Backstage - OOC Forums
General Discussion => General Non-RP EVE Discussion => Topic started by: Casiella on 24 Jun 2011, 20:30
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http://www.evenews24.com/2011/06/25/ccp-hilmar-global-email-shows-the-reasoning-behind-ccp-zulu-devblog/
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It rolls out without a hitch, is in some cases faster than what we had before, this is the pinnacle of professional achievement.
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Currently we are seeing _very predictable feedback_ on what we are doing. Having the perspective of having done this for a decade, I can tell you that this is one of the moments where we look at what our players do and less of what they say. Innovation takes time to set in and the predictable reaction is always to resist change.
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After 40 hours we have already sold 52 monocles, generating more revenue than any of the other items in the store.
:eek:
I can tell you that this is one of the moments where we look at what our players do and less of what they say.
:evil:
I couldn't be prouder of what we have accomplished as a company.
:psyccp:
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Mirrors at https://www.evernote.com/shard/s1/sh/f090e08d-367c-4d93-a566-e6c928ffb6f3/653a52b102ff8802745b1a1733085c03 and http://www.machine9.net/blog/?p=615 as the original is melting.
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<Misan> Honestly if it was at $5 they would probably have ~$10k plus already
<NKato> ^^^^
<Misan> The troll types would have eaten it up
<NKato> Business sense.
<NKato> But yeah, the trolls would have just bought the monocles anyway
<Morwen> yeah
<Misan> All they needed after that would be to add a classy top-hat
<Morwen> lol
<Misan> Then they'd be rolling in cash
From IRC. :psyccp:
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The email has the feel of a captain going down with his ship.
"These are the moments that define us," in other words, "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."
I always like the old saying, "evil prevails when good men do nothing."
o7
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If he wants to know what we do, and not what we say, he can check his account management metrics.
I suspect they're saying a lot over the last 48 hours.
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http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=failure%20cascade
The inevitable demise of a group due to a growing amount of errors. EVE Online coporations use this term to describe other corporations as they come to an end.
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(http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8475/durrv.jpg)
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(http://www.ponychan.net/chan/pic/src/130897127560.jpg)
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This is what we call "foreshadowing".
We just wiped out the login server for Eve Online, and it accidentally took their website out at the same time
CCP griefs way harder than these guys
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My mouse cursor is hovering over the cancel subscription button. Not that my 'recurring' subscription has actually recurred in, err, a while. But still.
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It's funny what a difference in perspective does. The players see a flaw in the system and they see a glorious new beginning. You can tell some of it is preparatory morale building because the employees that play eve that login are going to hear an entirely different viewpoint for the entire weekend, and I'm guessing it might cast some doubt on the overall message. As horrible as it sounds though, I think he's right in differentiating what people say and what they do, because forums have always been a source of negativity and angst. People don't compliment when they're happy, but they complain when they aren't happy.
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People don't compliment when they're happy, but they complain when they aren't happy.
Speak for yourself.
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People don't compliment when they're happy, but they complain when they aren't happy.
Speak for yourself.
I can't believe I used to defend CCP and try to get friends to play. I really do feel betrayed, whether that's logical or not.
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People don't compliment when they're happy, but they complain when they aren't happy.
Speak for yourself.
Actually, I did. :)
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No, you said "people don't". Lots of people -- including lots of us here -- do speak up when we're happy. :)
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No, you said "people don't". Lots of people -- including lots of us here -- do speak up when we're happy. :)
That's a bit of a surprise. I rarely see that, but I'll take your word for it. Clearly it was a generalization. If it doesn't Apply to you, you need not take it personal.
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I guess I should generalize then: what about the growth from word-of-mouth advertising that EVE has received? Doesn't that count?
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I guess I should generalize then: what about the growth from word-of-mouth advertising that EVE has received? Doesn't that count?
Yes, absolutely. :o
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That does look like a total fake, though.
If it isn't... I'm way beyond done, but I doubt it is.
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Apparently, Navigator nuked one of the threads on EVE-O saying something to the effect of "internal communications may not be posted on the forums", so...
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If CCP disclaims it, I might believe them. But their credibility is so shot right now, that's not even a given.
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http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1537710&page=1#1
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http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1537710&page=1#1
:bash:
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I finally start to get into EVE and all this happens.
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3 of my 5 accounts pulled. Couple weeks before they go offline. If between now and then CCP come out and address the issue of $$ for non-vanity items and indicate they will never go that way, I'll resub. Otherwise, I'll be down to 2 accounts, and unsubbing the second shortly (it's a new account still running off the 30 days free trial thingy for now).
