Bam-zine

Alliance Tournament VII – Have you got what it takes to be a panel expert?

The EVE Alliance Tournament returns this September for three weekends of explosive action. The scheduled qualifying weekends are September 5-6, 12-13, with the finals broadcast live on the September 19 and 20. We are inviting players to submit applications to become experts for the live broadcast. This is an amazing opportunity for those selected: you will be flown to CCP’s headquarters in Iceland for the finals weekend. If you would like to be a part of this event read CCP Charlie’s blog for full instructions on how to apply and to learn what is expected from our experts. And don’t forget: the replays of the last Tournament are on our YouTube channel.

Alliance Tournament VII – Have you got what it takes to be a panel expert?

The EVE Alliance Tournament returns this September for three weekends of explosive action. The scheduled qualifying weekends are September 5-6, 12-13, with the finals broadcast live on the September 19 and 20. We are inviting players to submit applications to become experts for the live broadcast. This is an amazing opportunity for those selected: you will be flown to CCP’s headquarters in Iceland for the finals weekend. If you would like to be a part of this event read CCP Charlie’s blog for full instructions on how to apply and to learn what is expected from our experts. And don’t forget: the replays of the last Tournament are on our YouTube channel.

New Level 4 Agents Coming to New Eden

Out with the old, in with the new. Whether it’s the discovery of new areas of space or new graphics and effects, EVE Online continuously evolves. Joining the evolution: content. In addition to renovating some old missions and new dead space areas, a slew of new Level 4 agents have made their home in New Eden far away from some of the more busier mission hubs. CCP Molock gives us the lowdown on what the Content team has been up to of late in his latest dev blog.

You can discuss this blog here.

New EON Contest

Is your wallet in need of some cold, hard ISK? Are you itching to get your hands on the new EVE: Conquests board game? Then maybe you should enter EON Magazine’s newest contest! Simply send in your best screenshots for a chance to win. Winners will receive 100m ISK and have their screenshot featured in the next issue of EON. One lucky winner will win a copy of EVE: Conquests. The contest ends 1 June 2009.

Episode VII: Revenge of The Alliance Tournament

Ladies, Gentlemen and Mentlegen…

It’s time again to put the wheels in motion for the Seventh Alliance Tournament.  Starting in early September this year, you can all look forward to three weekends of mayhem and explosive action on the greatest stage in EVE.

We have some pretty exciting ideas for improvements this year to the whole show, and there will be a full blog on the tournament itself in a couple of weeks.  That will be when we announce the instructions on how to sign up, full rules, tournament format and all the rest.

For those who missed the last one – all the matches from Alliance Tournament VI are available on CCP’s YouTube channel.

The most important thing we want to announce today is that we will once again be opening up the application process for players who would like to be PVP Experts – who would fly to Iceland for the tournament finals and fill the roles of commentors for the qualifying weekends.

As an Expert you’ll be on the set discussing the tournament, tactics, teams and talking with developers about EVE live on air. You’ll also take shifts in the commentary booth providing live commentary on the matches themselves. You need to know your PvP and you need to know how to keep on talking!

You’ll also be commenting on the two qualifying weekends from your own home. You’ll be given special access to the tournament arena so you can give your view on the action which then will be relayed over EVE Voice and through partner radio stations!

But the final weekend is where the fun is. You’ll be flown out to Reykjavik, Iceland to join the team here at CCP HQ to help us run the show during the live broadcast of the final weekend. Flights (from all Icelandair destinations) and accommodation are supplied by us. All you need is a little spending money.

So you’re interested? Next step is to check this short list and make sure you match what we’re looking for!

• Can you come out and play? Selected experts will need to hold a valid passport (we will require scans to confirm this at a later stage) and be available to fly to Iceland on the 16th and back on the 21st of September.

• Available to commentate live from their home on the non video broadcast qualifiers on the 5^th & 6^th as well as the 12^th & 13^th of September (the two weekends prior to the live show), a good microphone and reliable internet connection is required.

• A sense of humor is a must: Experts will need to be sharp-witted, knowledgeable, presentable and comfortable with talking on camera and into a microphone. To greater the chances of getting through, we highly recommend submitting any pre-made or purpose filmed video you have of yourself (link to a YouTube clip!) as part of your application.

• You need to know your PvP: We don’t despise industrialists, mission-runners and miners but as this is a PvP tournament, you need to be well versed.

