14 DAY TRIAL // CCP, the Icelandic publisher of MMOG EVE Online, has recently decided that players all over the world, active in the game, will be able to elect a nine-man Council of Stellar Management, with a mandate from the player population to talk directly with the producers of the game on matters relating to game changes, player experience and new features.
EVE is not a regular player in the ever expanding MMO market. Although the game was launched in May 2003, it is still regularly updated. It's not a clear direct competitor to World of Warcraft and has created a niche on the market in which it thrives. EVE is billed as a more serious and mature game than the other MMOs. At the core of the game lies a sci-fi setting complete with ship-to-ship action, trading, resource mining and a lot of criminal activities. Space stations complete with human form avatars are set to be introduced in a future expansion. EVE has an in-game economy that accepts piracy, racketeering and theft and has drawn media attention for the exploits of several of the game's high ranking players and for the complicated in-game economy. What people rarely talk about is the close knit community that develops between EVE players, of which there are around 250,000 active.
Part of EVE's success is down to the way the developers at CCP are handling relations with the fans. Every patch and update is rigorously tested in real in-game situations and feedback is encouraged. So, it is not a total surprise that the Council of Stellar Management will be set up. Its members will travel to Iceland to talk with the developers face to face and request certain improvements that the players see fit. If the CCP denies any request, it will also have to provide a clear explanation as to why it cannot or it will not implement it.
Although an interesting foray into on-line democracy, it will be hard for the thousands of EVE players to develop a system that will let requests trickle to the Council and then to the developers. The developers have also stated that this is not an attempt at "democracy", as that concept means too many different things to different people. In our book, any attempt to engage with players is a democratic effort. As feedback regarding this initiative appears, we'll be sure to let you know.