The End of My EVEOnline Blog Posts? #EVEOnline
stargrace 
There’s an interesting Devblog post up on EVE that states that CCP is going to charge people $99 a year for the use of applications or services which uses the EVE online Intellectual Property (such as the screen shot I have above) – if you’re making money (or attempting to make money) from where those intellectual property things are. Let me explain better – see that donate icon I have on the right hand side of my site? Yep. That counts. Even though I have never ever gotten a donation from having it there. Notice how I also have google ads on nomadicgamer.com because they are there by default with wordpress? That counts. Even though I don’t see a lick of anything that gets made from google ads.
Needless to say I have a few thoughts about this. Number one, if EVE thinks they can do a better job at promoting their game then the small bloggers and MMO sites out there – then kudos to them. I think they’ve forgotten that a lot of these people who are running ads on sites are their fan base, and word of mouth is a powerful thing. I can understand why they may be thinking this is the best plan of action with things like iOS and android apps that are hitting the market requiring payments – but EVE has allowed players to access their character information without cost from 3rd party apps (EVEmon?) for years now, and if those 3rd party apps are accepting donations I don’t see what the big deal is – and I certainly don’t feel that they should be charged $99 a year to keep those apps running to the public. Here is the part of the post that irked me the most:
- Will corporation and alliance websites require a commercial license?
- No, private websites do not need a license. However, if you have an external facing part of the website that uses the EVE IP you will require a non-commercial or a commercial license, depending on your use.
- Will services for in-game currency require a commercial license?
- Yes, if you require any sort of payment for your services you will need a commercial license.
- Will website ads require a commercial license?
- Yes, for ad-supported websites you will require a commercial license.
- Will donations require a commercial license?
- Yes, for donation supported websites you will require a commercial license.
- Will I be able to charge real life currency for in game services?
- No, the commercial license does not allow you to charge real life money for any in-game services.
I certainly will NOT be paying $99 a year to make blog posts about the game and include a screen shot here and there simple because I have a donation button. I’m going to retaliate (small time blogger that I am) by not writing about their game at all when this goes live, and they can deal with that instead. I realize I could simply remove any intellectual property of theirs I may have, but as one of the little guys, I have very few options presented to me on ways I can ‘fight back’ when I don’t agree with their decisions.
** Lets say that even though screen shots are considered intellectual property, I am not personally affected – but – you know who is? EVEMon, who I use daily, Battleclinic, who I also use daily, and numerous other 3rd party apps who accept donations of ISK or cash. This is going to hurt ALL of them. If you have an OPTIONAL donation addition to your project, and you use the API or any other intellectual property, you will be affected. There are 28 (at this moment) pages of comments from developers and fans alike, who are trying to speak out against this. **
What are your thoughts about this new ‘service’ being implemented? Be sure to check out the dev blog write up for all the details. They HAVE mentioned that due to comments they will certainly reconsider some things if required, so be sure to make your voice heard.