Penny Arcade Visited Fanfest 2012

Penny Arcade, those guys who started with a web comic and now seem to be astride the internet in an almost not conquering way, sent a reporter to Fanfest 2012.

Yes THAT Fanfest 2012.

Link is here.

Quote!

"which is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone use “4 a.m.” as a verb"

The article was posted after "The Mittens Incident" blew up but it's certainly mentioned in the comments.

More people find out about Eve Online at exactly the wrong time.

Or the correct time, which may or may not be the right time.

Mittens Receives Penalty

Just when I was thinking the "Mittens" situation was going to be swept under the rug CCP have released this statement.


Quoted below.

"As some of you might have heard, one of the Alliance leaders speaking at the Alliance Panel during EVE Fanfest 2012 breached our EULA/TOS with some ill-advised remarks about a fellow EVE player. It goes without saying that CCP deeply regrets this incident and will work towards reducing any possibility of this happening again in the future.

CCP requested that all panel PowerPoint presentations and discussion topics be handed in beforehand for approval. Regrettably, the offending comments were made during an unscripted Q&A session after the main presentations.

Following a thorough internal review CCP has decided to respond to this clear violation of our Terms of Service and wholly inappropriate use of the Alliance Panel. According to our existing policies, we have issued a 30 day ban from EVE Online to the panel speaker.

The policy of CCP is not to publicly discuss warnings and bans on an individual basis. This situation is entirely unique because the panel was displayed via CCP’s Fanfest video stream component, a platform analogous to our forums. As a result we have published this statement due to the special circumstances involved. However, our policy remains that we will not publicly discuss warnings and bans.

The panelist has subsequently posted a public apology as well as a private apology to the victim of his attack. He has also resigned from his position as Chairman of CSM 6 and has forfeited his right to serve on CSM 7. As per our policies, this candidate may be eligible to run at a later date subject to candidacy review.

The Council of Stellar Management is a democratically elected council that represents the players of EVE Online. Although council members may represent the players in any manner they choose, being a council member does not permit actions or playstyles that violate our policies."

So a thirty day ban, removal from CSM6 and he cannot now serve on CSM7.

The ban doesn't mean much as he and other goon leadership can control the minions via jabber or any number of other methods.

Removal from CSM6 is pretty tame as that was almost over anyway.

However the ban from CSM7 is probably the major penalty, especially considering the amount of goon drones that voted for him in comparison to the other candidates.

A brave move by CCP which will no doubt highly annoy the most vocal, if not the largest, power base in Eve Online.

I expect the next twelve months will be full of goon and goon proxies complaining long and loud that CSM7 doesn't represent Eve Online gamers and has no mandate.

They certainly know who to blame about that.

HINT - It's not CCP.

Mittens Headshots Self!

As mentioned here almost a year ago I've been waiting for Mittens, aka "The Mittani" to screw up and destroy his position on the CSM and in Eve Online.

It looks like it may have happened.

At Fanfest 2012 The Mittani allegedly said,

"Incidentally, if you want to make the guy kill himself, his name is XXXXX"


Obviously this is a step too far and I cannot see how CCP can continue his involvement as a member, or indeed the Chairman, of the CSM.

His future in Eve Online as "The Mittani" may also be in jeopardy.

More details on the story can be found here.

"CCP has allegedly launched an internal investigation and public pressure is mounting with dozens of threads on the forums and stories by Massively, Euro Gamer, Develop, The Escapist, Edge online and other sites around the web:"

#1 The Escapist Magazine~

#2 Massively

#3 Develop-Online

#4 eurogamer

#5 edge-online

Should his character be removed from the game for EULA violations he will not stay away for long as his re-entry via an alt is virtually assured.

A small chance exists that he'll demand all Goons leave the game or perform some sort of protest, probably in Jita, to demand he stays as Chairman and/or in the game.

Interesting times ahead!

Update #1 - The monument at Jita 4-4 is currently being shot by what seems to be pro-Mittani supporters, anti-Mittani supporters and others who just like being in a group.  The reasons behind shooting the memorial are not clear but the structure seems to be the focus point of late should any grievances arise in the Eve Online universe.

Update #2 - Goonswarm pilots have been mobilised to suicide gank some of the more expensive ships currently shooting the memorial. 

Fanfest 2012 #3

To try and start the post-mortem on Fanfest 2012 here is a round up of information either directly from the Eve Online forums or from external sites commenting on the event.

