Transparency in decision making keeps community aware about the reasons and justifications behind the end result. Secrecy doesn't.

Sigh, I even had to change my 1.5 year old signature for this.
Y u do this ccp.

There's going to be a lot of words here, so those people who just want to say 'grr goons' might want to move on to the next post.

The fundamental issue is with CCP, not with Somerblink. No matter what organisation and individual(s) CCP should not be giving billions to trillions of isk to player-run corporations within the game. Doing so was what saw them given negative press throughout the gaming media (T20 scandal) and while this has a veneer of acceptability over it, the fundamental point is the same. In doing so, CCP removes the equal standing of players within the game and gives direct material advantage to a particular group of players.

This isn't about Somer blink directly, if this had come up now about a.n.other player-owned corporation it would still have the same fundamental issues. However that's twice in recent times that CCP has directly advantaged Somerblink to the tune of hundreds of billion of isk, if not trillions (given what the three unique ships could sell for). Moreover even though Somer chose to give them away (they could have kept them), they still made several hundred billion in increased revenue as a result of that lottery, and will doubtless have expected to see increased traffic and awareness of their site as a result. For somerblink therefore, this had a direct and longterm financial benefit for them, not only in game but in $ as well through their blink credits for game timecards.

It's laudable that Somer Blink gives isk to a number of organisations and events within the game, however that doesn't make it a community site, nor does it make it a content creator. It means that Somer Blink is doing what thousands of real companies do through sponsorship. They increase brand awareness and promote a positive image of their company through association with the organisations they sponsor.

As for rewarding the staff of Somer, while I do think they do an excellent job, surely the right people to reward them are the directors of Somer. They're already very well paid, being able to earn billions a month for their time and already all receiving free timecards from Somer for their account.

What somerblink is, is a lottery, a very well run, highly profitable lottery. There are players who have gone broke in game playing it, players who buy GTCs specifically to feed into somerblink. It has all the pros and cons of any gambling site.

And yet this is the site that CCP has chosen to reward with such unprecedented largesse. Not everadio which, like Somerblink, is largely an out of game activity/endeavour (e.g. the music is not an in game thing). Not The Angel Project which seeks to help new players (though like Somer that did get a community shoutout, which is surely a far more acceptable way of saying thanks). Not Garpa whose tools vastly improve the usability of the game, or EveMon, EveFit etc. etc. Nope, they gave their extraordinary (outside T20) gifts to a gambling site that already makes a vast profit.

Whether through corruption, favouritism or simple stupidity, CCP Navigator has once again demonstrated an inability to 'get' the game of Eve.

As for the Grr Goons, if CCP had given this to us (afterall, the biggest news stories about the game in recent years involve us, we bring hundreds of players to the game, we run community events, charity events and create content and interest on a daily basis) then the outcry would be unprecedented. Obviously for us it would be incredibly funny, but at the same time utterly hypocritical. Whether the ToS changes or this, it should be apparent (for all but those predisposed to hate us) that the line of rhetoric is about holding CCP to account. Obviously that's what the CSM is meant to do, but it now seems to be entirely sidelined by CCP on anything contentious, so it falls to us to raise the hue and cry and point out that ccp's ethical behaviour of late appears to be bankrupt and going down a very dangerous path of bias and favouritism.

Of course, if CCP is set on continuing down that path, then our free T2 titans should be right around the corner.

What a dik move.

Funnily enough we've had open and public favouritism towards Somer Blink (the gifting of the unique hulls and Fanfest trips as lottery prizes) and now it seems also the covert secret favouritism in granting their staff free limited edition Ishukone Scorps.

It seems the one constant in all of this is CCP repeatedly spawning profitable items for one specific player organisation at the expense of the others.

What if CCP has no ideea about the recent... hmh....adventures () of CCP Navigator? I really really would LMFAO. But would be not a single moment surprised.

unless i'm missing something here.

Re-read both CSM posts. The Scorps have been given away a lot before. That's their purpose now - a community giveaway thing. Blink isn't the only one to get them. Not by a lot. Mittens is just jealous of blink, so he's instructed his minions to be morally outraged at blink, and published an article that makes it sound as if blink were the only ones that were given scorps.

I could live with this if the Ishukone Scorpion would follow the same rules as highsec capitals.

i don't really see an issue with ccp giving blink prizes to raffle off or whatever; i think it's an interesting way to get things out to the community.

however from what i can tell these scorpions weren't given to them as raffle prizes but rather as a "hey buddy, have something nobody else has because you're our favourites" and that is, in my opinion, wrong.

unless i'm missing something here.

Am I one of the few people who doesn't mind this at all D:

This is my personal, initial reaction to this news. I want to emphasize that I do not have any significant non-public information about this, nor has the CSM had time to get any information from CCP.

1) CCP has the right to give away Ishukone Scorpions to anyone they want to, for any reason. They are a promotional item.

2) The choice of who they give them to (or don't give them to) has consequences in the community.

3) The recent SOMER-gate uproar means the consequences of this earlier interaction have magnified significance.

My initial impression is that the problem here is not that SOMER got the ships, but that the reward (and any others that CCP may have given out) were not made public.

"Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman." -- Louis D. Brandeis, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

Re-read both CSM posts. The Scorps have been given away a lot before. That's their purpose now - a community giveaway thing. Blink isn't the only one to get them. Not by a lot. Mittens is just jealous of blink, so he's instructed his minions to be morally outraged at blink, and published an article that makes it sound as if blink were the only ones that were given scorps.

The special edition battleships are not available to manufacture and are rarely given out by CCP. Eighty-one were given away at FanFest as part of the Charity Poker Tournament and PvP Tournament and added to the game as part of the Odyssey expansion. Another was given out as part of a role-playing event and SOMER Blink was given ten to use as rewards. To date, there have been no other public giveaways of the ship, meaning that SOMER Blink employees' private rewards may account for a quarter of the Scorpions Ishukone Watch in the game. The ships tend to sell for 10-20 billion ISK meaning that the gift was worth 300-600 billion ISK.

i hope ppl will stop support somer, this is just plain stupid

First time i say on forums about ccp in 7 years but:

CCP THIS IS A MONGOLOID MOVE!