• You must be 21+ in order to apply: This is both for legal reasons and to avoid any problems if the group is out in Reykjavik (a lot of bars are 21+).

If you are interested in taking part, please email us at evetv@ccpgames.com by 23:59 GMT (Eve Time) on Sunday the 14th of June with the following information. Those lucky enough to be selected for the second round of eliminations must be available to attend voice chat interviews on Saturday the 20th of June. The chosen experts will be announced by the 24th of June.

• Character and real name.

• Date of birth.

• Nationality and current country of residence.

• Tell us about yourself, both in game and out. Remember what your applying for and sell yourself to that effect.

• Confirm you are available between the 16th and 21st of September to fly to Iceland. If you need to book time off work / school please don’t do it until we accept you but please check that it is possible, if there is any doubt here please let us know.

• Remember your applying to be on TV! Include any multimedia you think shows you off, all of the experts chosen for the last Tournament had sent in video clips/links to youtube!

Remember applications close on the 14th of June! So get mailing!

A final note: The Tournament from the perspective of an Expert is an amazing experience. You get to take part in an unique production, fly to Iceland, get a tour around the CCP office and chat to developers like almost no other players will ever get the chance to. But with great power comes great responsibility, attending and taking part in all qualifier weekends, radio or televised is a must. Planning and promotional shows take place during the weeks up to the final show and you may not be asked to fly to Iceland if you fail to take part, or become unavailable during this time!

CONCORD Issues Additional Agent Licenses Due to Professional and Corporate Demands

Yulai – CONCORD authorities responsible for licensing and auditing the activities of station agents have agreed to issue an additional 23 licenses for highly-qualified agents, as a result of lobbying from the Association of Market and Contract Brokers (AMCB) and major empire corporations. The AMCB negotiators had pointed to a considerable increase in the demand for agents in a number of key hubs and lobbied very hard to relieve the pressures on the agents it represents, mainly Gallente and Minmatar professionals.

Originally a professional body for market brokers dealing with negotiations with the SCC over terms and conditions, the AMCB had expanded to represent contract brokers, recently changing its name to reflect this. Following some high-profile cases of station agents making severe errors or engaging in criminality, the pressure on agents to conform to CONCORD regulations while serving the needs of corporations and pilots increased considerably. Coming from a wide range of corporate backgrounds, many agents were unable to agree on how to put their concerns to CONCORD until Julius Scarpacchio, President of the AMCB, suggested to an Intaki acquaintance working as an agent that his organization was well-placed to represent agents’ interests.

Initially representing a bloc of Gallente agents, the AMCB was soon able to prove its value by negotiating a comprehensive package of compensation for agents who were forced to move locations due to CONCORD re-organization of routes and stations. Joined by more Gallente and many Minmatar agents, the AMCB then embarked on a six-month period of negotiation with CONCORD on behalf of agents in major hubs.

Parallel pressure was also exerted on CONCORD by a number of Caldari State and Amarr Empire corporations, whose agents were not represented by the AMCB. CONCORD insiders have indicated, however, that the State and Empire corporations preferred to allow the high-profile lobbying to be done by the AMCB, possibly to capitalize on the perception that this was primarily an issue of maintaining agent integrity and professional welfare. The process of lobbying by corporations and the AMCB culminated in an agreement to issue 23 high-level agent licenses for positions in various empire hubs.

Julius Scarpacchio commented on the agreement, “It has been a long road and at times a hard battle but I am pleased to say that the needs of our agent members have been recognized and CONCORD has acted on them.” Asked if a further name change would be forthcoming for the AMCB, Scarpacchio indicated that it was quite likely but would be a matter for the membership’s consideration. CONCORD issued a statement through its public relations office stating that, “Agreement has been reached with the empires, corporations and professionals on further high-level agent licenses, to the number of 23, which we believe will benefit agents, their employers and pilot contractors.”

New Level 4 Agents

Since Apocrypha, one of the ongoing efforts we’ve been undertaking in Content is the renovation of old missions and deadspace areas. Part of the incentive for this initiative has to do with the fact that a lot of this stuff has been sitting in the game for years and simply needs some freshening up. Just as we’ve renovated all of our graphics and effects in the last year or so, now we want to make improvements to content. EVE has always been, and must remain, beautiful.

