Disappointed by the Disappointed – The AT XVII is announced

Last week, the new Alliance Tournament was announced.
The community’s reaction to it has been mixed. I would like to pick up on two of the statements because I just can’t stand the disappointment of the disappointment….

The Alliance Tournament was an exciting competition between the major alliances for over 15 years. Back when I freshly started playing EVE I didn’t know all the names, but my corp mates at the time who watched the stream with me explained exactly who belonged to which alliance and where in 0.0 they were located.
Over time, the alliance tournament became a permanent fixture in the EVE year and in between, in conjunction with the eve-bet betting shop, was a really cool thing that just felt rounded.

Nevertheless, the organisation around it was so big that CCP decided to suspend the tournament in 2019. Not only because the community team had been massively downsized at that point, but also because there was simply no time (or money) for the Fanfest due to cost-cutting measures and the planned relocation of the development studio. Instead, the 2019 tournament took place in selection tournaments around the globe, which was actually also a great mode that made the individual player meetings even more interesting. I took part in the tournament in Amsterdam, for example.

Last week, the tournament for 2021 was announced. There were different reactions to this, which disappointed me.
Completely unnecessary premiere hype!
Admittedly, there is always a bit of hype when a fan of a brand discovers the famous premiere announcement on youtube. For all those who don’t know it: A video is scheduled for release at a certain time by the editors and announced publicly at the same time. This was also the case with the video that was supposed to announce the AT. The effect was as desired: 24 hours beforehand, there were already speculations on reddit and social media about what kind of announcement was coming. I also took part, secretly hoping that the ESS keys would finally be issued, suspecting that it was a teaser for the next big thing in EVE Online.
But then it was “only” the announcement of the AT.
But? whoever pulls a disappointed flap at this point and scolds CCP for this being uninteresting rubbish, is ignoring some important aspects.

First of all, those who thought a premiere announcement for the AT was unnecessary and overdone. I, on the other hand, thought it was pretty good, because for a moment all EVE players were once again on the same wavelength together. It was exciting to observe where and how the announcement was discussed everywhere – across security borders. Without blue-donut conceit and other animosities, EVE players suddenly spoke with one voice.

Then there were the voices that clearly announced after the announcement that they were “not interested in something like the AT”. But you only find out how important the AT is for EVE and what strong significance it has in the global community when you look beyond your own nose or your own tether ring.
In order to save EVE Online as a game and make it attractive for the community again, it doesn’t just need changes to the gameplay, bug fixes or benefits for the player group that shouts the loudest.
The culture of the community and the game must also be promoted, and I can’t think of a better project than the AT, because it was a fixed annual institution for many years. Because for many years there were alliances that were founded precisely for this event and because I’m sure everyone was eager to see whether someone would finally succeed in knocking Pandemic Legion off its throne.

The AT is an institution in EVE that had a 16-year tradition – until it was interrupted first by the “World Domination Tour” and then by “Corona”. The fact that an AT has now been announced again shows me that after the expansion of the community team, a little normality and perhaps a little reliability is returning to CCP.
The AT is by no means just a gathering place for PVP enthusiasts and EFT/PyFa warriors.
The creative potential stretched from billions of bets to the ingenious AT-Adverts and the mostly pretty screwy comments including whole memes that came out of it. From the Moa meta, to boundary violations, to bought victories, there was never a shortage of conversation before, during and after the AT.

Which side do you belong to? Yeah or nay? Do you have any AT memories of the old tournaments? Did you perhaps even take part in them? I am looking forward to your comments!

Fly safe
Jezaja