That email is too much.
EDIT: Ombey (of Ombey 2d Maps) just unsubbed.
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Miz, I suggest you listen to the recording of DJ FunkyBacon's show a few hours ago (http://www.eve-radio.com/media/funkybacon20110624.mp3) on Eve Radio. He had a very level-headed discussion with past and present CSM members and some other people, and it brought up the issues without reeking of whine and troll.
Of course, hissyfits and trolls are making things worse, but there are real issues at stake here.
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I was more shocked by reading this http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/CCP-Games-Reviews-E159347.htm than Hillmar's actual e-mail.
Hillmar's response was simply a confirmation for the management style hinted at above. I'm fine with management thinking they know better than their competitors, I'm ok with management thinking they know better than their customers, I'm not ok with management thinking they don't need to listen to their customers.
What was that research again? Satisfied customers tell 3 of their friends on average of their good experience, poorly treated/insulted customers tend to tell 20 of their friends on average.
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I was more shocked by reading this http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/CCP-Games-Reviews-E159347.htm than Hillmar's actual e-mail.
Hillmar's response was simply a confirmation for the management style hinted at above. I'm fine with management thinking they know better than their competitors, I'm ok with management thinking they know better than their customers, I'm not ok with management thinking they don't need to listen to their customers.
What was that research again? Satisfied customers tell 3 of their friends on average of their good experience, poorly treated/insulted customers tend to tell 20 of their friends on average.
You can bet that I'll be trying to get existing customers to quit, and I'll be warning anyone else off of all of CCP's products. I'm vindictive that way. :twisted:
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Miz, I suggest you listen to the recording of DJ FunkyBacon's show a few hours ago (http://www.eve-radio.com/media/funkybacon20110624.mp3) on Eve Radio. He had a very level-headed discussion with past and present CSM members and some other people, and it brought up the issues without reeking of whine and troll.
Of course, hissyfits and trolls are making things worse, but there are real issues at stake here.
Oh there's of course serious issues to be dealt with here, but patience is the name of the game here. We're basing all the rage on tiny brainstorming tidbits which aren't anywhere near implementation into Eve, nor even close to real planning. We can't expect CCP to sit on pins and needles, licking our nuts every time we get a hardon for raging at Eve.
And seriously... I really am getting tired of the "Pay2Win" bullshit propaganda. There was one mention of possible ammunition sales through Aurum, without even saying whether or not it'd be better than the existing Faction/T2 ammo... and one giant article saying how bad an idea that was. If anything, the damned document leaned against such things, heavily.
The so called 'issues' that people quote as their reasons for leaving? Doesn't really exist. They're constructed on something that's so blown out of proportion, compounded by outright lies and misinformation, along with a downright ridiculous expectation that their personal opinion should matter. Newsflash, it really really really shouldn't.
Give them some freakin' time to hash things out internally. They're people with jobs, like everyone else, and none of us can demand of them to sacrifice their personal lives and time just because the community is having a hissyfit over practically nothing.
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They also talked about standings for aurums as a possibility.
You want to put up a highsec POS, but don't have the standings? You have several options at the moment: Storyline missions, Faction warfare plexes, hiring a player to create a corp for you, hiring players to temporarily boost your corps standings.
Other than storyline missions, the other methods require player interaction.
You put standings for Aurums into game, then you remove points of player interaction. You want your highsec POS? You don't have to interact with other players, you don't have to grind if you don't want to, you can just pay for it.
You have terrible standings with a faction after umpteen missions against them, and you can no longer enter their space? Well, a few Aurums, and you can avoid that consequence of your actions too.
Jump clones too. Standings for Aurums removes the entire point of player-created services such as Estel Arador Corp Services.
So, standing for Aurum removes consequences for player actions, removes reasons to interact with other players and directly competes with and damages player-created content.
Does that not go against several of the things that make EVE what it is? Consequences of actions and player created content ?
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They also talked about standings for aurums as a possibility.
You want to put up a highsec POS, but don't have the standings? You have several options at the moment: Storyline missions, Faction warfare plexes, hiring a player to create a corp for you, hiring players to temporarily boost your corps standings.
Other than storyline missions, the other methods require player interaction.
You put standings for Aurums into game, then you remove points of player interaction. You want your highsec POS? You don't have to interact with other players, you don't have to grind if you don't want to, you can just pay for it.
