Thursday, October 20, 2011

The 20%, the 79%, and the 1%


By now everyone will have heard the news that CCP is slashing their staff by about 20%.

First of all, I want to express my condolences to the 20%, many of whom are going through the roughest time in their professional careers. Some of them I knew personally, and they will be missed.

Second, I want to express my sympathies towards the 79%, the remaining staff who, in the coming months, either implicitly or explicitly, are going to be pressured to work longer and harder to help CCP recover from the consequences of disastrous strategic decisions that they had little or no voice in.

And finally, I have a few questions for the 1%, the top staff at CCP who made those decisions.

* Have you really accepted that this is your fault, or do you still cling to the illusion that this is the fault of "pesky" players who just don't understand your awesome vision, and who should feel honored to be permitted to pay you to implement it?

* Are you really sincere about this change of direction by CCP, or do you consider the refocusing on EVE just a temporary bump in the road?

* Have any of you accepted responsibility, either by resigning, accepting demotion, or taking a pay cut?

I wonder what the chances are that any of the above questions can be answered by a "yes"?

20%...? 79%...? or 1%...?

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I know, I know, but I can only do it once

The twin devblogs released by CCP Hellmar and CCP Zulu mark the start of what I hope will be a very welcome and overdue change in direction for CCP. From my vantage point as a CSM, I am cautiously optimistic, though there are many battles yet to be fought.

But a word of caution that I hope will not be drowned out by the chorus of attaboys and +1's from the EVE community...