Sci-fi MMO EVE Online is famed for being set in a cold, harsh universe where no player is truly safe. The line between griefing and gameplay is more subtle than in other MMOs, and it's an unfortunate truth that some players occasionally cross that line and are banned. Goonswarm alliance regularly engages in activities that might be seen as griefing in other games, such as scamming players out of ISK and items, or shutting down all Ice Mining operations across half the game. It's all a legitimate part of EVE's unforgiving sandbox universe and open PvP rule set, but players know they can be banned for letting these activities progress into directed harassment or personal public ridicule.
Yesterday we reported that Goonswarm's leader and elected CSM chairman Alexander "The Mittani" Gianturco mistakenly crossed that all-important line during a drunken presentation at Fanfest 2012. In his talk, he gave out the name of a player who had expressed suicidal thoughts and told viewers to "Find him" if they wanted to make him kill himself. Today Alex landed following his flight home from Fanfest and was ashamed to read the transcript of what he said during his panel. He issued a full and sincere apology via the forum, describing himself as "utterly ashamed and sickened by [his] behavior."
"This has been hanging over my head since Thursday when I stumbled away from the Alliance Panel with a vague sense that I had done something horrible," Alex began. "Then I landed, and saw the article listing my actual quote." "It's one thing to play a villain in an online roleplaying game," he told players, "but I am not that character in real life, as anyone who has met me can attest. I went way, way, /way/ past the line on Thursday night." CCP's investigation is still underway, and we'll bring you the results of that investigation as soon as we get them.
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