Easley Thames is a contributing writer for Eve News24, you can visits his site at the Could Have Taken it Solo blog.
The King of Scapegoats
The Mittani has long been called the “King of Space.” Though he is reviled by many in this game for a myriad spectrum reasons ranging from “arrogance” to “he killed my alliance,” the Goon-king recently earned a certain level of grudging respect from many players – myself included – as a result of his efforts on CSM 6.
Pushing for vital changes at the height of the Jita riots, when CCP stood on the very edge of the abyss, The Mittani has been nearly-universally praised by his former CSM colleagues for his extraordinary efforts as chairman.
The Mittani helped organize the CSM into a effective organization for the first time, using Skype and other forms of communication to hold informal meetings, so that they would be effective when they faced CCP.
Though many view him as self-interested, the renewed emphasis by CCP on (FiS) “Flying in Space” is attributable in no small part to his advocacy, and this shift has been very popular with the broader community.
CCP’s top executive even mentioned him by name during the keynote presentation at fan-fest this year, where his contributions during the crisis were mentioned. In particular, Hilmar specifically discussed the somewhat tense “emergency summit.”
Many have already discussed the overly-harsh, knee-jerk reaction by CCP to Mittani’s gaff. I am among those who think he should have been allowed to stay on the CSM as a delegate, if not as the chairman; especially after his heartfelt apology, resignation as chairman, and generous compensation paid to the “victim” in this case.
What I want to focus on is something else, CCP’s complicity and hypocrisy in this whole affair. CCP saw the slides in advance. Think about that for a moment. They KNEW that Mittani’s presentation was going to focus on the time spent griefing a player that later claimed to be suicidal as a result of serious real-life issues.
Did CCP prevent this from going forward? Of course not, Eve is all about this kind of behavior. The only real competitive advantage Eve has is its cold, heartless galaxy full of players looking to take full advantage of the sandbox.
Now, and this part is critical, what exactly did CCP approve in his presentation? Based on the facts given in the CCP-approved slide-show, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of a publicly-available kill-board could already find this pilot’s name with minimal effort.
It doesn’t even end with their knowledge of the slides. Consider what these panels are like – generally speaking. If fan-fest is a “party at the top of the world,” then the alliance panel is like a meeting of all the crime-bosses responsible for supplying the drugs and every other manner of vice.
CCP green-lit presentations from people who represent all of the most violent, lawless play-styles in Eve – from suicide ganking, to black-ops ganks, to worm-hole ransoms, to 0.0 blobbing and conquest.
We got to listen to singing ransoms, scamming stories, and plenty of examples of high-sec “griefing.”
They gathered these brutal braggarts, and then fed them tons of booze, all before shoving them in front of microphones set to broadcast LIVE across the internet. What could possibly have gone wrong with this plan?
The lack of foresight here is astounding. That is, of course, if you believe they really care about the kind of behavior The Mittani displayed in the slightest.
I certainly don’t think they ever thought for a single moment about this “Wis” individual. He was just another great story in the dark history of Eve. That’s certainly how I felt watching the panel.
If they felt the subject matter was even slightly objectionable, CCP could have done a broadcast delay (even as little as 30 seconds) on the live stream.
Had they done this, they would have been able to censor the name of the supposedly-suicidal pilot’s character, as well as some of the profanity in each presentation.
Or, alternatively, they could have censored the presentation material ahead of time by suggesting revisions to the presentations. But why should they have to?
These are the kinds of stories Eve players lust for, and I believe CCP enjoys them every bit as much as we do.
We’re all in this game for the kind of – at times brutal – freedom that we have to interact with (and indeed harm) one another.
The real problem is that CCP is still operating on the basis of a tacit acceptance that “anything goes,” but as soon as they get negative media attention about their players, they shove the offending individuals into the forefront and circle their wagons – feigning outrage and surprise.
They tell the community to HTFU – that’s “harden the FUCK up” one moment – then when people pick on each other in a way that raises flags outside the Eve community, they then turn around an put 100% of the blame on the shoulders of those gamers.
Why did they allow this story in the slides to begin with if they don’t find the idea of someone potentially killing-themselves over a couple-dozen internet spaceships to be amusing in the first place? Is that not strongly implied by their conduct? Is that not the greatest proof that “Eve is real” for the players?
It’s time for CCP to get called-out on this. They have been shameless in their attempts to court the press by convincing them that this was unforeseeable and shocking.
As someone who watched the panel, I didn’t even flinch when he named the name. It was neither surprising, nor shocking, when he joked that we could all go and try to make this guy kill himself.
In conclusion, CCP should have admitted they played a major role in this whole affair.
Either they should rethink they way they approve presentation materials before fan-fest, or they should stop contorting the Terms of Service and EULA to punish someone for an out-of-context real-life communication.
I feel strongly that, at a bare minimum, this means they should have shared in the responsibility. Instead, they came down hard on the man that – in many player’s eyes – had a major role in saving their company’s very soul last year.
