Wondering just much longer it'll take before EVE Online updates with the much-awaited Trinity expansion? Not too long, apparently, as CCP Games announces the expansion's launch date. Those interested on getting the full details on this will want to visit the full article.

CCP Games CEO Hilmar Petursson delivered a speech at the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) 2007 and part of it focused on the difference between World of Warcraft's "themepark" approach to the MMORPG genre and Eve Online's playground structure. He also talked about how their company was already there when the genre wasn't fully formed yet.

"We began full-force in 2000 by raising US$ 3 million, which is about one-tenth of the current MMORPG. The last year of which we had no money, but everyone turned up to work anyway despite us not being able to pay them. This created a core of people who have gone through hell with us, and helps with the community especially," explained the CEO.

On to the juicier part, Petursson reminisced how Eve Online started as an MMO video game but looking at it now, it is more of a virtual society or the console platform's sandbox genre. While acknowledging that WoW is a good game, the CEO hinted though that Blizzard is not giving its user base the chance to "play" and "explore".

According to the official, this is not even about giving the players complex tools to tinker with because the players themselves will eventually come up with "complex in-game behaviors" as long as they understand the tools at work in the game. He added:

When people play, they are doing something social and its inherently competitively social, which allows you to hone and develop skills which are applicable to real life: incentive plans for employees, using PR to take down your enemy, manage complex logistics, and so on.

Lastly, Hilmar Petursson reminded everyone that it's about time MMO developers give back the power to the hands of the players. "We are now in a big effort to decentralize governance of the world. We want to employ democratic elections to elect representatives to have an ongoing say in development," he added.

CCP's CEO and EVE Online boss Hilmar Veigar Petursson has posed the question: Why make a World of Warcraft clone? There are two approaches in the development of games in the MMORPG market today: The first would be to be like WoW while the second involves innovation. For Petursson, the second choice seem like a better option.

He spoke about this topic in an interview with Games Industry saying that "I just don't understand why people do yet another fantasy game. Why make a clone of World of Warcraft?" He then went on saying that it is the "perfect implementation" of the said game in the genre so it's time to focus on developing something new. This point of contention is not new and there have been numerous attempts at taking down the "T-Rex" of the MMORPG world.

Some like EVE Online and Second Life have decided to target a different niche in the MMO world and have been relatively successful in their attempts. A comparison with WoW becomes a mute point considering the different audiences that these games cater to. Now those who stick with the current formula and are trying to take on WoW on its home turf have been fighting a losing battle.

Given that The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar has received some success, but you have to consider the technology and the core story that is driving the game. The technology is similar (and we use the term loosely) to that of World of Warcraft. The storyline and world in which LoTRO is in happens to be one of the most, if not the most influential stories for medieval fantasy. Petursson gave a theory on why some developers are still trying this approach.

This might have something to do with the fact that the birthplace of massively multiplayer games is in the MUD, and the MUDs were very fantasy-driven, and the whole sort of level treadmill and all these things – it's so ingrained into the people developing it that people always fall into the same traps

It's still accepted that World of Warcraft is the king off MMORPGs. There will come a point where it will be still be king of their specific genre in the market but not the entire MMO field. This separation is slowly becoming the trend in the MMORPG sector of the gaming market. The question is not how this will happen anymore but when.

Our very own news super-sleuth Ian C. walked you through the whole big ish behind the huge scandal that rocked the EVE Online universe. In a two-part insider investigation from both the EVE Insider Forums and The Escapist, he shoved you through the biggest example of developers' abuse of power.

Even if you aren't an EVE subscriber, MMOG players take note: it could happen to you. The exhaustive bombardment going on between the developers and the players hasn't ceased, and a new side has begun to form: third-party onlookers and analysts are beginning to voice out their concern, too.

The issue's wind has begun to kick up, and several other forums have caught whiff of the news. The consensus? "Stop the abuse of power." Or something like that.

After Hilmar Veigar Petursson, CEO of CPP, told the EVE community about the waves the incident has caused inside CCP, including the gamers' concern about having devs playing the game, he reasoned out the need for developers to stay closely linked to the players and the gaming community. He highlights that the best way for developers to do that effectively is to play the game alongside the players. Unfortunately, developers do have higher powers, plus they can muster more information and resources than the common player can.

Conclusively, Petursson stressed:

The developers of this company will always play the games that they build here. Without being fully immersed in the player experience, perspective, and community, it is impossible to build, maintain, and expand online worlds with any degree of competency. And while that does expose us to some degree of risk, the rewards are incalculably higher. EVE has grown stronger every year since its inception; these bumps in the road are an inevitable part of the journey we must endure as a growing company; and we would not be here today if we opted to isolate ourselves from the player experience of EVE Online. It is thus that we look forward to putting this matter firmly behind us, and move forward with our continued mission to improve and expand a world that we hold close to our hearts.

But looking back, he also stated, "I would regard the EVE community as our benefactors. We are not the "gods" or "the masters" of EVE Online or the EVE community. We serve the community. You have entrusted us to safeguard your hard work." Serve, trust, and safeguard: these are the same three things that have been repeatedly compromised through developers' abuse of power.

So just how much trust should an EVE gamer place on developers this time? Feel free to discuss.

The biggest attraction that EVE Online has to veteran MMORPG players, is that the experience is almost a seamless integration of "RP" and "G" parts of MMORPG. It's an arena of high intrigue and politicking.

Just how immersive is this cut-throat world? Well, when players - in this case the Interstellar Starbase Syndicate - start going public with a workable in-game IPO, you know that people are really getting into this space-based game of space-pirates, savvy galactic rogues, and Darwinian hyper-capitalists.

So the in-game businessmen are forming IPOs, what about the rogues you ask? Well, the year in the making GHSC heist was a completely "legal" in-game Ocean's Eleven-esque heist wherein people from the Guiding Hand Social Club (GHSC) corporation managed to infiltrate their target corp and run away with an estimated US$ 16,500 in goods.

Also, a few months ago news broke that yet another huge scam took place. Cally, the guy running the player-operated "EVE Intergalactic Bank", one day decided to just grab all the deposits and run away with the money. This not so intricate bank "scam" lead to 790 billion Isk being stolen – that translate to roughly US$ 170,000 – possibly the biggest "in-game" scam ever conducted.

But what happens when even the GM's - the people who are supposed to enforce the law - get involved with all the scheming and underhanded dealing? You get what The Escapist has amusingly called "Jumpgate".

Get more on Kugutsumen, the deepthroat of "jumpgate" after the Jump!