EVE General Discussion

CCP should clearly assess how this case can (and already is) damage reputation of Eve online and its community in the eyes of the outside world if no real actions are taken against the Mittani. Choice is between CCP's reputation (profit) and a single Eve player.

When I came to the forums the other day and saw threads complaining about my behavior - not remembering what I'd said - I assumed that I was enduring the usual anti-Goonswarm trolls, and posted something like "deal with it~" in my usual "The Mittani" way.

Then I landed, and saw the article listing my actual quote.

Also, I didn't suggest that people evemail the guy. I suggested that they run locator agents on him and blow up his Mackinaws - which is exactly what locators are for.

An apology is good but it's not enough.

Agreed. The line was crossed. The Chairman demonstrated he is not fit for post. One who acts on camera like a pompous, drunk, sneering court jester is not what the community needs from the figurehead that represents the interests of the playerbase. We have been badly let down and CCP must act.

Actually being that quiet often EULA's are non legal documents as some sections of them are generally void in different parts of the world saying it breaks the rules is kind of silly. Especially as it occurred outside of the game. This is more about the black eye CCP has now gotten and what their response needs to be to prevent opening them selves to law suits down the track.

If he was not logged in he could not violate the EULA....

Did he say it in game, or in person?

If talking smack like that(tasteless smack, but that still all it is) were something that a EULA could cover, then the microsoft eula would allow them to sue you for saying the Steve Ballmer is an a-hole(he is, just FYI, been saying it for years, and publicly, still no lawsuit).

Thing is, the language he used and attitudes he displayed are fairly common slang in eve-o, so RL rules on whats acceptable don't apply.(did you know that the word **** is an immediate ban in WOW... Unless you are talking about an in-game situation?)

This leaves the situation in a grey area. His behavior was acceptable as a internet spaceship pilot, its part of the game, but he displayed the behavior in real life... While at an event where everyone is basically 'in character' because its a bunch of internet spaceship nerds talking about internet spaceships. This leads to a situation where people who are simply watching have multiple, conflicting, behavioral cues to try to read and interpret, which means that something that was meant in the same way it is said hundreds of times on these forums, and thousands in-game, can be interpreted in a real-world context, leading to people thinking truly horrible things about someone who screwed up because he was drunk.

Lets repeat that. He was drunk, and he screwed up. The normal response in society for someone who screwed up because they were drunk the first time is to make them fix it if they show remorse, or punish them in a mild fashion to try to teach them remorse.

Of course, the normal response in eve if someone screws up because they were drunk is to tell them to take another shot.

The main problem with the current situation is that with new laws being added to the books (At least in the U.S.) the legal ramifications have to also be taken into effect, even if goons don't see it that way, and CCP also has to take things like this into concideration. Just look up [url]http://www.violencepreventionworks.org/public/bullying_laws.page[/url] if the person is in an area that recognizes "Cyber-bullying" this could create some issues for both Mittens and CCP since he is a space ship politician for them.

I'm not bashing anyone, but people have to think about these things. I personally don't want to see anyone sued over drunk/ dumb comments.

CCP have still not publicly published a statement regarding this , this seems unwise not to disavow and dissaciate themselves

This has been hanging over my head since Thursday when I stumbled away from the Alliance Panel with a vague sense that I had done something horrible. I didn't know the extent of how much of a shitheel I had been until today, when footage of the presentation went up. As many of you now know, I gave out the in-game character name of a Mackinaw miner if anyone had wanted to blow him up - except that I was so smashed that I didn't recall exactly what I said (as anyone who was there can tell you). When I came to the forums the other day and saw threads complaining about my behavior - not remembering what I'd said - I assumed that I was enduring the usual anti-Goonswarm trolls, and posted something like "deal with it~" in my usual "The Mittani" way.

Then I landed, and saw the article listing my actual quote.

Christ.

I feel absolutely ashamed of my behavior at the Alliance Panel. It's one thing to play a villain in an online roleplaying game - when I post on these forums or on twitter, I usually do so as 'The Mittani', and do my level best to convince everyone that I'm an unrepentant space villain, as that kind of facade provides an in-game advantage to me and my alliance. But I am not that character in real life, as anyone who has met me can attest. I went way, way, /way/ past the line on Thursday night by mocking the Mackinaw miner at a real-life event. I, as a person, am not the entity that I play in EVE; I am not actually a sociopath or a sadist, and I certainly don't want people to kill themselves in real life over an internet spaceship game, no matter what I may say or do within the game itself. CCP may say 'EVE is Real', but EVE is not real - and the line between the game and reality should not be overstepped.

I'm relieved to discover that the Mackinaw miner is doing fine and mining away, despite being blown up by Goonswarm in-game. He deserves, and he has, my heartfelt apologies - here in public as well as a private apology. There's no excuse for what I did - while some might try to use my inebriation as a mitigating factor, I put myself in that compromised mental state, and the guilt of that is entirely mine.

If I could go back in time and not have included the slide mentioning the miner, I would do so. While the Eve Online character "The Mittani" would never apologize for any sort of villany in game, I myself, as Alex Gianturco, feel utterly ashamed and sickened by my behavior.