November 15 brought the Ascension patch to Eve: Online. This is the most ambitious patch in Eve history and involves a fundamental change in both the way CCP does business and many gameplay features. (1) Originally scheduled for release on November 8, the expansion was preceded by EULA changes that banned gambling and casino’s. (2) This has had wide ranging impacts from dozens of bans, removal of funding to third-party sites and meetups, as well as many in-game events that relied on prizes and donations from these “casino sites”.

Care for Kids Empire [CARE] primary donors, many of whom were I Want ISK bankers, lost much of their revenue as a result of this change and are no longer able to pay rent according to an alliance mail captured on Eve Skunk. According to AMGSiR, director of Care for Kids corporation, they rent from Legion of xXDeathXx. At their peak Care for Kids held 16 systems with 8 outposts total. They have since downsized to 9 systems with 5 outposts all in the same constellation out in Cobalt Edge.

We have no desire to shut down the project, as our cause is good, but we’re going to need your help in keeping things moving forward. We currently owe 62 Billion for the SOV we had the past 2 months and can come up with half of that immediately. This leaves and unpaid balance of 30 Billion to which they are very anxious to recieve.

We have since downsized our SOV holdings to alleviate some of these financial strains, so the rent will go down by nearly half next cycle. If we can’t meet these demands, we will either need to downsize again or they will take the systems back from us. The only other option besides donations is to have you guys pay your portion of the rent based on the system you’ve claimed. Either of these options work for us, so please let us know ASAP what you’re willing to do.

I appologize that we’ve had to come to you for help, but we tried to avoid it and there’s just no way around it for the time being. We have some things in the works that may change this in the near future, but bills must still be paid before [if] that changes.

Imperium News sat down with AMGSiR to get a better view of how Care for Kids operates:

Imperium News: Can you explain some of the rationale on needing to hold space? The website says donations go into care packages for the kids- how does having space tie into this?

AMGSiR: Well, I’ve been quite transparent on Reddit these last few months about the cooperation between Care 4 Kids Charity and Care 4 Kids Alliance side. While they do work together, they are not the one in the same. C4K’s charity side is a charity that has no political ties in EVE. Most of the kids we’ve supported play in Horde, TEST, Goons, Brave and so forth, with a small portion of them in our alliance. They are not forced or swayed to join the C4K Alliance, but it’s there if they want (and some do, because they love playing with C4w3 as that’s always the person they meet first). And when they do, we go beyond the traditional C4K Charity side and help them with whatever they need (no, not ratting supers :P). The C4K Alliance was basically a branch-off from the Charity so our members/supporters could continue playing together outside of I Want ISK, and still provide a place for the kids to play if they want to experience Nullsec but aren’t comfortable joining a huge alliance where they don’t know anyone

Imperium News: You joke that there are no ratting supers as part of the charity side but zkillboard does show there are supers in alliance- I assume this is part of the in game alliance side?

AMGSiR: Yes, the supers we own are members personal supers that they can do whatever they want with. Not a dime of C4K Charities donations are sent to the alliance or members. That ISK is solely used for the care packages and funding starter ships (pvp, mining) to the kids who are mostly in other alliances

Care for Kids Empire has only lost 2 supers; one which was ratting and the other to their own keepstar.

Imperium News: What would you say to people that claim C4K having both a charity side and the alliance side is “bending the rules” or disingenuous to the spirit of the game?

AMGSiR: I think that’s a tough position. We respect the community and try our best not to take any political stances, but unfortunately EVE, especially with regards to Nullsec, doesn’t work that way. Everything we do is “political” in the sense that it ends up on Reddit. As for it bending the rules, CCP’s rules are often left quite vague on purpose. I don’t think we’re breaking any rules, but if we are then CCP is welcome to tell us that and we can make any adjustments as needed (such as a name change).

Imperium News: Anything else you’d like to add?

AMGSiR: I suppose I’d like to add that while we understand a lot of the EVE community feels awkward with C4K Alliance being tied to a Charity in some aspects, and moreover in-game charities in general; we greatly appreciate the support (both financially and kind words) that we’ve receieved And we will continue to be as transparent as possible and hope people will eventually see that we’re just here to have fun, and help new players when possible 🙂

The EULA changes on gambling have taken away Care for Kids primary income source – donations by I Want ISK and IronBank personally. Care for Kids owns the Maila keepstar- the first in the “New Eden Trade Network”. This was a project by Lenny Kravitz2, who is now banned on all his accounts. The revenue generated by the taxes in citadel, supposedly do not go back to the main corp, they are instead funneled into care packages for the kids who play eve.

In an interview with Massively Op, CCP Falcon reiterated the fact that Care for Kids is the same as any alliance in the game and are free to do as any other in-game entity.

“The Care for Kids Empire [CARE] alliance is treated just the same as any other alliance in game. They are afforded no special protection or assistance from CCP, and are not audited or bound by any rules in any additional way that restricts or directs their in game activity. CCP has no official relationship or business relationship with Care4Kids as a charity, or the Care for Kids Empire alliance as an in game entity. So, from the point of view of CCP, Care4Kids and the Care for Kids Empire alliance are an in game entity the same as any other.

The only support that Care4Kids and the Care for Kids Empire alliance are given is shoutouts on The o7 Show the same as any other in game organization might be given when they request it. This o7 Show is focused on Community initiatives and current events, both in and out of the game, and supporting community building initiatives is at its core, which we feel Care4Kids falls under.” – CCP Falcon