EVE Online Politics: A spy just screwed a few thousand players, years of work.

[Blind0bserver]

They estimated that what's left of BoB cannot restore sovereignty in their area of space for at least three months.

The Great War of EVE seems to have finally come to an end.

It's over forever for at least three months?

I doubt BoB will ever restore their former glories. But there's what, ten other really big alliances? That in fighting over the now unattached regions and players will change the face of the conflict.

Which I like. The sovereignty map has been pretty static up until now.

Well, let me elaborate. The "Great War" between BoB and the "RedSwarm" is finally over. The "RedSwarm" was a massive coalition created by the Goon Swarm and the Red Alliance to fight BoB. There were a lot of different Alliances fighting under the Redswarm banner based off of the simple "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" mindset. Some of those allied factions outright loathe each other, but that didn't stop them from teaming up to fight BoB. Now that they're gone that coalition is likely to collapse and then it's civil war amidst the ranks.

Enter a whole new war with an even fancier name.

 

[hellthins]

Then again, Something Awful forums has taken a minimal talk about EVE Online policy, but goons are still goons.

From what I hear, Something Awful and Goonfleet aren't on real good footing lately.

They've recently reallowed discussion about EVE again on the forums, but they want to keep the Goon Swarm drama out of the SA forums and let it stay in the Goon Swarm forums.

 

[NDWolfwood5268]

Dynamic content is cool, but EVE's execution has always been one of brute force shoehorning in a player run economy first, actual gameplay quality second. Thousands of players being screwed over by one player mucking around with their corporation structure was, if anything, quite predictable: this isn't much a game, since when were measures that preserve the players' fun a priority?

Not to start a fight, but you don't understand the appeal of EVE if you make such a statement, but that's probably why you don't play it. Those of us that like the game like it BECAUSE this can happen. That IS the fun. By giving us a true sandbox and saying 'go', CCP makes something that no one else has on the market. You need to compete with douchebags and account for espionage.

This is very much of a game. It's deeper than any other I've seen yet, and that depth turns most away form it. And predictable? Well, I suppose the current alliances are destined to fall eventually, and attacks like this will happen again, but you can't predict when and were and by who. This is a surprise to most people in EVE, and if you're not part of it, I don't think you can call it predictable if we can't (we being the players).

Oh no, I understand completely. The game itself is such a dull floating economic simulation that major scandal screwing over other players adds some desperately needed excitement.

I'm no WoW player, I know all about EVE. I was even in the beta.

Well, you've sparked my interest. Can you elaborate on the 'brute force' execution? I have NO idea what you mean. And for the economy, you can choose to live a life of PvP as a pirate as well. That's usually more exciting, but the economy is indepth and can be dry to some players. EVE has a place for them though, as mercenaries, pirates, etc. They still touch the economy, but it's secondary to their ransoming carebears.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

I don't play eve, but that does seem like some serious stuff.

 

[Jenny Creed]

Now, I don't see what everyone (at least three) people are saying about this spy "wasting" so and so many man-years of other peoples' efforts. What exactly are those things that have been lost? How are they destroyed?

If you're talking about the sovereignty of BoB space, yes, that empire is now lost to history. But they had a good few years. Just cause you've worked hard to claim a piece of land doesn't mean you're entitled to keep it.

 

[geldonyetich]

Well, you've sparked my interest. Can you elaborate on the 'brute force' execution? I have NO idea what you mean. And for the economy, you can choose to live a life of PvP as a pirate as well. That's usually more exciting, but the economy is indepth and can be dry to some players. EVE has a place for them though, as mercenaries, pirates, etc. They still touch the economy, but it's secondary to their ransoming carebears.

What I mean by a 'brute force' execution is that, in a core game design, ideally you're going to design a game to be fun through establishment of flow and other nifty aspects like that, but what EVE Online has done is just rigged up a really big economy simulation. They wanted to make a virtual universe, not a game, and that's pretty much what they delivered.

Some people can enjoy it. These people are usually so fished in by the power fantasy of an unregulated player economy that they rarely pause to realize that what they're doing wouldn't amuse a person without 2 years of time invested in it.

 

[NDWolfwood5268]

What I mean by a 'brute force' execution is that, in a core game design, ideally you're going to design a game to be fun through establishment of flow and other nifty aspects like that, but what EVE Online has done is just rigged up a really big economy simulation. They wanted to make a virtual universe, not a game, and that's pretty much what they delivered.

Some people can enjoy it. These people are usually so fished in by the power fantasy of an unregulated player economy that they rarely pause to realize that what they're doing wouldn't amuse a person without 2 years of time invested in it.

I get what you're saying, but your tone hints that you think the game is negative entirely. Some people would enjoy it after 2 years, and I don't think it's merely an economy simulator, it has political and military aspects as well. That's the draw that got me into it. But it can be dry, and it is generally slow paced compared to most, which is why it doesn't have 11 million subscribers like WoW does. It's all subjective.

 

[geldonyetich]

I get what you're saying, but your tone hints that you think the game is negative entirely. Some people would enjoy it after 2 years, and I don't think it's merely an economy simulator, it has political and military aspects as well. That's the draw that got me into it. But it can be dry, and it is generally slow paced compared to most, which is why it doesn't have 11 million subscribers like WoW does. It's all subjective.

Well, it's true that all enjoyment will be subjective.