While I've yet to find a clear stand out item from this years Fanfest, in respect to Eve Online, the main contender at the moment would have to be the update to criminal flags and factional warfare (more on both of those in the near future).

What has surprised me is the speed the next update is arriving, the first part of Inferno is due April the 24th 2012 with subsequent parts of Inferno being rolled out regularly after that.

So much information!  Enjoy.

ESCALATION/INFERNO

Inferno Details - Info Overview
Link: http://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/rbltt/escalation_to_inferno_and_inferno_details/
Source: Valadian

Crimewatch Panel - Info Overview
Link: http://scaurus.com/?p=689
Source: Marc Scaurus

Fanfest 2012 Writeup
Link: http://www.lightspeedinteractive.net/2012/03/fan-fest-special-report/
Source: Light Speed Interactive


GENERAL KEYNOTES

Blog - Keynote and presentation recaps
Link: http://eveblog.allumis.co.uk/
Source: A Scientist's Life in EVE

Forums - CCP Keynote bullet points
Link: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=995538
Source: Lacrime DelSole

Video - Presentation and Keynote Videos
Link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEF9C7121272AC727&feature=plcp
Source: IZERAWarheaD



DUST 514

DUST 514 - Info Overview
Link: http://dustmercs.blogspot.com/2012/03/eve-fanfest-dust-514-keynote-demo.html
Source: KAGEHOSHI- on DUSTERS

DUST 514 - Info Overview
Link: http://mmoattack.com/mmorpg-articles/dust-514-missed-eve-fanfest/
Source: Kirk Wallace from MMO Attack

DUST 514 PvE Mode - Info Overview
Link: http://www.dualshockers.com/2012/03/24/dust-514-will-get-pve-horde-mode-at-launch-gladiator-arenas-in-2013/
Source: Giuseppe Nelva



VAMPALICIOUS STUFF

World of Darkness - Info Overview
Link: http://planet-vampire.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=k4bolhm3aj9g9vubsamiutrds7&topic=5929.15
Source: Cahalith, Valamir and the Planet Vampire crowd

WEB COMMENT

http://kotaku.com/5895683/watch-an-mmo-pc-gamer-shoot-his-way-into-an-fps-players-console-game

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/03/24/eve-online-players-will-watch-their-dust-514-minions-deathmatch-in-arenas-place-bets-on-their-lives/

http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=29377

http://tentonhammer.com/eve/fanfest/2012

http://massively.joystiq.com/tag/eve-fanfest-2012

Fanfest #2 - Dust514 Soldiers Forever!

From Fanfest 2012 CCP have released a video that seems to introduce the soldiers for DUST514 as well as the implants they require to persist.

Enjoy!

Fanfest 2012 #1

Fanfest 2012 is go!

Well for the people in Iceland as CCP really dropped the ball with both the free and premium video feeds, they were either frozen or the audio was well out of sync for many hours.

The problem has now been fixed but it was incredibly frustrating.

I've been able to catch some of the live or recorded video, most of what I've seen so far was part of an Eve Online economics presentation and some info about DUST514.

The economics presentation was pretty dry, I guess it's hard to sex up what is essentially accounting, but when the camera breaks away from the presenter to the audience and I can count at least three people yawning that's not a good sign.

One set of figures that was repeated is that bounties introduce a much larger amount of ISK into Eve Online than Incursions and Mission Running combined.  PLEX was mentioned and also permanently banned accounts.  Over 10,000 units of PLEX currently reside in those accounts, CCP have said they will re-introduce those currently orphaned PLEX back into the Eve Online economy at some point.

Another more ominous piece of information relates to inflation, more ISK is coming into the game from various "faucets" than is leaving the game via various "sinks", so look forward to more "sinks" in the future.

I've also seen some of the DUST514 presentations with nothing terribly new being announced that I could see, mostly already announced features or obvious iterations.  Rather than this site re-inventing the wheel just head on over to http://www.dust514.org for a more in depth look at what information has been released so far.

So far Fanfest 2012 for me has been quite frustrating with the CCP video problems, my time zone in relation to Iceland, catching video repeats in a random way due to their broadcast schedule and my local commitments.

I suppose it will be like the other years and I'll just have to wait for several days to a week or two after Fanfest to really have access to all the information that was on offer.

Blue Balled & Fanfest & Douche FC's

On deployment at the moment at the behest of the alliance.