The sad thing is, the gaming press will drop this story in a day or two, and even having him step-down as chairman would have been enough of a signal to non-Eve players that “the mean guy got punished,” but instead they removed one of the best voices we have on the CSM entirely.
For all the reasons stated above, as well as man others I have posted in the comments of various news-sites and forum posts, I can’t see CCP’s response as anything but cowardly.
They are just fortunate that The Mittani was so uncharacteristically willing to fall on his sword for them this time. Not everyone would do the same in this situation.
- Easley Thames
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Are you kidding me ? An unbiased article ? On my EVEnews24 ?
Interesting read, would read again.
The keep mentioning this like the guy attepted to have killed himself when he didnt
can we please move to some other news, this story has been twisted in so many directions, alot of people who are now aware of mittani's actions and have made their own decision on the subject.
Lets get back to spaceship news, who's lost another fleet of titans, who just stole 2 tril in a ponzi scheme, where are the big battle reports.
Since this story begun, we have been missing out on the hilarious and fun to read battle reports and other news from eve.
Its over and done with, lets get back to some normality
This just in: Goons losing systems in Branch.
There you go.
northern-coalition.co.uk/?a=kill_related&a… yup
This just in: 14/15 towers repped.
There you go.
This just in: high-sec ice miner loses 22 Mackinaws; threatens to kill self. More at 10.
Came here for news. Left disappointed.
so who's gonna be chairman now? Two Step should be he got the highest votes
No one knows, Two Step already said he doesn't want it and that he thinks Mittani should have kept it in the first place.
It wasn't about the slides. It was about The Mittani encouraging other people to harass a dude so that he would kill himself. The slides were dumb and retarded, just like typical Goon crap, but this whole ordeal wasn't about that.
The Mittani is an egotistical prick. +1 on this blog though – CCP should man up and share the blame.
ahh I love how all mittanis butt lovers are not accepting the consequences
Heres the thing, the media, and sony already blame CCP, implying that they are getting out of this w/o blame is kinda a dumb comment. So if your keeping score CCP is taking the blaame in the real world, CCP would suffer the consequences in the real world if that guy actually killed himself, and in the fantasy world we call EVE mittani is taking the blame, and is suffer the consequences.
I'll just qoute the man himself "deal with it"
Great article.
Really hits the nail on the head, CCP allowed this story on the agenda. It was moronic to think that the name of the player wouldn't get out.
Ban Mittani or not, I don't care. But trying to heap all the blame onto the drunk asshole with the big mouth when you agreed to his content is very hypocritical. CCP could have veto'd that slide but they choose not to and don't seem willing to admit that they opened the door and some shitfaced guy without a mans beard fell through it.
Cowards
The outrageous statements mittani made about another player killing himself was not on the slide. This has been mentioned a million times. Seriously stop trying soo hard to find fault in others for your own actions.
His actions are his fault, I've no problem with his ban or his removal from the CSM – I wouldn't give two shits if they perma banned him. I don't even vote for the CSM because I don't want to encourage the fuckers.
However; this was a CCP media event, hosted and controlled by them. This wasn't some random meeting of players . They admitted they allowed an email sent by a player talking about kill themselves to be used as a comedy prop. Just think about it for a moment in that context and consider this.
If you were the PR Director of Acme Games and were hosting an event where you got clan leaders drunk and let them troll the fuck out of each other for thirty minutes and you got to read these slides: wouldn't you ask yourself these two questions:
1. Is is appropriate that we make fun out of a player threatening to kill themselves?
2. what's the chances of people working out who that person is and fucking around with them?
With those two questions would you honestly allow it on the agenda? Just to demonstrate some of the outcomes here. Eurogamer have published an article saying this gay has 'mental health issues'
Mittani said what he said he deserves everything he gets, that isn't in question. This was a CCP media event and they allowed a slide into THEIR event that with hardly any effort could allow anyone watching it to identify that person even if mittani said nothing. CCP are responsible for that.
Don't mistake criticism of CCP for support of mittani they aren't mutually exclusive.
I meant 'this guy' not 'this gay'
How does your boss feel about this article? I'm astonished to read it on EN24.
Avi tells it like it is. He isn't going to police the truth in this matter whether or not he like Mittian personally.
A proper media outlet should light a story from multiple sides. This is nice for a change.
(Proper media outlet would not count fox news and the like, as the political message comes first to them)
I find this difficult to masturbate to.
Same. But I managed nonetheless.
No issues here
Am I the only one who doesn't really care about CSM and the fate of that guy "The Mittani"? Let's just go invade Deklein and kill some goon pixels (or have your own pixels blown by them), leave politics for real life
– I mean, that was fun, especially seen from the side that wanted Goons defeated 
CCP, read this as it's pretty much what a large base of null sec players want atm:
- nerf tech, balance moon goo
- don't nerf to the point of uselessness the most expensive ships in the game, you could as well take them out entirely and end the debate on "titan's nerf", right? Just introduce a viable counter to titans (other than "more titans"), most likely dreads could fill in that position if properly tweaked.
- pay someone from Goonswarm Federation to forget to pay sov bills… again
See, I could be the chairman of CSM and I don't need endless speeches to present to CCP the current state of affairs in Eve Online
Yes npc alt, please come to VFK.
