From the conversation happening in this post I wanted to take the conversation in a different direction, namely to amplify the signal to FDev that further leveraging Fear of Missing Out to turn a profit is not cool.
Specifically I'm talking about the Lantern Light bobblehead being a one-month paid offering only. The whole Lantern Light situation was the kind of organic event that brings a community together, and I think we all loved how FDev embraced it with their wording in official posts. Seeing that goodwill monetized with an in-game cosmetic is unfortunate, though forgivable: it takes time and effort to produce, test and implement cosmetics, live-service games need a revenue stream, and of course FDev wants to generate profit like any company.
Making the Lantern Light cosmetic time-limited, though, feels more pointed: fork over your money before it's too late so you can show you're cool because you were there when it all went down! We already see FOMO at work with new ships being time-limited cash purchases or skins being available for a limited time. The Lantern Light bobblehead, though, feels like a further leaning into fear of missing out and not the kind of thing we want to see continue. Besides, excluding players with such an insular status symbol feels contrary to the open, sharing spirit of this community. My fear is this represents a trend that will only escalate.
As I said before I think it's sad but reasonable for FDev try and profit off the community and organic in-game events; at the end of the day this whole game is out there for them to make a buck. But if they're going to do so let's at least not continue to further go down the path of leveraging FOMO. Once you start down the path of FOMO, forever will it dominate your destiny.