It’s an often-recited statement by players in any MMO that the developers don’t even seem to play the game, but in the case of EVE Online that was at least somewhat true. Previous policies from CCP Games didn’t allow developers to play in a way that had a reasonable chance of “outing” them to the community at large… which in turn meant that a lot of the high-end game was functionally unavailable to the developers. But those policies have now changed, so you really can be flying alongside one of the game’s developers and know about it without that developer risking employment or playtime.
The policy changes were originally announced in November following a review of the rules which had stood for more than 12 years. Our own Brendan Drain covered the rationale behind the change and the results in-depth during the EVE London gathering. Developers still have certain restrictions, like being disallowed from running corporations, and in the official announcement players are asked to please keep in mind that developers playing for fun are not using special developer powers to destroy your ship. Although, to be fair, that’s what it would sound like if they were, too.
In other news, the 13 Days of EVE has returned to the game for the holiday season once again, so now you can also celebrate the holidays with the development team.
In Iceland, where we develop EVE Online, we have 13 Santas.
The 13 Days of EVE has now returned to New Eden for the holiday season!
📸 @hugleikur
🎅 https://t.co/x8Xa3ffdkY pic.twitter.com/qyobIHEKbK
— EVE Online (@EveOnline) December 16, 2019
