To all those who play EVE Online: Game Over

[Eltargrim]

In what may be the most significant case of in-game espionage in history, one of the largest guild of players in CCP's spaceship MMO EVE Online, Band of Brothers (BoB), was entirely disbanded today when a BoB director defected to the SomethingAwful-derived Goonfleet.

In a story that only EVE Online could spawn, Goonfleet Intelligence Agency (GSA) leader The Mittani and his league of spies managed to "encourage" a Band of Brothers director to turn coat, transferring trillions of BoB's in-game ISK currency to the Goons before nullifying BoB's control over all of its territory.

"A director with full access to BoB alliance controls defected to Goonfleet and The Mittani was happy to accept his conditions," writes Shacknews tipster Frylock, who noted that while BoB can reform, the name "Band of Brothers" is now permanently owned by Goonfleet.
Shacknews readers may remember The Mittani from our 2007 article series on his expansive, fascinating spy network. At the time, Band of Brothers was already the Goons' larger, more powerful arch-rivals. Now the Goons, long the underdogs in their fight for universal dominance, are gloating over a massive victory. Meanwhile, The Mittani himself was the first to deliver the news to EVE Online's official forum.

"Today we destroyed BoB," said The Mittani. "Thanks for the free capfleet towers and isk."

The Mittani added that the defection also produced a copy of the Band of Brothers director forum, which Goonfleet plans to publish in full.

"Tonight was one of the most historic and epic nights in EVE history," added Frylock. "The universe will no longer be the same."

Band of Brothers was the primary target in The Great War, in which many of EVE's larger corporations formed a coalition in order to oust BoB from its territory. After a long and bloody struggle, BoB eventually retained much of its space, with Goonsfleet being the last member of the coalition to eventually withdraw.

I'm honestly very impressed that a) the game allows for such dynamics, and b) they actually pulled it off. I don't have time to actually play EVE, but reading about it is always interesting.

[Mannix]

I just started playing EVE and have been thinking about joining the SA forums in order to join the Goonfleet. This really kicks that urge up a notch.

Do you have a link for where you got that news?

[Fifthfiend]

Seems like kind of a stupid system where one person can transfer ownership of an entire organization's wealth property and existence. Clever of them to take advatange of it and all but seriously who sets a massive multiperson organization up to work that way?

[Mannix]

Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

Seems like kind of a stupid system where one person can transfer ownership of an entire organization's wealth property and existence. Clever of them to take advatange of it and all but seriously who sets a massive multiperson organization up to work that way?

Western Society does. That's pretty much the last couple of decades (at least) of capitalism in a nutshell.

[Fifthfiend]

Okay let me clarify that: what organization lets (from what I've gathered here) one among several guys, who aren't ostensibly the one guy actually in charge, give away all of its assets property and existence with no approval from anybody at their own level or higher up?

I mean yeah a guy can sell his company off if he's like the guy who has 50%+1 of the stock and thusly owns the majority of the company. But as far as I know the like, Vice President of Accounting at Warner Brothers or whichever random one of the Board of Directors can't walk into the offices of Vivendi Universal and say "Here is our title you own Warner now."

[Eltargrim]

Oh yeah, link.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Yeah, I'm wondering whether the game forces organisations to set up like this or they made the choice to be so ridiculous.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Smarty McBarrelpants

Yeah, I'm wondering whether the game forces organisations to set up like this or they made the choice to be so ridiculous.

We're talking about a game that rewards you for not playing. By not playing, you can train your skills without worrying about being wiped out and having to basically start form scratch. EVE has a few major flaws for an MMO, if one puts it against the backdrop of other MMOs. As a standalone, non-genre title, I find a few of the ideas quite unique and intriguing, but not necessarily best served by the format it's in.

Plus, I understand they have some really wicked balancing ideas for their spacecraft.

[Nikose Tyris]

As I understand it there is stock you can purchase in controlling investments in the different organizations and this guy appearantly had 51% control.

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Nikose Tyris

As I understand it there is stock you can purchase in controlling investments in the different organizations and this guy appearantly had 51% control.

That makes a lot more sense then but in that case I don't get why they're talking about "destroyed" when really they just bought out another company.

It is kinda cool that the game lets you do hostile acquisitions and I'd be interesting in knowing the nitty-gritty of how the whole deal went down.

Originally Posted by Aerozord

Seems like something that would upset more players then draw in. Sounds exciting and all but that means this organization you are happily a part of can be completely disolved in a day.

Imagine this in another MMO like Everquest or WoW. Where you log on after a long day at work or school for a raid with your guild, only to find that your guild no longer exists.

I'm given to understand the main appeal of the game is 1. as a quasi-interactive space-themed screensaver and 2. the chance to perpetrate shamelss corporate dickery against your "friends".