EVE General Discussion

Me wonders if this "temporary action" is related to the reports by a Somer rep in their channel last night that Somerset Mahm is unable to connect to EVE?

CCP won't do that, as there are specific laws/regulations/taxes/etc that cover gambling in most places in the world. As you can convert real money into credits to gamble, CCPs business is running a MMORPG - not an online casino.

Now third parties, like Somer Blink, who are encouraging people to buy credits to gamble, and actually running online casinos are responsible for making sure that they conform with laws/regulations/taxes/etc covering running an online casino.

It seems to me that the rules are not being applied equally.

Except you cannot pay RL money to SOMER and get blinks to play with. You pay them space money for pixel credits you can gamble with - there's no law to prohibit or control this since whole casino/lottery works with imaginary currency. Only thing law applies to is SOMER's income from PLEX referral link but I'm sure he has it nicely sorted as any responsible adult would do.

Of course it is. If CCP decides to ban your account because they don't like your face, it is also well within their rights - it is their game after all and there is nothing you could do against it.

What I am saying here is, the internal communication apparently did not work at all in this situation. CCP should admit the mistake and that's that. There is no need to blame anyone else but themselves.

That mistakes were made is a no-brainer. But when you do not yet know where, and more particularly how, it is too early to simply throw out a blurb saying "k dudes we made a boo boo that's all folks".

Which is something CCP did in the past, and it tended to have more negative consequences than taking the time to figure things out and then coming out with a clear analysis, a good overview of what happened why and how followed by a well argumented verdict on what's to be done / what was done.

Nothing personal, but as strange as it may seem now that things are a little heated and hectic, it's actually a good thing. CCP have learned from the past in these regards. Keep in mind that until that moment of "coming out" there really isn't much you can do right, you can only walk an incredibly fine line of not doing wrong too badly.

After all, they're dealing with us. And EVE players are quite something.


Personally I hope they do take the time to figure this one out. Less even for what happened where (see my previous post), but much more so for balancing CCP's commercial interests here with that intrinsic uniqueness of EVE's own dynamic. I hate to use the term, but on an in-game level the current situation - if it becomes one of allowed and precedent as such (or even an excemption case) - can all too easily become one of that infamous "slippery slope".

That's something you can't risk stepping on, because players are batshit were it comes to taking things to the max. As individuals, and even more so as groups. Once upon a time - to name but one example , there are many - where people bought influence by means of affiliate RMT mechanisms. Within weeks it was the de facto modus operandi of that Alliance. Scant weeks later groups allied with that Alliance adopted the same mechanisms. I'm not even talking about how - with such a scheme as this being allowed - easy it would become for people to cash out on EVE and just leave. We've seen consequences of that as well over the years, there was a time where folks quit and sold their supers for 7 grand or x64's - even alliances and support mechanisms were traded that way. Back then the scale was limited. Fast forward to today though, where buy power has increased a Thousand fold, where vested interests are much more profound, where organisation of large groups requires means to sponsor low level entertainment to keep the plebs happy without harming the status quo.

Sure, things can easily take a life of their own here. So give them time to figure this one out, to dig back to past cases, to get input and discuss interests and then put matters on the table.

Kneejerking isn't a sport. It's what happens when you don't do it right.

I can read what was written in the forums - you should look into that, it can be quite interesting.

I simply do not understand the implications of this, Why is it of any concern to what somber blink does for promotions?

500 billion isk they are giving out is already circulating in game, and somer has at least 30-40 trillion in just pure profits from a mathmatical stand point.

They run a tight ship, people aren't being scammed, so what concern is it if they give 10 people 50 billion?

CCP couldn't stop it if they wanted to.

Somer has more isk than he can ever practically use, and is turning to what everyone who has more isk than they can use at least idly thinks of: RMT. And if Somer can do it, so can anyone else, and that's not a door you want opened.

Actually :

- Somer get lots of ISK from running a gambling operation
- Somer sells ISK for RL money (trying hard to disguise the fact, but still)

Connecting those two facts, Somer runs a gambling operation, which is heavily regulated about everywhere. There could well a lot worse coming to Somer than an in game ban... It only take a motivated prosecutor wanting to make a name for himself in whatever county he operates...