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Eve Online to Elect Player Oversight Group
StCredZero writes "The New York Times is reporting on plans by EVE Online developer CCP to open itself up to independent oversight. In response to the recent allegations of misconduct, they are proposing a system of 'nine player-overseers who will act as ombudsmen for the game's subscribers. The company says it will hold the elections in the fall.' Systems will be put into the game to support this ombudsmen status, making this (effectively) a player-run world governance system."
I'm pretty intrigued by this. Of course there's tons of details to be worked out. How long is each player's term? What kind of powers will this committee have over the developers? How will the elections be handled to avoid one large entity from swinging elections the way they want them to go? Will be watching this one to see how it unfolds, especially as a player of EVE.
One thing's for sure, I haven't heard of this happening anywhere before (in terms of gaming). I wonder how much of a precedent this sets for MMOs?
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
"I envision this council being made up of nine members selected by the players themselves, where you announce your candidacy, and if you win the election, they come here to Iceland, and they can look at every nook and cranny and get to see that we are here to run this company on a professional basis," said Mr. Petursson, CCP's chief executive. "They can see that we did not make this game to win it."
Wait...are they going to be checking for roaches in the cafeteria or something? Looking in "every nook and cranny" means looking at source code, checking logs on home computers, and reading in-game chat logs. i.e. it's not possible. The problem is a social one, not necessarily a technical one. Even if in-game exploits and "god commands" were removed, the extra information from being an employee is still enough to tip the game in your corp's favor.
So "The 9" are going to go for what amounts to a P.R. visit so that CCP can wash its hands of the mess and say "See? I told you we were a fine, upstanding company! Just look at how clean our cubicles are!"
I know some might herald this as proof of progress, but I believe this is proof of CCP's utter failure to manage this problem. This should be completely unnecessary, but they've dug themselves such a hole by continually lying about their internal responses.
Their inability to control their own employees is pathetic. I've played alot of online games, (AO, EQ, SWG, CoH, LotrO, DDO) and have never seen a need for something like this.
Ok, so players should "elect" their representatives. How is this done? Most likely on a "one vote per account" system.
... weren't they the ones accused of cheating?
Who will run for it? Probably many, but who has a chance? Well, to have a chance, you'd have to be known. Who'd cast his vote on someone he doesn't know? Who do you know? The people from your corp, or alliance.
So who has a chance to get the most votes? People from the largest alliances, of course. And
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Won't this just turn into a popularity contest?
Normally an ombudsman is appointed by the government/company to represent the interests of the citizens/customers. Never heard of anyone getting elected as ombudsman before.
They're normally supposed to be professionals so they can pursue issues that the normal citizen don't have the knowledge/resources to do.
Also aren't ombudsmen normally meant to represent the interests of the persons they represent and not some kind of watch force?
Could a similar situation arise from these positions or will the company treat them like paid support employees once they're elected? And if they're employees they'd hardly be independent oversight, would they?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?