And I just realised the fact you think I was trolling wasn't helped by the giant red triangle on my intense debate profile, which implies I have a history of such things.

The negative rep comes from the fact that I voted on an EVE News 24 competition and forgot to sign out of Intense Debate before I did so. The negative rep was the result. It doesn't denote a history of shitcanning people on their blogs...

You experience was very different to mine. From my experience, at least in the the podcast and twitter part of the community, I saw a swathe of people unwilling to discuss the issues, and instead focused on 'calming people down". It seemed like they would rather drop the matter altogether than discuss the details of peoples discontent.

There was even a collection of podcasters who jumped together to create an ad-hoc podcast to achieve exactly that goal.

Maybe the forums were different, but I had very little to do with them during that part of the events.

All I know is that the community covered every possible degree of opinion on the subject. You can't tar us all with the same brush.

To address the other aspects of your post, rather than focus on this one issue, which I admit I was doing, I have to largely agree with your opening paragraphs before you move to the player reaction. It fairly much mirrors my own, and I imagine a large chunk of the player base.

What I do disagree with you on though, is the WoD issue. The teams may have been distinct from each other, but the fact is that the priorities for things that weren't EVE, meant that non EVE teams were allowed to grow larger and consume more resources than they ever should have been able to.

The "18 month" gap during which development on EVE was effectively put on the back burner is living proof that this happened. Whether or not the invididuals in the various teams were able to work on EVE or other areas, the fact that FiS EVE development slowed to a crawl during this window means that internally, some resources somewhere got shifted away from EVE and to other products. Money, staff, I don't know, you'd know that better than I.

But the shift in focus was real, the tied up resources were real, and the need to have focus put back on to EVE as we know it was real, so those WoD teams were always going to suffer. One very much does affect the other, because WoD was a money sink with a return, and EVE, which was returning money, was declining because of the lack of focus. More money had to go to EVE, which meant less elsewhere.

That being said, the content team and the community team? I can't even begin to make sense of why they were let go. The EVE backstory is a large part of what got me in to the game, and the community team is incredibly helpful in keeping the players engaged. I can't see the business sense in losing some of the most public faces of the game...

Trolling? Wow...

I happen to think you're being unfair in your generalization. My comparison to your own argument around unfair generalizations wasn't perfect, but I thought it served a point. It wasn't my intention to troll you, rather to highlight what I saw as a somewhat ironic stance. Dismiss that as trolling if you want, but that's not how it was intended...

It may not be frustration or anger, but you still made a generalised comment that holds the entire playerbase accountable for the actions of a few. Whatever the reasons for the comment, it's the same behaviour you took issue with in your opening paragraphs.

You are guilty of the exact behaviour you assign to the players. I was not rude to a single CCP employee during the summer of rage, yet you're apparently angry at me simply for being a player, given your "you people are rude" attitude focused on the entire player base.

I know you're frustrated at misplaced anger, but giving the same back isn't the best way of dealing with that...

And another point. I am happy to discuss this for weeks on end if it comes down to it, 'cause that's the type of personality I am. Any time you want to tell me to shut up and drop it, feel free to do so :)

It's not so much that I'm trying to budge you, as I don't understand exactly what you're saying.

You say "I do say that the people that unsubbed, reguardless of reason, are partially to blame." I get that. I disagree with it, but I get it.

But in the next paragraph you say "It was never about blame on players like your trying to make it." That's a contradiction of your previous statement, and that's why I'm still rambling on about this.

You seem to be saying "IT"S NOT ABOUT BLAMING THE PLAYERS (but it is their fault)"

How can you say it's not about blaming them whilst crafting responses like this that argue the point that it is?

That was me, signed in to the wrong account!

What is the difference between someone who unsubs with intent and someone who unsubs from burn out? The "with intent" player was going to unsub anyway, but instead chooses to do it venomously. Intentions aside, they both represent lost revenue, the same "real world" effect. One is no more to blame than the other. The intent behind their actions, whilst spiteful, don't actually change anything...

It was fail alright. I forgot to sign out, I paid for it :)