Massively coverage: first report the apology CCP takes action
And now there is a statement from Massively themselves, about the way this whole thing was handled. This statement makes me livid. Everything about EVE seems to make me livid these days. So let's talk about EVE.
I've played EVE on and off for a few years. The UI is kind of shitty, the actual interactive gameplay is dead boring, but I liked the economics part, the ships, the skill system, even the missions and what little there is to learn about the lore. I absolutely loathe the PvP. Open world, free for all PvP has never been my thing, but in EVE there is literally no path where you do not have to worry about it. You have to be on your guard always, you have to read outside resources to even be able to stay alive. And you can't be alone, not ever. Get a high powered corporation or get out of the playground.
That's fine for people who like that sort of thing, but EVE needs its sheep. They keep vying for new players whose sole purpose is to provide meat for the wolves. A trader puts their stock on the line every time they undock from a station, but a pirate risks next to nothing. To mine successfully, it takes months of skill training and millions of ISK up front, and griefers can take it all with no risk to themselves. No investment other than a cheap frigate, a slightly more expensive battlecruiser. And they love to harrass. The purpose of flipping a jet can in high sec space is never the resources, it's always hoping the idiot in the mining boat tries to take back what is theirs and blowing them up for shits and giggles.
CCP, the developers, love this aspect of their game. They're into the metagame of harrassment and griefing, the emotional stress that puts their players through. They do nothing about the racist, homophobic, misogynist trash talk on their game because it makes the bullying more effective.
And everyone, even so-called journalists, are fine with this.
From Massively's latest article:
Players who enjoy the game as it is see nothing wrong with this.
The general gaming media latched on to all the wrong parts of this story, painting EVE as a terrible game full of sociopaths. I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with scamming and ganking players, and it's even OK to show tearful evemails to a crowd of Fanfest attendees. That's part of EVE; many players accept it when we log in, and some people get a laugh out of it. It doesn't matter whether the player in question talks about a divorce or appears to be depressed; it's still a normal part of the game. You might not agree with taunting a player and airing his dirty laundry or embarrassing moments, but it's a legitimate way to play EVE as long as it remains a series of in-game actions against in-game characters.
Here's a newsflash. It's never just a fucking game. You can not divorce the player from the character and Mittani proves it. There is no magical wall that shuts off people's feelings as soon as they log on their MMO of choice. A person isn't suddenly magically un-depressed because he's using his in game persona to communicate. And a person isn't suddenly magically not an asshole because he has a real name.
I think people need to start really looking at EVE and how its thinly-veiled cover of virtuality is crumbling. Is it possible that the victim wasn't really suicidal and only said all that to get out of a tight spot? Sure it is. But CCP don't know for sure. Mittani didn't know for sure. They took the chance of harrassing someone not just for his original sin of playing EVE while trying to build something - they continued, even intensified the harrassment when they perceived him as weak.
Well, fuck you, too, Goons. You're all a bunch of sociopathic losers. And the EVE community who revel in the free-for-all PvP that is so fucking biased for pirates and griefers and all-around jerks aren't much better. You are all part of the problem because you aren't actively demanding solutions. CCP should be looking hard at their game and how it went wrong, instead they're kind of gleefully enjoying the free press.
But suicide isn't a joke. Depression doesn't come with a handy reality/virtuality filter. I myself stopped playing EVE when I realized that it may well kill me, for real, in the real world. Being depressed and suicidal in the bad phases, I have long ago understood that EVE is actively designed to make me feel like shit, to put me on edge at all times, everywhere. It's actively designed to channel the worst in people. CCP revel in it, their motto being "harden the fuck up", and the Goonswarm are not an isolated phenomenon. EVE cultivates its nature of bullying, griefing and lawlessness.
Everyone who plays EVE and thinks that this is okay, you are the problem. Everyone who keeps on insisting that EVE has an awesome community if only you try, you are the problem. You're lying to yourself. It doesn't matter that 99% of EVE players are freaking teddy bears, the game itself favors the 1% who are enormous, inhuman shitmuzzles.
Calling for hundreds, if not thousands of people to harrass a player into suicide, Massively, that's not a slip up. That's bullying. And if it had affected the guy into actually doing it, it would be a fucking crime, even in places where incitement to violence isn't. CCP is at least half responsible for everything that went down, but people keep giving everyone a pass because bullying in EVE is normal. It's expected. Well, fuck, maybe that's why people think you're all a bunch of psychos.
