WC: Do you see that changing at all? It seems that one of the things that makes CCP unique is they started out as an incredibly small company and they had that transparency right from the start. Now, it's grown exponentially along with EVE. Do you find that with the speed of that growth, that you have to cling to that ideal a little bit more in the sense where ... I mean, the stakes are obviously higher now and you still want to keep all your subscribers and keep growing. One of the reasons why Blizzard barely deals with the press at all is because they control virtually every screenshot that's released - they're sort of the exact opposite of you guys, they have no transparency whatsoever.
NW: Definitely - also, if you look at Steve Jobs and Apple, there is value in the Reveal, in building up some "what's going to happen?" I think you can have both. We've got some plans at Fanfest for some pretty cool reveals. We've been keeping this stuff close to our chest. People are going to go, "No way!" That's really fun to do! I think you can definitely have both ... if I have one - well, I wouldn't really call it a "regret," but I used to be way more hands-on with the players and I used to be on the forums all the time. Now, as my responsibilities have grown and my department has grown, there's practically as many people now in my department as there were in the entire company when I joined! That's amazing to me.
So I can't be on the forums answering every thread, and looking at every little balance gripe - I have to delegate way more. I have to make sure that the company's ... not the "mantra," I can't think of the word right now, but that it trickles down to all the people below me; that they carry the torch. That they're on the forums, and they come to me, "You know, the guys really are mad about, say, 'Large Autocannons suck,' we really need to change it. We were talking about them and we agree, so let's do it!" And then I have to go, "Yes, definitely, if Large Autocannons suck then let's boost them up." That sort of thing.
WC: What do you want to see different in the next CSM, or what are you looking forward to about the next one?
NW: I would like to see more high-level stuff. More goals, more vision, more future. A lot of their issues were kind of on the "tactics" level, it was like "We want you to do this, change it like this." I'd like to see more "strategy," to see them say, "We would like to go here in a year from now, and can you make it happen?" Rather than "This little bit of the game needs to be changed." And I think we can do it. I just think it needs to be, you know, communicated to them, and as CSM evolves, we can have this. Because it's the players' game, and I think this democracy is just going to make things all the better for the players.
