EVE General Discussion

Because CCP knows they are in the wrong.

Sadly for CCP we can refuse to give them money.

this current business with the PR department giving player entities ridiculous sums of money is grotesque enough to convince me to find my password and post, because its so intrinsically antithetical to the notion of a genuine player led sandbox without overt CCP interference.)

I always try to understand the other side in an argument, but I just can't see it this time.

If they had given 30 special scorps to Goons, the game could literally have collapsed by now from unsubbing. That's the problem. The fact that it was Somer and not Goons is meaningless.

Has there been an official CCP response on any of this?

There is literally no defense for this sort of favoritism. The fact is that the only way to truly be sure there are no conflicts of interest is to avoid absolutely everything and anything that even smells of one. Engaging in the slightest of questionable activities opens the door to tremendous abuse and EVEN IF NOT ABUSED, creates questions that seed distrustt between the company and its customer base. And that is exactly what we are seeing here.

And nothing can really be said to ever make that customer base feel comfortable with the situation. The fact is that the appearance creates the sentiment, no matter what the truth. This is why you simply NEVER engage in this sort of favoritism. And CCP Pokethulu makes the age old mistake of trying to defend by saying that CCP will be able to make sure it is not abused and remains balanced. These are the sorts of claims made by the foolish and corrupt. No one can be sure this is not abused - therefore it should not occur. Simple as that.

No player run organization should be gifted items of such significant value within the game. Give them plaques, letters, tours of CCP offices, or their name engraved on the walls of Hilmar's private bathroom - but to grant them items of in game value is to give them isk. And herein lies the problem. For CCP to be in the business of handing out isk to players is highly disturbing and threatens the integrity of the game itself. Even when those items are given to be given out via lottery - they will profit the entity in question, therefore providing them with isk! Why is CCP basically handing a ton of isk over to SomerBLINK?

I sat with Hilmar at Fan Fest and had dinner with him. I basically said something along the lines that I felt he got a bit of a rough shake when it came to the whole monocle debacle. I mean, why can't a CEO be glad his company is making money? Despite my support, he took ownership and apologized and made it clear he felt he had made a mistake, and had failed to understand what the players wanted.

Hilmar, if you have any sense of what the players care about you will realize what a tremendous mistake this favoritism toward SomerBLINK is. It reeks of impropriety and corruption and secret deals with Somer. And for your own people to sit there and say they think Somer is 100% trustworthy - first it makes them look like complete fools and shows a complete failure on their part to understand the problem. Does CCP know who every alt of every Somer employee is? Why you might think so, I highly doubt it given that I've seen more than one player receive a permaban on their main while their alts did not. Once again: the ONLY way to insure no impropriety is to not engage in any activity that could come close to it.

So now, on the heels of this we find that Somer 'employees' are being gifted hundreds of billions of isk in special release ships. Once again, this is giving players isk. And for what? Because they are such a great fansite? They have already been rewarded for this. If they've paid out more than a quadrillion in isk, then just think how much they've made in profit! That profit is their reward. CCP is going to hand them rare, in game prizes for being good at getting you to pay them isk? That's ludicrous. Clearly there is some level of bias here, or plain stupidity... one or the other.

And please realize, Somer is just as much to blame. It is the responsibility of a business to turn down gifts that could either result in or give an image of impropriety.

So for the players, the answer is simple: stop patronizing SomerBlink. Respectable business do not accept 'gifts' when those gifts create even a perception of impropriety. Boycott SomerBlink and if they truly value your business they will return any and all gifts and prize ships. Otherwise, kiss them goodbye and stop handing over your hard earned isk so that they can bask in the glory of CCP's adoration. They are being gifted ships from CCP for one reason: YOU GAVE THEM ISK. So, stop giving them your isk. They clearly don't deserve it.

So here's a few questions for those dismissing this issue…

What do you imagine the community reaction had been if, say, the Goons or Minerbumping had been the recipients?

After all, what they're doing is rewarding community services and/or people sponsoring player events. Those two entities have created huge amounts of content through the events they sponsor.

What do you imagine the reaction from Somer had been if they had been offered 30 ibises? After all, these ships hold no intrinsic value and only refine to 1 ISK, the same as an IshuScorp.

What do you imagine the community reaction would have been if, say, the CSM was hand-picked by CCP and not publicly revealed? After all, that too is just a way to interact with the community but is somehow deemed necessary to surround with months of build-up and voting?

How appropriate do you feel it would be if the developers started to promote Cheetos® as a great way to pick up GTCs? You'd get one with the return of every 10 bar code cut-outs and you don't even need to eat them. Also, does this make fritolay.com a community site? After all, many EVE players probably use their products regularly.

Quoted For Truth
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I'm wondering about something.

Do people believe their voice will be heard if they don't start unsubbing?

"It's what they do, not what they say." ... or something.

There are many of us who really don't give 2 flips about CCP handing out some inferior ships.

There are many of us who really don't give 2 flips about CCP handing out some inferior ships.

The problem is that some of you do feel like you own it.

After years of getting genuinely angry at stuff like this, I grew out of it, because it's silly.

I can't stop that (nor would I, it's their right to complain), but again, this is a discussion board, im going to discuss it with them (and show my support for CCP to do what the hell it pleases with it's property).