A few days back there was a long article posted on The Mittani written by James 315, looking at the latest round of account bans attributed to real life harassment.
http://themittani.com/features/new-teamspeak-harassment-policy
James 315 has a remarkable silver tongue, and it pays to remember you are reading propaganda. Regardless, it was an interesting commentary.
There were two points that I wanted to remark on.
First – despite what the EULA might say, it does not sit well with me that CCP is not more transparent with their bans. People can invest a great deal into this game – and it is disturbing to think you can find yourself thrown out without a clear explanation or any trustworthy mechanism to have the decision reviewed. It seems to lack natural justice.
I am not suggesting CCP get into a debate with every person they ban, or that they should feel compelled to have to justify themselves. I’m also mindful that they don’t tend to publically discuss cases and we only hear the version of the aggrieved. They should however have the faith and conviction in their own decisions to be able to provide a clear summary, such as “You have been banned due to threatening another player with physical harm”. There should also be a clear mechanism for a player to be able to state their case, and have the ban reviewed by a second (senior) GM.
The second point – I can’t help but wonder if this situation exists in part due to the success of James 315 and his ilk in gathering, focusing and emboldening a community of like-minded individuals who gain pleasure in EVE from antagonising other players.
CCP could ignore the random and sporadic complaints about such behavior – it even gave the game some flavor. Over the last year or two however they have been faced with coordinated, methodical, visible and wide scale harassment of players, and it might be forcing their hand in situations like this.
It’s an amusing thought.
Evehermit 
Good points.
As long as it’s random harassment involving different players CCP cannot and should not do a whole lot about it. But when it’s the same guys all the time, carrying out as you say “coordinated, methodical, visible and wide scale harassment” that’s another story.
Banning all members of the something awful forums would put an end to most of the problems.
Just remember their creed… (quote attributed to Darius Johnson of Gonswarm) “We’re not here to ruin THE game. We’re here to ruin YOUR game.” The real shame of it is, and most don’t realize, the ‘your’ this refers to includes CCP… which in effect does mean THE game.
Please understand I am not Gevlon nor am I being all Grr Goons… but at the same time, CCP REALLY needs to do something to revitalize nullsuc and TBH much of the rest of the gameboard that is New Eden… cause right now Goons have most of the the Titles and Utilities from Boardwalk around to St. Charles Place…
EVE is a SciFi PVP game… and Goons et al have undermined and negated the open PVP sandpit aspects of nullsec for a basically Player Designed and Operated Nullpark… turning ALL of nullsuc into an thunderdome arena where all ‘real’ worthwhile PVP, PVP that could actually affect CHANGE, is barred and replaced with Bread and Circuses style PVP to keep their aggressive players occupied and to protect their ISKstreams.
James315 is just a side affect of the Large Null Powerblocks being, in many ways, greif and scam based gameplay… a huge group of players who feel that, as Mitten himself said, “…Goons, Broskis and Redditors can be outright bastards to everyone else in the EVE… …and get away with it. The game’s normal culture of honor doesn’t apply…”
The games NORMAL culture of honor DOES NOT apply to them… and James315, Erotica1 and their ilk are just following where the Goons lead… and it’s not even Goons fault… it’s CCPs game, it’s their responsibility, and they either want it to grow or they don’t.
At its core, I think PVP without consequence is not healthy for the game long term. That is what the super powers have in Null Sec. (By the way, I like the term Nullpark!)
There is a time when it stops being a fun game to play and becomes a fun game formerly played. It’s ceases to be fun when the same crap and drama happens over and over – and then spills into RL. That’s why a veteran capsuleer with over six years of experience would rather play The Elder Scrolls Online than EVE Online. There is no bonus room in The Elder Scrolls Online. There comes a point when you finally understand that you are not playing the game so some other person can have fun, but so you can have fun. If you’re not having fun, and it’s because of people like James 315, and the powers-that-be do nothing of consequence about it, it’s time to move on. I still occasionally recommend EVE Online to people though. Every time someone expresses a strong desire to gank other gamers and have fun at their expense, I tell them about EVE Online and how easy it is to gank people. So far I know of two people who’ve subscribed because of my recomendation. That’s a better average than I had previously. I’d say, “go figure,” but I consider it par for the course now.
I think the threat of being griefed in EVE tends to be worse than the reality. If you are willing to move around a little, and fly with a little caution, you can avoid the majority of attention. It can even be somewhat rewarding to manage. I am not saying it is all ok – I’m just saying it doesn’t have to be a huge issue. The exception is when it moves into real life. I have personally seen a real life relationship deliberately sabotaged because of in EVE animosity. It is not really CCP’s fault this happens – and they can’t be blamed for the horrible way people are willing to treat each other. I do think they can help by banning those players they catch crossing such a line. Getting a definition of that line that everyone agrees on though…