EVE Online's The Mittani issues formal apology for crossing the line [UPDATED]

@Marchosias
Pretty much, screwed up people like this guy are only sorry when they get caught. CCP needs to make a statement with this guy and get him out of a position of power and hopefully out of the game. Eve for the longest time has only made news when bad things happen where as other games tend to get a free pass on scams/harassment.

CCP could change this if they start to come down hard on these type people and maybe the games reputation will improve.

@Transientmind

"Not that I'm surprised. Spreadsheets Online: Sociopaths in Space. It's a moral vaccum, basically 4chan with space-ships. Its primary purpose should be to tie up all the detritus of MMO-playing Internet into one condensed wasteland, the hell away from the games played by decent human beings."

Easy there, son. No need to bash EVE as a whole because one player acted like an asshole while drunk.

The game might be harsh and unforgiving but it's not the mental asylum for the criminally insane you make it out ot be.

I agree this guy's behaviour is unforgivable (especially since he's a player representative), but that does not make EVE a lesser game.

@TitusGroan

Alright. I'll cop to some vitriol, there. Every demographic has its outliers... just like there are probably innocent men in prison. But not as many as claim to be.

This isn't a '30 day free trial' impression we're talking about, here. I was there a few years. I've seen the forums and the behaviour of pilots first-hand.

If I were to be saintly tolerant and charitable beyond reason, I would say this:

EVE is a game about kicking down sand-castles, which laughs unapologetically at people who think it is a game about building sandcastles.

The ugly truth?
EVE could be made more PVE than it is, in an attempt to draw a wider audience, but it'd never work. People might cite the challenge of facing off against another player, compared to a computer, but this is self-delusion. AI can be programmed with any number of responses to completely outclass even 'good' players. It's NOT challenge the players crave... it's the knowledge of having beaten another person. And with the prevalance of newbie-curbstomping and completely out-matched battles, it's not even the knowledge of a worthy foe defeated that appeals... it's the knowledge of having ruined someone's day.

Sadistic and sociopathic is the rule, not the exception.

@Transientmind
Extending the behaviour of an individual to the whole community is something utterly dumb. Just my 2 cents.

@Transientmind I have to agree. I played EVE for a time (about a year and a half) and found that to be true. Add that to the almost quarterly "DRAMA-COUPS" and most logical people will walk away saying A) This game breeds drama and unethical behavior and/or B) This game's player base is the pit of the human cesspool.

I also agree this guy is just upset he got caught. I say funny things, but NEVER at the expense of others - ESPECIALLY not calling out specific people like that. What he did, I would argue was more than just happenstance. It was a deliberative act to mention the story - in which he basically scammed the player - then go so far as to name the guy AND THEN tell others to encourage him to kill himself. I spend most Saturday's working the Trevor Hotline and it's assholes like this guy who are the real problem with the world.

@Transientmind

@Transientmind

You seem terribly upset about the design of a computer game trying to simulate a virtual world. Why? Because it's not living up to your lofty ideals of knightly behaviour and fair and balanced fights?

Sorry, but the world is not fair and balanced, and a virtual world is no different. EVE, being a sandbox, allows for many different playstyles - griefing among them. But griefing is not the ONLY viable playstyle, as the games provides multiple other ways of interacting with the world and the other players.

While ffa PvP (including scamming, ninja salvaging, and similar activities) and corp warfare (including espionage and such) are part of the game mechanics, systematic griefing a la Goonswarm is not the majority's prefered way of playing EVE. Believe it or not, but one does not have to be a psycopath to enjoy the freedom and challenge of a game featuring open-ended gameplay.

As for your comment avout more PVE = less griefing, I'll have to respectfully disagree. For example, WoW (and similar games) is full of griefing idiots, hiding behind the game's limited mechanics. At least EVE's open and free structure gives you the opportunity to fight back and to grief the griefers.

It's interesting to see how the EVE hate surfaces when this kind of thing happens; infuriated moralists try to outdo each other's posts on how the game is Hell on Earth and should be treated like a leper colony by any sane person. Amusing really. Why can't you just accept that one MMO, among thousands, is more than a safe PVE themepark?

@Transientmind

I'm not so sure to think that a videogame can attract such an exact and dispicable cross section of humanity as a whole isn't just as crazy as this guy is. Grow up, and stop stigmatizing an entire playerbase, it only makes you look ignorant too.

Seriously, we're all GAMERS here, and just because EVE creates an environment where the people that play it, have to work together which will undoubtedly bring out the best and sometimes the worst in people doesn't mean its attracting anybody 'different'. Its a game built around emergant content, which means interactions are meaningful. Both good and bad. Open your eyes, people only ever hear about the "bad" in EVE. People that play EVE are your neighbors, they go to the same schools you did, they went to the same churches. They played on your youth sports team as a kid, and they work in the cube behind you now. Sure, you do have to be into a particularly different type of game to find EVE attractive, but to think this means they're more inclined to sociopathetic tendancies isn't very classy either dude.

Remember, its just a game. I'd probably say the same thing to the twit who gave that panel speech too right now if I could... That shouldn't make you very proud.

@TitusGroan

PVE is guised in PVP all the same too (in EVE).

Even the lowliest, passive, peaceful miner takes his wares to market, sells them for isk and profit. The minerals he mined, are bought, traded, and processed to make potential weapons and ammo that might just be used to blow that very same miner up in the future.

PVE'ers in EVE, are just arms dealers. They're not innocent either.

@Transientmind
Just be glad all of these sociopaths have EVE to play, which hopefully keeps them out of most other MMOs.

@PhelimReagh
Honestly? I am.

@PhelimReagh

Don't be so sure about that.

GoonSwarm have a saying/motto about having a group (splinter group) in every (western) MMO out there, although that tends to be initially at launch and drops off.

First heard about them on STO (and I am pretty sure Alec/Mitt was in that guild-fleet) during a pretty serious incident that was not too far-off this current flap. I even have seen some folks on CoH chat with Goons.

Just "tread lightly".

@Transientmind

TBH there are too many games out there that pat ppl on the back for beating computers. Some people just like competition for competitions sake. Whats wrong with that?

Sure sandcastles get kicked over but there are huge sandcastles that are tough to kick over like the one being led by Mittani. Imagine the joy of being able to beat goons, there is a market for this kind of a game and the vanilla MMO market is a greater testament to way EVE should stay EVE.

@Calfis
And some people would like to build elaborate castles without constantly worrying/fearing that someone's going to come along and kick it over just for "teh lulz", or worse, *specifically* for the thrill of causing a real but "lesser" person grief and destroying something they worked on.

That's why we have our games, and you have yours.

@Pharaoh

Pretty much this. As a chairman of CSM, his action is the very antithesis of his position. The CSM is not only a intermediate platform between the players and CCP, it's also a showcase for CCP and the Eve player as a whole. Removal from CSM is a suitable (minimal) punishment for him.

Great power (or fame) comes with great responsibility. Some need to learn it the hard way.