Seraph IX Basarab is a contributing writer for EN24, the opinions expressed are his own. They do not reflect the views of Eve News24.
Recently a number of Easily Excited directors and line members have left the alliance and joined their coalition partner alliance, Surely You’re Joking. On the surface this may seem like a power grab or a seizure of assets. However the story is much more interesting than that.
Grab yourself a bag of popcorn. Love, betrayal, seduction, this is by far one of the most interesting events in Eve I’ve had the chance to observe.
Imagine yourself as the main FC in your alliance. You put the work in to form fleets up, take major assets for your alliance CEO, you generate content for your line members and when you seek to address some internal issues with your CEO, you are chastised. Instead of being listened to for your advice, you are stripped of roles and given warning. What would you do? What does one do when the work they put into an alliance is discarded by the very leadership you served? This is a question many Eve players will have to ask themselves and the choice they make will affect hundreds if not thousands of players.
Easily Excited was known as a lowsec pirate alliance that lived and fought in Genesis and Kor-Azor with their allies, Surely You’re Joking. EE’s leader, Muffy Rox, gained her position after the old leader of EE, Talon, quit and when he attempted to return, Muffy would not allow him to retake his throne. There are some interesting factors in this.
Talon had, should we say, had an interest for Muffy. She did not return his sentiments and understandably this was a point of frustration for Talon. Growing as an “annoyance” to Muffy, 39 years old began an online relationship with one of the newer members, the then 17 year old Gumshoe or “Gumby.” This enraged Talon as he already disliked the younger member.
Muffy used this angle to make being in the same alliance unbearable for Talon even going as far as taunting him until he gave her an ultimatum: either Gumby would leave or he would.
With this rather skillful maneuver, Muffy forced the old leader out placing herself at the head of EE while retaining the loyalty of Gumby who would soon become one of the main FCs for the alliance. Although capable at the game of Eve, Gumby, still being young, was naive when it came to the wiles and desires of an older woman. His accomplishments became her own, while her leadership mistakes were scapegoated onto Gumby who took it upon himself to defend her.
Eventually he came to the realization that she was simply manipulating him and he decided to end the relationship. He turned to another director in the alliance by the name of Lazy Eagle. Hoping to discuss matters in private and as a friend, Gumby spilled his heart out to Lazy Eagle. He however had been another member of the directorship that had feelings for Muffy and instead of consoling the young Gumby, instead he used it as ammo against him. He turned to Muffy informing her of Gumby’s emotions in the hopes that he would replace him as Muffy’s love interest.
Overnight Gumby became persona non grata and the sway she held in the alliance left Gumby isolated from some of the people he had grown to respect and consider as friends in the alliance. She told everyone that he had hurt her in someway. He was hated instantly. Left feeling he had no choice but return to Muffy. Things had gotten too close and too intimate and it would be the expected eventuality. Once again Gumby was under Muffy’s control as the only way to cope with it.
Through it all he realized that the same sort of manipulation would continue. Torn between being hated by his friends due to Muffy’s influence and the victim complex she had impressed upon others, Gumby was trapped. But there was no way for him to move on from this. And so Gumby tried to say no to Muffy once more. This time, he left the alliance and went to join Black Legion but only for a short period of time. The next day he had decided it was a mistake and he returned. He had two choices left in EE. Either he could return to the abusive relationship he had been in, or he would remain an outcast as someone that “hurt” Muffy. As is typical in this game, EE has no shortage of white knights.
After all Eve is dark and full of neckbeards.
One such person was Lazy Eagle who held Muffy as a love interest since long ago but was mostly a non factor even during the Talon vs Gumby situation that preceded. For Muffy, Lazy Eagle had become yet another annoyance much like Talon. She lamented to Gumby that he had been “stalking her” sending her texts and messages at all hours. Muffy told Gumby that Lazy Eagle had made her game “unplayable” but she didn’t want to be the one to kick Lazy Eagle. Gumby was used to simultaneously rid Muffy of Lazy Eagle while shifting any responsibility for it onto Gumby.
