EVE Online's The Mittani issues formal apology for crossing the line [UPDATED]
Sci-fi MMO EVE Online is famed for being set in a cold, harsh universe where no player is truly safe. The line between griefing and gameplay is more subtle in EVE than in many other MMOs. Activities like scamming or Goonswarm alliance's Ice Interdiction operations could be seen as griefing in other games, but as long as it all stays in-game it's all a legitimate part of EVE's unforgiving sandbox universe and open PvP ruleset.
Yesterday we reported that Goonswarm's leader and elected CSM chairman The Mittani mistakenly crossed that all-important line during a drunken presentation at Fanfest 2012. In his talk, he gave out the name of another player and told viewers to "find him" if they wanted to make him kill himself. Today The Mittani landed following his flight home from Fanfest and reportedly was ashamed to read the transcript of what he said during his panel. He issued a full apology via the forum, describing himself as "utterly ashamed and sickened by [his] behavior."
"This has been hanging over my head since Thursday when I stumbled away from the Alliance Panel with a vague sense that I had done something horrible," he began. "Then I landed, and saw the article listing my actual quote." He told players, "It's one thing to play a villain in an online roleplaying game, but I am not that character in real life, as anyone who has met me can attest. I went way, way, /way/ past the line on Thursday night." CCP's investigation is still underway, and we'll bring you the results of that investigation as soon as we get them.
[UPDATE: This post has been updated as part of an apology for covering the story in a sensationalist manner]
