We have dev blogs! The latest is an article on one of the kick-ass tools our technical artist has been working on.
I’m pretty sure we have one of the highest ratios of “people who’ve actually shipped MMOs” in the industry, and we have the commitment to process to prove it.
You’re welcome to speculate as to why “a massively-multiplayer online game that features a unique combination of space flight and role-oriented (RPG-style) combat” requires so many skeletons. 
Following up on Joe and Damion’s posts, Raph says “a designer who only works inside of data-driven systems will not have a career path and training path to learn systems design unless they are given access to system modifications.”
Well, shit. Somebody tell my boss.
I design “infrastructure systems,” like items and abilities, and I do so all the better because I have years of experience in data management. Five years from now, the live team will be three guys in a cardboard box. If I’ve done my job right, they’ll do more than tweak numbers — they have room for creativity because the systems are well-thought-out and allow for combinations to last for the service’s lifetime. And if they need something the system doesn’t support, they can get an hour’s worth of code and be on their way.
If the player ends up feeling like they’re “wandering through a database,” then the systems were poorly designed.
There’s nothing wrong with design within constraints. That design will be easier to polish, balance, and maintain in the long run, because it’s easier to run a query than to comb through scripts. And we’re failing if we’re not in it for the long run.
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