Players’ scam alarms activated immediately upon CCP’s announcement of free skillpoints over the 16-19 November weekend, but the community struggled to pin down the scam until one intrepid investigator uncovered the plot. Players were suspicious that the intent goes beyond exploring whether skillpoint bonuses are incentive to boost logged in user rates and to convert Alpha accounts to Omega status, but struggled to find the hook.



Community Speculation ranged far and wide. Many suggested the bonus skillpoint weekend marks the return of “dailies” and the end of EVE Online. Some dismissed the entire offer as “pathetic,” or designed to disenfranchise and alienate veteran players by reducing the gap between a 15 year veteran and a new player by an absolutely crushing 0.018%. The vast majority struggled to find the hook in the bait, other than a general sense of unease that CCP might be attempting to boost active account numbers or trial a pay-to-win system.



The entire debate rabidly degenerated into a meta war, as focus shifted from the announcement itself, to attacking one another over responses to the announcement. Thankfully, Buoytender Bob saved the day, by gaining pre-release access to the new feature, and sharing his experience with the community.

OMG!

“I just tried to get my first 50,000 SP, hit the accept box, and found out that CCP Falcon actually switched it at the last second and just took 50,000 OFF my character.

That’s the EVE Online I’ve come to love.”



That’s right, Bob discovered the “Free SP” button actually deducts skillpoints, in a scam reminiscent of trade hub “Trade Window Scams!” CCP, in a dastardly move to drive Injector sales, has come up with a scam to reduce the total skillpoint pool in New Eden by some 4 BILLION POINTS if 40,000 accounts claim 100,000SP each. That’s 8,000 injectors, equivalent to approximately 40,000 USD!



Whatever you do, don’t log in 16-19 November: IT’S A TRAP!

