Schrodinger’s Die

I want to mention what I’m not going to talk about.  I’m not going to discuss what I think all the TMC.com and RMT stuff means.  I’m not going to weigh in on my opinions about deriving RL profits from Eve Online.  I’m not going to discuss Endie’s supposed leak.

That doesn’t come from a lack of opinions about it.  On the contrary, I have very strong opinions about it, what it means for the game, and what each of you should think about it.  No, I’m not going to discuss it because – ultimately – none of that matters.

In the end, each of us establishes a sense of what we believe is right and what we believe is wrong.  We each identify what we believe benefits and what damages the game as a whole.  And we each make judgments about what we want to be part of.  I’m not going to get up on a soapbox and declare why I do what I do in this matter.

I made the choice to simulcast some articles for TMC.com for 250 mil each, the same agreement I had made with EN24 previously.  I’m not going to sit here and criticize their business plan if I’m participating in it.  I can tell you that I’ve never witnessed or heard about anything even resembling RMT through the Trello, Slack, and web portal discussions, interactions, or posts.  Admittedly, my “level” is at the very bottom, so don’t take that as a statement that no RMT is going on; I simply haven’t seen any evidence of it first-hand.

But that’s not why I’m refusing to write about it; that decision comes from the fact that nothing you, I, or anyone else says about it matters.  The only opinion worth a fig is CCP’s.  It’s their game, they control the rules, and they adjudicate through an impenetrable wall.

It’s exactly the same decision they face with Somer Blink and Erotica.  Nothing we say will affect their decision.  Nor do they “owe” it to use to explain.  They could decide:

1)     That deliberate RMT is happening and they are going to tolerate it because GSF provides content to the game.

2)     That RMT is happening and they’ll decide to ban everyone involved.

3)     That no RMT is happening and everyone’s peachy.

4)     That no RMT is happening, but they want to take steps to ban the leadership and corporate wallet of GSF in an attempt to break up the CFC.

And, you know what?  Every one of those is within their power and sole purview.  Eve is a game and their property, and their decisions are all geared towards, at the end, pursue continued profits.

A lot of discussion has centered around trying to come up with what is “fair” or what is “accurate”, when neither of those things matter.  Here’s what matters: CCP is presented with an opportunity as a result of CCP Falcon responding to a reddit post reminding players with information about TMC.com RMT to post a support ticket.

That’s all that matters.  No one will ever know what evidence is submitted.  No one will ever know whether RMT is actually happening.  CCP has very clear policies of remaining tight-lipped about this stuff.

No matter what the truth is, CFC members will believe TMC.com is innocent.  “Grr Goons” camp followers will believe they’re guilty.  The suspects will all claim their innocence no matter what happens.  White knights will claim CCP must have acted with cause for whatever they do.  The truth, as it turns out, is completely irrelevant to the fallout.  The end of the story is already written; all that is at stake is which camp will be up in arms.  Everyone who may have an opinion has already made his or her opinion, whether they want to admit it or not.

And we’ll never know.  The security team won’t divulge anything to the GMs.  The CSM won’t get any more info than CCP chooses to release.  CCP will be damned for any decision, so they’ll do whatever they deem beneficial to the game.

So, in light of all that, my opinion – and those of pretty much anyone else – are worthless.

We know the die was cast, but we’ll never know what the roll was.