Sitting around at home with that old rusty computer; the black shell over the hard drive just screaming for color and life? We have just the thing for you! Commodore Gaming presents the EVE Online PC!

You can choose from the standard PC or build your own; both PC’s have the option to choose from six different EVE Online C-kins with your favorite EVE Online race. Click here! For more informations on how you can get an EVE Online PC for yourself!

The EVE Voice servers on Tranquility will undergo maintenance this Thursday starting at 1100 GMT and lasting approximately 2 hours. During this maintenance we will also upgrade EVE Voice to the latest release version.

The maintenance and upgrade will not affect the normal downtime for Tranquility, however the EVE Voice service will be unavailable during this period but it will resume automatically when the work is completed.

The EVE Voice servers on Tranquility will undergo maintenance this Thursday starting at 1100 GMT and lasting approximately 2 hours. During this maintenance we will also upgrade EVE Voice to the latest release version.

The maintenance and upgrade will not affect the normal downtime for Tranquility, however the EVE Voice service will be unavailable during this period but it will resume automatically when the work is completed.

Real Money Trade (RMT) in EVE has been a problem for a long time now. Those of us who have been in the Customer Support business since the beginning of EVE could tell you a lot of horror stories about the damages ISK selling and buying has resulted in to date, and still does. Almost all cases of keyloggers, phishing sites, hacking attempts, and the like, are directly attributable to real money trading.

There are also the macro miners and mission runners, complex farmers and assorted rabble of this sort that causes general nuisance and keeps the regular players from being able to enjoy EVE as they would like. Price of minerals, ore, ice, implants and so on is driven down by this kind of activity and thus ways for normal players to make ISK are effectively ruined. Finally, the RMT element will not hesitate to commit real world crimes, such as credit card fraud or theft, to keep their business running.

Purchasing ISK directly supports and encourages these illegal activities!

While we are determined to root out the evil that are the ISK sellers in EVE, we do realize that there will always be demand for ISK. For those that need more ISK than they can gather via normal game play, there is another way. We are of course talking about the Secure ETC Trading System, designed and created by CCP’s finest. Now, every time we start denouncing the ISK sellers, some people call us hypocrites because we allow the ISK for ETCs but not ISK for RL money and claim this is the same thing. Nothing could be farther from the truth; the differences are enormous.

When you buy an ETC and then sell it for ISK via the Secure ETC Trading System you are directly contributing to the growth of EVE as the code will be applied to an account and someone will be using it to play. Some players do not have the means to pay for their subscriptions with credit cards or similar and the Secure ETC Trading System helps them pay and play. The economics are quite different as well since wealth is redistributed between active members of the community rather than injected into the game.

Another thing is scale. The regular player who wants a few hundred millions in his wallet will have no problem using the Secure ETC Trading System for this purpose, while at the same time helping another EVE player pay for his subscription. Supply and demand dictates that it would be very difficult for an individual to gather tens of billions of ISK with the secure system and thus game balance will not be upset. Corporations, or even Alliances, should not be able to fuel their wars and other activities like they have done in a number of cases with ISK bought for real world money.

For a list of official ETC resellers, please go here:

https://secure.eve-online.com/etc.aspx

Although somewhat hampered by limited resources, we are doing our best to keep RMT in EVE at bay, such as the recent deployment of new features to curtail the real money trade spam that players were receiving. This new system includes a few new trial restrictions that should not significantly affect actual players, as well as a large number of behind the scenes features that we have added in. These so far have been very successful, and we have seen a very dramatic reduction in the amount of spam that is reaching players.

However, we need your help. If you need ISK, then please use the Secure ETC Trading System. This system is completely secure and risk free and the ISK you get this way is yours to keep, while we will mercilessly remove ISK bought for real money from ISK sellers, and we remove tens of billions of illegally purchased ISK every day. If the illegally bought ISK has been spent, then the wallets will simply be put in the negative, making any form of market activity impossible, as well as preventing any actions that require ISK to be spent such as new clones or buying ship insurance.

A permanent warning will also be placed on accounts involved. In extreme cases and for repeated offenses a permanent ban from our server will be the end result. Also note that trading ETCs outside the Secure ETC Trading System is a violation of our rules and will result in warnings for those doing it, and eventually bans should they persist.

We know that most players out there dislike the macroers, ISK spammers, complex farmers and other RMT spawn just like we do and we ask for your assistance in dealing with them. Tell your friends that buying ISK is against the EULA if the subject is raised. Tell them about the Secure ETC Trading System. Help us raise awareness about this whole issue and together we can change the world of EVE for the better!

Real Money Trade (RMT) in EVE has been a problem for a long time now. Those of us who have been in the Customer Support business since the beginning of EVE could tell you a lot of horror stories about the damages ISK selling and buying has resulted in to date, and still does. Almost all cases of keyloggers, phishing sites, hacking attempts, and the like, are directly attributable to real money trading.

