"...not only is this an act of griefing on a truly
epic scale, but we’re living in an age where the pew-pew noises of kids
playing astronaut on the internet have far-reaching consequences."
Read it and weep!
Eliza has the full story here.
I can't pretend to understand EVE - I've never played it, and know only a few people who have, but clearly what the creators have on their hands in a game in which diplomacy, strategy and specifically espionage play an enormous part, which must be like crack to some people (c.f. RL warfaring politicians, natch). Utterly compelling.
More here, too, from Massively.
(Thanks to BillT)
This MP3 of The Mittani makes it all fairly clear, though there's still some EVE jargon.
http://go-dl.eve-files.com/media/0902/mittani.mp3
The Mittani is Goonfleet's spy mastermind - he barely plays in-game, mainly a string puller, fascinating stuff.
Basically, it wasn't so much clever for getting him to defect - he largely did that of his own accord because BoB is full of in-fighting etc. Rather, it's quite how expertly they took advantage of his status and the alliance mechanics to utterly and totally screw BoB on all fronts in a single day.
Goonfleet has some incredible assets. For example, they use software incorporating machine learning to identify alts on the forum based on similar language usage. Largely useless in WoW, utterly crucial to spot spies etc. in EVE. Insane really.
Posted by: | February 06, 2009 at 14:12
Oh, and I forgot to mention, the only down side I can see to this is how it affects the overall game. Why work so damn hard to conquer space, win stations, fight endless massive battles, only for one defection to screw that all over completely and lose you everything you earned from that effort.
EVE has always been about high risk/reward once you leave the "safe zone" of empire space, but this latest event truly takes that to extremes.
Posted by: Pete | February 06, 2009 at 14:14
Sounds so interesting, but it's a shame EVE's learning curve is a vertical cliff-face. I lasted 4 days.
It's a game for bureaucrats and accountants.
Posted by: Mr Tom | February 06, 2009 at 23:33