It doesnt matter anymore. This because of two reasons.
1) Damage Control, Mittani became the goat.
2) 28th of April, Mittani will make everyone in highsec his kneedogs begging him to stop
This will truly be what EVE (and Goons) are all about. I will enjoy every second of it *evil grin*
You're a fucking retard. A scapegoat is entirely innocent, Mittens is the perpetrator of foul disgusting bigotry on his quiet days.
get your nose out of mittanis ass
28 April means nothing if your not going to interdict the other market hubs as well. Short term tears and then nothing will be the result.
yes please, burn jita, will defeintly help me and my buddies who run business out of amarr and minmatar trade hubs.
He stepped down as chairman, was he removed from the CSM as well?
Yeah, breach of the EULA is an automatic kick from the CSM, he's not the first to have fallen foul, I'm sure he won't be the last.
Except in the case of Krutoj, of course. Then again, Krutoj did not attract Bad Press from TenTonHammer.
He stepped down as chairman. He got a 30 day ban which in turn eliminates him from eligibility to be on the CSM. So they kicked him off the CSM without having to explicitly kick him off the CSM.
Well to be honest here guys, you have to think of the bigger picture. Yes, Mittens is a prick, arrogant, larger than life when he speaks sometimes. When you run a organization, you have to be. You have to inspire people to follow you, not just run around flailing your hands yelling at people to follow you. It's a all a show and it gets the people going. You kind of have to play a character to lead people. Mittens commited political suicide at fanfest this year but he will still run GSF I'm sure of it and a 30 day ban as said in the State of the Goonion isn't going to hurt them at all.
When all you guys see is hate, think of what you are really feeling. You probably envy Mittens and wish you could lead a large alliance that is as colorful, dynamic, and is talked about by thousands of people like a household name.
So… What has your alliance done lately? Major suicide gank tournaments? Ice interdictions? Take over any regions lately? Please remember that -A- doesn't count, they are just not colorful.
You clearly have no clue……. carry on.
He may not have a clue, and I luv me some -A- but you must admit they are not particulary colorful, great as an alliance but not colorful.
all i read there was colorful
"When all you guys see is hate, think of what you are really feeling." – Err no, pity is a different emotion to hate. Like pitying a dog that has to be put down.
"You probably envy Mittens and wish you could lead a large alliance that is as colorful, dynamic, and is talked about by thousands of people like a household name." – Dream on, sunshine, dream on in denial. It's a bit difficult for a huge bunch of wanky, space-based sheep to be colorful, etc.
"So… What has your alliance done lately? Major suicide gank tournaments? Ice interdictions? Take over any regions lately?" – Quite a bit of all sorts thanks but mainly killing goonies.
Really? To run an organisation you have to be an immature egotistical childish wanker? For starters, its not a professional organisation – its a video game guild. Secondly, Alex's normal behaviour and attitude would make it hard for him to get a job let alone lead in anything. Alex "inspires" only a select group of people – namely depraved and lonely bullies. Its similar to how serial killers inspire other sickos – but it hardly makes them "leaders" even if they do have a very select and disturbed following.
Why do so many people think that compensation to the victim matters?
They dude took the limelight off of DUST, there was more media at this show then any other before, plus they had Sony reps at the show aswel. He clearly breached the EULA/TOS, he was stremed live breached the EULA/TOS, and embarrassed not only himself, not only the EVE community, but CCP, and Sony to a lesser extent. The good work he did on the CSM is not relevant when talking about a breach of the EULA/TOS, they fact that he admitted guilt, and tossed isk to the victim is not relevant when your talking about a breach of the EULA/TOS.
Had Sony not been involed in DUST launch, had the show not been focused on DUST, had CCP not invited so much media to showcase DUST this may have not been a problem. At the end of the day Mittani said an awful thing, and I don't think just b/c he's on the CSM, or he did great work on the CSM he should get a pass, infact I think the other way around, they should be held to higher standards when it comes to representing themselves as CSM in public forums with people outside of the EVE community.
It's not Dust fanfest it's eve fanfest. Also the point is CCP should take some of the blame as well. But you obviously don't understand that or don't care.
Fanfest isn't only about eve you retard, and yes this fanfest was focused on DUST more then EVE or world of darkness, next one will probably be focused on world of darkness, thats not to say they won't talk about eve, or dust, they just won't be the focus of the event.
But you obviously don't understand that or don't care.
First of all Fanfest is a CCP event, and CCP is releasing a new game soon, not sure if you heard about it….. anyways…. CCP was using thier even(fanfest) to promote this new game, along with sony/playstation network. Your point is that CCP should take some of the heat for this? They are taking alot of heat for this, the media has made this a big deal, so yes they are taking alot of the blaim. Take a sec and goggle fanfest and you will see the heat CCP is taking from all of this, and thats only from the media. Do you really think Sony/playstation network are amused with this shit storm? No question the sony reps at the show was like "What the fuck was that CCP?" This was a huge embarrasment to CCP, and to imply they are not taking blaim from Sony, among others is a ridiculous statement.