You have terrible standings with a faction after umpteen missions against them, and you can no longer enter their space? Well, a few Aurums, and you can avoid that consequence of your actions too.
Jump clones too. Standings for Aurums removes the entire point of player-created services such as Estel Arador Corp Services.
So, standing for Aurum removes consequences for player actions, removes reasons to interact with other players and directly competes with and damages player-created content.
Does that not go against several of the things that make EVE what it is? Consequences of actions and player created content ?
The so called 'issues' that people quote as their reasons for leaving? Doesn't really exist. They're constructed on something that's so blown out of proportion, compounded by outright lies and misinformation, along with a downright ridiculous expectation that their personal opinion should matter. Newsflash, it really really really shouldn't.
Give them some freakin' time to hash things out internally. They're people with jobs, like everyone else, and none of us can demand of them to sacrifice their personal lives and time just because the community is having a hissyfit over practically nothing.
Like it has been stated several times, it's still just a brainstorming document which mostly leans against such ideas. There's barely mention of P2W in the document, and yet people are going batshit insane over it. Patience. Give them some time to answer things in due time.
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Jump clones too. Standings for Aurums removes the entire point of player-created services such as Estel Arador Corp Services.
Considering the prices CCP is tossing around, I seriously doubt many will choose to buy jump clone standings when Estel Arador is free and unlimited.
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And what of the statements made in the past, in 2010, when the "plex for remap" kerfuffle happened, and CCP told the CSM that there would not be any non-vanity microtransactions in EVE?
And now CCP are still talking about non-vanity microtransactions in EVE.
"I know you said no before, but what if...." seems the attitude here.
Coupled with revelations from past CSM that they were shown these things, but told NDA applied, so couldn't say anything. Several CSM unsubscribed, iirc. People thought it was burnout, but maybe it wasn't.
I want to see more concrete things, but at the moment, it doesn't look great.
this Captains Quarters is disappointing. There are clipping issues when the characters walk and sit, and this is with the default, ordinary clothes that they've had for 6 months to do animations and stuff for. There are other flaws, such as a bug that I reported in one of the new player missions, which they had a month to sort, and have not yet done so.
These things make these microtransaction revelations turn from :psyccp: into :evil:
If CQ had been more impressive, then I think there would have been far less outcry.
The next book is out in December, I think. Maybe that will help.
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http://kotaku.com/5815445/furious-over-microtransactions-eve-online-community-explodes-with-rioting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKAybfeq0yU&feature=related
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I really am speechless. :|
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I don't really have anything to say. I suppose it's gone beyond the pain threshold, in a manner of speaking.
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Oh there's of course serious issues to be dealt with here, but patience is the name of the game here.
Sure. Let's give it another 8 years shall we? Maybe they'll get something right if everyone crosses their fingers and behaves themselves? Fuck that. You have to tell them what you think anyway you can and hope they listen before it's too late.
Alienating the exact people that made your game a success is not the way to go about things. So, you might see a 10% fall in subscriptions initially, but that 10% are the subscribers that have stuck with you for years, when that 10% are the subscribers that have created tools and apps and content for your game, when they are the public commentators, the opinion-formers, the bloggers and the tweeters that have generated all that word-of-mouth that made your game a success then it will snowball. 10% could easily grow to 20%. 30% even. Even if you don't lose that heavily in subscribers, there are intangible losses that result even from a dozen high-profile people that are heavily active in your player community.
There's a lot of noise right now. It's the silence that could follow that will be the real problem.
Still, I openly admit that I want CCP to fail. As harsh as that sounds. I think they need to make some tough choices: change of leadership, downsizing the bloated staff levels, prioritising workloads and a concerted effort at open and honest communication internally and externally. Once the dust has settled, they are going to have to work hard to win people over. They have had years of taking Eve's players for granted. They have operated on the assumption that Eve is a cash cow to be milked and that their customers will roll over and take whatever CCP want to thrust into their ruined anuses. 'Cept this time, CCP didn't even bother with the lube in their supreme arrogance. I hope they pay. They need taking down a peg or two. Then, maybe, just maybe, we'll see a return to the values and vision that made both Eve and CCP a bit special.
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What I posted in my reason of unsubing all four of my accounts:
This is one of the moments where CCP need look at what your players do and less of what they say. We are done.
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CCP: What....what...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
This entire thing could have been avoided if CCP had a
(http://queercorner411.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/sassygayfriendhamely.jpg) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvgq8STMGM)
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An internal brainstorming document where a few tiny tidbits gets pulled out, blown out of proportion, then raged about. Oh, and the price of a fucking monocle.
