You guys keep saying that the politics in EVE are something that spikes a bit of interest, so how is this. Bare in mind there is a whack of detail here, but its good stuff.

Only in EVE can you have one guy click about for two minutes and destroy several years of work by thousands of players.

This happened last night, and this morning the result is changing the in game political landscape in a similar way to removing the USA from the planet.

Basically, an Alliance (a large, official collection of Corporations, which are basically the guilds of EVE) by the name of Band of Brothers has owned this particular chunk of the player-run space ingame for literally years. They fought off three major wars, of which the last one involved pretty much the entire late game player base fighting against them (some 10,000 or so players from over 30 alliances, not all 10k at once mind you but those sorts of numbers) and they had won almost every single out right war to date, with exception of those they simply ended up better off after.

But now, one of the lead directors in Band of Brothers, either planning it from the start, or was turned by an enemy alliance, has screwed them. Within a few clicks, he had carried out the needed functions to disband the alliance - kicking every single corporation out of it and shutting it down. This action has effected thousands of players, and effectively destroyed years of work

In EVE, any space held by player alliances has a sovereignty rating system. The high the sovereignty (from 1 to 4) the better the defence the alliance can place in their space. One of the reasons BoB was so indestructible was because all of their core space was Sov 4, meaning it was very heavily defended 23/7 by structures that prevented the heavy guns from being able to arrive.

But now the alliance has been disbanded, the space has a Sov of zero meaning not only can enemy alliances come and destroy any assets with ease, but they can also place their own structures up in order to take sovereignty. Despite the fact that the original corps of Band of Brothers are still working together in defence, it has become a fight they will most likely loose.

BoB has been running for years and years, it has had some of the oldest players in EVE in its membership and was one of the three alliances trusted by CCP to perform large scale fleet testing on the EVE test servers. It was hated not just because of its skill level and size, but also because of the general hardyness of the damn thing - it was seen by many to be unkillable.

It just got killed.

The full result of what has come through wont be known for a week or two, but as Sov was dropped less than an hour ago at the end of the daily hour downtime, we are already seeing the alliance who orchestrated this (GoonSwarm - yes, the same as the Something Awful Goons) putting up their structures in a bid for sovereignty.

Now, I only really posted this as people keep saying that the Politics interest them when big stuff happens. This event has effected the work of more players than the average WoW node has on it total. I'm wondering if this is the biggest such event in an MMO ever?

UPDATE:
After the disbanding of BoB a lot of people headed down to the region they owned in a bit to take as much as possible. BoB still owning a lot of assets downthere (in the sense of the allied corps didn't lose anything other than the alliance itself) meant that within 24 hours another alliance by the name of KenZoku was formed in place of their former alliance name.

KenZoku now owns Delve once more, however they will not be granted the same levels of defence for another three months of more as they had before due to the nature of sovereignty mechanics. This means that they are still vulnerable and that the next few months are critical for their survival as an alliance.

This is one of the reasons I love EVE. So long, BoB.

Sound spretty insane and unfair that one single player can cause such a shit storm.
But i suppsoe the players know thats a central aspect of the game and adds a huge reason for carry on with your subscription. If i played eve then this is the kind of thing that i would cream in pants about.
It stops the Big organiseation from whoring the game constantly and no one can blame the adims for it either :)

Wow that does sound like quite a fun time to be in that MMO; wonder how many players woke up and did a double take/spat out their tea and not just the BoB players either. I paticularly liked the part about it being like finding the USA has been removed from the planet. People have to remember that without change places stagnate however and now theres a new place for players to war over.

Theo Samaritan:
we are already seeing the alliance who orchestrated this (GoonSwarm - yes, the same as the Something Awful Goons) putting up their structures in a bid for sovereignty.

I'm guessing the guy was an infiltrator looking for internet fame by massive trolling. :)

Scorched_Cascade:

I'm guessing the guy was an infiltrator looking for internet fame by massive trolling. :)

Actually the guy was a very popular and well known BoB director who has been there for years.

However he was probably convinced by the goons to grab everything and run.

Sounds intresting then again I could careless. Like so many I don't play it. If I did I be rolling right now.

Wow, that's some pretty crazy stuff. Reminds of that time in FFXI last year when San d'Oria owned the territories outside of Bastok and Windhurst for a week. Heh, good times.

That's why MMOs can be really interesting. I mean, all that work gone in a few minutes. What I can't figure out is that one guy could do this.. surely the dev's could have put in a voting system or something.

I do think this might be the biggest MMO disaster I've heard of. Although there was that WoW virus one.. dunno if that counts.

Good post, looks like the players of EVE are going to be living in some interesting times.

Redlac:
That's why MMOs can be really interesting. I mean, all that work gone in a few minutes. What I can't figure out is that one guy could do this.. surely the dev's could have put in a voting system or something.

