The alt account got 1 million SP and my main got the training boosters. That main alt account or Second main was initially created with a link in reverse back in the day. Which got me thinking and I can't find where I read it now but there was a retroactive element to the system so even if the accounts already did the link with the second account creation, shouldn't there be a retroactive compensation instead of a message that it's already been done....
Yea my head hurts and I've just about got my head around whats what for now without delving deeper. The Eve player in me want every free morsel an account can get.... The bitter vet in me can't be bothered as the SP and training boost are not really worth the hassle. Easy to say when an account is sitting on 100's of millions of SP an extra 1 million is nice but not worth chasing into a mire of red tape bureaucracy for, not even for an Alpha alt. All a gamer perspective, all different in their own way.
Worth doing it to just see and say it's done. Worth it if you think it's worth it.
It's been no wonder during the free 7 days that all the chat channels were spammed with players sharing their own link. I was wondering what the deal was; So maybe it's too good to pass up. It's made me redo a sidebar on the blog to my own link. Of which I think 5 humans on this planet have used.... It's been used 6 times and I'm sure one of those was me creating my second 'main'.
Eve online's cashflow is CCP's priority, CCP will do what CCP will do and with luck gamers will get more value from their experiences. The 1 million SP is a bigger boon to newer less SP players. Veterans are only likely to join the new link recruitment for long-term benefits. Eve Hermit, if your reading this, post your link for me and others to use, all will benefit.
While the post to this point would be a natural end I can't shake the niggle to dig at CCP for the Mystery Code. Not in a vile way but as such a missed opportunity.
On this blog I've posted about Star Trek Online. I play it on PC and on Xbox(same game different playable experiences, unlike Eve and Echoes). Years ago on PC the only real purchase I made for the game was the Lifetime subscription. It was on sale and the perks were and to this day are STILL worth it. It always reminds me of Eve's Mystery code debacle. I sing form the hilltops about STO's lifetime sub being the one purchase I recommend(on sale, currently 50% off, not an affiliate or friend link!). In a comparison of STO's lifetime sub to Eve's mystery code, imagine every month your Eve account getting 500 PLEX. Mindblowing right!
CCP Mystery code what a waste of time, effort and promise, CCP the balls always been in your court!
To think the reason CCP did nothing with the mystery code is because the employee looking after it left. What an excuse! What does that say about CCP! What does that say to the players who bought it!
Fictional 'Steve' works in IT. He is paid to support users of the company, 'Steve' leaves the company and now the company doesn't have any IT support. Maybe the company should hire or promote a new support person.....Company says no...... CCP is CCP and I've still got 514 tons of salt to use as well.
OK I'll stop waffling now....
The community in and around Eve is by far one of the 'good things'. I can't leave this post on a sour note so if you've read this far and want more Eve related news and topics take a gander at Eve Hermit's posts; On Youtube I look at: Rushlock Media, HateLesS_Gaming and of course delonewolf.
o7
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