There are also the macro miners and mission runners, complex farmers and assorted rabble of this sort that causes general nuisance and keeps the regular players from being able to enjoy EVE as they would like. Price of minerals, ore, ice, implants and so on is driven down by this kind of activity and thus ways for normal players to make ISK are effectively ruined. Finally, the RMT element will not hesitate to commit real world crimes, such as credit card fraud or theft, to keep their business running.

Purchasing ISK directly supports and encourages these illegal activities!

While we are determined to root out the evil that are the ISK sellers in EVE, we do realize that there will always be demand for ISK. For those that need more ISK than they can gather via normal game play, there is another way. We are of course talking about the Secure ETC Trading System, designed and created by CCP’s finest. Now, every time we start denouncing the ISK sellers, some people call us hypocrites because we allow the ISK for ETCs but not ISK for RL money and claim this is the same thing. Nothing could be farther from the truth; the differences are enormous.

When you buy an ETC and then sell it for ISK via the Secure ETC Trading System you are directly contributing to the growth of EVE as the code will be applied to an account and someone will be using it to play. Some players do not have the means to pay for their subscriptions with credit cards or similar and the Secure ETC Trading System helps them pay and play. The economics are quite different as well since wealth is redistributed between active members of the community rather than injected into the game.

Another thing is scale. The regular player who wants a few hundred millions in his wallet will have no problem using the Secure ETC Trading System for this purpose, while at the same time helping another EVE player pay for his subscription. Supply and demand dictates that it would be very difficult for an individual to gather tens of billions of ISK with the secure system and thus game balance will not be upset. Corporations, or even Alliances, should not be able to fuel their wars and other activities like they have done in a number of cases with ISK bought for real world money.

For a list of official ETC resellers, please go here:

https://secure.eve-online.com/etc.aspx

Although somewhat hampered by limited resources, we are doing our best to keep RMT in EVE at bay, such as the recent deployment of new features to curtail the real money trade spam that players were receiving. This new system includes a few new trial restrictions that should not significantly affect actual players, as well as a large number of behind the scenes features that we have added in. These so far have been very successful, and we have seen a very dramatic reduction in the amount of spam that is reaching players.

However, we need your help. If you need ISK, then please use the Secure ETC Trading System. This system is completely secure and risk free and the ISK you get this way is yours to keep, while we will mercilessly remove ISK bought for real money from ISK sellers, and we remove tens of billions of illegally purchased ISK every day. If the illegally bought ISK has been spent, then the wallets will simply be put in the negative, making any form of market activity impossible, as well as preventing any actions that require ISK to be spent such as new clones or buying ship insurance.

A permanent warning will also be placed on accounts involved. In extreme cases and for repeated offenses a permanent ban from our server will be the end result. Also note that trading ETCs outside the Secure ETC Trading System is a violation of our rules and will result in warnings for those doing it, and eventually bans should they persist.

We know that most players out there dislike the macroers, ISK spammers, complex farmers and other RMT spawn just like we do and we ask for your assistance in dealing with them. Tell your friends that buying ISK is against the EULA if the subject is raised. Tell them about the Secure ETC Trading System. Help us raise awareness about this whole issue and together we can change the world of EVE for the better!

There have been some cases where players have been able to place a cynosural field inside their Starbase forcefield and thus gaining certain advantages for themselves and their cyno-jumping allies. It should not be possible to deploy a cyno-field inside a Starbase forcefield, this is therefore classed as an exploit and we will take action against anyone found using it.

Here at CCP we care very strongly about our product, and we’re constantly evaluating new paradigms and thoughtspaces in order to better realize our Total Market Potential. Our goal is to enhance the customer experience by offering new product channels and opportunities, allowing our customers to participate through selective transactional channels and fully realize their potential as Valued Income Partners – VIPs!

Today we’re announcing an exciting new service family, which we’re calling “Subscription 2.0″. In the spirit of Web 2.0, this new Integrated Business Bundle will allow VIPs – that’s you! – to participate in the global product community, creating your own Tailored Product Packages in a way which best matches your Ideal Product Experience.

Just as Web 2.0 is built on top of Web 1.0, Subscription 2.0 will be built on top of Subscription 1.0. We’re not changing the underlying Service Provision Model – you’ll still be paying a monthly fee as part of your Community Participation Agreement – although certain product areas will be migrated across to Subscription 2.0 in order to enhance user choice through Selective Resourcing. Subscription 2.0 will allow you to invest in optional product areas on an ad-hoc basis, so you only pay for what you actually want!

