Chairman of CSM 6 faces ban for EULA breach at Fanfest

Dr Zaius

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Goonswarm's beloved leader and resident sadist, "The Mittani," has been relieved of his position as Chairman of CSM 6 and has forfeited his spot on CSM 7 due to an incident at this year's Fanfest. Mittani, drunk again, violated CCP's terms of use and EULA and has been temporarily banned.

eurogamer said:
As we reported yesterday, Gianturco had used the Alliance presentation session to mock a player who appeared to be suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. Later in the presentation, he named the player concerned and urged those watching to continue harassing him.

"Incidentally, if you want to make the guy kill himself, his name is [REDACTED]", said a drunken Gianturco.

"He has his own Corp. Find him."
Because this episode happened on live EVE TV, CCP has taken the unusual step of releasing a statement and Mittani has apologized.
 

Dr Zaius

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More coverage of what actually happened and responses to the Mittani's apology.
Eve Online Council chairman may resign over harassment of suicidal player - eurogamer
The MIttani gets hit with a ban and resigns in wake of suicide scandal - Massively
Cyber bully issues formal apology for crossing the line - Massively
Eve Online Council Chairman to Resign for Treatment of Suicidal Player - The Escapist
CSM Chairman Announces Resignation, Issues Apology - MMORPG
EVE Online's player-run Council chairman resigns, 'bullied suicidal player' - Strategy Informer

The Mittani held an online chat with over 2000 participants and is now saying his apology was heartfelt and came from the real him (Alexander Gianturco), but he intends to return once the ban is lifted and will burn Jita to the ground.
Breaking the state of the goonion - EVE News 24
The Mittani disgraces CSM - The Gamer News

And he has now resigned as chairman.
The Mittani declines the office of chairman - EVE News 24
 

Redwolf

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Lovely fellow.

I hope this stays in his googled name for a long time, for future employers to see.
 

Dr Zaius

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I hope this stays in his googled name for a long time, for future employers to see.
Actually, that's one of the reasons he's able to act the way he does. He's a former attorney who made his money as a corporate lawyer in Washington D.C. who's now wealthy enough he no longer needs to practice and can do what he wants with his free time. In short, The Mittani is no dumbass and he's the contributing editor for EVE Online at TenTonHammer.com. He writes the column 'Sins of a Solar Spymaster' and has been a guest speaker at the Game Developer Conference.

The Mittani is the leader of PC gaming's most infamous organization, Goonswarm. For those that have been living under a rock for like ten years, Goonswarm is the universally hated entity that intentionally seeks to destroy and disrupt MMOs and online gaming. They maintain a large and disruptive presence in Star Trek, Conan, and many other MMOs but are most infamous for their meta-gaming and antics in EVE Online. They are by far the largest online organization of PC gamers that I'm aware of and Goonswarm's member organizations are active in just about every big online gamer community. Goonswarm can marshal at least 5,000 active players in EVE alone, and The Mittani is their CEO and ultimate dictator.

The Goons delight in ripping off and scamming gamers across the PC universe with just about every dirty trick you can think of. To get to be a Goon you have to pay to join what may be the most infamous forums in all PC gaming, SomethingAwful.com. There the Goons direct and control their efforts to "destroy your game," though they maintain other forums for operations in individual MMOs. You see, the stated goal of the Goons is to ruin your game and The Mittani boasts that his ultimate delight is frustrating non-Goon gamers to the point where they will quit, then drinking their tears like fine wine. The Mittani describes himself as a sadist and a villain, and he's got the real world education and resources to make it happen.

The Goons conquer and terrorize not through skill, but through sheer force of numbers and subterfuge. But The Mittani and his Goons should not be underestimated or dismissed as mere trolls, as the Goons are responsible for the destruction of many of EVE's most powerful alliance blocks. They've griefted countless numbers of players out of EVE Online as well as many other MMOs and will mercilessly "metagame" outside the game to crush enemies and even manipulate the press. They've pulled off some impressive victories both in and out of game, including the wholesale destruction of what was once considered EVE's most elite and well established organization of players, BoB. Made up of mostly players from the UK, BoB was a large, close-knit group of players that ruled much of EVE with an Iron fist, and met in real life for BBQs and other events. Goonswarm obliterated them, broke their real world security and published the contents of their private forums online, embarrased the former leaders, then scattered the remnants of BoB to the winds. Goonswarm's antics have even made the BBC news on several occasions.

The Mittani is on good terms with a number of CCP developers and at least two of EVE's developers are former high level Goon directors. The Mittani is (was) the elected chairman of the Council of Stellar Management, CCP's outreach program to MMO players. He uses his position to press CCP for game changes that favor the Goon's style of play and ruthlessly undermines everyone else. And he continues to easily win every election because he has the full force of the Goons to vote and ensure his victory.

He's not going to go away and neither are the Goons. They're the super villains of the MMO world and they can't be stamped out or effectively banned, no matter how distasteful their methods (it's long been rumored the Goon leadership is among the worst offenders who use their position to farm the game for real world profit by illegally selling assets on gold farming sites). Mittani is a lawyer and knows just how far he can push and get away with it.
 

Redwolf

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He's an excellent target to be sued for damages then.
 

Dr Zaius

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He's an excellent target to be sued for damages then.
I'm sure he understands that, which is no doubt why he promptly apologized for this latest drunken outburst.

The Mittani is probably the most polarizing figure in EVE and possibly in any MMO. While he is a ruthless jerk and loves to grief other players, there is no question he has had considerable success in forcing CCP to make changes that the company did not want to make. In 2011 there was a popular uprising and revolt by thousands of players that drove CCP to totally re-focus its design assets on the space combat portion of EVE and to largely abandon the company's F2P initiatives as well as the new "walking in stations" expansions. The Mittani was one of the primary forces behind that effort. He used his position as both CSM chairman and columnist at TenTonHammer to both negotiate with CCP with simultaneously editorializing and urging on the boycott. And it worked. CCP eventually backed down, which led to a major shakeup within the company and the laying off of a large number of game developers involved in the former expansion effort.

The Mittani has also forced CCP's hand on any number of other issues popular with players. Several of CCP's key developers are active members of Goonswarm, and one of them is actually a former member of the Goon inner leadership circle. So even though Mittani has pushed CCP pretty hard, he remains on good terms with the company because he visits Iceland multiple times per year to confer with the developers directly. The man is no fool, whatever kind of villain he roleplays in the game.

I can think of no other MMO gamer that is so despised and yet so celebrated and influential. Love him or hate him, The Mittani continues to "run your game" and change the way you play. And not just in EVE Online. I suppose he is the ultimate game nerd and exactly the kind of person that bewilders and frightens non-gamers.

To be sure, he's a horse's ass. But it's also true that the MMO world would be a less vibrant, less interesting place without players like him.
 
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