Last week, CCP unveiled a monument built in tribute to Eve Online and its pilots. Four days later, somebody scratched out the name of another player they had beef with.
CCP have called the incident an “insult to the entire community” – and “permanently removed” the individuals responsible from their playerbase.
“We do not tolerate this kind of behavior,” they said.
The developers have banned seven Eve Online accounts and one Dust 514 account associated with the three players. Another player indirectly involved in the vandalism has just the one account, and has been temporarily banned for six months.
All four are also permanently blacklisted from future Fanfest events.
Other players assisted in apprehending the culprits, including some of the involved parties and other members of their own alliance.
“We would like to reiterate that we do not tolerate this kind of behavior,” wrote community manager CCP Falcon, “and will continue to operate a zero tolerance approach to dealing with harassment and victimization in the EVE Universe.”
Despite community outrage (or perhaps because of it), CCP have decided not to release the in-game identities of the banned players.
“We feel that this would be contrary to our privacy policies,” said Falcon. “Any further action taken outside the virtual world relating to criminal damage or recovery of costs for repairs to the EVE Universe Monument will remain confidential between CCP Games, the authorities, and those involved.”
Well, that’s a nasty piece of business firmly dealt with. Can we think of anything nice about Eve to talk about?