The Way of the PLEX

Imagine this scenario, if you will:

EVECitizen943 is in trouble. Money is tight and the missus is not entirely on board with the whole idea of some of it being spent on a silly thing like an awesome totally rockin' massively multiplayer online role-playing game. "Ah, the memories. Look, there's my good old trusty Marauder class Battleship, the Paladin. Laid down some serious pwnage in that hawt piece of doom-machine. Too bad she's just sitting there gathering simulated spacedust now since I'm driving that Strategic Cruiser.

Hang on a minute... How about I offload that Paladin on some hot-shot wannabe for heaps of ISK and then buy a few Pilot's License Extensions (PLEX) and use them to extend my EVE subscription?"

Indeed. A PLEX can be bought via the in-game market for ISK and then applied to add 30 days of game time to your account.

And they've been out there for a while now. I'm sure you all remember the late CCP Oveur's dev blog late last year where he introduced the so called Pilot's License Extensions, commonly known as PLEX. In November 2008 the mechanics of converting ETCs into PLEXes were implemented and since early February 2009 PLEXes can be purchased via our website.

All this has been well received by the playerbase at large and the numbers speak for themselves really.

The red line shows the daily average number of PLEXes used in-game while the blue line shows the amount of PLEXes created from ETC codes.  The yellow line shows the amount of PLEXes in stock in the game.  As clearly demonstrated by the red line, more and more players are catching on to the fact that they can effectively play to play, in fact PLEX essentially makes EVE free2play, think of that! Players on PLEX effectively pay their subscription with their ISK which in turn allows them to make more ISK to play even more and make more ISK to play and make mo... well, it goes on like this

There is now a good deal of PLEXes in stock, as shown by the yellow line, which is  good for the players in need of PLEX to extend their subscriptions.  There is ample opportunity for more pilots to hop on the PLEX train obviously and the purpose of this blog is basically to spread the good word and bring the beauty of PLEX to a screen near you.

There are currently two ways to create PLEXes. They can be bought via our website directly, or they created by converting Electronic Time Codes (ETCs).  PLEX creation has been growing steadily and now the sales of PLEX directly from our website are slowly becoming more popular.  Your PLEXes are simply a few clicks away.  Just log in to your account management and click "Buy PLEX". 

Not only are PLEXes good for extending EVE Online subscriptions but they are also a hot market item and the in-game market offers great opportunities for market savvy individuals. There are tycoons out there who have made their fortunes in the PLEX market, buying low - selling high.  

Prices are stabilizing now after a considerable rise in May and early June.  This of course means that players looking to pay for their subscriptions in ISK will have that much more ISK left once they have bought a PLEX for their account. 

Of course, all those PLEXes being traded for ISK come from players that have bought them from our website directly or converted ETCs they have purchased from the EVE Store or one of our official ETC retailers.  

One of the greatest thing about PLEXes is that they offer a way to stamp out unauthorized RMT elements trying to infiltrate the EVE community and hacking players accounts.  Buying ISK from unauthorized ISK sellers has serious consequences, as many players have discovered recently when they've had the ISK they bought removed as it had come from hacked accounts. It hurts, but not as much as having your account(s) hacked and cleaned out of ISK and assets, I assure you.

The way of the PLEX benefits everyone involved. The very serious effects of the ISK seller rabble on EVE are limited. Your money is channeled into making EVE more awesome rather than ruining it. Players can use their ISK to play the game and save up their hard-earned RL moolah to buy that display card of OMGness they always wanted instead, for example.

In short, everybody wins. Everybody, except the account hacking, credit card stealing and macroing ISK sellers, that is.  PLEX is a part of a two pronged attack in order to curb RMT in EVE.  The second part involves actions such as account banning, item confiscation and ISK reversals.  More on that next week when we will report to you on operation "Unholy rage".

• GM Grimmi