A hostile act?
CCP recently announced that the regional stats in the MER (Monthly Economic Reports) are no longer a thing. The February figures just released are to be the last. As is normally the case there was a cry of foul play by some within the community that this was due to the influence of The Imperium. Often The Imperium is held accountable for all manner of things. Got lag? Goons. Bad relic site drops? Goons! Bees in your flowers? Goons.
The removal of the regional data in the MER had incensed fans of data and graphs as well as those that use the MER for other reasons. It would seem that this data, which showed economic activity, such as mining, production and exports, was used by some traders to correct the market data that is available within Eve itself. How exactly this is done is not generally advertised. After all if you have a magic formula to keep yourself ahead of the other traders it is not necessarily something you would want to share.
It should be noted that the data presented in the MER was far from complete. For instance, there is still data missing from the mining drones use by Rorquals. Given that it is also regionally based means that only alliances in full control of a region leak intel. Where a region is owned by more than one alliance then the data becomes less useful when ascertaining the capabilities of any specific group.
One of the questions that was asked of traders was how they would feel if the top 25 traders had data that specifically related to them was available via CCP? This data would then enable other traders to use it to their own advantage. There was not really a firm response of that being bad but equally it was not held as a good idea either.
However during last weeks Meta Show, available on TheMittaniDotCom at Twitch, Aryth announced that the proposed removal of the MER was his suggestion. Once the arguments for the proposal were made other CSM members were unable to object as the proposal was perfectly reasonable. This was later confirmed in the CSM Minutes that were released this week. So, the cry of “the goons did it” is finally correct. It seems that if you do throw enough darts at the board eventually one will stick. One can only guess as to how many years it will be before this “crime” against Eve is forgiven.
The evolution of data
This matter does bring up an interesting opportunity to talk about data in general. At this time there is data that is available from within the game itself, data pulled from CCP and data that is collated over time.
In-game data is present via the map and offers useful information such as where cynos are or the whereabouts of fleet members. Looking at the information of any system will reveal details of sovereignty. Using the Structure Browser will return results of structures that are friendly to a pilot. These are but a few examples and there are considerably more.
CCP themselves offer data that can be pulled from them directly. There have been changes to the mechanisms and functions available over time. They will likely continue to change in the future based on the needs of the player base as well as those of CCP. These efforts support the activities of third party sites that will collate data pulled from CCP over a period of time. A good example of this is with the likes of Dotlan and ZKillboard. They do not pull data from CCP every time a user accesses their website but instead hold their own version of historical data. This reduces the load on CCP servers but also allows for a history to be built up that may not exist elsewhere.
Finally, there is player data that is collected of a more esoteric nature. This may be the play times of certain players or their relationships with others. This has a value for the Meta Game. For instance, if you have a hostile FC that will only play at the weekends then, if you want no resistance, hit them during the week. Equally, if you want real-time information on a hostile fleet then you should expect to make an investment in having that data. In this example, it would be in the form of having a spy in the hostile fleet or by having one of your scouts follow.
The player base has seen changes on this front in the past. A fine example of this was with the removal of “watch lists”. When they were available you could simply add any player and know the moment they logged in. This feature was then used to spot mass logins from hostile capital pilots. Once this function was removed you had to develop new ways of working out what your enemies were up to.
The “local list” has also come under fire on a number of occasions. Within wormholes, there is no local listing of pilots in the system. So no default intelligence available as to who is present in the system. This has been presented as something that is desirable in other parts of Eve, such as with nullsec.
As is often the case where data is concerned it feels very much like the data has grown over the years, with no specific strategy in place. This is just something that happens especially where technology moves on. The changes we have seen historically are seemingly addressed on a case by case basis. Every now and then it will generally be a good idea to revisit data structures to ensure that they are serving a purpose.
If data has a benefit then there should be a cost.
The point here is that data will often have a value to someone. Sometimes that value will not always be apparent to those that the data is being collected from, but this does not mean it has none. Where data has more value than other types of data then there should be a cost associated with it. This does not seem unreasonable especially with the nature of Eve as a whole. It would be a poor day that there was “balance” introduced so that a 10 man fleet could fight, and expect to have a reasonable chance of winning, against a 250 man fleet. The same should apply for data, especially data relating to potential hostiles or targets. So if you want data that gives you an advantage over others then there should be some cost, even if it is just time alone.
CCP recognises this issue with the existence of “locator agents”. These NPC characters will report on the location of players with New Eden. It is not completely as straight forward as asking a NPC to locate a character for you. You will need to spend time increasing faction standings as well as making a payment for each time you run a locator request. This is a great example of making an investment to gain the standings required, the time needed for a request to complete and an actual ISK cost as well.
Other types of data should also not be forgotten. Not everyone in Eve is concerned with PvP and there are other types of game play available. The same rules for market data, for instance should also be present. If the availability of data allows a trader to have a competitive advantage over others for no or little effort then you surely have to question whether that is sensible.
A recurring theme
As our game evolves so will the data that is present to support it. This area is probably one of the most important that we as a community can contribute to. Although this may seem like a strange thing to say there is a good reason for it. Imagine if you will that you have perfect data on all your hostiles and for this data to be easily at hand and with no cost. If this were the case there would be no need for spies, scouts or a host of other activities. Now consider all the great stories that have come from Eve that would not exist if this were the case.
With this years CSM looming it will be very interesting if any of the candidates picks up on this issue. The heat damage acquired through the use of modules during PvP is very important to some but data realistically affects everyone in Eve. The quality of life by having “better” data, or at least more clearly defined, is something that can benefit everyone. So whether you agree or disagree with Aryth’s proposal is quite moot. The one thing that you can say about their actions is that it is truly evidence of a player looking to address an important element that affects us all.