Unsub over that? Really?
And what of the statements made in the past, in 2010, when the "plex for remap" kerfuffle happened, and CCP told the CSM that there would not be any non-vanity microtransactions in EVE?
And now CCP are still talking about non-vanity microtransactions in EVE.
"I know you said no before, but what if...." seems the attitude here.
This, really...
It's not the specific events in isolation, it's the general pattern and the lack of trust. It's not a sense of entitlement, it's a sense of betrayal.
Not only are they 'brainstorming' (and yes, I do also feel it is fairly legitimate in an internal newsletter to explore ideas) something they said they'd never do, but the fact a high-up dev is making what appear to be personal arguments in favour of it, is alarming:
I don't really understand the logic behind it, but that's probably because I've been using virtual goods sales for a long time now and actually prefer them over subscriptions. Why? Because they let me manage my spending, and I'll sometimes prefer to buy a better experience when engaging in my hobby.
(and the "buy a better experience" really rankles with me as a concept, btw ¬.¬) but yes, this isn't CCP policy and there was also a (imo very reasonable and well thought-out) counterpoint in the newsletter. But people want to be reassured that this isn't going to go beyond vanity items - and have been offered no guarentee that it won't be. There's a worry that the floodgates have now been opened. To compound this, if the leaked email isn't fake, then it appears a lot of thought and research has gone into the microtransaction idea, which goes beyond brainstorming and seems particularly underhanded after telling the playerbase otherwise. Which leads us back to the trust issue.
I think it's also worth remembering that yes, ok, the community and forums can devolve into shitflinging and trolling, negativity and angst very easily and it snowballs. But also that people genuinely love the game - they are invested, it's their hobby etc And I think people do genuinely feel that if microtransactions came into the game 'for realz', beyond the stupid monocles, then it would be killing eve. I think both the community and ccp feel they want what's best for the game, but seem to have diametrically opposing views about what that is.
Ideally, it needs a) CCP to say that they were just throwing ideas around, and microtransactions will be limited to vanity items and not effect the gameworld, and this was always the intention or b) CCP to say that they were genuinely considering it, but on reflection and listening to player feedback, they do not feel it's the right direction for the game.
The suggestion (again, under the assumption the email is genuine) that it's better to see what the players do rather than listening to what they say is extremely unhelpful with regards to the relationship between CCP and the playerbase.
This is a useful link for understanding why certain people feel betrayed/angry/disillusioned/disappointed at this point:
http://eve.beyondreality.se/NeXCQResponse.html (http://eve.beyondreality.se/NeXCQResponse.html) (particularly with regards to the leaked newsletter: "We had been lied to.")
(oh, and lol @ izzy. you're probably right.)
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It's really a bit wonky.
So they want to look at what players do, and not what they say. That is actually right, since I know that trend from every MMO forum I've visited in the last 9 years. Something gets changed, there's an outrage. Players who dislike the changes are much, much more vocal about it than those who agree or simply don't bother. Add in all those bitter vets from the last big change that spelled the doom for [TheGame] and the party starts.
Then consider that only a fraction of the players is active in the forums.
But I still groaned when I read it like Hilmar stated it. We have to look at what the players do! Hey, 40 guys bought a Monocle in under two days! And that was more than the other clothes, which still is a rather disappointing number given their insane prices, too. That is so awesome, given EVE's tiny playerbase.
Anyhow, on the topic of the thing: It is widely blown out of proportions if you ask me. CCP has the diplomatic skill of a drunken monkey, but when you get to the facts it's rather vague and meaningless things we're talking about. You can buy a PLEX and sell it for tons of ISK to buy your shinies since years, that didn't change much. P2W is the wrong argument here. Player involvement and therefore avoid creating items out of thin air is a much more important topic. PLEX shows that they care about it, so I'm confident that they'll continue to do so.
Buying standings doesn't really impact the market. Of course you can argue that more people will think about grinding the Pirate LP stores, but look at the prices of CNR and CNS, for example, which come from easily accessible LP stores. It's still a lot of work to grind one and not like they'll magically drop the prices for a Machariel down to 200m.
If someone will spend $ to save time on grinding for his Highsec POS it's the same if he buys a PLEX to buy that CNR. Or a PLEX to buy some suitable character on the character bazaar.
