Coming to Terms

As soon as I saw the news post from CCP regarding the TOS update, I knew it was going to become some sort of big deal. Though I admit I was expecting a significantly larger quantity of tin foil in relation to Goonswarm, and decidedly less toward the notion that 'CCP has it out for us and is lying to us.'

Now, it seems as though there are two facets to the issue. First, is the change to the TOS itself. Is it good, or bad?

And second, is CCP's handling of the change and the subsequent rage that followed. Many people seem more angry over how CCP communicated the change, and the explanations that followed, than at the change itself.

The TOS Change

I find it highly amusing that a large percentage of the people who seem most upset by the change itself, are also the same people who admit that it doesn't really affect them since they don't really scam using impersonation.

I've never been a fan of the ideological issue in EVE--those issues where people are more upset over what they perceive the change means, as opposed to what it actually does, in a concrete way, to affect their gameplay.

What I have found to be horribly on the lacking side, are confessions by actual scammers who ARE affected--confessions that actually convince me that someone's gameplay is indeed being affected in a large way and that something should be done about it.

Oh sure, there is the story of the guy who joined peoples' corporation by saying he was one of their alts, and then proceeded to awox them. It's an amusing story, to be sure. But, what are we trying to protect when we try to protect this individual's particular style of gameplay? Is this gameplay indicative of EVE's ruthlessness? Of EVE's harshness and difficulty?

"Let it be known that EVE pvpers are ruthless individuals because they have to sneak up on people and shoot them in the back in order to get their kicks."

Feel free to tell me a story to convince me otherwise, but I'm of the opinion that the change to the TOS will have little impact on anything worthwhile. If anything affects players' ability to scam, it is themselves. For, scamming is of such a nature that the greater the light cast on it, the less effective it is. And to be sure, they've been casting a rather magnificent light on it all.

And as far as the issue of what we 'should be allowed to do' --needless to say I won't lose any sleep over such philosophical issues. You can be sure that when I rip your belongings from your cold dead hands--when I blow your ship to smithereens, I will look you in the eye before sending your lifeless corpse to a cold grave. And you will know that it was me.

That is the only EVE that I care about.

CCP's Intent, and Response

The second facet to this whole fiasco is the supposed 'intent' of CCP. I have heard things as minor as an under-the-breath remark about how 'sneaky' it was of CCP to 'slip' the change in, to the more serious, outright accusations of CCP being liars.

In general, I have mostly found these arguments to be emotional in nature, and rarely tied to any sort of evidence or reasoning.

Poetic Stanziel did his best to provide some 'evidence' in his blog post entitled "I Really Wish CCP Would Stop Insulting Their Customers." He quotes a Scams and Exploits knowledge base guide, in which CCP warns people to not trust anyone, and be wary that people you are doing business with are who they say they are.

According to Poetic, this is evidence of the GM's lying about the idea that their impersonation policies have been in place for some time. "If this were indeed how GM's always treated misrepresentation, would CCP have put the [] warning into their Scams and Exploits knowledge-base guide?" he asks.

Interestingly, if you read the entire guide he links, it also warns against people buying in-game items on eBay. I think that almost everyone can universally agree that RMT and the buying and selling of items on eBay is most definitely against the rules, and a bannable offense. So the list of 'tips' that CCP gives here is hardly a list of 'legal' scams that players might use against you.


To be honest, I find the conspiracy theories about CCP lying, or having some sort of bad ulterior motives toward us to be laughable. I could probably break it down even more for you, provide evidence, pick apart the fallacies and illogical reasoning til kingdom come.

But, it would probably be of little use. Just like it's futile to try to logically explain to a frightened, small child that it's impossible that a monster lives under their bed. They are scared and upset. Every moving shadow--every bump in the night proves their theory that something dark and dangerous lives below. The best you can do is give them a hug, pray that they fall back asleep, and wait for the sun to come up--when all is sure to be long forgotten.

I'm sure that after tomorrow, when CCP pulls back the veil on what we can expect for the winter expansion, people will feel they have more important things to rage about.

<> <>
    -