As an example of the sorts of things we’re working on, some legacy complexes have literally scores or even hundreds of structures in them, most serving little purpose other than to clutter up the overview; similarly, some missions have massive numbers of small, fast NPCs in them, which is a nuisance especially in level 3 missions and beyond (and of course also increases server load). So we’ve been sorting through old dungeons, changing out, rebuilding, and reducing the numbers of structures; tweaking NPC numbers; and so on, all with a view to making things run more smoothly.

Another aspect of our content renovation effort concerns the busiest mission hubs. Naturally, the more players we have running missions in and around a given system, the more cluttered those systems become. So, as part of our long-term plan, we’ve added twenty-three new level 4 agents to TQ and also moved one agent, most of them Caldari (since a substantial majority of players running missions do so in Caldari space).

All of these agents are just far enough away from the busy mission hubs that we hope they’ll draw a substantial number of mission-runners over to the new agents and thus help fill up some of the empty space in our growing universe.

So, with no further a due, I give you… your new agents. Just one thing to note about the following table: The “Old Agent” column refers to extant agents in the game who are currently overrun with players. If you currently run missions for an agent from that column, consider trying out the new agent who correlates to that entry instead.

*Note: This agent was moved away from other agents of similar quality who reside the same station, but does not have a newly added agent nearby.

Now all that’s left is for you to get out there and make them feel wanted – ’cause there’s no agent like a happy agent. And we all want to associate with happy people, right? Right?

Meet the Delegates of the Third CSM

Onward we march with the CSM, the progress made so far has been measurable and good. The election results have now been confirmed and we’re pleased to introduce the delegates for the third CSM:

Valentijn Geirnaert (‘Dierdra Vaal’) is the Council’s chairman having received the highest number of votes. The first order of business for the Council will be to elect a vice-chairman, secretary and vice-secretary.

The following candidates were placed in seats 10 to 14 by number of votes received and will serve as alternate Council members:

The First Meeting

The first meeting of the Council will be held in EVE next Saturday, the 30^th of May. Though the session is closed to the public, you can follow the progress and discussions on the CSM forum section where all meeting minutes will be made public.

The Council members will be flown to Iceland the weekend of August 28^th to meet with CCP after having deliberated and prioritized topics raised by players. A full listing of election results may be viewed here.

Demographics and Statistics

The format of the following information is identical to the analysis of the first election and the second election, to allow for an easy comparison.

There were 27848 votes cast out of the number of eligible voters (i.e. older than 30 days and thus able to vote), amassing a turnout of 9,74% compared to 11,08% in the first election and 8,61% in the second. As can be seen when comparing the elections, the subscriber numbers have gone up by a significant number meaning that the total number of voters has to follow if the % is to keep up. Of the total votes cast, 992 voters (3,56%) chose to abstain.

The gender difference between voters closely follow the gender difference in the subscription base, with male voters being 97.1% and female voters being 2.9% of the total voting population compared to 95.5% versus 4.5% male – female ratio of the player base.

The average age of accounts voting is 2 years, meaning that most votes were cast by veteran players – the age going a bit up from the last election where the average age was 1.94 years. 44.6% of the voting accounts are veterans of two years or more whilst those veterans constitute 29% of the eligible voters.

The below information reveals interesting facts. It displays voters sorted by countries, percentage of votes originating from each country, the total number of voters as a percentage of subscribers from that region and the subscription percentage based on region.

What is clear is that the voters from Bulgaria are very interested in the CSM process, as 38,10% of the players from Bulgaria cast their votes.

We want to thank all of the candidates who threw their hats into the ring and gave it their all. As the last two election watching the campaigns unfold was fascinating. We also appreciate those who supported the CSM by voting. There is no way of knowing where this will lead, but we’re all in it together and the promise of what we can accomplish together is astonishing.

CCP Hellmar, kind of a big deal

We’re not much for hero worship here at CCP. Each link in the chain is equally important as the two it is attached to. The metaphors available for our stoic, unified effort are both inexhaustible and true. But every so often we take note of particular acknowledgements.

CCP Hellmar, our CEO, is almost as big a deal as internet spaceships themselves. Once again he was recognized by Beckett Massive Online Gamer as one of the top 20 most influential people in the MMO industry, moving up this year to number 2. You can read the rest of the list here.

PLEX Your EVE Knowledge in GameSource.it’s Newest Contest

Looking to add some game time to your EVE Online account? GameSource.it is running a new contest that just might pique your interest. Simply sign up on their forums and answer a few trivia questions and you just might be a lucky PLEX winner. The contest runs until 5 June 2009, so don’t delay, warp over to GameSource.it today!