But you obviously don't understand that or don't care.
CCP screwed up too. That the Mittani screwed up is not in doubt, he admits. He has accepted responsibility and did what he said he'd do to make amends. Everything.
Then CCP piled on and banned him and takes zero responsibility.
Right now the Mittani is the only adult in this nonsense.
And you have no idea how much it pains me to say this.
Now you are making shit up. You have nothing to substantiate this with. This wasn't even an issue for several days, so it is highly unlikely anyone from Sony said that. In fact, CCP did not start an investigation until it became a larger issue.
Bullshit! This is what Eve is all about. You go out and grief people. I've had ships killed in high sec for no other reason than the lulz. Went afk in high sec to get a drink, come back and my alt's Hulk is space debris. Did I go moaning and groaning to CCP? No, I flew my pod back to station, got the noob ship, flew off to Jita and got a new ship. Even laughed about it in game with some friends.
So spare us the righteous indignation and do us another favor, uninstall the game please you whiny simpering little bitch.
I'm not saying they didn't, but everyone is implying that Mittani is a scapegoat, which just isn't the case, CCP has been getting shit on by the media b/c of what happened.
Scapegoat implys that Mittani is taking all the blaim, but in real world CCP is taking the brunt of it, in the fantasy world of EVE mittani is. We all agreed to the EULA and if anyone of us said what he said it would have been the same result.
"I was there" and without a doubt when the media heard what he said it was an issue, which means it's an issue for sony, they were all at the show, and they heard it come right from his mouth…… so implying that "This wasn't even an issue for several days" is a dumb statement. It was infact an issue the moment he said it.
It was not an issue for several days. The investigation did not start until after it went viral. These are facts.
Once CCP saw it might look bad for them, they went into CYA mode.
From the earliest articles on this,
So yeah, you "were there"…right.
Viper, your mistaking the alliance presentations, with the Q/A session afterwords. The statement that is in question happened during the Q/A, and people were not laughing when Mittani encouraged others to harass the guy into killing himself.
I R jumping on closest bandwagon coz i R too dumb to form my own opinion lol.
I'm pretty sure the huge embarassment statement has nothing to do with anyone losing a hulk, or whatever you were rambling on about, the huge embarassment was this statement "Incidentally, if you want to make the guy kill himself, his name is [redacted]".
Incidentally your story about you losing a hulk in highsec has absolutely no relevance in this debate.
That's right, let keep that anthem going: "It's CCP's fault too".
Listen dumb-fuck, if you had any competent knowledge of the law, nevermind public-relations, you'd understand why CCP took the stand that it did. Yes, we all know that it's simpy pixels when you lost your care-fucking-bear Hulk. But when and if some dip-shit kills themself after losing an internet spaceship, after a communication to a CCP sanctioned entity perportedly revealing that said victim has suicidal tendencies, then the game is OVER.
What law was broken? Cyber-bullying? Sorry that is aimed at the individual in real life, if you look at the cases. It isn't about attacking an anonymous in game persona, but real life people. There is no legal case here, not by any stretch.
And we have no idea if this guy really was suicidal. Saying, "I just want to die," is a common phrase in english, just as "Oh I could have just killed him," or "I want you to die." People rarely mean it literally. It is possible the guy really was suicidal, but how nice of you to assume he really is/was mentally unstable.
Suppose I get your real life name and then I start posting nasty stuff about you. That stuff can follow you around no matter where you go. That is bad. That can have real life legal repercussions.
Now if I post nasty stuff about some dipshit using the user name WTF on EveNews24 nobody knows who you are. In real life you are not damaged at all. You are safely anonymous.
So, by saying go harass "player name" is a far cry from go harass "real life name".
So FOAD wuss.
Oh noes, I was mean you just now, and hundreds have seen it. Better call the police.
You stupid twat.
What if you were not in game, but in the real world, at an event that alot of media was at, and you actually said something god awful like "Oh this dude [insert name] is suicidal, and if you want this dude to kill himself you should go harass him, It's spelled [insert name]"
You do understand that judges can/do bend laws all the fucking time, and just b/c you read out of a law book that you can do something awful to someone else, and get away with it doesn't mean you can't be charged, and convicted of said awful thing. Law isn't as clean cut as see in CSI, or law&order, and CCP can't just ignore stuff like that. CCP has lawyers, and they probably told them that they had to get ahold of this quickly before something crazy happened, like godforbid the guy actually got harrassed into killing himself. At the end of the day it's CCP's ass on the line, not Mittani, not Viperum.
"Bullshit! This is what Eve is all about. You go out and grief people"
Your inability to understand simple things is amazing. The above quote does not translate into "try and get someone to kill himself in RL".
"whiny simpering little bitch".
You're really showing your class and maturity with that one. Right now that phrase appears to be most relevant to a lot of goonswarm folk.
Moar tears please.
Good read, good points. Mittens did make a pooh on the carpet, but it was time for a rolled newspaper, not a baseball bat.
