At the request of @noizygamer, I've put in a CSM feature proposal for fireworks bpo's. #tweetfleet #csmx
— Sion Kumitomo (@siggonK) June 5, 2015
Why should CCP start seeding fireworks (and snowball) original blueprints on the market? Mainly, fireworks (and snowballs) help instill a sense of community. CCP originally created snowballs as a one time gift to celebrate a real world holiday. Snowballs proved so popular with the player base that CCP brought back the items and created fireworks as well. Getting together with others, even complete strangers, and celebrating a holiday like New Year's is fun.
EVE is a sandbox, and players hold celebrations for in-game reasons in addition to celebrate real world holidays. For example, when my alliance, EvE-Scout Enclave, reached 300 members, alliance leadership took a Hugs fleet out to visit Titanomachy in B-R5RB, followed by a trip to a trade hub to shoot off fireworks and snowballs. Well, that was the plan, but the fleet took a wrong turn somewhere and ran into Imperium forces who received all of the planned hugs instead. Our side had a blast; I don't know about the SMA or FCON pilots.
The use of fireworks is not just confined to a group of crazed explorers. Did you know that a group of pilots is celebrating Federation Day this Saturday? Federation Day is the day the Gallente celebrate the founding of the Federation. While a lore event, player celebrations of the holiday go back for years. Did I mention that Federation Day is in June and CCP usually only hands out party ammunition in December?
Quite frankly, as important as making some player events more fun is to an MMORPG, I do have another motive. I'd like to see CCP create a new holiday item this year. By making the current party ammo player-made, CCP could then introduce a new party module or item instead. For example, I think a glitter bomb module would bring a nice change of pace to New Eden's scenery. I envision a glitter bomb module to act like a smart bomb, just more colorful and doing 0 (or -1) points of damage. I don't know if Crimewatch would prevent the use of a glitter bomb in high sec, but the thought of a conga line of glitter bombing capitals snaking through a null sec alliance's capital system brings a smile to my face. Perhaps the glitter bomb comes in one standard color and players could buy scripts from the cash shop to change the color of the effect.
I know that some people will say that CCP should limit the amount of party ammunition in the game. Signal Cartel, during our various wars, even ran across players who appear allergic to fun. I guess because internet spaceships is serious business and, as an exploration alliance, we don't tend to take high sec war decs too seriously. But fireworks are fun, and I don't think CCP should place an artificial limit on the amount of fun we can have throughout the year.
