Grok

Earth and Beyond... I played the game for 2 days before a friend explained to me that the other characters running around were controlled by other people.

CCP - Okay, let's take a look at your presentation Mittani.

Mittani - Sure thing, these slides are all about how we lie and cheat your paying customers.

CCP - Oh excellent. Let's see.... Hey these are great. Funny stuff.

Mittani - Yeah this slide is in particular I'm really proud of.

CCP - Oh the suicidal guy?

Mittani - Yeah, it's hilarious. We targeted him and repeatedly killed him and then scammed him out of 1 Billion ISK for fake protection. Turns out he's potentially suicidal, you can't make that stuff up!

CCP- - Wow, that'll fit in great with the other presentation where they play MP3s of people singing to save their Ships . We're really trying to play up how much fun it is to humiliate our customers.

Mittani - Oh I can definitely help you there.

CCP - Oh we would expect nothing less from the CSM Chairman.

@Brendan Drain

When I've had so much to drink that I can barely remember what I've done the previous evening, my initial reaction to reports of the night's events isn't flat out denial. How can I deny something if I don't remember anything I've done?

Are we to believe he had selective memory loss, and somehow that event was the one event that slipped his mind?

I appreciate that you're trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it just doesn't ring true here. That above e-mail exchange is exactly what it seems and is relevant. He's in damage control mode now.

@SgtBaker1234556

The difference is that WoW and other games have a rule set that limits the impact Goons can have on the server population. So while Goon squad can take down a flight master for a couple of hours, or exploit a boss kill, it doesn't really matter. If Goon squad tried to do anything close to the things they pull off in EVE with great regularity, they would be banned by Blizzard and that's my point.

If CCP wants to change the way EVE is perceived, then they need to change the rules. If they don't want to change the rules, that's cool. But then nobody should complain about how the game is perceived.

EVE’s bad reputation is well deserved.

While this doesn’t mean that EVERY player in EVE is an a-hole, lurking about, waiting for an opportunity to grief another player, it certainly is confirmation that EVE is full of people exactly like that.

Most EVE players don’t cross the line into real life cyber-bullying, but it’s my belief that EVE blurs the line enough that it actually promotes this type of behaviour. Let me explain.

Every game has a set of rules that players must follow. For most games the lines are similar and prohibit scamming or any other behaviour outside of gameplay mechanics that has a direct negative impact on another player’s enjoyment of the game.

Now, every once in a while human nature takes over and people cross that line. It’s unavoidable and it happens in every game. But because the lines are so conservative in these games, infractions are pretty minor and usually amount to something like corpse camping, ninja looting or stealing raid timers. This type of griefing has minimal impact on the community at large.

Not so with EVE. CCP has created an environment where scamming and griefing is not only condoned, but is encouraged. It;s everyday happenstance. Months, maybe years of work can vanish in moments. Day to day quality of play can be seriously affected. With the PLEX system, real life money is actually an issue. Things are much more serious in EVE and all of this is simply standard EVE fare.

So what happens when human nature takes over and people cross the line in EVE? The mob mentality that festers in this environment dehumanizes the people on the other side. When you are encouraged and even celebrated for how much you disrespect other players, is it surprising that someone eventually crosses the line into cyber-bullying?

“EVE is a cold harsh, unforgiving game” is the relentless mantra used to ward off any critique of this behaviour. Fine, that’s the game you want, that’s the game you have. But you can’t say that and then defend the game when it’s called out for it’s anti-social behaviour. You can’t have it both ways.

I watched the video of Mitanni’s presentation at Fanfest. His entire presentation is glorification of griefing and demeaning other players based on religion and lifestyle. I watched the first few minutes of TEST alliance’s presentation at the same fanfest where the presenter proudly announced his alliance title as “Lord of the Fa**ots”. Throwing out hateful derogatory terms at an official presentation like it was nothing. If that doesn’t speak to the type of community that plays EVE, nothing does.

When Mittani gives out the player’s name and encourages the audience to make him kill himself, there is no reaction from the crowd. Nobody seems phased at all. Because this is part of the every day culture of some of the biggest corporations in the game.

This isn’t a minor case of alcohol induced bad judgement. This isn’t simply outsiders casting judgement on things they don’t understand. This is a bunch of a-holes being called out for acting like a-holes. While this isn’t indicative of every player in EVE, it’s certainly a fairly accurate portrait of a sizeable community within the game and CCP needs to be called out for fostering and promoting it.

Looks good to me. I've never understood why it bothers people that items can be bought. As long as I can control the manner in which I achieve these things, then I'm fine. I play the game my way, you play it yours. I guess I'm a Libertarian when it comes to gaming.

Given that the main reason I left was because I was tired of spending 30 minutes of each play session devoted to inventory management, yeah this is a bit cheeky.

@(Unverified) I interviewed Travis and Max back when the original was released, and yes the plan at that time was to move directly into an MMO. They decided early in to go back to a more elaborate single player game.

@Exz1stence You know, I had the same exact experience in AoC. I've played just about every MMO out there and AoC's community was hands down the most offensive community I've ever had the misfortune of playing with. I don't know what it is about AoC that attracts that kind of player. Maybe the combination of boobs and blood... it's too bad, because the game is actually quite a bit of fun.

My introduction to the world of MMOs. Some of my fondest gaming moments were created in that game. Long live Elite Kith! Where are you Kinny?