This is a piece that I was not expecting to write at all, or at least not for 5 years. In fact the only reason I write it is to give a better explanation of the recent debacle involving Brisc, Pando and Dark Shines. Their story is a sorry one that is filled with error and possibly something more sinister.

The Meta Show of April 27, 2019 was quite the eye opener, and you can check it out here.

Totally Exonerated!

To be very clear in this, Brisc, Pando and DarkShines did nothing wrong at all. With more facts coming out this was shown, without any question, to be the case.

The Public Face of the Story

This story starts on April 8, 2019 with an announcement by CCP that a member of the CSM was removed, given a lifetime ban and that other players had also been banned for a year. In very short order many publications repeated the allegations against those affect by CCP’s decision. Some were seemingly ecstatic at the news as it was further proof of what such bad people the Goons were and how corrupt the CSM is.

The announcement was quite shocking to those involved and very surprising to many others. There were also others that were looking to find the truth.

In relatively short order (April 17, 2019) we saw an update from CCP advising that they were revisiting this incident to carry out an investigation. Again we saw those hostile to the Imperium cry very loudly of foul play on behalf of the Imperium. However others were asking the question, why was this not investigated better in the first place? Which in all fairness was a good question to ask. The update from CCP also contained language that was considered to be quite interesting. The language used suggested that any wrong doing on the part of CCP would be corrected.

On the April 25, the final statement on the matter was issued by CCP. The wrongly accused were of course very happy with this outcome. Their corp, alliance and coalition members were also very happy with this. The three players banned contribute greatly to EVE Online and to lose them in such a manner was a travesty of justice. But this was corrected in game and efforts by CCP were being made to ensure that the false allegations were corrected by all of those who benefited from the now baseless headlines.

For many this is where it was expected that the story would end. CCP had done the right thing and kudos to them. Yes, errors were made but efforts were made to correct them. Messing things up and then putting your hands up to your errors is not something that everyone can or will embrace. But in this instance CCP acted responsibly.

Chain of Events

The following has been gleamed from a number of sources and exact transactions have not been shown as yet. But the main thread of events is one that has not been called into question at this time.

• Dark Shines owned a Molok. This is a very expensive ship of the Titan class. Dark Shines had been looking to sell this Molok for sometime with little success.
• Eventually Dark Shines sells his Molok to a fellow corp member.
• By methods as yet unknown this Molok is then sold to penifSMASH.
• penifSMASH then flips this Molok seemingly as quickly as he can to another member of Snuffed Out.
• penifSMASH then presents “evidence” to Killah Bee, who is a member of the CSM.
• Killah Bee then dutifully passes on the information to CCP.
• CCP then ban three players for supposed rule infractions.

The Plot Thickens

During the Meta Show on April 27, more information came out with regard to how the original allegations were passed to CCP. In short order it was revealed that it was penifSMASH passed on information regarding the sale of the Molok by Dark Shines to CSM member and Northern Coalition Dot FC Killah Bee.

penifSMASH is a long standing enemy of the Imperium. Perhaps penifSMASH was well intended with him putting his “evidence” before Killah Bee. But The Mittani suggests otherwise. You see when people play the meta-game, one thing that is very hard for them to do is to keep their mouths shut about their successes. This seems to be the case for penifSMASH. There are plenty of Discord channels and other platforms that are not bound by an NDA. In these seedier parts there was talk of the victory gained against Initiative and the Imperium. That talk alluded to the involvement of penifSMASH meta-gaming CCP.

Questions, Questions and yet more Questions.

With this revelation more questions present themselves.

What will the leader of Snuffed Out (Hy Wanto Destroyer) do? The reason for this question is that Snuffed Out and Initiative had a good working relationship and also share blue standings. penifSMASH is the leader of the corporation ElitistOps. Interestingly Elitistops claim that they are all about “Duty. Honoure. Courage. Gloury.”. Elitistops also go on to say “We are only honroable pilots so if you are dishonorable do not apply!”. But most importantly Elitistops were a member of Pandemic Legion for almost a decade. This should be of interest as PL have been very hostile to The Imperium for many years. Will Hy Wanto Destroyer stand by this very new addition of a corporation to Snuffed Out? Or will Hy Wanto Destroyer realise that he has been meta-gamed and look to repair the fractured relations between Initiative and Snuffed Out?

Sister Bliss, the leader of the Initiative, has stood by his alliance members throughout. Now that they have been vindicated of all wrong doing and these latest allegations have come to light their next move is uncertain. Will Sister Bliss and the members of Initiative be looking for revenge? More importantly who will their attention turn to?

The leader of The Imperium, The Mittani, was visibly vexed at the stunning news. Equally many members of The Imperium are also greatly incensed at this turn of events. With such strong links back to PanFam (Pandemic Legion, Northern Coalition. and Pandemic Horde) one can only think that the hate for PanFam will increase and not diminish. One thing that The Mittani has always stated very clearly is that The Imperium is “the best of friends and the worst of enemies”.

The Sound of Silence

With a sense of fairness in mind I sent penifSMASH an in-game mail asking if they would like to comment on these most recent events. As expected I was very polite and made sure to sign the mail with my name. At this time no response has been received back from penifSMASH. If penifSMASH does answer I will be sure to add to this article, at least in the comments.

There were also many that were privy to talk in back channels that knew more of this story than was publicly available. Where are those people? Why did they remain silent? Was it because they saw that the wrongful actions of CCP benefited themselves?

Some Eve shows and publications are clinging onto their initial beliefs and statements. They have spoken and written lots about this incident and seem unwilling to correct their serious errors. Will they be as quick to act upon this most recent information? Possibly more importantly will they shout as loudly and with such fervour as they have with the initial and now completely unfounded allegations?

Lessons Learnt

In all of this debacle there are lessons to be learnt. CCP, I would hope, have learnt that a process of investigation should be followed. Additionally that the findings of such an investigation should not be presented in the same way as has happened in this instance.

CSM members should also have learnt that although they are obligated to pass on information of alleged wrong doing to CCP, that they should present it in such a way to ensure impartiality. It is important to note that generally the CSM has served our game well. They have prevented mistakes to game-play that we all benefit from. They gain no reward for their efforts and are often between a rock and a hard place. They are deserving of support rather than derision. Just take a moment to think about what our game would look like if they had not fought as they have.

Eve players need to know that there are some within the game that will go to extraordinary lengths to adversely affect their perceived enemies.

Texan Space Lawyers

In all of this mess we did see a number of people jumping in with their legal council. Not wishing to leave these folks with nothing to do I will direct them to section 6.A.5 of the EULA for Eve Online. I look forward to their “informed opinions”.