White Wolf Bought Out By CCP

Dr Rotwang! · November 13, 2006, 03:18:25 PM

If you look at the thread title too quickly, it looks like "White Wolf Bought Out By OCP".

"Vampire? I'd buy that for a dollar!"

Bagpuss · November 13, 2006, 05:46:07 PM

I curious as to what definition of "largest persistent online role-playing world" they are going by. Largest as in players? Active players, virtual environment to explore or what?

I do like how it's a "merger" although "White Wolf will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCP.", which doesn't sound like a merger to me. Does that mean CCP have DrivethruRPG and RPGNow as well?

KrakaJak · November 13, 2006, 06:31:39 PM

Quote from: BagpussI curious as to what definition of "largest persistent online role-playing world" they are going by. Largest as in players? Active players, virtual environment to explore or what?

I do like how it's a "merger" although "White Wolf will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCP.", which doesn't sound like a merger to me. Does that mean CCP have DrivethruRPG and RPGNow as well?

They're talking about the Size of the Universe, which comprises of of thousands of planetary systems, with player made outposts. I know it's up there as far as player population too (not WoW up there, but up there, and all on one server).

It's actually intensley player driven and heavy on business/politics.

PaulChapman · November 13, 2006, 11:01:24 PM

Quote from: BagpussDoes that mean CCP have DrivethruRPG and RPGNow as well?

White Wolf is a separate company from OneBookShelf. It has some owners in common, but they're incorporated separately.

Dominus Nox · November 13, 2006, 11:11:03 PM

Now if someone would only buy SJG and toss out the assholes....

J Arcane · November 14, 2006, 02:27:14 AM

Quote from: BagpussI curious as to what definition of "largest persistent online role-playing world" they are going by. Largest as in players? Active players, virtual environment to explore or what?

I do like how it's a "merger" although "White Wolf will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCP.", which doesn't sound like a merger to me. Does that mean CCP have DrivethruRPG and RPGNow as well?

Phyisical size. EVE's player base is actually fairly small, only around 125,000 players.

And calling it a "merger" even when it's really not is standard corp PR these days. The same thing happened when Square got bought by Enix: They still called it a merger, and even let Square take top billing, because Square has more brand recognition outside Japan, but it was most definitely a buyout.

Lawbag · November 14, 2006, 04:19:25 AM

I may be wrong, but isn't EVE Online connected with Sony?

Balbinus · November 14, 2006, 05:18:05 AM

Mike,

Thanks for the detailed replies, I admit I hadn't thought about issues like warehousing and management skills but that makes a lot of sense. Most interesting.

Balbinus · November 14, 2006, 05:19:21 AM

Quote from: mearlsFrom a gamer's point of view, it's easy to underestimate the value in knowing how to produce an RPG book, from art, to layout, to warehousing, to dealing with distributors. A good manager is worth a dozen talented designers (a good manager can compensate for weak designers; the reverse is not true.)

That makes sense, we see the design, we only become aware of the other things when they go badly wrong and even then odds are all we know is that the book is late.

J Arcane · November 14, 2006, 05:30:55 AM

Quote from: LawbagI may be wrong, but isn't EVE Online connected with Sony?

Nope. In fact, CCP isn't connected with anyone, they're an entirely independent firm. They were actually able to buy back the rights from Simon & Schuster after their initial retail publication of EVE Online, and are now entirely self-contained.

As a random sidenote, the Chinese version of EVE (and it's server) is codenamed Serenity.

Akrasia · November 14, 2006, 06:13:24 AM

Quote from: jrientsYour use of the term 'monetize' frightens and confuses me. I'm just a cave man, but it looks like the word 'soak' drops right into the same place and all the sentences make sense.

Is 'monetize' even a word? :confused:

This doesn't even look like a case of 'verbizing' an existing noun, a la 'Calvin and Hobbes' (the way that 'impact' went from being a perfectly respectable noun into a rather irritating verb in recent years).

Why do people keep inventing new words when there are plenty of useful existing ones?

[Sorry for the tangent, but this is a pet-peeve of mine.]

Mr. Analytical · November 14, 2006, 06:25:07 AM

Monetising is a perfectly cromulant term.

It means to turn something into money, I think it nicely describes what goes on on eBay where people turn clutter into money.

Levi Kornelsen · November 14, 2006, 06:34:51 AM

Quote from: mearlsFrom a gamer's point of view, it's easy to underestimate the value in knowing how to produce an RPG book, from art, to layout, to warehousing, to dealing with distributors. A good manager is worth a dozen talented designers (a good manager can compensate for weak designers; the reverse is not true.)

Mike speaks Truth. Lots of Truth.

Akrasia · November 14, 2006, 06:59:41 AM

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalMonetising is a perfectly cromulant term.

It means to turn something into money, I think it nicely describes what goes on on eBay where people turn clutter into money.

Well I'll be damned, you're right. ... Learn something new every day ... :hmm:

(Maybe I'd have known this if I had ever converted anything into money. One day, perhaps...)

Mr. Analytical · November 14, 2006, 07:20:44 AM

Mind you, it's also rather obnoxiously used by various online marketting companies to try and convince you to turn your blog into advertising space OR take part in viral marketting schemes.