.well-known EVE Online celebrities. March 2, 20:00 EVE time – The Mittani, the CEO of GoonWaffe, head of GoonSwarm Federation, a principal leader of the. Brought to you by Squizz Caphinator All Eve Related Materials are Property of CCP Games. Last week, all hell broke loose in the EVE Online community with the revelation of what some called 'bullying' by The Mittani, a legend in the EVE Online world. In our latest One Jump Home column.
UPDATED: Ned Coker of CCP has emailed Eurogamer with the following tribute to Sean 'Vile Rat' Smith, the leading Eve Online player killed in Libya.
'I can tell you that CCP and its employees are overwhelmingly saddened by the news of Sean Smith's passing, as we are when we learn of any player who is tragically lost. Many of us interacted with him professionally and personally and, honestly, it feels like our words are lost adrift--amongst such a tremendous, soul-affirming outpouring from the EVE community. The CSM, of which he is an alumni, will be posting a guest dev blog in his honor.'
ORIGINAL STORY: The US official killed during a US consulate attack in the Libyan city of Benghazi was Sean Smith, otherwise known Eve Online player Vile Rat - director of the notorious Goonswarm alliance and former member of the player-elected Council of Stellar Management.
BBC News reported that armed militiamen raided the compound with grenades and then set it on fire. They had been protesting about a US-produced film they claimed insulted the Prophet Mohammed. One other American was injured.
Infamous Eve Online player Alex 'The Mittani' Gianturco was a personal friend of Sean Smith.
'So: Vile Rat, Sean Smith, my friend for over six years, both in real life and in internet spaceships, was the 'State Department Official' killed in Benghazi by a mob of religious lunatics, who had been incited to violence on this September 11th by a movie that was apparently made sometime in July,' Gianturco wrote on his website.
'Obviously, given the combined attacks in Egypt and in Libya, this was a coordinated act designed for maximum media exposure; rile up a mob, point them at an embassy or consulate on 9/11 in particular, aim for the press. Many were injured in these pointless, reprehensible acts, and one of my closest friends was killed as a result.'
Gianturco shared a chat room message posted by Vile Rat, presumably from earlier that day.
'(12:54:09 PM) vile_rat: assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures.'
'We knew that Vile Rat was in Benghazi,' Gianturco added, 'he told us. He commented on how they use guns to celebrate weddings and how there was a constant susurrus of weaponry in the background. He was in situ to provide IT services for the consulate, which meant he was on the net all the time, hanging out with us on Jabber as usual and talking about internet spaceship games.'
Gianturco said Sean Smith had been in a similar position in Baghdad 'in 2007 or 2008'.
'He would be on jabber, then say something like 'incoming' and vanish for a while as the Kayatushas came down from Sadr City - State had been in the former Saddam Hussein palace on the Tigris before they built that $2bn fortress-embassy later.
Gianturco said he and Smith met up a couple of times a year in the US, and would see each other in Iceland for CSM (Council of Stellar Management) meetings.
Gianturco, The Mittani, broke the news to the Goonswarm alliance with the following message. Utc standard time.
'My people, I have grievous news. Vile Rat has been confirmed to be KIA in Benghazi; his family has been informed and the news is likely to break out on the wire services soon. Needless to say, we are in shock, have no words, and have nothing but sympathy for his family and children. I have known Vile Rat since 2006, he was one of the oldest of old-guard goons and one of the best and most effective diplomats this game has ever seen.
'His family are in our thoughts and prayers.'
Love him or Hate him, the EVE Spy ring leader, known as The Mittani is probably someone you have heard about, if you have been playing EVE in the 0.0 Alliance Wars.
Former GoonSwarm CEO, he stepped down after CCP decided to create the CSM (Cosmic Stellar Management). He is now the GIA leaders, or Goons Intelligence Agency, which acts like the CIA, KGB or similar ultra elite intelligence and security force for an Alliance.
The Mittani fully exploited 'features' in the EVE game, by using another EVE player's discontent with how BoB (Band of Brothers Alliance) was run, by dismantling years of work to build BoB. He did this by convincing the already fed up BoB traitor to click the right buttons and twist the right EVE Alliance Management knobs to completely de-sov (de-sovreignty) the Alliance, without vote or notification of the other BoB leaders. Within hours the BoB Alliance was no more. One of the greatest and oldest running EVE Alliances was no more. In fact, The Mittani too the BoB name and in game stock ticker, so that BoB could not reform under the same name.
Like it or not, The Mittani was simply using EVE's game mechanics to do the unthinkable. Many thought of this as a flaw in EVE's Alliance management UI design. But, one thing is for sure, even the Goons agreed that taking down your number one enemy by using such means, seemed a little funny.
Since, the de-sov attack in early 2009, The Mittani was asked to become a weekly columnist at TenTonhammer, a popular MMO fan site. He writes 3 page articles detailing EVE history, his past doings and takes a global view of EVE's Alliances and political status.
Although, The Mitanni is but one man, his view point and excellent writting and talking abilities have inspired and outraged EVE players to no end. On one end of the arguement, people that fall to the Goons spies and meta-gaming absoluetly hate him. While, if your on the side of the Goons and The Mittani you do what he says, either out of fear or respect.
Often times, it is hard to decern people that fear whom they respect or simply respect them.
Make no doubt about it, whether you hate him or love him, The Mitanni is not an entity to ignore. He has created more havoc and creation than any single player in the EVE internet spaceship game. He now directs the most powerful Alliance in the game, while at the same time orchestraed the overnight dismantlement of a former EVE Alliance super power bloc. (BoB)
The Mittani Eve Online
I bumped into him, in game, while he was flying a Viator (Covert Op Hauler), and he was easy to comment to as he casually replied, then flying on to whatever destination he was off to. This was days before the ED/IRC and RA fiasco. Etherial Dawn / Intrepid Crossing and Red Alliance.