News broke yesterday that attendees of CCP's fanfest defaced the newly unveiled monument to Eve Online players, scratching a name off the plinth and as well as posting a group insignia on its side.
Look Here for the Eve Online Monument Vandalism News
It turns out, at least, the Goonswarm sticker was removable after all, and has been taken off the monument without damage. The developers are extremely disappointed with the behavior of their fans, though, and have spoken out against the vandalism in the official Eve Online forums.
"What's happened is absolutely disgusting," wrote Community Manager CCP Falcon. "It's an insult to the entire community and is clearly the work a person who believes that behavior in a virtual world is a valid reason to make a real life personal attack on someone, and deface public property. We will not tolerate this."
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Anyone who thought the vandalism would be waved off or not taken seriously by the developers were sorely mistaken, as CCP is taking steps to not only punish the in-game accounts of those found responsible (which they are currently investigating), but are treating it as a real-life criminal act. Here is Falcon's description of the current situation:
"First - People are going to stop pointing fingers and blaming people. CCP will investigate and take any action against game accounts, along with any legal action that we feel necessary. This is already in progress.
"Second - This is damage of public property in the City of Reykjavik. The police have been informed, and investigation is ongoing. This is not a laughing matter, and will be dealt with as a criminal offence. We are currently reviewing security footage from a number of surrounding buildings.
"Third - People will stop attacking the victim of this on our forums. It's not funny, it's not clever. Take your rumor mongering and personal attacks away from our community. If you choose not to, you'll be removed from the community, permanently. It's a simple as that. We will not tolerate victimization."
CCP are treating this blatant act of disrespect (the monument was made to honor all active players of Eve Online, after all) very seriously, and it sounds like punishments are bound to be delivered at some point in the near future.
