Eve Online fans literally cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest

Yeah, yeah, that sounds exciting and all, but spreadsheets are where a file is fact work happens.

There aren’t many games where the built-in integration with Microsoft Excel would be a major feature whose announcement would draw actual cheers from fans. But eve online It showed itself to be the exception when developer CCP announced the upcoming Excel integration During the Eve Fanfest keynote this morning.

Through a formal partnership with Microsoft, CCP said it was creating a JavaScript API that would allow players to “seamlessly export data from eve onlineIt will help players access and calculate everything from profit margins to battle strategy, making Eve The company said in press release.

“It’s not an April Fool’s Day, it’s true,” Birgor Finbogason, Eve’s online creative director, said on stage at Fanfest. “I’m not lying – we have already reached out to him [Microsoft] And they were like, Oh my God, we love Eve! “

Spreadsheets in space!

flirting references to eve onlineReputation as a “spreadsheets in space” simulator old date more than a decade at this point. And CCP bowed to that reputation at Fanfest, with Finnbogason joking that a data-packed presentation on the game’s economy Data Scientist CCP Larrikin “Really, really, really, really[s] Eve sounds like “spreadsheets in space”. It’s hard to be a creative manager sometimes when you have all the love for spreadsheets. “

Despite this, Finnbogason went on to admit that “data is extremely important for many advanced playing styles in Eve. “And that’s right; many individual and corporate players are within the game use external tools and spreadsheets to track resource production and destruction metrics to the smallest detail. Data tracking can be key to efforts to maximize in-game currency, which can be They are traded for additional in-game subscription time in the open market.

At Fanfest, though, Finnbogason noted that “the initial cost of creating this [data-tracking] The systems can be too daunting for small groups. Built-in Excel integration for eve online He said the data should “simplify access to data for everyone” and “level the playing field when it comes to security tools”.

“Whether you satisfy your curiosity, magnify your industrial enterprise, or conduct your war on the front lines, it is in your hands to create the tools for your advancement,” he said.

CCP really helps data-obsessed gamers Chart-filled monthly reports In everything from resource mining productions to regional NPC rewards. It’s all part of the company processing And surprisingly successful A two-decade effort to effectively manage its complex in-game economy. The goal, as CCP Larrikin put it on stage at Fanfest, is to create a “fair distribution of resources” that will lead to more player satisfaction and game improvement. While a short presentation of eve onlineIts Excel integration drew legitimate cheers from the Fanfest audience, with Finnbogason saying that the API tools are still in the “early stage” and that the company “will be sharing more later in the year.” However, Finnbogason added that “this is pretty wild stuff” and we have to agree with it.

Now if only Nintendo would create a similar spreadsheet tool so we could keep track of it our prosperity animal crossing business bell.