The Internet – The accolades are still pouring in several weeks after CCP Games’ wildly popular “16th Anniversary Rewards” campaign for the EVE Online MMORPG has come to a close, but some players are taking aggressive steps to voice their discontent. The “16th Anniversary Rewards” campaign was the latest in-game rewards campaign launched by CCP to celebrate yet another year of their flagship game’s existence. The rewards included thematic SKINs, in-game items memorializing important historical milestones, cosmetic items, and a significant distribution of skill points. With thirty-two potential rewards—one sixteen-reward set for “Alpha” players and another sixteen-reward set for “Omega” players—many players scrambled to log in at least sixteen days over a twenty-day period.
Pilots from all walks of completion have praised and shared concerns with the reward system. Responses have ranged from showing gratitude to CCP Games for making the rewards available in the first place, to disparaging CCP for maintaining a strict deadline that resulted in many pilots not obtaining the juiciest prize of one million free skill points. However, few forums have shared the plight of the “forgotten” players of EVE Online: Those who vowed “to never log into EVE again.”
“This is a complete and total outrage,” one such player shared on a public forum. “I vowed to never log into EVE Online again, but I have been playing since the beta! Where are the rewards for loyal players like me?”
“Exactly!” Another player responded, “After Phoebe, I unsubbed my carrier accounts and uninstalled the launcher from my computer, so where are my rewards? 1,250,000 skillpoints is huge!”
There are many players who have taken the vow to “never log into EVE again,” which is widely considered to be one of the most passionate expressions of protest against the direction of EVE Online development.
“It carries a significant aura with it,” said former CCP Executive Producer, ex-CCP Seagull, “When a player chooses to sever that connection to the game, isolating themselves from their friends and allies, choosing to never spin their ships again, it means something. But do they stop being a player? Of course not! They are still valued members of the EVE Online community.”
“It was definitely a major oversight,” said Community Manager CCP Falcon. “We tend to forget about the players who do not log in, but they still make up a substantial and influential part of our community. Look at the Mittani, for example. He runs the largest player alliance in the game and he barely logs into the client, if at all. Doesn’t he deserve rewards too?”
Speaking to gathered enthusiasts at Eve Down Under, CCP Hilmar promised reforms. “This neglected portion of our vibrant community will never again be forgotten. The tragedy of not awarding at least equal skillpoints to those who choose to not log in will not be repeated.”
Sources within CCP Headquarters in Reykjavik have shared that the “17th Anniversary Rewards” will be awarded to anyone who has proof of watching an EVE Online game trailer or at least speaking to someone who has. Although there are reports that some employees do not believe the reforms go far enough, the announcement has been endorsed by all of the candidates for the 14th Council of Interstellar Management.
In the meantime, the players who vowed “to never log in again” have opened a non-profit think tank to develop a means to leave negative feedback on CCP Games’ “Survey about XVI Anniversary Celebration.”
