His wife posted this:
[He will resign]^^ Just the chair, not the CSM entirely. Though I kinda want him to
resign the whole thing. (But then I hate this game and everything
associated with it.)
It was interesting that she added this:
I am continually grateful to my foresight in keeping my own last name.
Bad enough when he gets stalked and people threaten to kill our dog.
Eve is real. Too real.
Further updates:
The jita scams have started:
Slaatibartfast > Hi, I'm a family member of a victim of cyber
bullying who is currently in hospital following a failed suicide
attempt. Unfortunately we have no medical insurance and will soon be
forced to pull the plug. Please donate your isk now! Furthermore
And someone convoed the suicidal player in game. He's alive and well and hadn't paid any attention to Fanfest. He was happily mining and was wondering why loads of Goons suddenly turned up to gank him.
Not sure it has so much to do with Eve though. the whole affair is another example of cyber drama at large, be it on blogs, twitter or forums. it reminded me a lot of Paul Christoforo vs. Penny Arcade, where PA rallied their fans to go after the guy and published his data. that was probably bullying, but then it was a bully who got bullied for a change. as the discussion on Syncaine's blog showed it's rather tricky to take sides on the internet, where everyone involved is potentially fake. flocks of dramatic carebears annoy me just as much as thoughtless and evil troll commenters. I therefore usually find myself disagreeing with most reactions that are on the extreme side.
ReplyDeleteAs a general rule though, I would suggest to always leave real names and addresses out of the e-drama equation.
to clarify, Mittani behaved in a way that I personally find unfitting for a spokesman of a community. whether there was ever any real, potential harm involved is another question, but he was being an ass and trivializing something that should never be trivialized - especially not in front of a public audience without any means to tell truth and fiction apart.
Big problem for me is that a bunch of people went after the guy to gank him. As it turned out mentally he was fine so it wasn't a problem - this time.
ReplyDeleteBut with power comes responsibility. If your words can send people out after someone you have a greater duty of care than most of us gaming nonentities.
Some days EVE and the ramification effects of being associated with it can be a bit to real.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a very bad time for EVE/CCP, the Community and any other MMO game if such Cyber Bullying actually results in someone actually taking their own live or any such action. You can just never be quite sure what people will end up doing in real life or cause a tragedy as a consequence of being bullied or pushed by other forces and then have it all be blamed on a game, specific game or other. That becomes very real in action. And at the end of it all I can't think CCP needs that on their books from their game or any other company. Best we know nothing has happened to anyone in Real Life, but what if something had indeed happen?
The thing even more unsettling is that Mittani is a CSM and representative to CCP for the EVE Player Community and thats even a higher standard vs any regular player.
For some companies controversy sells or help promote their business. But at what point does things like this end up causing more media damage to ones own brand vs actually doing more general good.
In the end it just all remain to see how this latest episode of EVE will unfold real or unreal.
"And someone convoed the suicidal player in game. He's alive and well and hadn't paid any attention to Fanfest."
ReplyDeleteSee, that part is pretty much irrelevant. It's the fact that a really senior player clearly didn't know where to draw the line between the game and RL, and the rest of the player base (at least going by the blogs) seems to be supporting him in this.
Also why does someone actually need to kill themselves before bullying by griefers is seen as an issue, I wonder :) (Not by you, Stabs.)
ReplyDeleteThanks Spinks you've pithily summed up my concerns.
ReplyDeleteI think generally in bullying there is a moment when most people think "hang on, is this a bit much?". There were very clear alarm signals here - the inability to separate in-game from real life, the genuinely forlorn note of the letter, and so on.
They should have known they had pushed it far enough. Anyone should have known. The people who sat there listening to Mittens then rushed out to gank him are every bit as bad.
Isn't it extreme exaggeration of what actually happened though?
ReplyDeleteNo real-world information was revealed (unlike PA event), only ingame name. Ok, and having occasional suicidal thought. No really uncommon.
If anyone would actually went and harrassed victim, he could petition to have his name changed and stopped it right there. They do have ability to do that, right?
Noone actually went and harassed him as far as i'm aware until whole ****storm went up - that would be ruining the joke of whole panel.
But, they did. It was a poor joke and deserves no credit
Delete