My Loot, Your Tears

Lots of excellent discussion going back and forth on the CCP layoffs. PyroTech at Wandering the Void wrote about players complaining that the community team was hit hard:

Where’s the next logical step to downsize? You cut out developers, art, and designers from EVE….you go back on your promise of improving EVE. That’s where the community team comes up. In a lot of companies that have these PR Community team’s, they are the most disposable. Their job can be taught relatively easy and therefore easy to replace. So the Reykjavik positions mentioned were likely the community team members.

The logic here is sound. Particularly if the 'community' dropped by ~4500 people, that team suddenly looks a whole lot less important. BUT, I disagree with the outcome.

What CCP should have done is shit-can the entire World of Darkness project. Look, CCP, I'm an EVE player. As far as I am concerned your job is to make EVE as good as it can be and NOT ONE DAMN THING ELSE. I have no interest in a vampire MMO; and I'm guessing a lot of EVE players will agree.

Some people will make an argument that CCP has already invested "too much time and money" to drop the project. This reminds me of the "too big to fail" argument made for some financial institutions.

CCP's income stream is from EVE players. Until they actually get the WoD game out the door, they're banking on the future. Any loss they would take from dropping World of Darkness has *already been paid*. They can't make the current situation any worse; indeed they can improve their fiscal position by dropping the employees assigned to WoD, and assign some back over to EVE.

Improve EVE, attract more players, get rich. You can do it, CCP.

Fellow blogger Jester wrote an article earlier today about the CCP layoffs. However, he indicated some EVE players might be included in the responsibility for 114 people losing jobs:

One last thing: in a very real sense, EVE's players have to accept a measure of responsibility for this as well. Back in June, when unsubs were at their peak, I wrote:
In context, we know that over the weekend, some 4500 EVE subscriptions have been cancelled and the number is still climbing. That's $67,500 U.S. per month, or enough money to imperil the jobs of 15 or more CCP developers. There's no question that CCP has to respond to "what their players are doing."
Now, this does not not not mean that I'm laying today's actions at the feet of EVE unsubscribers. As I said, today's announcement was caused by CCP management biting off more than they could chew. Simple as that. Still... the choices you make in EVE always have a consequence. I think I heard that somewhere.

I took some exception to this, and wrote back the following:

You should have just left the comments about players out of this; otherwise a well-written and informative article.
Players having any 'responsibility' on the employment of the developer is about as accurate as saying drivers who switch from Ford to Dodge are responsible for lost jobs at Ford.

Jester then published a follow up article, quoting me and another commenter:

I tried twice in the comments to make it clear that I didn't mean everyone that unsubbed or was vocal about CCP's mistakes this year. Just the small majority that was turning CCP's actions into a personal affront against them. I guess I wasn't being clear. Stabs did a great job of responding to Khalia, making it clear what I meant:
In this case though the customers stood outside the Ford showrooms telling people Ford were evil and they shouldn't buy.
It only applies to a small (but vocal) minority but the people who unsubbed and screamed all over the internet about how terrible Eve was and how everyone should unsub as a point of principle DID contribute to this crisis.
Yup, better than I put it myself. Those were the people I meant. Thanks, Stabs!

Now, to be clear, I think Jester is a great writer and don't have anything against him, I just disagree with this point of view. Here is my response, in case he chooses not to publish my follow-up comment (his blog comments are moderated - MLYT doesn't moderate comments),

Honestly, I don't think the "CCP are evil" folks are don't anything wrong either. It is a customer's right to complain about a company, and a freedom of speech right (in countries sane enough to have that right) for them to do so.
Put it another way: If you stand outside Walmart with a sign and protest the company, are you responsible when Walmart closes a store or lays people off?
Stabs said: " ... people who unsubbed and screamed all over the internet about how terrible Eve was and how everyone should unsub as a point of principle ... "
Exactly. As a point of principle. What better way to send a message to CCP then to encourage other people not to play? Players wanted EVE better. CCP hired people that didn't achieve this goal. They got dropped. CCP's fault, no one else's.

What do you think, readers?

In completely expected news, CCP today announced they are laying off around 20% of staff mainly from the World of Darkness project.

The key point in this press release is below:

For the immediate future, our mission is to enrich the vast EVE Universe by strengthening the continuous development of EVE Online while preparing to bring DUST 514 to market on the PS3. We do this in order to realize our ambitious and challenging plan of joining the two in a cross-platform, truly massive online world.
World of Darkness will continue development with a significantly reduced team. This team will continue to iterate and expand on the gameplay and systems they have designed. We will also redeploy creative teams in Atlanta to support the launch of DUST 514.

I can only hope CCP's senior management will take the hint from the flat-lined player count and drop the WoD and DUST514 projects entirely.