Vanity items is much ISK or $ for useless crap, just to show what you got. It's an immensely unclever move to shell out only expensive stuff first, but there got the be useless things like that god damn monocle, if it's just to make fun of people who bought one.
I think it's just a vent for a long growing frustration about things. CQ isn't as bad and unnecessary as it's made, and neither doombringing is NEX, in all it's pointlessness. Seriously, does even one person here consider the sold clothes ... chic?
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Well until now, small disagreements like content and tech escalation, farming despite the game being an UFO in terms of gameplay, all this put aside (except my PLEX issue), I was fully behind CCP, especially for Incarna. I have always been in awe before this game.
Now I am pretty much disgusted. So it is not only about bittervets and people that do not like changes. I love change.
Or maybe I am the only one.
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My point really is that EVE is a commersial product and no one forces you to buy it. CCP are free to do whatever they want with EVE. A lot of EVE players seem to think they have some odd rights to decide about the product more than to buy it or not. People just prove how addicted they are when they just can't make a clean break but linger around for years after they quit the game (or so they say =P ) bittervetting and whining on forums.
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You can end up lingering around for reasons other than the core product. For example a community you enjoyed or a story/world you find interesting.
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All I see is hilarious internerd rage. Has my daily EVE experience changed? Nope. The core of EVE as a single server virtual universe is still there? Yep. Do I know of any game that has what I like about EVE? Nope. Buy the product or don't. The rage to me looks like drug addicts whining and rageing about their dealers changing the product a bit and thinking they matter. They either continue their habit or quit. Imagine a junkie crying "Baaw, my highs aren't the same anymore and now they want to charge me for gold needles too, what is the world comming too. I'm quitting now, ha! Take that you evil drug dealing people..."
You're right, the basic gameplay experience is still the same on the 25th of June as it was on the 24th. What has changed, through the coincidence of several events that we probably need not recap right here (just listen to the EVE Radio panel recording), was a significant change in the underpinnings of the play. Although I'm sure it's been true for a long time, this massive PR failure has laid bare in a striking way the relationship that exists between CCP and the players. The happy assumption that the players were invited to come and experience a thrilling, challenging sandbox game and that the people who shaped its rules ultimately agreed with the community's vision -- that they were, despite being devs, fundamentally our fellow players in the sandbox (if not friends, brought together by a shared love for a hobby) -- is rather rudely dashed by:
I can tell you that this is one of the moments where we look at what our players do and less of what they say.
In general, I'm not easy to offend, but after the fourth or fifth time a friend flips me off and tells me to go eat shit in one day, I start to wonder if they're not joking.
My point really is that EVE is a commersial product and no one forces you to buy it. CCP are free to do whatever they want with EVE. A lot of EVE players seem to think they have some odd rights to decide about the product more than to buy it or not. People just prove how addicted they are when they just can't make a clean break but linger around for years after they quit the game (or so they say =P ) bittervetting and whining on forums.
That's true, but it's not the way I think a lot of people looked at it. Rather than a product, many see EVE as a shared project. EVE gameplay is about creation. It's about making what you will of the cluster. What you do, even what you say, matters. It is unlike any other MMO on the market and for a long time the dynamic that existed between the company and the customers felt more like a partnership than a transaction. The community and the devs were creating something unique together. CCP still has a chance to reclaim that image, but they've got a steep slope to climb to get back to the top of the hill.
Basically, the rich kid who lives in a huge mansion with a fun park in the backyard invited us over to play, and for a while it seemed like he genuinely liked having us there and the fact that it was his house and his toys and his rules didn't have meaning because a sense of friendship trumped all that. Then one day, we overheard him telling his parents how he really felt about us and the opinions weren't very flattering. So, there's a choice to stay and keep playing because the toys are neat, but in doing so, you go on with the knowledge that your "friend" really isn't.
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I still have the tiniest glimmer of hope that CCP will fix this. No idea how, but dammit I like this game.
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My point really is that EVE is a commersial product and no one forces you to buy it.
And this is exactly why I am cancelling my sub. At least, me.
CCP are free to do whatever they want with EVE. A lot of EVE players seem to think they have some odd rights to decide about the product more than to buy it or not. People just prove how addicted they are when they just can't make a clean break but linger around for years after they quit the game (or so they say =P ) bittervetting and whining on forums.
Or maybe they show that they care about the game. Probably both.
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While my game play experience really hasn't changed at all with Incarna, the question I keep asking myself is "What is Eve going to look like in two years, and do I want to invest a significant portion of my free time in order to be able to see it?"
