Wholly Owned Independent Subsidiary

A bombshell dropped by CCP last night announcing the company being bought "by Pearl Abyss, Korean developers of the gorgeous hit open-world action-MMO Black Desert Online."

Here is the critical information in the fluff of the post:

Right now, CCP is owned by a group of three big financial investors. They have been with us on this journey for over a decade with all our ups and downs and as is the business of financial investors, selling their shares at some point is part of the plan. Being acquired by Pearl Abyss means that we will be bringing a videogames company on board as well as a new long-term home for CCP. This will be important for the years to come as partnering up with another MMO developer means that we have an even greater shared depth of experience to pull from and can tackle even more (and bigger) long-term mutual goals. If there is anything I have learned from EVE Online it’s that good things take time and great things take even longer.

[...]

In business terms, CCP Games will continue to operate as a wholly owned independent subsidiary, with studios in Reykjavík, London and Shanghai, and we’ll integrate our development and publishing expertise into Pearl Abyss’ operations for all current and future projects. 

The term "wholly owned independent subsidiary" required me to google what exactly that means. From the website Investopedia:

The difference between a subsidiary and a wholly owned subsidiary is the amount of control held by the parent company.
A regular subsidiary company has over 50% of its voting stock (it can be half, plus one share more) controlled by another company, though for liability, tax and regulatory reasons, the subsidiary and parent companies remain separate legal entities. The parent company is typically a larger business that often has control over more than one subsidiary. Parent companies may be more or less active concerning their subsidiaries, but they always hold a controlling interest to some degree. The amount of control the parent company chooses to exercise usually depends on the level of managing control the parent company awards to the subsidiary company management staff.
A subsidiary company is considered wholly owned when all of the common stock is owned by another company, the parent company. There are no minority shareholders. The subsidiary's stock is not traded publicly. But it remains an independent legal body, a corporation with its own organized framework and administration. Its day-to-day operations are likely directed entirely by the parent company, however.

Emphasis mine. 

What does it all mean? It means that CCP no longer solely determines the direction of EVE Online. Yes, it had owners before, the three "big financial investors" and I'm sure that had some affect on decisions made in the game about what was developed and pushed and what was not, but its vastly different managing the expectations and demands of three non-gaming owning entities than is it having one owner who is itself a game developing company. If you think CCP and EVE are not going to be impacted by the philosophies and inclinations of Pearl Abyss in the medium and long term, you are deluding yourselves. They did not make a major investment in another game development studio to do nothing at all with it.

The interesting question is what form that influence / interference will take. Stay tuned.

Gaming The Media

Recently the CSM White Paper was revised and in its new text prohibited people from being on the CSM who were "employees of other gaming companies/games/gaming media" and has led to some confusion as to what compromises "gaming media". You can read some of the details on that here at the CSM Watch blog. Most instructive of the information I've read so far is that blogs and "fansites" like Crossing Zebras and Evenew24 are not considered gaming media while TheMitanni.com is.

I want to delve into the question independent of the CSM White Paper and the drama surrounding Sion Kumitomo, TheMitanni.com, and CCP, and ask and answer the question if blogs like this one should be considered gaming media.

* * * *  *

media - noun
1. a plural of medium.
2. (usually used with a plural verb) the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely

You'll notice in that second definition that there is nothing that says that the means of communication has to be a company or organization of people, or even if it needs to be profitable or not. But rather that it can reach or influence people widely.

In the last month I had 13 thousand page views. Although I'm sure a lot of that was repeat visitors and search engines it does not include any audience I get through RSS feed readers since my feed posts full articles and readers don't need to come to my site for my content. Nor does it include any audience that I reach through my syndication with Evenews24.com when they post one of my articles. Does that audience reach qualify my blog as media?

When Ripard Teg burst on the blogging scene in 2011 with his blog Jester's Trek no one could have imagined that his ~3 year and a bit effort would become a widely read and influential source. To say he was one of the dominate members of the meta not a stretch, and his audience of his humble blogspot blog far exceeded mine at its height.

Noizy Gamer's work on his blog The Nosy Gamer investigating Real Money Trading in general and in EVE in particular, both company endorsed and illicit black markets, has at many times been of journalistic quality and gotten him well-earned recognition from the community and CCP.

