Shadow of Cerberus EVE Community Forum

Adieu, CCP Soundwave

CCP Soundwave has hosted five Alliance Tournaments. I've been fortunate to have seen three of those. IX to XI.

For me, he's the face of the Alliance Tournament. I can't imagine anybody else hosting the event. Yet, on the final Sunday of XI, CCP Soundwave announced that this will be his last Alliance Tournament, that he wants to pass the torch to a younger and less good-looking generation.

I was a bit dumbfounded, to say the least. I completely connect with his dry, sardonic wit. Nearly everything he did was with a wry internal smile. Whether he was licking prize packages during IX, because it would increase their value, or cupping bingo balls gently during the participant drawings for XI, he brought a lightness to the proceedings.

Soundwave encapsulated the CCP spirit, not only company spirit, but player spirit as well. He was as quick to poke fun at himself as he was player organizations. It was always done with good humour. And if anybody was so self-righteous as to take offense, well, they could just HTFU.

I do hope that it is only the Alliance Tournament that he is leaving. I hope there is no larger change on the horizon. Bad enough that I'll have to get used to a new host next year, I hope I will not have to get used to a new Lead Game Designer for EVE Online as well. For a lot of people, Soundwave has been the face and personality of EVE for a long time. Granted, I'm now familiar with many more developers, designers and producers at CCP, but Soundwave was the first CCP employee I became familiar with. Soundwave was my introduction to CCP Games.

For those that watched the feed today to its conclusion, they were lucky to see a nice montage and retrospective of Soundwave's hosting throughout the last half decade. Put together by the CCP video department. A very nice send-off to such an important part of the tournament.

Tip for CCP Games next year. When searching for a new tournament host, remember that the role requires a light touch and much humour. The host should not take himself or the game too seriously.

Good luck to Soundwave. And thank you for three great Alliance Tournaments.

I leave everyone else with a fitting Soundwave quote, it sums up exactly what he brought to his role as host.

"Welcome back to the eleventh Alliance Tournament. It's day four, and that pretty much means only the good teams and Test Alliance are left." ? CCP Soundwave, Alliance Tournament XI

Source: Adieu, CCP Soundwave