Ebil Girl
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Posted - 2007.05.26 11:43:00 -
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On wiki:
In February 2007, a player using the alias "Kugutsumen" who is known for getting hold of information through metagaming posted allegations of developer misconduct in relation to one of the ingame alliances, Band of Brothers. Later that week, CCP admitted that they had in fact known of the wrongdoing for over 6 months and apologized for it. The incident involved t20 (one of the software developers), using his developer access to obtain valuable in-game items to benefit Band of Brothers, in which he was part of the leadership. Despite CCP CEO Hilmar PTtursson stating publicly that any conduct of this sort would result in immediate termination, t20 as yet remains at CCP. CCP banned Kugutsumen's accounts for posting real-life info of the developer in question and the use of possibly illegal (hacking) means to retrieve the info. Kugutsumen replied to the accusations of using hacking as means of retrieving the info; CCP's final input in the matter was that Kugutsumen caused CCP unwanted work-load (technically, a violation of the end-user license agreement) and that was enough reason to ban him. Kugutsumen has since continued to post material on his website, and there is considerable debate amongst the player base as to the appropriateness of CCP's response.
In response to this incident, CCP set up a Internal Affairs division, dedicated to monitoring the activites of CCP employees in-game, and preventing further incidents.
On May 25, 2007 new allegations of developer misconduct were brought to light. These new allegations consist of three main contentions:
* the infiltration of a corporation by a CCP employee, who then elevated himself to a directorship position and resigned immediately after entering one of the corporation's stations.
* the predetermination of in-game roleplaying events, contrary to CCP's assertion that such events are player-influenced
* the alleged use of player influence causing the banning of a volunteer reporter who was present during a major player versus player fleet battle.
The players' alliance "Goonswarm" and former player "Kugutsumen" presented these issues to the community in the form of an open letter and blog posts . After massive spamming of Goonswarm's open letter on the forums, the developers shut the forums down completely. Half an hour later, the forums were restored. CCP had also created a news item and forum thread for discussion.
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