Our launch product for Subscription 2.0 will be AmmoAnywhere!, which will be fully integrated into the client next week. It does exactly what it says on the tin – simply click the new “AmmoAnywhere!” button in the UI, and a new stack of ammunition will appear in your cargo hold. We’ve done everything we can to streamline this process, so there’s no fiddling about with details and authorization: once you’ve set up your account to enable Subscription 2.0, clicking “AmmoAnywhere!” will automatically bill your credit card for the transaction as part of the Customer Experience Process. No hassle, no fuss, instant ammunition!

Of course, we’ve had to make a few changes in order to fully realize the Product Delivery Potential of this new service. First up, all weapons will now use “NanoAmmo”, which automatically morphs into the desired ammunition type at the point of firing. This ensures that there’s no confusion over what ammo types you need to buy, streamlining the customer experience.

Secondly, as we’re projecting universal uptake for this service, we’re removing the ability to manufacture ammunition in order to prevent people from erroneously utilizing manufacturing lines to build ammunition. This means more manufacturing capacity for everyone!

Contingent upon a fully realized Product Delivery Potential, we have an additional range of Subscription 2.0 services in the pipeline which will further enhance the Customer Experience Process. These include InstaClone, Dock-O-Matic, T1 and T2 releases of BlueprintNow!, and many more.

Subscription 2.0 – the future is TODAY!

And it’s not in my pants!

Hello everyone, I am Ginger and you may remember me from such blogs as “Immersionalism, it rocks” or “WAR, it’s beautiful”. Well now I am the new volunteer manager and I’m here to talk to you about our volunteers and what they do to make EVE a better place to be.

The plan is to devote a blog to each of our volunteer teams to give you a general overview of their purpose, day to day running, an idea what it’s like to be in them, and what sort of applicants they look for.

So, I would imagine a fair few of you have no idea what the volunteer team is. Its official title is the Interstellar Services Division, or ISD, and it was created many moons ago with the intent of creating teams of volunteers to help support and improve EVE. Within it are housed several teams of volunteers which each concentrate on a separate aspect of EVE. Many of our employees here at CCP, including me, came from the volunteer program which only goes to show you in how high regard we hold it.
Let’s have a quick look at each team before getting into the gritty:

Equipment Certification and Anomaly Investigations Division Bug Hunters (ECAID) : Team with the longest name possible that most of the time even I can’t remember what it is, so we all call them the Bug Hunters. The bug hunters are the tinkerers, prodders, engineers and conniving geniuses that live on our test servers assisting the CCP QA department in a whole manner of work including filtering bug reports, investigation bug reports, investigating defects and making fun of QA behind their back.

Interstellar Correspondents (IC) : Our in game volunteer news agency, crewed by intrepid journalists who venture into many dangerous territories, from the savage barrage of emo’ness to the painfully bludgeoning forum discussions to bring you all the politics, personas and wars of EVE. In short they bring you the news, most recently with their excellent accomplishment covering the Alliance Tournament.

Support, Training and Resources (STAR) : STAR is our new player support group. Gentle shepherds for the flocks of young starship pilots, it is they who wave with a big smile on their faces to passing newbies asking if they want help making their first tentative forays into the dark, sometimes unforgiving and potentially soul destroying but ultimately fantastic world of EVE.

Mercury (M) : See below.

? : Something else on the horizon

The information we have on the website is somewhat out of date and will be updated soon so please don’t take it as gospel, however you can find a short FAQ as well as the application page for ISD. Now let’s talk the first team to highlight in a dev blog and the newest one at that:

Mercury is the secret that’s not in my pants, well not anymore at least. Mercury is what arose when our old AURORA team was brought to an end. We needed a volunteer team to assist the content and storyline department in all kinds of fictional works and projects so we created Mercury. They have been kept under the radar somewhat while they mature and gestate but are now big and strong enough to face the daylight.

They have already completed several key projects for us including the Region Descriptions (of which they wrote the majority), storylines introducing new patch content such as the black ops ships and the boosters, the code aria inquiry, fiction news for the
alliance tournament
and various other storyline and descriptive works for CCP content/storyline.

I’ll let Galen, head of mercury describe them in his own words:

“The back story of EVE Online is huge and detailed, full of incredible stories and history and much more than just a simple backdrop for a game. We build on that and expand it; we add more detail to this background. Mercury provides you with the fiction that is at the core of this universe.

The work in this team is varied, there are generally multiple projects running at any one time and you need a very good understanding of the fiction of EVE and a good writing ability to be able to join Mercury. Mercury is now accepting applicants so please click here to apply and select “Fiction (Mercury)” as your team and good luck!

Please post any questions about mercury or the ISD team in general on the comments thread and I’ll do my best to answer them, details on the other teams will be forthcoming in future dev blogs. Fly safe all!

Using a bug in the overview to “can bait” and kill others by boarding ships in space is now classified as an exploit and action will be taken against those found doing it from here on.

Using a bug in the overview to “can bait” and kill others by boarding ships in space is now classified as an exploit and action will be taken against those found doing it from here on.