Had he stayed, he'd have that always hanging over him and they'd have a subdued CSM. Which would be bad for them, as it might end up unable to stop them from putting their own dicks up their own arse as they did with incarna.
What they did was release goonswarm.
Great view… CCP is entirely responsible for letting people make their own presentation. (Joking)
For future fanfest, I propose that CCP should do itself the alliances presentations ppt. Perhaps CCP should'nt let people get interviewed. Not without respectful answer previously wrote on small paper slip. (Joking again)
Are you insane ? Do you really want to blame CCP for giving players their liberty of expression ?
"Either they should rethink they way they approve presentation materials before fan-fest"
Have you even read the dev blogs ?
The swarm has found itself flaccid just before the critical time of entry. To be fair, it's not a systemic problem – they're pretty healthy overall, but an issue with the point man as it were.
He did the crime, he's going to do the time.
We might even get a little bit of high sec drama out of it, if nothing else they're going to need to do something to prove their 'rigidity' once again.
As for the rest of the CSM, they'll either man up and appoint a new chair, or clump together like a bunch of betas only to become further marginalized.
Oh, and those votes that were cast were valid… A reelection would only set a precedent for a "do over" and be beholden to some agenda.
I was pretty critical of Mittens in the past few days because of the inclusion of the slide. While I still stand by that, when I read they reviewed the slides I shared your view about it: CCP is complicit in what happened.
What started with Darius Johnson giving a very funny inebriated address has sort of morphed into year after year of alcohol fueled oneupsmanship that CCP is complicit in as well. Not only that but the next day they felt compelled to broadcast a trivia drinking game. So, to be clear, the very next day after Mittani's intoxicated rant they went right back out there with drunk EVE trivia with a couple of participants nearly unable to stand.
CCP partially owned up to it in CCP Navigator's dev blog, almost buried near the end. I'm sure their lawyers feel they should distance themselves from what happened as much as possible but that doesn't change the fact they created the vehicle for it to take place and stoked its fires.
So you had to be told that CCP reviewed the slides? Most intelligent folk would of guessed that at the start. "Yeah, come to Iceland show some slides, what? No, of course we won't be checking them first." What fucking century do you live in? What's actually sad to see is how easy it is for one shitty headline on EN24 makes a fuckton of retards back pedal like spineless sheep following the latest "opinion" and bleating that it's somehow CCP's fault that Mittens is a fuckwit. You wanna HTFU? Start now then you bunch of gutless faggots.
You forgot to mention in your post that some of the drunk EVE trivia participants were in fact CCP employees.
What a fucking load of billshit. People attending that fanfest were fucking grown ass man responsible for their own fucking actions, not fucking children to be nannied around by fucking CCP. If CCP did not exercise it's prerogative to censor the speakers it because they had trust they will conduct themselves appropriately. That trust Alex, true to his psychopathic nature, betrayed. And now, at their great expense, CCP leaned a lessons most of eve players already know: Mittani is a douchebag.
It takes true mind of an idiot to rape logic so badly as to blame Alex's psychotic outbursts on CCP.
u mad bro?
"psychotic outbursts" Think you just pulled this off.
He pulled it from somewhere.
As much as I dislike Goons and the smug prick Mittani is, I also recognize that he was by far the best choice for CSM chair. All past CSMs were basically irrelevant PR pieces that CCP would taunt as proof they "listened to the community". Mittens turned that around. It was the work of all the CSM, but he's the one that lit the fire and made things happen. I do hope the current CSM can get it together and the new chair can step up to the challenge, but honestly, those are some pretty big shoes to fill.
On the other hand, Mittens did cross the line. Eve is a game, and what you do to people in game is all fair game. But when it extends to out of game and a direct real-life attack, then unfortunately, that's where the line should be drawn. Mittens crossed that line and should have known better. The "I was drunk" excuse doesn't cut it at all because this was in his presentation beforehand. This was premeditated. Alcohol may have made him take it a step farther than intended. No matter now "sorry" he may be, that doesn't cut it. And honestly, I personally think what he's sorry about is fucking up and having that cost him his CSM seat altogether. He's sorry for himself and the consequences he's suffering for his actions, not sorry about the hardship he may have caused to his "victim".
CCP does have a hand in this as well. They vetted the presentation. They let this happen. The fact they're washing their hands of any culpability and are throwing Mittens under the bus by himself is rather low. Yes, I agree there should be some disciplinary action against Mittens. As current CSM Chair and CSM Chair Elect, his actions were completely out of line and he should be held to a higher standard. But still, CCP let this happen and are taking no part in the blame for this event. I'm torn on the punishment that they handed to Mittens.
But I can say I do like the irony here. Mittens tried so hard to get Darius kicked off the CSM using a non-existent NDA breach as a reason, only to find himself banned (albeit temporarily) a few months later and cast off the CSM for an EULA / ToS breach. The irony is sweet and the Goonie tears as a result are even sweeter.
<img src="www.meh.ro/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/meh.ro6168.jpg">
Easley Thames, it wasnt the slides that were in violation of the EULA/TOS, it was his remarks in the Q&A afterwards that caused it all. he incited basically his whole allaince/coalition and everyone watching to go out, find him and grief him for the purposes of pushing him to committing suicide.
