EVE General Discussion

You think CCP finds this funny? I don't know how much CCP budgeted for their PR, but if Mittani set back CCP's efforts by say $100k (a conservative estimate), that's somebody's job at CCP.

I know contries where Goonswarm could actually be charged for building a criminal organisation and terrorism (true story)...and it is not the US....but nobody does it cause its a freaking game...

The responsibility for the bad press is entirely down to you people. Most are not interested or don't see what all the fuss is about. Much worse is said in Jita local every hour of every day.

I understand what you mean, but what bothers me is the lack of information that we have received about this 'victim'. Other than the e-mail (which could of been forged) and his contact name, this all could of been an elaborate ruse, a stunt, in which Mittens wished to play out because, well let's be honest, they couldn't do another 'GSF history' session every single fanfest.

Now if it was true then yes, as you have stated, the upside to this would of been the intent to make his life miserable, I for one would understand that since I am, after all, a Goonie.

Now would I class what he stated as cyber-bullying? No, I wouldn't. In fact for what he said, it could of been a whole lot worse. He said a simple quip, a soundbyte, nothing more. When compared to far more 'elaborate' insults and quips, what he said was really not that bad. Short-sighted? Of course, though I doubt anyone would of expected this kind of backlash from what was said.

I think his apology is more than enough really, those that are asking for more is actually causing more harm than good.

Just 2 hours ago I got told to go die in a fire in a fight. Is this bullying?

Stop trying to spin this into being about just the victim. Its about every player and those that have yet to play the game that are yet to come.

Its a precedent setting moment. Its about the fact that if allowed to get away with it. What about the next person whom might not be stable enough to not be pushed to far.

Calling for the lynching of a person like the mittani did requires he step down from the CSM. A person that calls basically for the in real life death of another player should not represent the players.

You can sit there and spin spin spin the story as much as you want . Its not going to change that a company cannot have such a person seen as a representative of their game or the games players.

Goon culture needs to wake up and realize that this was too far. The line was crossed that should not be crossed.

Was this done out of game at a panel broadcast all over the world. Where the person doing the bullying is calling for your to DIE FOR REAL?

He does not need to represent all...what do you think he is?? Some kind of elected politician? He represents the Goons and CFC and their interests in 0.0.
He was elected by them and only owes them. If some of his goals match yours you were free to vote for him as well.

The reality is that people have been forced to resign from the CSM in the past for the mistakes they have made. Breaking NDA, unprofessional conduct, general bad behaviour etc etc. Its not unreasonable to hold the elected chair of the player council to a higher standard than other players, particularly when a part of his responsibility is to be the golden boy for the cameras and the gaming media at fanfest.

That Alexander Gianturco thought the alliance panel presentation he gave was a good idea in the first place shows a huge lack of judgement that even his wife on the SA forums is saying she advised him against it.

That his CCP handlers didn't raise an eyebrow at the content is surprising (but somewhat understandable) on the grounds that he probably built up some trust over the resolution of the monoclegate affair.

But what really kicks his reputation in the teeth is to get completely wasted on beer and ad-lib channel his sadistic game personna on stage and try for a bit of televised cyber-bullying in the full view of the gaming media at an event which was absolutely critical for CCP's ongoing recovery and future as a forward looking MMO universe.

This guy is (or was) a lawyer. A profession that requires a bit of class and professional ethics to be taken seriously. Now anyone who googles his name is going to see a chubby clown in a wizards hat mocking some unfortunate depressive player to the baying encouragement of other morons too wasted to stand up straight.

I do believe his apology is pretty earnest; because I'm sure as hell convinced he regrets what he did, because its the de facto suicide of his professional reputation and any credibility as a gaming pundit he's been building the last few years. From now till the end of his public presence he's going to be "the abusive wizard's hat drunken guy with the stupid chin beard" and held up as a posterboy for the nasty side of multiplayer gaming alongside the likes of Aris Bakhtanians and the sexism in fighting games scandal.

But earnest or not, he needs to go as CSM chair certainly. This guy cannot credibly represent the Eve player community in a year where Eve is on the path to recovery following a successful fanfest and planned integration of two gaming communities in the union of Eve and Dust514.

And the goons really need to get over themselves. 10,000 votes sure, but thats a fraction of the players of eve online, its not close to a majority of the total votes amongst the other councillers even.

I'm not one to advocate a permabanning or something really harsh over this. I think there is some shared responsibility that CCP hold for allowing the alliance panel to turn to a drunken mood. I think Alex probably did get swayed along to be nastier than he intended with the achohol-fuelled peer pressure and general egging by other speakers and members of the audience.

But whats undeniably the case is he didn't represent Eve online in the way the chairman of the CSM should be representing Eve online and he behaved in a way that dragged both CSM and Eve through the mud and did immense damage to the reputation of the game in the wider gaming media.

Nobody minds being seen as a player of that "really hardcore game" as a spacepilot in the "brutal and deadly universe of eve" as a player in the setting "where everyone is out to get you" etc etc. Eve players thrive on being seen as people that play games on hard mode and want to get back to that core gaming ethos that the CCP marketing guy was talking about in the final presentation.

But here's the thing. The message from Fanfest that CCP was trying its heart out to portray to anyone watching was that though we play hard and brutal in space in game, in our ships and in our wars and conflicts - out of game, when we come together at fanfest or at the pub or wherever, we're not actually psychopathic lunatics blood-drunk on cheap sadism and frat boy bullying.

Alexander Gianturco "the mittani" was about as far from that mesage as its possible to get. He showed in that drunken presentation at fanfest as he showed in the dismissive "deal with it" in the wake - that he really doesn't "get" the Eve Online that the rest of us do. That behind all the ruthless shennanigans in space we're actually players that have a shared camaraderie beyond our characters and when meeting each other at the game conventions its time to put aside the sterotypical evil villain masks and show the human face underneath.

On that stage Alexander showed he's forgotten how to remove his mask and he's lived the Mittani's heart of darkness a little too long and too closely and he's started supping on his on delusions and its a bit saddening to watch. He needs some help, I'm sure his wife will give him some good advise and he needs to take a bit of time away from the spotlight and see where his life goes from here.

But he is no longer a fitting representative for the Eve player community and the longer he takes to gather his courage and follow-through with the promised resignation the more harm he continues to do.

The game is already perceived as a ruthless culture, so this does nothing but temper this fact. It's hardly ground-breaking really.

Like I already stated somewhere down the line, it is no one's fault that the victims of those whose ship was turned into dust is mentally unstable. Who could of known? Unless you know the guy in RL you can only get information through whatever they tell you.


Also Mittani, in no way, called for his death. He just told people to message him, give him a 'holla'. It isn't too hard to read what he meant. He is a bit mad, yes, but he is not one of these terrorists preaching death to all 'infidels.'


Also calling us the spin doctors, that's pretty amusing. The folks that are spinning this out of control is the bleeding heart liberals who think anything which may be deemed as 'politically incorrect' is grounds for protest and anger.

Goon culture is well and truly awake, it is currently giggling at the absurdity of this witch hunt.