The Quotable GM

Horse Zalupa > Super Perforator miners beat the last thing
Super Perforator > Horse Zalupa Praise James!
gumPis Duuzene > Super Perforator what language are you speaking?
Super Perforator > English at the moment.
gumPis Duuzene > why we should pay to you ant explain word - Praise.. I don't know such word :D

It was a day like any other. Agent Super Perforator was patrolling the Poinen system and enforcing the Code. Suddenly, she was hailed by Horse Zalupa. Before long, a friendly discussion blossomed in local chat.

Super Perforator > what language would you like?
gumPis Duuzene > Russian or Latvian
Super Perforator > Russian http://minerbumping.41656.x6.nabble.com/-td5955.html
gumPis Duuzene > no I changed my mind please in Latvian

Though Horse Zalupa initiated things, his friend gumPis Duuzene took the lead. Agent Super provided him with a Russian translation of the Code to ensure that the conversation would be a productive one.

gumPis Duuzene > Do you realise the fact - You sound shit with youre demandings!?
Super Perforator > there arent enough latvian people to make a translation economical.
gumPis Duuzene > Fuck you peace of fucking shit
gumPis Duuzene > you can suck my villie

If any Latvian speakers want to produce a translation of the Code, I'd be happy to host it along with our English, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Turkish versions.

Horse Zalupa > Kill: Horse Zalupa (Venture*)
Super Perforator > ah, I see you have already met The New Order.
Super Perforator > Would you like to buy a permit now?
Horse Zalupa > a fool or what?? The Russian did not pay
Super Perforator > Horse Zalupa no permit, no ship... at our discretion.

The destruction of Horse Zalupa's Venture, which took place earlier in the month, turned out to be the impetus for the chat. Our Agent wondered if the two miners held a grudge against her.

Super Perforator > www.minerbumping.com
gumPis Duuzene > I don't open shitty web sites like that!
Super Perforator > that's why you keep losing ships.
gumPis Duuzene > junk head
gumPis Duuzene > you look like shit to me

A regular, thorough reading of MinerBumping is absolutely essential for anyone who spends any time in highsec. It's also required reading for anyone who wants to enjoy the best that EVE has to offer. gumPis didn't understand this--yet.

gumPis Duuzene > I will alow to suck my dick for free
Super Perforator > unfortunately there are no game mechanics relating to that... CCP stopped developing "walking in stations" too soon.
Horse Zalupa > Super Perforator I'll pay you 10 million if you guard me all year while I mine.))))
gumPis Duuzene > where is your ass..

The Code speaks of Goofus and Gallant, but it seemed that Horse and gumPis were more like Goofus and Other Goofus.

Super Perforator > Kill: gumPis Duuzene (Retriever) another illegal miner down.
gumPis Duuzene > who gives a fuck
Super Perforator > gumPis Duuzene the main thing is that you are not mining in James 315's territory
Super Perforator > www.minerbumping.com shows the borders.
Liva Hinken > Super Perforator is it official eve online web site?
Super Perforator > Liva Hinken it is the most important website for High Sec miners.

Other Goofus joined his friend in the "ganked by Super Perforator" club. Maybe now they could pool their resources and buy a couple permits?

Liva Hinken > Super Perforator 3y ago code was asking for the same shit...
Super Perforator > Liva Hinken since 2012... so coming up to 6 years since the light came to high sec.
Liva Hinken > you are idiot... show me one fcuking eve online rule where where is mentioned that I have to pay something to CODE, Or that James??
Super Perforator > The New Halaima Code of Conduct covers that. www.minerbumping.com

A third miner was drawn into the vortex. Agent Super wasted no time in educating this carebear, as well.

Super Perforator > and if you read the blog, you would discover...
Super Perforator > That The New Order only requires people to buy permits, because CCP required The New Order to require people to buy permits.
Super Perforator > If CCP had not forced us to sell permits, it is possible that we could be doing this without trying to persuade you to spend 10 Million ISK for one year.
Super Perforator > It would then maybe have been enough to have you just adhere to The New Halaima Code of Conduct.

Our Agent relayed an interesting bit of EVE history. But as we will see, Super's interpretation of that history--or perhaps her choice of words in relating it--would eventually come under an extraordinary amount of scrutiny.

gumPis Duuzene > this is ISK spaming
gumPis Duuzene > You are reported as ISK spamer
Super Perforator > Selling mining permits is not ISK spamming.
Super Perforator > ISK spamming is trying to get you to buy ISK... as in RMT... which I am not doing.
Liva Hinken > how much James are paying for this shit?

Other Goofus filed a petition against Agent Super for "ISK Spamming". Though our Agent was completely innocent of that charge, it appears that GMs have the ability to broaden the scope of their investigations to look into other potential crimes--not unlike a special prosecutor. Before long, our Agent received an official warning. Super reports:

I got a warning from a GM for 'making false claims about CCP'. I asked for clarification and got the following response from a senior GM. I was worried for a second that the junior GM was warning me for claiming that CCP had stopped developing "Walking in Stations" too soon!

What follows is the full text of Senior GM Archduke's petition response explaining why Super Perforator received a warning.

