Crazy Like a Foxbolt, Part 11

Previously, on MinerBumping... Admiral Foxbolt's EVE player-retention business hit a rough patch when he was permabanned by CCP Falcon. Foxbolt retaliated by creating a new account and pleading his case in Jita. He distributed links to his petition logs, hoping to prove that his business had been endorsed by CCP. However, the logs showed that Foxbolt simply went ahead with his project while spamming CCP with updates about it.

I'm not joking.... I literally wish I could hug every CCP designer who plays an active role in keeping EVE alive. EVE can be so much more...... Please reinstate my toon based on it being needed as a vital asset to my company "Battlestar Gaming, LLC" that is helping CCP with their retention efforts. This is my full-time job now, and that is rightfully my emotional property.

I am willing to meet CCP in the middle. Do you want support tickets from new people that have stayed in EVE because of my leadership to prove my case???

During his daily business updates, Foxbolt sprinkled in requests to have his main character, Joseph Grafton, un-biomassed. At long last, Senior GM Cid responded to Foxbolt's extensive petition backlog. Though I cannot include the text of Cid's reply here, I think it's fair to say that he offered his best wishes and sent Foxbolt on his way. Cid did not offer him an endorsement, sponsorship, license, authorization, etc. On the other hand, Cid didn't exactly tell Foxbolt to pump the brakes on his business plan, either.

Perhaps Cid was overcompensating for GM Gamayur's earlier snarkiness. Maybe Cid preferred to avoid the nuisance of having Foxbolt respond to an outright denial with more petitions. It's possible that Cid felt there was no harm in allowing Foxbolt to run around trying to retain players. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that Foxbolt didn't get a rebuke, so he took it as a sponsorship of his plan by CCP.

Good Morning "Senior GM CID",

You're apologize for the last GM's lack of tact is fully accepted as I'd like to move forward with my business plans that help me fulfill a dream of becoming a leading expert in "Virtual Leadership" while using the greatest gaming platform (EVE ONLINE) in our time to do so. I cannot express to you enough how much your product has brought meaning, hope, joy, and a sense of fulfillment each time I am able to get a person to stay with your product. Even "Blizzard" can't get people to stay with their products because they lose interest....

Senior GM CID,... Sir... I am in dire need of my main toon (BLANK) that I have invested my entire 7-years of game-time into. I NEED this toon to get Mining, Missions, PVP, Worm-Hole OPS, fleet-ops off the ground to maintain the interest of these people that I have gotten to pay for subscriptions to EVE (putting money in CCP's bank).

There was still the matter of the Joseph Grafton character, as Cid had completely ignored Foxbolt's request. Foxbolt considered the character vital to his plans.

You see..... I can get people to stay in the game, but without proper fleet-ops going... they will lose interest which will lead to you losing a paying client..... which will lead to me losing a person who is willing to support my company that is supporting your retention efforts. Can we please look past the past affairs with my accounts and see the new reality of what is happening now.... Please restore my main toon (BLANK) for business purposes.

It's unclear why fleet ops are needed to petition on behalf of angry Hulk pilots, or why the Grafton character in particular was suited for the task, but there you go.

I need this business tool to help my company help your company. I will also be buying around $400 of PLEX's once this toon is restored. Everything I do from this point is for business purposes of supporting CCP to keep EVE at the top of the market..... because this company is making a differance in people's lives... and for this... you have mine and my company's support.

Foxbolt sweetened the deal. Without commenting in any way on Foxbolt's business idea, Cid un-biomassed Foxbolt's main. It's interesting from a technical perspective that Cid warned him that the character might be bugged due to having been biomassed several times.

Dear CCP & Senior GM CID,

How do I say it in manner that leaves an impact on the lives of CCP staff.

First, on behalf of "Battlestar Gaming, LLC" I'd like to thank "Senior GM CID" for having enough common sense and business sense to ensure this issue was resolved correctly in the best interest of both company's working together jointly.

My company will be moving forward in doing our part to help CCP with their "Retention Efforts & Virtual Human Relations".... and we'll see how our efforts work out from this point out. I personally see great things happening between both our company's in the future as we both seem to be driven by a creative passion to see the best in our results.

Cid's restoration of Joseph Grafton cinched it. Foxbolt took this act as an unambiguous endorsement of his business plan. Admiral Foxbolt was now the sheriff of the EVE community.

EVE ONLINE is by far the greatest gaming platform ever created. CCP, what you do matters..... Do not stop creating, Do not stop chasing your passions that give others a voice. Senior GM CID... I tip my hat to you for your kindness, and I am happy to inform you that you just got CCP $500 in PLEXS that will be going towards helping my company to help yours further.

God Speed & I'll see you all among the stars,
You may now close this ticket.

The GM staff's long nightmare was over--or so they thought. Days later, a Hulk pilot was ganked by an Agent of the New Order. The rest, as they say, is history. Armed with this history in the form of Foxbolt's petition logs, would the EVE community side with him?

If the response on the EVE subreddit is any indication, Foxbolt didn't win the battle of public opinion. People didn't believe Cid had approved his plan. Nor did they feel that CCP Falcon was an undercover Goon operative. Foxbolt's new account was banned with nothing to show for it. Time for Foxbolt to cut his losses and move on to Star Citizen or whatever.

...Except for one thing: Lions don't run. The newly minted Admiral Foxbolt2 returned to EVE-O, a place that Foxbolt had promised himself he'd never go. Foxbolt created a thread for the apparent purpose of delivering a public apology to Falcon. But appearances can be deceiving, especially when you're dealing with a Political & Legal Chess Master. Foxbolt was actually launching the opening salvo of a charm offensive!

Unfortunately, I think most MinerBumping readers simply play EVE as a game and mock CCP for the work they do. Fear not--Foxbolt forgives you.

Being permabanned often provides EVE players with a sense of clarity. Foxbolt now understood his mistake: He hadn't accounted for the cynical and suspicious nature of a playerbase that couldn't accept his good intentions at face value. The silver-tongued Foxbolt then quickly changed the subject to condemn cyber-bullying.

Used in this context, "contain" is a polite euphemism for being banned. As in, "Stunt Flores told his friend a joke about CCP on out-of-game comms, so he was permanently contained."

Foxbolt reminded his EVE-O audience that for all his faults, he'd never told people to kill themselves, sent them strange packages in the mail, etc.

He made no mention of the problem he spent most of his time dealing with: Highsec ganking. In any event, Foxbolt made his case/apology. Would CCP Falcon accept the apology, and would EVE-O embrace the permabanned retention-specialist with open arms?

Despite Foxbolt's heartfelt words, EVE-O was as hostile and unforgiving as ever. Foxbolt had his work cut out for him. But this time, he was ready.

To be continued...