Perhaps the reason why EVE Online has a negative slant in my mind is that I'm a gaming purist: I play games for the enjoyment of the game mechanic itself, not to play pretend space stock broker. If it is a game, EVE Online was never a game developed to please on the game mechanic level, but rather in a very broad sense.

I'm left with the old, "Where's the Beef?" paradigm - sure, I can appreciate the intrinsic value of the broad sense of a participating in a massive virtual economy, and all the political and military intrigue that comes with it - but why bother if it's not, you know, fun to play? There's no meat in this bun, nothing for me to savor.

It's almost enough grounds to say that dedicated EVE Online players are involved in a bad habit. But, again, I speak as a gaming purist.

 

[NDWolfwood5268]

Well, it's true that all enjoyment will be subjective. Perhaps the reason why EVE Online has a negative slant in my mind is that I'm a gaming purist: I play games for the enjoyment of the game mechanic itself, not to play pretend space stock broker. If it is a game, EVE Online was never a game developed to please on the game mechanic level, but rather in a very broad sense.

I'm left with the old, "Where's the Beef?" paradigm - sure, I can appreciate the intrinsic value of the broad sense of a participating in a massive virtual economy, and all the political and military intrigue that comes with it - but why bother if it's not, you know, fun to play?

It's almost enough grounds to say that dedicated EVE Online players are involved in a bad habit. But, again, I speak as a gaming purist.

Yes, valid points, and that's why WoW is popular. It has 'instant gratification' so to say. At least more than EVE. For EVE, you work for years to get a BoB sized alliance and become able to steamroll everyone, and that's the gratification. It's more like SimCity, where you build stuff up over time.

BUT**, what about the PvP content? Does pwning other ships not appeal to you? Being a pirate and such provides some instant gratification, more often than not, in being a professional griefer, but hey, without pirates, EVE WOULD be completely boring. They keep the rest of us on our toes.

 

[lightingbird]

I've tried to play this game several times over the years but could never get into it. This story sounds crazy ha. Makes me wanna try again!

Well... maybe not.

 

[Jenny Creed]

Now, I don't see what everyone (at least three) people are saying about this spy "wasting" so and so many man-years of other peoples' efforts. What exactly are those things that have been lost? How are they destroyed?

If you're talking about the sovereignty of BoB space, yes, that empire is now lost to history. But they had a good few years. Just cause you've worked hard to claim a piece of land doesn't mean you're entitled to keep it.

Wow, I'm a terrible person...when I read that all I could think was 'Yeah, the Indians learned that the hard way."

Maybe if the injuns had had CONCORD. . .

 

[Mister Benoit]

This story is really interesting, it's a shame mmos take so a large time commitment.

 

[Abedeus]

The game costs 20 euro to play, per month.

21 days and then I'm out, if not earlier.

no, its 20 euro for the first month, 15 after. You can pay in dollars but I think the cheapness we get in the UK for that is mitigated by the exchange rates.

Any company that charges EU more than US for no reason (we pay more than 15 euro - VAT), and favorise UK over other countries (even ones that won't use euro for another 3 years or more) won't get my money.

I'm looking at you too, Valve.

So this is possibly the first company that turns the tables and fucks the U.S.A over instead of Europe and you're going to have a mard about it?

What? They charge Europe more, not USA. They are screwing us over, not Americans.

How? Valve's games are 33-60% more expensive in Europe than in USA.

In some countries, twice as much when it comes to some of them, like GTA IV or Dawn of War 2.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

So I'm guessing it's like someone taking Bush's place with a special mask, eradicating the population of America with a virus and then all the states being taken over by the first person who can stick a flag up then defend it?

Note I like America, but as big important countries go, you're the ideal example

Damn that's gotta be one hell of a shake up to the EVE universe, and yes, it puts the WOW plague into the shadows, that was a few days of death followed by a server reset.

I don't think EVE can be reset, or if it was they'd have a lot of angry players.

If it was done in the rules, even if people have lost a lot, I guess it levels the playing field and makes the whole game far more interesting for a while, and it'll make corps more careful in future too!

I'm a WOW guild leader, and I'd like to take a break soon myself, I've got people I'd trust to take the reins while I was away, but... if they chose to, they could smash one of the oldest and best casual guilds on our server with one click, and leave 400+ people guildless.

Trust is a difficult thing when someone can destroy nearly 3 years of building a guild up, and I know EVE has FAR bigger numbers than WOW in terms of corps vs guilds.

 

[fanged]

BoB will be back, count on it, Goonswarm are gunan get it hard, every other allaince that TRY hard to get some of BoB's ex space... are going to Die once they remake, oh god you can Count on this

 

[nathan-dts]

Wow.

As epic as that sounds, if I really think about it, it's no more than extremely brutal trolling. Still incredibly interesting how an MMO actually has politics however.

Trolling? I think this is a good thing; less experienced players now have chances to expand.

 

[hellthins]

I don't think EVE can be reset, or if it was they'd have a lot of angry players.

Well, there was that prior mentioned point where the Band of Brothers got schematics from the admins that kind of put them over other people. What was their solution? Keep the admin on board and ban the guy who revealed that it happened.

 

[fanged]

Ok, more Info, GS Stole 2 Trillion+ of Assets, Dreds/carriers and other High end items, There WONT be a BoB/Band Of Brothers, Goonswarm has Created a Corp called Band of Brothers/BoB corp, BoB HAVE petitioned it, as a hack on the Director that Disbanded the corp, Come on, Most EVE players Will know that GS is Full of Channers, that do "good" hacks... we'll see what happens