"But James 315," you interject. "Isn't it against the rules to publish CCP communications, including petition responses? In fact, didn't you write an essay on that very subject not too long ago?"

Good questions, dear reader. As it turns out, GM Archduke read that particular MinerBumping post, and he granted special permission to publish his petition response in this case. This is an exceptionally rare treat, so here we go, hot off the press:

*****Senior GM

Senior GM Archduke (EVE Online)

Mar 28, 12:56 UTC

Hello Capsuleer, Archduke here.

Thank you for contacting the Player Experience Team. Your character 'Super Perforator' was reported for making false allegations involving CCP in an in-game chat channel and our review of the logs has confirmed this. This is a breach of the EULA section 6.C, pertaining to our Terms of Service item 1. Please visit the links provided below for more details on the relevant policies:

EVE Online - End User License Agreement

EVE Online - Terms of Service

You may not abuse, harass or threaten another player or authorized representative of CCP, including customer service personnel and volunteers. This includes, but is not limited to: filing support tickets with false information in an attempt to gain from it or have someone else suffer from it; sending excessive e-mails, EVE-mails or support tickets; obstructing CCP Employees from doing their jobs; refusal to follow the instructions of a CCP Employee; or implying favoritism by a CCP Employee.

Please see the comments in question below:

"That The New Order only requires people to buy permits, because CCP required The New Order to require people to buy permits.
If CCP had not forced us to sell permits, it is possible that we could be doing this without trying to persuade you to spend 10 Million ISK for one year."

I have carefully reviewed the background of the matter, including the complete ticket history between James 315 and GM Banana from 2012. that you're referring to as 'GM Intervention', a number of other related tickets and warnings, and the articles 'The Secret Origins of the New Order' and 'CCP Breaks Silence on Its Notorious Rule Against Quoting GMs' on minerbumping.com.

While I understand that you chose to interpret the conversation between James 315 and GM Banana as a request to sell mining permits, this is simply not the case. To clarify the situation, as you know due to the sandbox nature of EVE Online and as a game designed around player-created conflict, acts of extortion, non-consensual player-vs-player combat, ganking, scamming and theft are not seen as exploits or harassment by the developers of EVE Online. These are part of the game as the opportunity to do so is built into the current intended game mechanics - GM Banana was essentially confirming this in the correspondence. However, while the practice of selling mining permits to players is - at the time being - not a violation of our rules, stating that this was in any way suggested, required or forced by CCP is simply not correct, and will not be tolerated.

Your Corporation has already received a warning in 2014. from Senior GM Ninjapirate for a similar matter, where your website appeared to be implying that you are working with, or somehow are backed by CCP GMs. This was not the case then, and is not the case now - you are not endorsed by CCP and not supported in any way that other players aren't.

I do hope this clears things up, but please feel free to let me know if you have any further questions or require any further assistance with this. Please be aware however, that the Easter Holidays may cause a delay in getting back to you.

Seeing how there were issues and misconceptions about this (the practice of selling mining permits) and the "rule against quoting GMs", I'd like to point out that you have my full permission to share or publish this particular correspondence.

Best Regards,
Senior GM Archduke
CCP Player Experience | EVE Online | EVE Valkyrie

*****
A quick point of clarification is in order. The incident in 2014 that GM Archduke referred to was covered in a classic MinerBumping post, CCP Officially Requests Code Revision. Actually, GM Ninjapirate's request that I revise the Code didn't include the word "warning" and may not have been technically classified as a warning. Also, as a general rule, "corporations" don't receive warnings; characters (or players) do. If you want to call it a warning, it was received by James 315, who has never been in the same corporation as Super Perforator anyway.

As to the substance of GM Archduke's complaint, it's interesting to note how finely the hairs were split--more finely than the hairs I split in the preceding paragraph.

The origin of the New Order mining permit goes back to June 2012, when I received a warning from GM Banana for bumping miners. Because there was no apparent in-game benefit to said bumping activities, it was deemed random harassment. I developed the idea of charging miners for a permit to mine in my systems (or else they get bumped); since some miners might pay me, there was a theoretical in-game benefit to bumping them. I ran the idea by GM Banana, and while I'm not permitted to paste his response here, I can say that he did not reject it. From then on, I (and anyone else who sold mining permits) was able to bump miners freely.

That's what Super Perforator was referring to when she wrote those offending lines in local about the New Order being "required" to charge 10 million isk. I suppose you could argue that GM Banana didn't require me to charge money for permits, because I might have come up with some other way to bump miners within the rules. However, the more likely reason for GM Archduke's complaint would be that he doesn't want CCP to be invoked in any way that might sound like an official endorsement of the New Order or the Code. Alas, in our world of sound bites and 280-character limits, things like history, nuance, and context are among the first casualties.

Super's only crime was that she was too busy saving highsec to parse her extemporaneous remarks in a way that would pass muster with the space lawyers. If you ask me, GMs need to take that into account when second-guessing the actions of Code enforcers in the line of duty.

Nevertheless, Agents do have an invaluable resource at their fingertips: When addressing especially delicate subjects, Agents can link MinerBumping posts.