EVE General Discussion

I think you're missing some points here. Casinos don't hand out free raffle tickets to shills. Blink can.

A raffle ticket for these items is generated with any ticket purchase including a promo. The cost of a promo is a token. Tokens are generated and assigned by the site through a variety of means. Do you really think blink is not able to assign credit/tokens out of thin air to shill accounts to buy out a large portion of promo tickets (which itself could be scripted)?


They are vouching for an in-game entity's integrity in a game where trust is the most valued possession.

I would like to see your proof that somer is indeed legit (not that somer being legit or not has much to do with the situation)

So CCP should arbitrarily choose entities to give isk to, just because? Yes. That will end well. Maybe it could be cans of t2 bpos next.

Annoying ≠ contributing

I do see these possibilities, and I cannot personally audit the site. I suppose at the end of the day, the combined evidence of Blink being a legitimate business based on my past experiences, customer testimony, ability to see total tickets (and which characters own them), and lack of any evidence of them scamming despite constant attempts at discovery (including a site break-in without proof of shills) convinces me to trust the process. Knowing the profitability of the enterprise should they continue to operate legitimately also leads me to believe that, even if this was a big house of cards, it's currently sustainable and more profitable to keep propped up than to shut down.

Although, despite all this I think we're getting off the topic of the main issue of how to resolve the unique items being given to a single corporation. I'd like to keep these types of items being created by CCP, and I'd like corporations to be motivated to donate to these tournaments in the form of prizes/rewards. Whether or not players trust Blink is a personal decision and I don't think there will ever be agreement across the board.

What is arbitrary about it? It's a business deal. It's beneficial to both parties. Does a beer company just pick an arbitrary racing team to sponsor or do they pick one they think will win some races and give their brand good exposure?

Showing up to an event that is sponsored by Blink = OK
Vouching for the integrity of Blink in a public announcement = Not OK.

If honest isk doubler Erotica1 sponsors the next player event, can she too be handed collectors items to give away and have CCP vouch for her integrity?

Once something is public information, it's public information. Blink employees have a log of gift claims, anyone could create one but it's a stupid thing to be worrying about. I think it's a waste of time and a distraction from the real issue to throw arms up over Andrev pointing it out in a forum post. It goes back to some of the undeserved hate directed toward SOMER Blink over the past few days.

Ok, I propose the following in response to Somer Blink getting a HUUUUGE handout:

1) Nobody play the gambling "game". Seriously, not even the "free" tickets.

2) Do not purchase any of these ships if they hit the market, no matter how cheap they fall (not likely)

3) Shoot on site anybody related to that corp/alliance, as well as the ships in question. Even if you're a miner with no intention of fighting, buy a gun if you see them and blast them away. Suicide gank if you have to.

Everyone up for that as a response to this development? say "Aye!"

I see you've decided to pretend that you're stupid. It's obvious that the central issue is giving away ISK to some but not all. There is no explanation being given for why Somer was chosen and not someone else. Nor has it been made clear what the criteria are for future giveaways or, indeed, why this is necessary. If they want to reward fan sites with out of game money because they feel that those sites are partners in advertising and that sort of thing, then they should that. When they cross over to in game rewards for out of game sites, they're affecting game play for everyone. Giving away potentially 100s of billions of ISK (or even 1 billion for that matter) has direct ingame consequences. If this giveaway had been given to Goonswarm and TMC for their promotional web presence, this would be an epic threadnaught with hundreds of pages.

This is an extraordinarily and obviously bad idea. What makes it all the more galling is that it first appeared in the Somer Sell Forum thread, with no other public announcement, no discussion, no warning, and no followup until someone finally broke the story in GD. When you see CCP doing things quietly like this, it should be a warning sign to you. They publicize everything they do, but not this. It has to make you wonder; not about grand conspiracies, but about WTF people are thinking when they go through with this sort of thing.

And for God's sake, CCP, will you hire a professional communications consultant already? You've allowed a dev to step on your expansion announcement with an ill conceived and very, very poorly timed announcement.