There usually is. Alliances have to pay fees in order to keep going. It is coming out now that to avoid a vote, the man in question simply and deliberately didn't pay these fees.

But this is still unconfirmed what exactly was the cause. We are waiting for word from the men in question.

Theo Samaritan:
You guys keep saying that the politics in EVE are something that spikes a bit of interest, so how is this. Bare in mind there is a whack of detail here, but its good stuff.

Only in EVE can you have one guy click about for two minutes and destroy several years of work by thousands of players.

This happened last night, and this morning the result is changing the in game political landscape in a similar way to removing the USA from the planet.

Basically, an Alliance (a large, official collection of Corporations, which are basically the guilds of EVE) by the name of Band of Brothers has owned this particular chunk of the player-run space ingame for literally years. They fought off three major wars, of which the last one involved pretty much the entire late game player base fighting against them (some 10,000 or so players from over 30 alliances, not all 10k at once mind you but those sorts of numbers) and they had won almost every single out right war to date, with exception of those they simply ended up better off after.

But now, one of the lead directors in Band of Brothers, either planning it from the start, or was turned by an enemy alliance, has screwed them. Within a few clicks, he had carried out the needed functions to disband the alliance - kicking every single corporation out of it and shutting it down. This action has effected thousands of players, and effectively destroyed years of work

In EVE, any space held by player alliances has a sovereignty rating system. The high the sovereignty (from 1 to 4) the better the defence the alliance can place in their space. One of the reasons BoB was so indestructible was because all of their core space was Sov 4, meaning it was very heavily defended 23/7 by structures that prevented the heavy guns from being able to arrive.

But now the alliance has been disbanded, the space has a Sov of zero meaning not only can enemy alliances come and destroy any assets with ease, but they can also place their own structures up in order to take sovereignty. Despite the fact that the original corps of Band of Brothers are still working together in defence, it has become a fight they will most likely loose.

BoB has been running for years and years, it has had some of the oldest players in EVE in its membership and was one of the three alliances trusted by CCP to perform large scale fleet testing on the EVE test servers. It was hated not just because of its skill level and size, but also because of the general hardyness of the damn thing - it was seen by many to be unkillable.

It just got killed.

The full result of what has come through wont be known for a week or two, but as Sov was dropped less than an hour ago at the end of the daily hour downtime, we are already seeing the alliance who orchestrated this (GoonSwarm - yes, the same as the Something Awful Goons) putting up their structures in a bid for sovereignty.

Now, I only really posted this as people keep saying that the Politics interest them when big stuff happens. This event has effected the work of more players than the average WoW node has on it total. I'm wondering if this is the biggest such event in an MMO ever?

I seem to reacall something similar happening a few years ago :)

Holy shit! This is what I get for waking up early :( That's a lot of nullsec just sitting around... So many opportunities... I'll miss BoB.

hmmm well hopefully there connected enough to reform themselves fast and take back there zones

Pigeon_Grenade:
hmmm well hopefully there connected enough to reform themselves fast and take back there zones

Heh, you don't get EVE do you. Every Alliance in EVE is trying to take their space. BoB is too unorganized and weak to fight off the Alliances that they used to trample all over. They have no defenses, just their ships. They can't prevent capital ships from jumping right into their core systems anymore, they're totally vulnerable. If they can reform, they'll only be a shadow of their former selves.

Eipok Kruden:

Pigeon_Grenade:
hmmm well hopefully there connected enough to reform themselves fast and take back there zones

Heh, you don't get EVE do you. Every Alliance in EVE is trying to take their space. BoB is too unorganized and weak to fight off the Alliances that they used to trample all over. They have no defenses, just their ships. They can't prevent capital ships from jumping right into their core systems anymore, they're totally vulnerable. If they can reform, they'll only be a shadow of their former selves.

nope, never played it, i know that its 'easier said then done' but id find it interesting if in a few weeks another post came up saying how they did come together and fixed what he Destroyed, im not holding my breath

Hahaha, goons! So what are rivals saying; I'm sure BoB is unhappy but it must be a field day for the rest.

I wonder how many EVE players are calling in sick to work today while they put on their conquistador hats?

Ultrajoe:

That said, i played a rogue on WoW. I was a professional asshat.

You asshat!

So I have been off WoW for 6months and I feel great. I have a tan, I'm getting laid.... and now I think I have to go buy EVE, thanks a lot, pricks.

I enjoyed outside, and now I can see it all fading away.

Good-bye vitamin D.

These epic events in EVE always make for a good read, but considering my last experience playing it I don't think i'd go back just for stuff like this.

