The Mittani

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Blog Banter 45 – Hello, My name is “Puppet”

Posted by Orakkus on February 19, 2013
Posted in: Blog Banter. Tagged: , , , . 3 comments

Today’s Blog Banter 45 from illustrious Freebooted -

In a socially-driven game environment such as EVE Online’s, everyone has an agenda. CCP promotes its products and has an army of volunteers to do the same; corporations and alliances deliver entertaining recruitment drives, CSM election candidates solicit for voter favour, bloggers and podcasters opine to their audiences.

In this intricate web of communication, influence and control, what part does propaganda play in your game?

—————–

Ah, wonderful puppets in a row.

Ah, wonderful puppets in a row.

Ah, so where does one begin.. well, I suppose it starts in the beginning.  Propaganda plays an intricate part in my game, it does for all of us whether they choose to believe it or not.  You play this game, therefore the Propaganda of CCP caused you to be part of our community.  The propaganda of various people you meet, both good and bad (yes, good people use propaganda too.. it is okay), fill your minds.. and more importantly, your hearts with visions of the future where we are a part.  Even possibly a small part.

For me, I am surrounded by propaganda, the meta-game, the intricate spy versus spy versus politician world of null-sec.  It is an hourly thing, and I eat up every moment of it.  From battle commentary on Eve News 24, to soundbites on The Mittani, to local broadcasts, to podcasts that desperately try not to come off as biased.  Yes, it is my feast and all these leaders of propaganda dance merrily around like puppets in a giant puppet show.

And I, I get to be one of the puppets too.  And I get to be one with you.

See, the silly thing is that people try to convince themselves they aren’t part of this puppetshow.  Yet, for a PVP pilot like myself, even I feel the effect if Goons decide to do a Burn Jita, or if a certain type of ice is targeted.  As a mission runner in high-sec, I felt the pangs of expense as ships got more expensive, as a capital ship I wished to purchased doubled in price from when I last looked.  As a low-sec system inhabitant, I listened to CAOD as we watched various pirate groups move in and out of our space based on who was residing in the nearby null-sec systems, to determine how to go about protecting ourselves.

You’re not affected?  Haha, you’re so cute.

That’s pretty much like a puppet saying he’s not a puppet… not matter how many times the strings knot him up.  The problem with the disbelieving puppet is he fails to account for the strings in the first place.  Oh, I may be a puppet, but as I discern where the strings are coming from and how many, I can pull on them myself.. ever so slightly.  Enough that I still enjoy the game without getting gamed.

However, that isn’t to say that the information provided (false or otherwise) has no benefit.  The propaganda I hear as a null-sec player at least gives me an idea about their state of mind.  Suppose I review the battles of a particular major coalition and I notice that they are winning rather often and slowly taking sov, but I hear nothing about any speeches or any dropped hints of diplomacy, then I can gleen somewhat accurately that they are probably feeling rather confident in both their strategy, tactics, and personnel.  Suppose however, that I see they are having a rough go of it, trading blow for blow with little headway, yet I hear a rousing speech from a coalition leader letting everyone know they are doing well.. that would indicate a considerable amount of morale loss, no matter what is said by leader.  Following the resulting battles afterward would let me know how well it took.

Suppose that coalition was aiding an enemy of mine.  Then that information might be useful in redirecting forces to hit targets which could further demoralize my enemy’s ally.. even if it cost a system or two.  Such things are possible to discern through propaganda.  In fact, it is stuff like this that makes Eve Online a singular beacon of gaming.. because such meta-gaming, such strategy really isn’t possible in any other game.. only in real life.

And we.. as puppets.. know that.

Here are what other people have said:

The Ministry of Opinion Prestidigitation

19 July 2012 Devblog – Alchemy makes a comeback

Posted by Orakkus on July 19, 2012
Posted in: Game Dynamics. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Here is the latest devblog (with 11 pages of comments by the time I read it): http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=73051

First off, I’d like to point out a certain statement in that devblog:

Over the past several months the price of the moon mineral Technetium has risen sharply, bringing some pre-existing game design issues into sharper relief.