As this went on Gumby was always made to feel that he was “progressing” through the alliance. He had became “Sky Marshal” of DNAC (Coalition of EE, SYJ, MD and others lowsec pirates) and acted as main FC for the alliances. He took to his position well and he continued to earn major gains for the coalition. However he still had his concerns about how the alliance was being run aside from the personal drama that plagued EE.
A primary concern was a former Black Legion member by the name of machiavaelianist. Soon after Gumby ended the relationship a third and final time. Machi joined and within weeks had been made de facto 2nd in command by Muffy and she seemed to have found a new love interest to control. But perhaps in this case the role was reversed.
On more than one occasion several directors in both EE and SYJ concluded that machi had been an informant for Black Legion. Any attempt to bring this concern to Muffy fell on deaf ears. It was only when a unified voice of the leadership of both alliances stepped in and said “it’s either the coalition or Machi” that she begrudgingly had him removed. Within the hour he had returned to Black Legion and as of writing this she still considers him a “trusted” individual.
Muffy also reset coalition members, Mutually Disinterested (MD) and proceeded to try to hunt them down without consulting any of the other coalition directors. Any EE directors that brought concerns to her had their roles stripped. Gumby himself had been a prime target of this although wishing to remain loyal to EE and its members he wrote that he was stepping down “due to having to focus on school.” Gumby placed his other main character in a 0.0 alliance and he had planned to depart quietly.
At this point many readers may think Gumby a complete idiot; to be manipulated and controlled in such a manner. It is true hindsight is 20/20 and having a “distance” on the matter allows for a fuller perspective of the issues. The bottom line is that a 39 year old woman used the emotions of a 17 year old that was talented at “internet spaceships” in order to reinforce her position in an alliance the people around her developed and when he refused to play to her whims, he was persecuted.
From my perspective as Surely You’re Joking diplomat, I caught wind of much of this. The concern was that DNAC would lose its main FC, a strong military leader and a major content generator. Had it just been him, it would have been a loss the coalition would simply have to take and we could move on. However both Gumby and other SYJ leadership members had been approached by various EE directors with similar concerns.
We spoke with a few EE directors making sure Gumby was not an isolated incident. Members had already begun leaving EE.Should EE lose more and have the overall coalition take a hit? EE directors as well as SYJ leadership had attempted repeatedly to reason with Muffy but they were simply ignored. It was clear that any further talks would simply see the EE directors lose more roles and power in the alliance and EE would simply fail cascade under Muffy’s Stalinist leadership.
Have our main partner fall apart right beside us?
No thank you.
A plan was hatched that would see SYJ and EE merge into one entity while refusing to pay tribute to Muffy’s dramatic tendencies. Gumby and his fellow directors would announce they were leaving and invite anyone from EE to join them within SYJ. This past fridayEE membership has begun to transfer over to SYJ. The major stated concerns for this action have been listed as:
1. Muffy’s style of leadership is dramatic and destructive. There’s some sort of drama every few weeks.
2. She placed an obvious spy into leadership only days after joining the alliance based on personal sentiments.
3. She has refused to listen to any criticisms from her own directors and partner alliances stripping roles where she can and attacking fellow coalition members.
4. EE had been making over TWENTY billion isk in moon goo and yet EE had no SRP in place. Muffy was the only director in leadership that had access to the moon income without any sort of API over sight. Clearly her leadership is either painfully incompetent or malicious and dishonest.
Surely You’re Joking has promised safe haven for any of the EE membership that wish to depart Muffy’s drama and manipulation and just want to keep doing what they enjoy doing: good fights and blowing up space ships. The camp that wants to chase internet skirts likewise is offered blue status and they can continue doing…whatever it is that they want to do. Eventually the issues will resolve themselves. Our goal is to keep friendships together and to avoid the skirt drama that seems to surround Muffy wherever she goes. People are free to choose what sort of game they play and the consequences that come with it.