I think for most people, this is the real problem.
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You can bet that I'll be trying to get existing customers to quit, and I'll be warning anyone else off of all of CCP's products. I'm vindictive that way. :twisted:
No, if your going to go do this, your just an asshole.
Frankly if you want to quit, then un-sub and go. Leave. Do other stuff.
What you don't get to do is try to convince everyone else to abandon their oppinons and choices about this game and substitute your own, then leaving because you say so. What you won't get to do with any kind of right on your side, is 'warn' non-EVE players that 'eve is shit' over your personal oppinion. Let them try it out and decide for themselves.
Frankly, this entire incident is absurd. You folks want to un-sub? Go ahead, no-one can stop you. And if you decide to come back later, EVE will still be here, and we will welcome you back.
Now, cata-hammer, in 3, 2, 1...
Well, I see it as a sort of justice. When CCP spent more time trying to communicate with their customers, I spent time trying to get them new ones. I even paid a couple subs for my friends so they could play.
So, if it is just to reward someone who communicates with you, who cares about their product, who acts with caution when messing with their game, isn't it also just to warn people off when you think they will be mistreated as a customer by the game producers?
Perhaps you don't understand what I mean by vindictive. When I say that, I mean that I don't believe in letting people get away with bullshit, nor do I expect other people to let me get away with it. If someone lies, misleads, and betrays you, it's right and just to tell others who might be harmed by that.
And I want CCP to fail until they change their ways, too. At best, they will change. At worst, they will go bankrupt, but perhaps others will learn from them. Perhaps someone else will actually buy Eve. Would I take pleasure in their failing? Not as much as if they changed course, but at least they would get what they deserved.
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While my game play experience really hasn't changed at all with Incarna, the question I keep asking myself is "What is Eve going to look like in two years, and do I want to invest a significant portion of my free time in order to be able to see it?"
I think for most people, this is the real problem.
+1
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While my game play experience really hasn't changed at all with Incarna, the question I keep asking myself is "What is Eve going to look like in two years, and do I want to invest a significant portion of my free time in order to be able to see it?"
I think for most people, this is the real problem.
+1
And I think this is why I, and many other people feel betrayed. Because we have already invested time and energy into a game, and now it feels like we were suckered. In fact, we probably were.
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Take a look at the various player-made territorial maps (http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Territorial_maps). I find one in particular very important - the animated map (http://www.eve-iss.com/external/maps/territoryanimated.gif). Why and how is it pertinent to the conversation?
It is a great example of player investment in time & effort making Eve the good game it was/is/can be on multiple levels. First there is the map itself, which took time for the person to make. Then there is what it shows - thousands of players fighting over regions of space and building internet-spaceship fiefdoms. Then is there is the stories attached to how those maps change - sometimes through shear in-space effort, others through subterfuge and cunning. That is all players.
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While my game play experience really hasn't changed at all with Incarna, the question I keep asking myself is "What is Eve going to look like in two years, and do I want to invest a significant portion of my free time in order to be able to see it?"
I think for most people, this is the real problem.
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All I see is hilarious internerd rage. Has my daily EVE experience changed? Nope. The core of EVE as a single server virtual universe is still there? Yep. Do I know of any game that has what I like about EVE? Nope. Buy the product or don't. The rage to me looks like drug addicts whining and rageing about their dealers changing the product a bit and thinking they matter. They either continue their habit or quit. Imagine a junkie crying "Baaw, my highs aren't the same anymore and now they want to charge me for gold needles too, what is the world comming too. I'm quitting now, ha! Take that you evil drug dealing people..."
This is how I see things too. I think everyone is overreacting as none of the "end of the world" plans have been put into action. If they are implemented, then I'll probably quit, but not as the game is right now. The only thing that has changed over the past couple of weeks is that they've added CQs, and it looks like tons of people are leaving over that.
I play another MMO that is in the same situation as EVE is right now: Age of Conan, except AoC has been like this for the past 3 years. Funcom (AoC's developers) releases an update or their plans for the future and the community (the forums) goes insane and they all say they're quitting and all that usual bullshit. But in the end the game still lives and the people that left always come back.
I'm not too worried. EVE as of right now has not changed from how it was in Incursion, so I won't be leaving.
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I dug this up yesterday. (http://pastebin.com/SZLG0iKP) There definitely seem to be people at CCP who are less than happy with how their company has launched the MT thing, but they are probably silenced by internal pressure.