Future Eve NEX goods dwarf $70 monocle

There will be far more expensive Eve Online virtual goods to buy than a $70 monocle, game maker CCP has revealed to Eurogamer.

"I fully expect so at some point - yeah, definitely," senior producer Arnar Gylfason answered Eurogamer during a CCP press conference. "$10,000 gold-coloured scorpions - who knows? At some point."

And such astronomically priced vanity goods will be met with no opposition from the game's player-elected Council of Stellar Management.

"My perspective and the CSM's perspective," said CSM chairman Alex "The Mittani" Gianturco, "is that if they come out with something like - just as a hypothetical [example] - unique ship models with limited runs that they want to charge $1 billion for: as long as it doesn't impact the competitive gameplay of Eve Online - If some crazy rich person wants to buy that, I don't care and, by and large, the CSM doesn't care, and that money helps go to develop Eve."

"There are a lot of people who will spend - If you look at the World of Warcraft mount secondary market, a good example are these ridiculous spectral tigers: people will pay $850 trying to buy one of those things which is, to me, nuts. But it doesn't impact my gameplay if they want to buy themselves a sparkle pony and if they want to spend their money on stupid things.

"Humans spend their money on stupid sh*t all the time."

Alex "The Mittani" Gianturco, CSM chairman

"Humans spend their money on stupid sh*t all the time," he added, "whether they're playing an MMO or whether they're buying sports cars or houses that are too big for them."

Gylfason went on to explain that there will be varying tiers of pricing for items. A subsequently released Eve Online dev blog notes how these tiers can range from "affordable" for the majority, to "deluxe" for "the flamboyantly rich". "An exceptional tier is rumored to exist that represents a very special and rare investment for the wealthiest members of the EVE community," the post added.

Gylfason said CCP hopes to have "continuous launching of new assets over the coming weeks and months". "This is something we're dedicated to populating up to an acceptable level. We have items in each pricing tier, but we haven't really seen extreme examples at either end of the spectrum," Gylfason added.

The virtual goods store, the Noble Exchange (NEX), was added in recent expansion Incarna - the update that allows player avatars to move around interior locations (confined to Captain's Quarters at the moment). CCP came under heavy fire from the community when a 'Fearless' newsletter was leaked that aired plans to charge players for game-altering goods at some point in the future. CCP has since reassured the community that this won't be the case, although the developer is reluctant to say "never".

The second phase of the Incarna expansion - the multiplayer part - will happen this year.