I’ve just received an unexpected e-mail from the EverQuest II team regarding a new program for players on the fence, considering returning to EQ2, wanting to participate in seasonal and special events, or wanting to spin up an inactive account to do some Multiboxing.

If you’ve let your any of your EQ2 account expire, and don’t want to commit for the whole $15 to restore access, you can now play for up to 3 days access for $5 through the new EQ2 Passport program.

Commentary

While it might seem a nice gesture to offer players who are short on cash the opportunity to login infrequently at a discounted rate, the seams begin to unravel when we consider the terms and key publicity points of this program.

The SOE Marketing Team, who have a penchant for operating as if the players do not exist, seem to have been pressed into service to create another whiz-bang program to increase revenues. However the devil is in the details.

It seems unlikely that players will bite at $5 for a 3 day subscription, when $15 buys 30 days. The math simply doesn’t add up.

It stands to reason that if the SOE Marketing Team sidesteps the players, surely they must give little weight to concerns expressed by developers and designers as well, regardless of their understanding of the players. If asked, any EQ2 dev would have told Marketing straightaway that 3 days was just not a large enough carrot.

Another startling angle to the EQ2 Passport announcement is the front-and-center publicity given to Multiboxing. While we have reported both sides of this topic, ending in a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” standoff, it seems surprising that Multiboxing, which some players have genuine ethical concerns about, would have earned such a prominent space in this announcement.

One wonders what performance indicators will be used to determine the success or failure of this program, if any. With the shaky Sentinel’s Fate launch, the Marketing team showed a staggering fearlessness about their job security.