In other words, the price increases forced by OTEC (essentially run by The Mittani) brought this about.  I wrote about this earlier, back in May with this post: http://2ndanomalyfromtheleft.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/the-push-towards-farm-and-fields/, and it looks like Ring Mining isn’t going to be the way to produce Moon goo.. at least not yet.  The fascinating thing is that this change, slated for Inferno 1.2, will completely destroy OTEC’s strength.

Clearly a move against the influence of Goonswarm and The Mittani, right?

Not so fast.  This change plays into something the Mittani was pushing for back when he was CSM.  His “Farms and Fields” initiative.  According to the devblog, essentially ALL moon materials can be made using other moon materials through alchemy.  This essentially makes manufacturing and industry an option everywhere, including 0.0.  This flies in the face of previous plans which made Technetium the “conflict driver”, and pushed the majority of moons into just a few areas (Sadly it turned out only to be a massive money maker for already wealthy and powerful alliances, further making it impossible for small alliances to get into 0.0).  Such a change will also make low-sec moons more profitable, and finally worth defending and fighting for.  This could be a problem for alliances like Pandemic Legion, who control quite a few high value moons in low-sec.

The other point is OTEC.  OTEC was a move to push CCP into action, which as you can see, it did.  The reasons why it took so long could be a.) they didn’t study up on the history and price fixing issues from OPEC or b.) They wanted to see how effective / problematic something like OTEC would be. or c.) They didn’t want to be seen as punitively harming one specific person or alliance.  Either way, the formation of OTEC was successful in more ways that one.. but especially in the way that the Mittani (with the CSM hat) wanted it to be.  It is rather funny to see how many comments are Anti-Goon or Anti-Mittani while watching for “Goon Tears”.  Love him or hate him, this level of meta gaming is something he has done in the past and

Stats and Figures

100 Titanium and 100 Vanadium reacts into 1 Unrefined Vanadium Hafnite refines into 10 Vanadium Hafnite and 95 Vanadium
100 Cobalt and 100 Platinum reacts into 1 Unrefined Platinum Technite refines into 10 Platinum Technite and 95 Platinum
100 Scandium and 100 Chromium reacts into 1 Unrefined Solerium refines into 10 Solerium and 95 Chromium
100 Scandium and 100 Cadmium reacts into 1 Unrefined Caesarium Cadmide refines into 10 Caesarium Cadmide and 95 Cadmium
100 Evaporite Deposits and 100 Atmospheric Gases reacts into 1 Unrefined Hexite refines into 10 Hexite - -
100 Atmospheric Gases and 100 Tungsten reacts into 1 Unrefined Rolled Tungsten Alloy refines into 10 Rolled Tungsten Alloy and 95 Tungsten
100 Evaporite Deposits and 100 Titanium reacts into 1 Unrefined Titanium Chromide refines into 10 Titanium Chromide and 95 Titanium
100 Hydrocarbons and 100 Scandium reacts into 1 Unrefined Fernite Alloy refines into 10 Fernite Alloy and 95 Scandium
100 Silicates and 100 Cobalt reacts into 1 Unrefined Crystallite Alloy refines into 10 Crystallite Alloy and 95 Cobalt

Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about moon mining to make a comment about this.  I don’t have internet right now and my industrial alt has a tough time with 10 piece puzzles at the moment, so any understanding is lost on me.  There are some comments about how the reactions are going to be too pricey, and that the values are based off of the old 2008 Greyscale devblog (located here: http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=601), but CCP Fozzie makes it very clear that the values will change to ensure that it is profitable somehow.  It was also mentioned, in the comments, by CCP Fozzy that “This is the first step in our plan to revamp tech 2 production. Changes to how the minerals are obtained will be coming before we’re done (although probably not from PI)”.  So PI is going to stay as it is.. but everything else will be as the devblog puts it, “The end goal is for the materials for tech two production to come from player activities that require group gameplay and risk taking, and that provide appropriate rewards”.

Conclusion

This change is absolutely good for Eve Online, allowing for more people to get into supplying Tech 2 builders with more goods will mean cheaper Tech 2 ships and modules, a great thing for PVP.  The news, in my opinion, is not so good for the soon to be discounted OTEC membership.. well, all except for Goonswarm.  I have little doubt that the Mittani long prepared for this likelihood (it wasn’t meant to be a permanent thing anyways), and is probably looking towards those OTEC members who didn’t plan well as their new targets.

They are Goons after all…