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CCP Games' Jon Lander recently spoke with Gamasutra about the company's sci-fi space MMO EVE Online. In the interview Lander discussed dealing with some of the mistakes the company has made, and the importance of fan input in crafting the EVE Online universe.

Lander's philosophy toward EVE these days is bottom-up in general. For example, his latest initiative in the game, the Inferno expansion, was to start a massive war -- one that will drive the movement of players and resources in the game, even those who don't engage in PvP combat.

How does this high concept boil down to the game? "I really sort of say: 'We've got a theme. We've got some business goals.' Those get broken down amongst everybody throughout the project; it's a big project."

"They come back with a whole raft of ideas which feed back up the chain, and then myself and the project management group sit down and go, 'Okay. How do we think this is best going to fit into the company? These are the ideas from the people who really know.'"

And even though some players have criticized aspects of Inferno, says Lander, "participation goes up, because it's not about giving players a feature to play through; it's about giving them tools to do their own stories."

"No one's yet been able to run through the human psyche and do all of that content, so we're very lucky in that."

Gamasutra: The Secret To EVE Online's Success

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