YAWN!

We were roaming around a couple of nights ago and the best intel we received from another roaming blue group was "we think a red went down through here a while ago".

Incredible.

Massive blue ball so far.

So currently in corp voice chat a few members are competing to see how high they can make their ship spinning numbers.

Yes that's actually happening.

Whereas the region we left behind has become a whirling dervish of activity as PL seem to be hot dropping pods with legions of carriers, I suspect they are also bored.

Fanfest 2012 is in a day or so, some live video will be available, either SD for free and HD for about a PLEX, though you'll receive a "free" hauler and t-shirt for that.

The only real thing I'm looking forward to at the Fanfest is the reception that DUST514 will receive, hopefully a good one.

Getting back to deployment and fleets.

I heard the other day that in a fleet, upon DBRB being announced as the FC, about thirty pilots left fleet but not before saying why.

Turns out they had "experienced" a DBRB fleet one too many times.

So I thought about the best way to describe to somebody who hasn't experienced the majesty of a DBRB fleet.

Being on voice comms with DBRB as FC is very similar to three hours of the worst Adam Sandler humour machine gunned at you, and you cannot leave.

Launch The Launcher!

The World of Tanks Eve Online launcher has arrived!

Since I took the screenshot it has rocketed to version 1.09.

I'm a little confused about the supposed function as it installed the major patch, as expected, but then when the game client had started it then wanted to install a minor patch, which after doing this re-started the game.

Wasn't the launcher designed to avoid this?

Not huge fans of the new launcher is the Eve Online Linux fraternity, of which I'm a member, as it has broken the WINE compatibility in a major way.  Some work arounds exist, which have fixed the issue for some people (not me [sad face]), with luck over the next few days the issues will be pinned down and dealt with.

I'm not quite sure why people are so excited about the new noob ships, I last flew one about four years ago, it's to keep the ADHD recruits happy I suppose.

What I don't like about Eve Online is how they change the ships, graphics, etc.

"Somebody broke into my hanger and stole my ship, but replaced it with a ship of identical function but it's shiny!", shouted the unhappy space captain.

What I would like to see, and I know why it will not happen, is when a new ship "skin" is introduced you still keep your old ship look, until you dock up in a station of the people who made that ship.  Then a message would appear that you were receiving a free upgrade to the "new skin model" and away you go.

This would go someway towards not breaking the immersion of Eve.

Furthermore when some star gates are replaced how about a gradual method of replacement, with space tugs, and security etc etc.  This would also advertise the fact that New Eden is a living breathing universe with change as a constant companion and not just two guys rebuilding an Inn for four years.

How Long Is It?

Without attention they fade away

Welcome to March 2012!

We are not too far away from the Fanfest in sunny Iceland, which also means it's voting time for the Council of Stellar Management (CSM) number 7!

This year we have seen the usual grandstanding from those you style themselves after Nero or Caligula, mass spamming of in game mail boxes (ignoring spam charges and blocks), scams with promises for PLEX in return for a vote and some other shenanigans that just go on and on and on.

Eve Online is becoming more like real life everyday it would seem.

I have to wonder what percentage of people want a spot on CSM7 to actually help the game, grandstand or "win" a few free trips to Iceland.

Obviously with the goonies voting as a block I'd be very surprised if Mittens, the Grand Poobah of that particular juggernaut didn't get up again, and quite possibly as the chairperson.

Unless some obstacle stops him from being chairperson again that I'm not aware of.

Chairperson is such a dumb description, it's like saying "I'm a male nurse".  Well of course you're a male nurse, you must likely have "meat and two veg" swinging down there and a five o'clock shadow so the "male" description is rather redundant.

I digress.

CSM7 could be a very important gathering as the coming year will bring us DUST514, the continuing re-focusing of "internet space ships" in Eve Online, I would say some more improvements to Walking In Stations, and, the complete elimination of Down Time (DT).

We live in hope.

Although I do say that with some seriousness as the other night, DT, which for us is slap bang in the middle of prime gaming time, was only six minutes long. You might think that six minutes isn't much and you'd be somewhat correct but the disruption it causes ripples out well past the "server up" time.

DT is officially 30 minutes so that is what everybody plans for, so a 6 minute DT is still essentially at least 30 minutes if you are planning an operation or roam as it takes that long for everybody to get ready.

So the other night DT was 6 minutes long, but it took 45 minutes to finish.