EVE players revolt against CCP's blockchain plans - 'None want this crypto slop.'

I wrote yesterday about my conversation with CCP's top brass regarding its upcoming survival MMO EVE Front--a game in the EVE Universe that uses blockchain technology to (so says the CCP pitch), take the player led philosophy of EVE Online, and make it weirder and wilder. Players can even become co-developers alongside CCP. I was sceptical about anything that had a whiff of Web3 to it, but after hearing the developers' pitch I was open for the possibility they might be doing something interesting.

It seems that this sets me apart, ahh, from the majority of EVE Online’s existing community. Frontier, known until yesterday as Project Awakening, has been a source of suspicion for EVE players for a long time. Yesterday's announcement doesn't seem to have made them feel any better. It's only made them more depressed.

"I love EVE. Because I've been playing it every day for the past 5 years. "Don't do this," writes EVE subreddit member Wolfwolf68 in the thread "Dear CCP, don't."

"There is still plenty of time." You can still go back and pretend that it never happened. Please. Please.

As an empath I can tell that this lack of enthusiasm is a sign of CCP's upcoming blockchain adventures. Wolfwolf68 is not alone. Their thread has received nearly a 1,000 upvotes and hundreds comments, with almost all of them sharing their negative sentiment. The front page of subreddit has a lot of threads from players mocking Frontier and begging CCP to not proceed with the project.

One player said that they used to have a problem with addiction, but CCP made it "really easy" to not go back. "Not only do you release shit updates, but now crypto bullshit will be coming too."

I have the answer to Eve:Frontiers on r/Eve

Another post, titled "I Have the Solution to EVE:Frontiers [sic]", suggests plugging in the ethernet port on the game servers directly into the mains. (This, if you were wondering, would probably not be very healthy for the servers. Another asks if EVE’s player advocacy group, the Council of Stellar Management, had any warning about CCP’s foray into Blockchain tech.

A post that expressed optimism about Frontier received zero votes. Some of the first replies to it read "No," Stop," and "I disagree."

You get the picture. It's not only Reddit. EVE Frontier's tweet announcing the game was met with skepticism. Hannah, a user, replied: "Releasing blockchain game a full year after the strange hype about this technology has died." "Are you still pushing blockchain horseshit or have you learned your lesson and made a good game for a change?" asked hecksadecimal. Rob McLachlan said, "I liked this initially because I like EVE. But I want to retract my Like due to the blockchain nonsense. Thanks."

Discord and the official EVE Online forums are very similar: The EVE Frontier thread has received a negative response from players. Discord is where several players have dismissed Frontier as "blockchain shit."

CCP can still take comfort in the fact the users of the official Frontier Discord - separate from the EVE Online Discord - are generally willing to listen to the game, which seems to CCP's main message for the game. CCP Jotunn says, "I'm going say the same thing as always: Before anyone makes any conclusions, they should check out the game and decide how they feel. If they're here to see the web3 technology and are still excited about it afterward, then hell yes brother.

"If people are playing the game to blow up crypto-speculators then hell yes to that too."

CCP will have a tough time converting its existing playerbase to Frontier. I'm curious to see how it does once EVE Frontier is released outside of closed playtests. CCP has only revealed a few details about the game, and given the bad reputation blockchain games and Web3 nonsense have, it's no surprise that the tone of the announcement is so gloomy. If CCP can get these players to join, it will be a historic turnaround.

I hope so, of course. Like I say, some of the ideas CCP spoke to me about sound genuinely fascinating, but there are still plenty of questions--especially about monetisation and, well, the United States Treasury--that need answering before I'm willing to commit to anything beyond curiosity. EVE Online's current players will be harder to convert.

Ralli-FW, a user, has a plan if all goes wrong: "The best outcome is that a bunch crypto bros try the game, it sucks and they come to EVE where we can slowly degrade and/or scamm them into buying Enyocoin."