You could have vetted the slides and not known that was going to happen, and most likely thats what CCP did.
i am one of those people like you that believes he shouldnt have left the CSM altogether as i think his skills in management organisation and social skills benefitted the CSM greatly. i genuinely thought he's only relinquished the chair not the whole CSM. so yahh… i think the backlash went a bit too far personally
Please explain to me how a EULA–which applies to an End User's rights and responsibilities to use a piece of software–applies to a presentation at a marketing event, when said presentation is being given by a non-employee.
CCP claims he has violated rule 1 – harassment. Which he did not, he did tell others how to do that however. It's not even a violation but CCP decided it is one. They can do that. Esentially they used the chance to get rid of him since he will undoubtly tell them what is shit when they start to reveal how they bind eve and dust together.
And there was a lot of Sony there, so good news only is relevant. For a free to play game. Paid for by Eve mostly (and a bit by Sony). Where did we have that recently? Oh yeah, full focus on sparkly vampires with Eve income and neglecting eve. Better kick him out now…
CSM is a CCP creation. If CCP doesn't want Mittens on CSM because it could result in bad press, CCP can remove him. I'm disappointed in CCP for not simply owning up and saying that Mittens was removed in order to avoid bad press, rather than using this crap EULA excuse. .
A TL;DR summary of the above article:
Mittens is not the only one who should be blamed. CCP are also equally culpable as they treated him like a mature and responsible adult and expected him to behave in a manner fitting of a CSM chairman. This was totally unrealistic and CCP should never expect that from Mittani.
don't forget they provided the drinks :p
and pretty much encouraged inebriation
Oh yeah! How irresponsible of CCP to provide drinks and hospitality to CSM members! Providing drinks is indeed encouraging inebriation. Just like having a vagina is encouraging rape.
We should blame the maker's of the drinks too. In fact, the whole alcohol industry. Far be it to expect a supposed adult to control themselves. Everyone is to blame EXCEPT the childish, petty, arrogant, moral-less, delusional individual Alexander Gianturco.
Well done, could have said it any better. It's somewhat amusing that people think they shouldn't be responsable for thier actions b/c they were drinking. And for people to imply that Mittani is a scapegoats, and that CCP isn't taking a beating from the media is comical.
You're a retard.
And you're ugly.
By the quality of that reply, I assume you disagree and some how feel that CCP are wrong to trust Mittani as they would any other adult. Guess you've been proven right on the score!
Well done on your unbiased tldr cock head.
It was designed to counter act the unbiased article. cunt chops.
pretty much…
"In conclusion, CCP should have admitted they played a major role in this whole affair."
How ?!? They are bunch of dickheads and geymasters ruled by their own accounting, and accounting… well, they dont give a shitt for funfest.
I'm sorry but seriously doesn't anyone else see the Mittani's apology as hollow? I first thought he was sincere until I heard the state of the goonion. You see being truly sorry means that you apologize along with taking responsibility for your actions. He did the apology part which is really easy to do, but the responsibility part isn't as easy and now he is crying like a little girl because CCP actually expects him to be truly sorry and take responsibility. That being said I don't disagree that CCP also owes an apology and should be stepping up right beside the Mittani and putting themselves in the line of fire. The fact that CCP isn't doing this though doesn't mean the Mittani has the right to feel butthurt, he still did this, CCP is only guilty of not stopping him.
continued
I still see people writing articles about this as if what he said was "within the game". The problem is that it wasn't. As far as i'm concerned anything and I do mean anything goes within eve when it comes to ganking, scamming, smack talk, some crazy shit I never even heard of. Outside the game in front of 10000 people though, telling people to encourage someone to kill themselves isn't acceptable behaviour from a human being. That being said even though it came out that way I know the Mittani didn't mean it that way. He said it though and he said it while he was the head of the most important player organization in our game. As any politician knows nothing in your life is sacred when you in power. He has to take responsibility and not be a sissy about this, which currently he is not truly doing. I want to be quite clear I'm not happy he is off the CSM but I don't disagree with the decision as he stepped outside the bounds of civilized society while he was in civilized society not the virtual world of the game.
What did not sync between the goonion and his personal apology?
i hope you live in jita.
What didn't sync Kratisto is that he made an apology but what he thought was as soon as the apology was done he was allowed to turn around and be mad about how he is being treated. That kind of reminds me of some 3 year olds i know who get in trouble and say they are sorry and then freak out when they still don't get their snack. It's not a true apology, it's a I apologized so now i get what i want right.
Corteztk speaks the truth, Mittani doesn't give a shit and his apology was weak sauce, CCP are of course taking more heat for this than they are gonna admit because they have some REAL damage control to attend to, damage caused by Mittens and his shitty horrible mouth. Everyone is completely used to Mittens being a cock smoking douchebag but the moron said what he said on camera live to thousands of people, what a fucktard o
Any respect I had for Easley has just evaporated if he can't see the problem, there's a way to treat people and there's ways not to, I wonder if Mittens told his wife exactly what he did/said? I'll put money on him not disclosing all the dirty little details for fear of gettin divorced and having to give the cow half his alliance in the settlement.