In April of 2014 the US Justice system weighed in on the matter:

A recent legal decision that helps support this idea was handed down in a Florida court case involving accusations of defamation. Under state law, anyone who wants to pursue a defamation case has to notify the media outlet in question five days before filing. But Christopher Comins argued he didn’t have to do so in the case of a blog post from university student Matthew VanVoorhis, because blogs aren’t a traditional form of media and therefore aren’t entitled to notice.
As Techdirt notes, Comins’s argument was thrown out by the original court, but he appealed. Now, an appeals court has upheld that decision — and in the course of doing so, the judges in question chose to provide some great commentary on the importance of blogging as a form of media. The decision says:

“The advent of the internet as a medium and the emergence of the blog as a means of free dissemination of news and public comment have been transformative… the impact of blogs has been so great that even terms traditionally well defined and understood in journalism are changing as journalists increasingly employ the tools and techniques of bloggers – and vice versa.”

The court went on to say that the term blog typically refers to a site operated by a single individual or a small group that has primarily an informational purpose, most commonly in an area of special interest, knowledge or expertise — and one which usually provides for public impact or feedback. Based on this, the decision states, “it appears clear that many blogs and bloggers will fall within the broad reach of media, and, if accused of defamatory statements, will qualify as a media defendant.” It continues:

“There are many outstanding blogs on particular topics, managed by persons of exceptional expertise, to whom we look for the most immediate information on recent developments and on whom we rely for informed explanations of the meaning of these developments.”

In other words, a blog can be considered media if it acts like traditional media and has the impact of traditional media. So yeah, I think gaming media can and does include gaming blogs.

The words in the CSM white paper, if interpreted strictly, should exclude anyone with a blog or other similar fansite. I'm not sure what CCP is trying to do with its "gaming media" versus its (unofficial) "fansite" distinction but I think its clear the wording in the CSM white paper is not thought out and should be clarified, or thrown out entirely.

The Lore Is Important

Somewhere along the line, CCP realized that the game universe lore was important to the players of EVE online even though they disparage role playing. Or rather remembered.

The current events in the game lore happening recently have many players that usually ignore the lore and treat it as a background to all player actions actually feeling excited about what they mean and portend. As an example of the excitement, listen to the latest Hydrostatic special episode called Rhea Lore Panel. Its a 2 hour summary of previous lore and the current lore and its possible implications. Fascinating stuff.

The upshot is that players are excited. They are looking around at Rhea and the Caroline's Star, and the lore news events, and asking "What's Coming?" with a nervous anticipation. CCP has rediscovered that Lore Matters.

But why?

Well, it matters because it shapes the game and the mechanics. Thera and the other 100 shattered wormholes are all heavily inspired and influenced by the Sleeper and Wormhole storyline; the player stargates and the "new space" implementation in the future will lean heavily on the decisions made for the lore today. And most importantly, CCP has made it clear that the direction and destination of the lore can be influenced by the player actions in meaningful ways.

Roleplayers or not, its easy to get excited about the background we engage each other in becoming more alive and vibrant. The game has always played second fiddle to player actions, but there is no reason for the background to be cardboard cutouts and completely hollow shells. The ride gets more exciting when there is more life to the animatronics.

And most importantly, the lore being dynamic and moving helps to bring players in and keep them engaged in those lulls when a player is between corporations or alliances. Hell, I want to go see Thera and I am fully engaged in Faction Warfare.

So good job, CCP, in reviving the lore storylines in a big way this fall. Good job energizing the community that follows the storylines from close and afar. Good job making us anxious for the next release not only for content but also for what it all means.

Response to Von Keigai

Von Keigai has left a new comment on your post "You Just Don't Seem To Care":
You seem to be assuming that "turnout" is good, no matter what. Yet CSM is an advisory council, not a legislature. As such, there is no need for it to be "broad based", or anything like it. It does not need "the will of the people" or any other such mystical justification. Its purpose is to advise CCP. As such, it does not benefit from politicians so much as smart, hardworking, and knowledgeable players. CCP presumably knows this, and perhaps they even know that adding noise to the election (which is what the "will of the people" is in practice) will result in a worse CSM.
So why is high turnout worth having? Is not a low turnout of only the most motivated and informed voters better for this purpose -- electing an advisory committee -- better than a high turnout of unmotivated and uninformed voters? 

I think that increasing the voter pool with "unmotivated and uninformed voters" is indeed a bad idea. CCP's goal should be increasing the voter pool with motivated and informed voters.

The reason I think that they should strive to do this above and beyond what they have done is because right now the voting pool is dominated by null sec pilots. This in of itself is not necessarily a bad thing except the game demographics is not quite as dominated by such players. Since the council is more than just an advisory board, in fact it is a stakeholder in the development process which has significantly more impact in the outcome of development, it behooves CCP to try its damnedest to make sure that the CSM represents as many styles of play as possible. Which requires expanding the pool of motivated and informed players, and CCP is best positioned of all involved parties in the elections and game to do so. They just need to be motivated to do it.