EVE Online : Neural Remapping & Virtual Goods
In response to input from the Council of Stellar Management and from players, the EVE Online team has decided to scrap the plans to allow players 'neural remapping' (redistribution of attributes) that would have come in the first large patch in preparation for the Incursion expansion. The remapping option was going to be a way to bring a virtual goods 'store' online and to introduce other goods into the game. By eliminating the remapping, devs have gone on to explain how bringing virtual items into EVE will work.
It's clear that it's the will of the community to keep virtual goods sales outside the spectrum of what we classify as the "merit economy". That refers to skills gained over time or items that have a gameplay impact. So after discussions, designs, brainstorming and all sorts of processes we've come up with a strategy that we've already polished with the help of the CSM and would now want to present to the larger community.
Virtual goods sales in EVE Online will evolve through sales of vanity items, first in Incarna but later in-space features. The scope will be (and there's no design be done around this, we're just talking strategy now) that anything that doesn't affect gameplay directly can be, potentially, sold for PLEX or other means. Ideas that have come up include Incarna clothing and furniture, logos on spaceships and swapping out portraits. This is by no means a comprehensive list, nor is it a commitment that said items will be available for sale, I mention these as an example for what type of items we're thinking about.
