EVE Online: The taxman cometh
by James Egan 
Sep 22nd 2009 at 5:00PM
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, Game mechanics, Guilds
When EVE Online developer CCP Soundwave isn't entertaining fans of internet spaceships with his wit during the EVE Alliance Tournament, he's apparently finding new ways to ... impose taxes on players? His dev blog today explains that CCP Games will tax the earnings of players in NPC corps and their reasons for introducing this taxes. This won't apply to those in EVE's player corporations or those enlisted with a militia for factional warfare. "Service guarantees citizenship and all that, so keep on trucking," he writes. (Note: For those less familiar with EVE Online, this deals entirely with in-game currency of course, InterStellar Kredits or ISK. No real world taxation is involved.)
After all these years, why impose taxes on players in NPC corps? CCP Soundwave explains it all in "I Bring Gifts! (By Gifts I Mean Taxes, Sorry)". NPC corps have a few advantages over player corps in that they cannot have wars declared against them by player corporations; immunity to wardecs is perhaps a key reason some players don't move on to player corps. In addition, members of NPC corporations don't have taxes subtracted from their NPC bounties and mission rewards, which most player corporations impose.
But despite those advantages, players who never leave NPC corps are somewhat isolated from the fabric of the game -- the kinds of interactions (both beneficial and hostile) that come from really jumping in and joining a player corporation. While CCP Games still recognizes the choice to remain in an NPC corporation as a valid one, they do still want to give players a nudge out into the wider EVE experience. They're doing this by establishing an 11% tax rate, which may be adjusted over time.
Whether or not this actually provides incentive for players to venture out further and join player corporations -- and get more involved in the game -- remains to be seen. He points out it's been a tad unrealistic to have an umbrella from war and tax haven wrapped up in one, at no ISK cost to players, and this is going to change soon.
CCP Soundwave writes, "Remember this: while you may escape death in EVE, taxes will still get you."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Malachi said on 5:24PM 9-22-2009
Best dev blog title ever
Reply
mpdivo said on 6:04PM 9-22-2009
Player corporation wars wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the crappy game mechanics which allows for griefers to hang out in starbases, come out - blow up ships then go back into the starbase - creating the lamest form of warfare known to man.
Such a simple fix too - if you are at war and you attack another ship or are attacked - you can't dock for at least five minutes.
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Xennith said on 6:35PM 9-22-2009
by starbase you mean station and not POS right?
currently if you attack another player you are "aggroed" and cannot dock at a station or jump through a stargate for a minute. there is talk about upping this to prevent "docking games"
Dude said on 6:02PM 9-22-2009
Bah hurry up and release World of Darkness already!
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DrewIW said on 6:34PM 9-22-2009
The tears on the forums are epic.
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rhys said on 8:32PM 9-22-2009
Their tears sustain me.
GaaaaaH said on 10:52PM 9-22-2009
yesterday a single tears thread was at 17 pages
mpdivo said on 6:41PM 9-22-2009
Yeah, I meant station.
one minute is definitely too short - and docking games can go on for hours.
It was the most boring pvp mechanics I've ever seen in any game.
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Ichamur said on 6:50PM 9-22-2009
Not to grief, but somehow I think this will make a lot more 1 or 2 man corporations being developed. Why? To escape taxes obviously. Their are going to be those isolationist players, which is completely fine, and I think an easy way for them to avoid getting taxed is a small tax free corp.
In other words, this solves nothing. Its the right path, yes, but they probably could have chosen a different means.
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ZerothAngel said on 9:20PM 9-22-2009
Why do you say it solves nothing? I think the point of all this is to "encourage" people to leave the safety NPC corps. Even 1 or 2 man player corps can be wardecced...
Psychotic Storm said on 7:10AM 9-23-2009
More or less.
It will make isolated griefers life more difficult, but if it forces them to band in big griefing corps and make the problem worse.
Venekor said on 7:16PM 9-22-2009
EVE's community puts me off the game you always get the worst communities in these type of PVP games. So many people grief and insults people in game I mean the most things you hear is carebear and go back to WoW and seeing that becomes boring. Then you have all the whiners on the forums insulting eachother and it's the whole community I mean you even hear shit like that on the Alliance Tournament. Worst thing is people just can't wait to screw eachother over and I just don't have fun in a game where I have to constantly watch my back. It's like the worst is full of morons already why do I need a game to be even worse than real life. Just like loads of people trying to make eachother look like idiots in game and it's like grow up. All you ever see is people arguing over something they know nothing about like all of a sudden everyones an expert when they just tell you what they heard instead of fact.
I miss the old SWG community back in 2003. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and everyone on the server knew eachother like a nice tight community. Then the Bounty Hunter system gets put in and oh look at all the Morons suddenly appear.
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DrewIW said on 8:55PM 9-22-2009
u mad?
gb2 WoW
;)
Tyranor said on 8:55PM 9-22-2009
Go home. If you can't take insults, you don't belong in EVE.
Sam said on 10:32PM 9-22-2009
While you raise some valid points about community differences, you're -annoyed?- at EVE in particular, and that point there will not get you any help from people here.
as the first two replies have shown, EVE players just don't care.
GaaaaaH said on 10:57PM 9-22-2009
Sam,
I'd say that being able to be a jerk is part of the draw for eve. You don't have to use that option, but the ability to do so if you choose is nice.
Archipelagos said on 6:56AM 9-23-2009
@Venekor: You hit on a really good point about sandbox games where the community molds the majority of the content: if you don't like said community then the game itself becomes a no-no, irrespective of all other facets of the game. We need some more sandbox games to come out so we can see how the various communities develop and compare to one another, would be fairly interesting I think.
deadlock said on 7:56AM 9-23-2009
The good thing about eve is that it is 1 shard only , so all the nice people play on the same server. Go look for them, they are there. And when you find them you will value them more than in other games.
Eve is a place where the best villains are other players, I like that someone are doing the dirty job of "roleplaying scum" so it is easier to justify shooting at them :-D
or you can play another game where the gameplay is designed in way that do not creates tension between players. I like to play those kind of games too.
muddy said on 9:41AM 9-23-2009
What?
I take it you have never played EvE. I play wow and EvE both, EvE is by far filled with more mature adult players than WoW. I can sit in EvE and carry on an intelligent conversation with a large group of players with out any of the typical WoW bull**** prepubescent schoolyard horsecrap.
Darkwood71 said on 3:39PM 9-23-2009
There's an easy fix for this. Join a good player corp, get on vent or teamspeak (if they have it. They should IMO) and stop flying solo. I pretty much ignore anyone that's not in my corp (unless they've wardec'd us of course), so these people don't bother me. If they agress you then you have your fellow corpies to pummel the hell out of them.
Bottom line: Success in Eve is not instantaneous like many other MMOs. You have to work hard, be willing to loose ships and play smart to get anywhere in the game. And, no, the reality of Eve is not nice, but I do so love griefer tears. They fill me with so much satisfaction that I work hard to completely destroy those morons.
Also, as far as station games goes (for everyone else). Play smart. Bait them, blob them or be creative with possible solutions. Sooner or later they inevitably make a mistake that costs them that pretty faction ship. No one is invincible in Eve. Remember that.