That SOTG, has a very interesting and valid point in it.
It will be good to see if there are any longer term ramifications regarding what has happened.
If JITA burns, all is well… sort of… If this gets people banned and some sort of action is taken by CCP, they you will know the Eve is no longer Eve.
Isn't this alleged 'victim' supposed to have run 22 accounts simultaneously ice mining and says he was running every one of them to keep him sane after his divorce……sounds like a load of bullshit in the first place to me….more like rmt'er making his isk from ice mining….maybe if he hadn't been such a dumbass to run 22 accounts and went and got a life then his wife might not have divorced him in the first place
"They tell the community to HTFU – that’s “harden the FUCK up” one moment – then when people pick on each other in a way that raises flags outside the Eve community, they then turn around an put 100% of the blame on the shoulders of those gamers."
I think the solution to this might actually be to HTFU. If you want to be a griefer that's cool. We'll cheer you on all the way. But if the butthurt ever gets OVER 9000!!!! Then you are on your own and we are throwing you under the bus.
The reason eve is such a harsh universe is because there is nothing there to protect you when you screw up and explode. What about that leads you to believe that CCP would protect you from saying something dumb on TV.
The point was ccp is not owning up to there own actions here.
Which is a fucking ridiculously retarded point. CCP answer to everyone including their sponsors, licensing, shareholders, players and who the fuck knows who else. CCP have done well to distance themselves from the Mittani but not well enough IMO, permabanned seems to me to be getting off lightly. Trying to deflect blame onto CCP because of the actions of an over privileged internet space ship dictator is as much desperate as it is transparent. I'm actually truly fucking shocked that there are people who are not Goons standing up for the Mittani, you can maybe excuse language like that in a bar but to say that shit live to thousands over the net? No surprise then that the lawyer refuses to take sufficient responsibility and tries to worm his way out of trouble and even tries to keep hold of a CSM seat, actually i retract that, it's still fucking shocking.
CCP just made a HUGE mistake. On the CSM they could exercise a certain control over his behavior and thus goons. Kicking him off the CSM will set us free.
Day 2, Chairman in exile. We must liberate eve from this coup. Down with the false CSM.
Nice damage control post by goons attempting to somehow make mittani's actions CCP's fault?
Easley Thames is about as far from a goon as you can get, what kind of retard are you?
Easley is in -A- you tard.
^ is confirmed an idiot. hes -A-….
How to spot a Moron, to call a Maverick Navy pilot, a corp that belongs to -A-, a Goon.
STFD and STFU.
You should all go kill yourselves.
I always have to come back to "we want to ruin your game".
Well played on that, Goonsters, well played indeed.
Nothing is even worth saying about the whole thing beyond that. It says it all.
Oh for fuck sake.
I didn't want to ever agree entirely with an EN24 post, but +1
OH Gawd, the tears. The tears sustain me! Bring me moar tears!
Also he is part of MVN, so he is an Ex Atlas, Ex IT -A-. The love for goons does not flow through his viens.
Nononono everyone saying something not against goons is a sockpuppet. It is universally known truth that they all are incapable of anything good. Ever. Also I am never wrong.
I like the cut of your jib!
Goon tears best tears.
The content about the player contemplating suicide WAS in the slides. If they found that offensive, and wanted to keep conversation from that topic they should have voiced their concerns. Hate on goons some more, you are making me want to kill myself.
And they supplied the booze and provided the internet streaming with no delay. CCP routinely talks about how harsh Eve is, how it is a sandbox, and they like the Alliance Panel to be gritty. Now it bit them in the ass, their response, throw the offending party under the bus and pretend to be shocked.
This does not let the Mittani off the hook for being a drunken jackass, but if he said this to a room full of people without a video stream we'd probably never hear about it.
Can you all please stop posting stories on damn Mittani?? who the hell cares!!! Being cruel is an open option when u play eve online. Start posting more battle reports. Cant wait for all this CSM shit to die down.
Only thing that stands out here is what CCP Tells their players.. mainly 2 things in the same scenario.
When shit hits the fan ingame, its "The game is a sandbox, HTFU"
When shit hits the fan IRL, its "IRL is a sandbox, HTFU"
gotta love the broken Mentality of CCP…….
I thought Mintrolio was the king of the goats… O.o
Sigma Squad, Best Squad has had a goat theme since their inception.
Mittens got away lightly to be honest.
If anyone else had done that, he would have probably got lynch at the event and arrested.
That; is the power of popularity.
I'm enjoying watching the King Of The Goons crash and burn. Eve is the best game ever.
Nothing of value was lost.
The reason CCP had to act is, they are a business now in bed with Sony. Not even considering the rumors of aiming the company toward becoming publically traded. The motivation for CCP to enforce a ban, just like the ‘fall out’, just like the apology issued; is purely political.
