EVE Online editorials: Are they nerfs or just changes?

Reaching a fever pitch, the cries of "nerf" and "suicide ganking" are spilling over into editorials as the interwebs seeks to answer the question of EVE going soft or just changing with the times.

In the first editorial "Is EVE Online going soft?" Massively explores the supposed nerfs that CCP has applied to help level the playing field. Players in EVE are regarded by some as hardcore in they will seek to use the tools given them to the maximum, not minding whether a few other peoples' eggs get broken as they saute their pods. There is an excellent discussion about the design philosophy of CCP and how the changes are in fact in line with that way of thinking. No changes come without controversy, and Massively highlights the key components as well:

"Among the most controversy-laden issues on the table are two recent devblogs covering important balance changes slated for EVE's near future. The first major announcement was the infamous "nano nerf" that sparked off over 130 pages of highly charged debate. This was followed later by another devblog announcing major nerfs to suicide ganking. Combined with CCP Noah's recent comment suggesting that war declarations amount to griefing, many players are beginning to question the direction EVE's development is headed in."

EVE Online and the Big Nerf from Rock, Paper, Shotgun explores the age old question "who needs who more?" Does the game need the players involvement for change or is it the other way around? From the brief editorial that has spawned response:

"...Eve is basically a ongoing symbiotic process - the developers need the players, and the players need the developers. They both get something out of the deal. But what this also implies is that Eve cannot remain static: both player and developer are involved in making this game change and grow, and perhaps that means the developer has to make some unpopular decisions for the good of the process as a whole. The relationship between player and developer is not one of equals, nor is it always at its best when it is entirely amiable."

Is EVE Online still an underdog where all of the players are working together and trying to make the game better? Has factional warfare fractured the player base or is this just an evolutionary hiccup like the Dodo bird (you know, funny for a while with no real impact on the future)? Check out the controversy and then put in your opinion in our forums.