A new controversy is threatening to engulf EVE Online developer CCP Games, as former players level accusations against CCP employees they claim have been abusing their positions to assist particular players and alliances advance within the game.
According to a message posted on the GoonFleet website, a CCP employee named CCP Sharkbait joined the DarkStar 1 corporation, assigned himself as a Director, and then approximately 14 minutes later, left the corporation. After discovering this, DarkStar 1 corporate officers filed a petition to determine the reasons for CCP Sharkbait’s actions; the petition was deleted, and CCP Sharkbait would not respond to in-game conversations.
Other accusations regarding the allegiance of CCP staff to certain corporations are also made, along with claims that in-game RP events, supposedly meant to be free-form in nature, have their results predetermined by CCP. Perhaps worst of all, claims are made that certain corporations have CCP staff “on call” to intervene in game events on behalf of favored players and corporations.
While no hard evidence has yet been presented, the charges are particularly stinging due to a previous controversy in which a player hacked into an EVE corporation’s website and gained evidence of a CCP employee’s complicity in very similar circumstances. (Along with the original interview, a Q&A with the CEO of GoonSwarm, CCP’s responses to questions on the official EVE Online forums, and a follow-up interview with Kugutsumen are also available.)
News of this latest controversy resulted in a campaign of spam against the EVE Online forums, resulting in their complete shutdown. The forums were eventually restored, with a news post and forum thread dedicated to discussion of the matter being created by CCP.