It had nothing to do with slides. It had nothing to do with anything but the fact that Mittens crapped out of turn on the air. Thus he’s sporting his own Jesus Christ pose now. And frankly, I think he’s better served leading his faction for now and honestly I wish him and his all the best in their sacking of Jita. The whining apologists campaigning over the already set-in poop stains should take a feather from The Mittani’s cap and not HTFU but GrowTFU. Just because the hobby of EVE centers around a video game doesn’t mean that maturity is an unreasonable expectation.
I’d advise you to follow your dear leader's example and adopt the maturity he espouses by taking responsibility for his actions in response to the blowback of public opinion. This is the responsibility of a politician, and I find myself surprised by the increased respect I personally hold for him accordingly.
HEY GUYS, I AM LOVIN THE GOON TEARS, THEY ARE SOO DELICIOUS. PLEASE GIVE ME MORE!!!
1. The problem wasnt the slide presentation and if you think it was then you really do need to HTFU.
2. If you read the blogs from CCP I am pretty sure they do accept some responsibility just like the Mittani did. Mittens fucked up and has to face the consequences and CCP is gonna pay a price with the negative press, banning the leader of a large group of players who thrive on tears (this time its their own tears but HTFU goons and swallow them ), and proclaiming a successful CSM election mostly based off increased voter turnout and then negating those same votes.
3. Last but not least, HTFU Easley and quit dry crying over shit. If your gonna post your whiny/cry blog crap at least drop some fake tears on the paper so we can feed while reading.
I believe CCP must introduce a rule for those starting the game to furnish a report from a doctor, that he/she is not susceptible to suicidal propensity, while EULA will clearly indicate that game-driven suicide is strictly forbidden and leads to a permanent ban !
Guys, whatever is your personal attitude to Mittani, I see him as the one of those, who drives the game and makes it interesting or as some said above 'colorful' . Yes, many of us lost assets due to goons, but WTF, it's game! Or is it your RL business? The you should go to doctor first.
You get a plus 10. No one seems to see the fact that the guy that threated to commit suicide because of a video game needs to get his issues straight. Even though it was stupid of the minniti to announce this event like that. THE GUY TRIED TO GUILT TRIP SOMEONE BY SAYING HE WAS GOING TO SERIOUSLY KILL HIMSELF! that is the fucked up part in all of this he never intended to harm himself. If CCP doesnt follow thru with banning the guy who made the allegations of suicide for mental health reasons or any further damage comes to minniti in the sense him or his family (incuding his dog). I am going to file a human rights lawsuit because they are intern violating their terms of the contract by not following thru with what we agreed to and if harm comes to the minitini the cluase about not being able to sue them is null and void because the event by the game is now a RL event outside the mechanics of eve. CCP better watch their ass because my law firm will be making millions off of them.
BTW I hate gioons and everything they represent…….I am a oppurnist.
You'll find the reason a lot people who threaten to commit suicide give seems a bit silly to most people because the people who are suicidal are not in the right frame of mind. Are you willing to take the risk, knowing that your actions could be the catalyst to someones death? rather you than me m8.
So so sweet tears..30 days joke u get that for abusing mothers in local.ccp is really cccp.
I cannot understand why so many people cannot tell the diferance between a game and the real world.__Just because EVE is a pretty unique game that turns a blind eye too scamming, bullying, and griefing does not mean its ok do it in the real world just because its an EVE fanfest.____If somone was caught scamming people out of real money selling fake fan fest tickets do you think CCP would turn a blind eye simply because its encouraged in their game?__Wake up people, if you put yourself in the public spot light as Mittens did, your behaviour is going to be in the spot light too.
Serious question….. Does anyone here actually know what a scapegoat is?
Mittani admits he did something wrong, and he feels awful about it(which is a statement I didn't think i'd ever hear from him), yet he's a scapegoat…. interesting….
I'm not gonna sit here and debate weather or not he should still be on CSM, or banned or not, b/c that would be pointless, even if we all agreed it won't change anything.
But to call him a scapegoat is pretty ridiculous.
CCP threw him under the bus rather than defending the fact that Eve is open about that style of play because other, more legitimate, gaming media jumped on the story.
Politics 101: Blame the other guy.
We all know the issue here isn't "Eve is open about that style of play"
The issue here was someone said something awful, and he got banned for it, again i'm not going to debate weather or not I think he should, or shouldn't be banned
I'm simply asking how is anyone gonna call him a scapegoat when he admits to doing something awful., and inturn got punished for it. The type of punishment is not relevent to the question, the type of game eve is, is not relevent to the question, the gaming media is not relevent to the question.
Mittani didn't break a rule but acted douchy. As chairman of CCPs gem "accomplishment" of listening to players through the CSM and being the bad boy wasn't too cool. An ex-lawyer, he should have known to get toasty later in the day
CCP responded to make nice with Sony and the gaming mags. Mittani vowed revenge. From a goon point of view, this is maybe the best thing that could have happened to Mittani: He gets to look like a hero by taking revenge in Jita later. Everyone's happy.
So, why are we still talking about this?
TLDR – Beating the dead horse some more.