EVE has a reputation of being a harsh place, and it is. In-game players go to great length to win, and bitter feuds are what really fuels EVE forward. At the same time, EVE players are also very protective of EVE itself. They will bash CCP mercilessly about in-game details, but when needed will also rally behind the game and CCP when an outside force is involved.
This story over at the INN is a perfect example of this in action, as hostile in-game factions come together for the good of the game, and take down an RMT scumbag. Good work to all involved!
Hardcore Casual 
Oh, the gallantry. The humanitarian spirit. Warms the heart-cockles right up, and just in time for the holidays.
“There have only been a few times in this game where something has come up that went beyond the scope of what is acceptable. In our big bad sandbox there are limits.”
Incidentally, if you want to make the guy kill himself…
Because “kill yourself” is never said in jest in any game (or life), ever, and whenever it is said, we must immediately execute that person, regardless of situation, right?
Becomes less of an off-the-cuff jest when you’re speaking to an assembled group containing… what’s that English noun, underlings? followers? thuggish enforcers? toughies? hooligans? who are capable of actually carrying out the instruction.
But no, we shouldn’t execute them, although a pleasant symmetry would obtain. Just treat their subsequent claims of do-goodery with a grain of salt.
Still, at least an RMT scumbag preying on newbies did get stopped. A true EVE patriot should not derive financial benefit from their activities in the game. Left unchecked, that kind of thing could catch on.
You are talking about the drunk joke Mittens made during the EVE convention right? How is that anything but a random off-the-cuff joke about someone that in addition to lying and trumping up his story, also put himself into a position to be noticed by Mittens in the first place? That’s the ‘victim’ I’m supposed to feel bad for? Or the behavior I’m supposed to condemn?
“Becomes less of an off-the-cuff jest when you’re speaking to an assembled group containing… what’s that English noun, underlings? followers? thuggish enforcers? toughies? hooligans? who are capable of actually carrying out the instruction.”
Just exactly who do you think was in the audience at the alliance panel at FanFest 2012? I think you must have built up your own version of events, because here in reality the most apt description of those listening would have been “gamers.”
This was no dark room filled with obedient followers. There were no knights errant around ready to ride off and rid Mittens of this whiny pubbie. The alleged victim was never harassed, except when hounded by the press, at which point claimed he didn’t even remember his interaction with The Mittani.
And what does that have to do with the story at hand in any case? If there is an error in fact, say so. Because it sounds like you just have a bad case of “Grr, Goons.”
It’s always good to hear from someone over in reality, William, but I think ‘gamers’ might be a little too general.
We can re-litigate the events of 2012 if you wish (as you will recall, having blogged on the subject at the time, the spontaneity of The Mittani’s remarks frays slightly when the presentation slides are considered) but I am not impressed by the argument that it’s all good just because The Wis, at the end of the day, had not been harassed into suicide after all. Incitement happened, intent matters.
As to why that little bit of ugliness from over four years ago is germane: remembering what happened then, whenever Goons as an organisation are presented as doing things for humanitarian reasons, and particularly when it’s spun as Mittens himself sending out a top man to bring down an abuser of the vulnerable, it gets a bit rich for my blood.
Emphasis on ‘as an organisation’, of course. I am not going to throw any kind of collective guilt at individual line members of a loose alliance of thousands, many of whom are involved in excellent stuff like B4R.
*Wilhelm, excuse me.