Malloc Memrel
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Posted - 2007.05.30 05:09:00 -
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Wow. I think I'll post this until I can find words.
 Originally by: CCP Arkanon
The volume and timing of these near-simultaneous references is no coincidence: we were the target of a carefully constructed and well-timed social engineering effort by one of the largest player groups in our community. The intention? To undermine EVE Online and the credibility of CCP Games.
More specifically, the objective of this scheme was to permanently paint CCP as a biased and corrupt company that favors a select group of players over the rest of our community. In this particular case, instead of receiving notification of a possible problem and sufficient time to examine and address it, we faced a coordinated and hostile attack executed on our forums, Digg, Wikipedia, Slashdot, and other outlets at the beginning of a three-day weekend. We believe this speaks volumes of the intention of the person(s) responsible for orchestrating this scheme. Verification of this can be readily found on the forums of the people responsiblełor at least could, the last time we looked.
Claims that the goal of this effort was to expose corruption within the company cannot be taken seriously. They are simply a smokescreen intended to mobilize and use the EVE community against CCP. There is no evidence to support the claim of information sent to CCP concerning internal corruption and wrongdoings on the part of our employees is being systematically suppressed.
The fact that this attack took place over a holiday weekend was especially revealing of motive, which we believe was specifically by design to ensure that CCP would not be able to react as fast and efficiently as we would under normal circumstances. The allegations investigated above by this internal affairs department will also be examined by our legal resources, as we do not intend to sit idly by while our servers, community and reputation are under attack.
I cannot fathom how the above paragraphs ever made it out under an official capacity. Your response to the spamming of allegations of misconduct, brought about by your censoring of the initial complaint, brought about by your own poor customer service, is to accuse 4000 of your own players of sabotage? And furthermore, that your legal team will be looking into it?
Kieron asked for constructive dialogue, so here's my advice: Threatening legal action against your own players would be the single most damaging thing you could do to your company at this juncture. Sure, the current allegations might have gotten you on Slashdot, Kotaku, and other "entertainment" news sites, but if you actually bring legal resources to bear on your playerbase, it will be everywhere. Gamasutra, GamePolitics, GameDev.net, basically anywhere and everywhere game developers hang out in cyberspace. At that point, win or lose, CCP will be an island, no one else will want to even touch you for fear of the stink of corruption rubbing off on them. It won't matter if said stink was real or fabricated, it will be there and it will linger.
To my friends who work in the US branch of CCP: Get out NOW. I don't want your careers stunted by CCP's actions giving your future resume's an express route to the dustbin. I know some of you have worked hard to get here, and I know you're not involved with this mess, but the stink of corruption will permeate the entire company, soaking into you whether justified or not.
As for CCP as a whole, well, I'll say you've earned a customer for life. Far from inspiring disgust and a desire to leave, as apparently many others have felt, I am instead filled with a sense of awe and see an educational opportunity here. If ever I want to know how not to handle a customer service issue, I can always log on to eve, see how CCP handles it, and do the opposite, confident that I will at least be doing something right by not handling things the way CCP is.
Finally, to anyone leaving EVE- Might I reccomend WoW?
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