Eve Online Players Would Really Like For CCP To Make The Eve Online April Fools' Joke A Real Thing

It’s that time of year again…the day where we spend half of it squinting at our screens trying to decide if developers are being serious or not. (Okay, so we kinda do that anyway, but on April 1 there’s a bit of extra squinting because the joke might actually be intentional.)

Some of the jokes might be a trailer for a new character or in-game item, others might be complete nonsense.

And then there’s what CCP did today.

The Eve Online developer announced a new “feature” for its space MMORPG today named NERF. No, they’re not nerfing Eve. At least, not in the way you think. NERF stands for “New Eden Recreational Feed”, and as much as it’s supposed to be a joke, players seem to like the idea quite a bit.

According to the post, NERF is an in-game overlay that offers players quick access to several apps or websites in-game. The post lists twelve apps including things like Rebel Radio, E (Echoes of New Eden) – basically a Twitter feed, and Podboard – Reddit. Of course, Excel is listed as well. Even Divinity Social, the Eve Online dating app that was the April Fools’ joke two years ago, made an appearance.

The dev team really put in quite a bit of effort. As one Redditor points out, Readnought is a useful source of in-game lore. The thing is, he’s not sure any of the pages it links to existed before now. Whether they did or didn’t doesn’t matter. It’s a useful resource, particularly for new players. It’s even more useful to have it right there, in the game.

So, here’s the thing. Right now, this feature does exist in Eve Online. If you read the announcement post, it tells players that NERF is available to all players for free for 24 hours. After that…well, according to the post, players will have to pay for a new sub type called “Omega Pro Max” – intended to “elevate your EVE Online Experience to unprecedented heights”.

Of course, the assumption is that the feature will simply cease to exist. That’s why one player posted on Reddit asking CCP to let them keep it. Honestly, unless there’s a really good reason why they just can’t, it seems almost foolish to take it away if players are loving it this much.