Eipok Kruden:

Pigeon_Grenade:
hmmm well hopefully there connected enough to reform themselves fast and take back there zones

Heh, you don't get EVE do you. Every Alliance in EVE is trying to take their space. BoB is too unorganized and weak to fight off the Alliances that they used to trample all over. They have no defenses, just their ships. They can't prevent capital ships from jumping right into their core systems anymore, they're totally vulnerable. If they can reform, they'll only be a shadow of their former selves.

So it's more like the US government collapsing, and with it their most powerful weapons system, then every government from China to Canada claims their own little piece?

This is why I wish I could control my own monetary supply.

This seems like what would happen if the President nuked all the Star Wars defences (That Do exist) in the entire U.S., taking half the country with it.

I'm sure they'll be another BoB though.

Sgt Doom:
So it's more like the US government collapsing, and with it their most powerful weapons system, then every government from China to Canada claims their own little piece?

Bang on.

Ultrajoe:
And this is why i don't play EvE. The fact that you could be so bored that you undo your own years worth of work 'for kicks' does not lend itself to the games credibility.

If i played, i would have to be either 'that asshole' from the start, or just a pirate who blows shit up and gets blown up in return.

It wasn't his work. The directors do very little. Besides he has always been one of those asshats who blows shit up =p

On the one hand this is awesomely cool and demonstrates the power of a true MMO to make fantastic plot developments in real time.

On the other hand it is countless hours of fantasy time.

Score! It's lootin' time!

No but really, that sucks for all the players, for his own sake I hope the guy goes hiding, otherwise somebody is going to end up beat the shinkies out of him.

Jesus... I never thought BoB would die... I'm going to be on a lot in the next few weeks to see what this means...

Wow... An interesting bit of news to be sure. I'm not an Mmo kinda guy, and Eve seems really unappeling to me, but that's just hilarious.... A spy comes in and destroys years worth of work, and for what? He was probably better of with the company he was in, seing as it was so vastly large...

Well isent this something new, i guess that BoB will remake soon enough, bigger and better, they've dissapeard befor, and came back, SHame the there MAX Strat dident work to well, Shame on Goonswarm, not only are they a bunch of bad sports, but they'd stoop this low, "We'll never be like bob....ever" Sorry Goon, your worse, if this is what GS need to do to get on top, im a sure a GM or 2 Will roll it back a week. if not, then the system is balls'd up so yeah, i'v played gor about 2 years on/off and tbh im going off it, this is just another spanner in the works, for bob, but as i said, if the GMs dont roll it back, becuase of this one guy then all is infact lost.

And that, kids, is why you don't centralize your corporate infrastructure.

I really do have to try the EVE out.

This is absolutely pathetic. People have worked and paid money for years and years to have fun, and then one guy sabotages it. May he be castrated in real life with a rusty teaspoon and be forced to make monetary compensation for the damage he caused. GUILTY.

I don't even play EVE, but I feel that this is a pretty awesome example of how deep the game is.

Oh, and the moral; compartmentalisation. No absolute power.

RAWKSTAR:
I really do have to try the EVE out.

Fascinating, isn't it? Whenever something like this happens (like the time a guy defrauded few billions of dollars), I want to check the game out.

Would be a nice change after WAR, where economy doesn't exist in any way except for item exchange (one for another). At level 14 you can have 20-30 gold, so you can afford a mount 6 levels before you can use it.

HOLY SHIT! BoB Is gone D: I never thought that would happen O,o

What worries me though is that the Goons now may rise to be the biggest Alliance in the game... And the Goons have this nice reputation of griefing... -.-

fanged:
Well isent this something new, i guess that BoB will remake soon enough, bigger and better, they've dissapeard befor, and came back, SHame the there MAX Strat dident work to well, Shame on Goonswarm, not only are they a bunch of bad sports, but they'd stoop this low, "We'll never be like bob....ever" Sorry Goon, your worse, if this is what GS need to do to get on top, im a sure a GM or 2 Will roll it back a week. if not, then the system is balls'd up so yeah, i'v played gor about 2 years on/off and tbh im going off it, this is just another spanner in the works, for bob, but as i said, if the GMs dont roll it back, becuase of this one guy then all is infact lost.

I don't see why they should roll back, as far as I gather, this was done entirely within the game rules...

Tis a good time to start playing. I'd liken this more to a massive reset while all customers keep their stuff. I haven't played EVE, but this kind of thing should happen more often in MMO's.

I was going to try out the Eve 21 trial, but after downloading it from steam it wouldn't load up. Didn't have time( or motivation) to research the issue last night, but after reading this it sounds very intriguing. I will have to get this fixed.

jahsol:
I was going to try out the Eve 21 trial, but after downloading it from steam it wouldn't load up. Didn't have time( or motivation) to research the issue last night, but after reading this it sounds very intriguing. I will have to get this fixed.

Download it off the official site? Hint: "Premium" client just refers to a better graphics engine. Don't think it means more price.