EVE General Discussion

So mad about goons! So mad!

Honestly, the difference is the for profit nature of the BLINK enterprise. I know that it is not a 'scam' in the classic sense. The provide the payout they promise.

That does not mean that they have the most transparent and equitable of business practices. Nor do I mean to imply that they SHOULD. They are an EVE entity afterall and if they are shilling, skimming, scamming, etc. then it is their right to do so. There is not EVE gambling regulations, nor regulatory body, that makes sure the odds are what they are purported to be. There is no entity that makes sure that the isk generated never ends up in the hands of RMT'ers or other EULA violating folks.

Hell, some of the 'payments' to BLINK employees may be subject to taxes in some countries. I doubt they are being paid. And I know that the prizes being given out in vegas are subject to federal income tax by the winners.

But the point is - not everyone in EVE view BLINK as some benign, we're all in it for the good of eve, super nice guy organization. Their 'hey don't tell anyone you got this' mail just furthers this perception of them as dishonest and secretive. That perception should have been taken into account by CCP before doing business with SomerBLINK.

It is about business ethics, transparency, and avoiding any perception of impropriety.

Giving ships to players who do things that are clear not-for-profit is both right and good. But that's just it - it should go from CCP to player, and not stop off in the hands of some third party profit generating entity. And this now has happened twice, both with these ships and with the vegas auction. Why is SomerBLINK suddenly the official prize distribution arm of CCP? This has started to look like a business relationship between CCP and SomerBLINK and given the lack of trust that a large part of the community has in SomerBLINK, this is a bad idea on CCP's part.

And I think that is all anyone is saying. Don't get into bed with SomerBLINK CCP, they don't represent the interest of the players necessarily. Give out prizes and accolades, but do not blur the line by starting to reward people who are just making an in game profit. Do not get in the business of endorsing in game gambling and/or gambling sites at all.

CCP should stay away from BLINK for the distribution of official prizes (do it themselves) and they should honestly not get involved with endorsing any third party group or site who makes large profits off of the eve community.

Somer is fine. CCP is fine. But let the two stay uninvolved as business partners (which is what they've become). CCP's only role should honestly be the continual monitoring of every transaction of SomerBLINK and the tracking of the isk paid to its employees, alt accounts, etc.. and ensuring that no obvious transgression is occurring. And that's it. They should be on them like hawks, as the room for abuse is always great.

As soon as they start rewarding them with prize granting powers and special ships - then the trust of the players in CCP's ability to monitor them in an unbiased fashion is violated.

If the ships purpose is to be given to fansites for helping the community then why were they not given out to all at the same time?

So Somer get them when they're still rare and worth a ridiculous amount, and (for example) chribba gets one when they're more common and so not worth so much? That's a really terrible and stupid system.

And why the secrecy? I check the eve forums/site/dev blogs everyday and I didn't know about this.

The whole situation looks like favouritism, as a customer I am disappointed by the way this has been handled.

I've seen more respectably run private game servers. CCP must be gifting stuff to entities that CCP envies, because those entities run a better business and have a great deal more intelligence than CCP as a whole.

It's like people donating money to Microsoft so Microsoft can buy, scam, or steal their next extremely lucrative venture... just to see how large MS executives' accounts can get and have a feeling of pride when there's a monopoly after MS buys out all competition, spreading it's interests into every aspect of every living human being's life.

I know, I know. This is just a game, WhySoSRS? My only answer to that would be: "because I loathe stupidity from people I have given my support to in the recent past". I see someone I don't know do something incredibly stupid and I just shake my head and ignore it. I see a friend do something incredibly stupid and I am inclined to tell them just how stupid their actions are. If my friend's actions are immediately detrimental to their health or the health of someone I know, I'd be inclined to knock their teeth out, or get my teeth knocked out trying.

CCP needs a trip to the dentist.

You might look closer and realize there are a lot of non-goons upset as well. It is expected you would see more goons/cfc members because of their size and therefore they represent a larger percentage of eve.

But since you clearly don't trust Goons, let's go that way:

SomerBLINK is an in game entity that is not entirely trusted by everyone in the EVE community. So how would you feel if Goons or some other organization was given these to put out on a lottery through their websites. You don't need to join Goons mind you, you'll you need to do is register with the in game browser at their website and you can enter.

I am pretty sure Goons have a decent track record of paying out their SRP reliably, so why shouldn't they be charged with giving away a few thousand dollars in trips to Iceland?

I left this thread 8hrs ago for some sleep and am just checking in.
CCP had updated kotaku 8hrs ago but still nothing here :)

Doesn`t anyone find the fact that they can take the time to pacify the 3rd party gaming press, but not bother with the playerbase the real problem here?

It`s all interesting for me, i`m wondering who gets the short straw :)

The playerbase is just a problem to be dealt with. As you say, they're the real problem here.

CCP are not lying, they stated a while ago that the The Ishukone Scorpion was going to be used as a gift to give those people who run 3rd Party Sites.

I also know that other people other than Somer have also received these in the past.

The issue is not so much the ships themselves, but the fact they have given to a entity which is business, a business which aim is to make money from Eve players and they did so in secrecy.

It then raises the questions,

Who else has received gifts ?

What were those gifts?

Just to note, I have no issue with Somer at all, if anything I congratulate them on having the idea and turning it into a successful business, one which has been running for years now.

They got it, pretty sure of that. So much so they decided to

do it HARDER

well, if you're going to do something. do it properly.