One of These Things…

Mittens made a humble, abject apology.

The Mittani went on a rant.

I like how he talks about his apology and implies that it means that EvE has fundamentally changed.  EvE has changed, but it has nothing to do with The Mittani and his enormous ego.

He has the gall to say “I have been fucked… and it is shitty”

Eula says otherwise.  Your own apology says otherwise.  There are a few possibilities here.  One is that mittani is an unabashed liar in his apology and that he is in no way sorry and feel justified in his actions.  One is that he thinks his pubbies are morons who don’t see that one of those has to be true and one has to be false.  Another is that his ego is SO BIG that he really thinks he knows the ins and outs of CCP Games, a company that has a culture and value system based in an entirely different country, with it’s own traditions and history better than they do themselves.

Finally there’s the chance that he is still manipulating the system.  That his apology was an attempt to pull CCPs teeth and to keep his CSM7 seat, and to pre-empt whatever punishment CCP was mulling over.  That his bold declaration is an appeal to the anger and rage bubbling within goons to draw more attention and attendance to the jitahellcamp.

That sounds like The Mittani.  Trying to play everyone while appearing as the white robed genius.  Let me explain why.

I don’t know Alex Gianturco at all.  I don’t know if this was the demons escaping, his mask slipping or a drunken aberration.  I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that truly “I myself, as Alex Gianturco, feel utterly ashamed and sickened by my behavior.” as he says in his apology.  That still leaves his rant toward his pubbies.  He could have cast it as a party.  He could have told them they were going to blast every industrial and mission boat into dust.  He could have cast it however he wanted, but he picked the “Us vs. Them” line.  He went with the propaganda line.  He knows that Americans love to see themselves as underdogs and that by casting it as a “Goons vs. CCP” event he will get a response far larger than any other response he could expect.

However there is a price for this.  The CSM is trying very hard to ensure that the 10k get a voice on the council.  By publicly announcing that he feels that CCP has “fucked” him he makes their job VERY difficult.  It makes him appear unrepentant and his apology filled with crocodile tears; because, like I said, the apology and the video are mutually exclusive.  This gives CCP an out.  They can point to the video and say “This guy has chosen his fats.  So be it.”  With this move they have ammunition to bring UAXdeath in and tell the CSM to vote in whoever they want as chairman.  Also, Hans is one step closer to a free trip or two to Iceland!

I actually think the jitahellcamp is a great idea.  I think it will be a ton of fun and I am planning on being around for the laughs, tears, and shenanigans that are sure to wreck my overview and crash my computer at least once.  My issue is with his wording, with his grandstanding, with the blatant “I think you are stupid enough to not see how two-faced I am” attitude.  I don’t like being treated like I’m stupid.  Someday the goons might decide they are tired of the act too.  Maybe.  Yeah I don’t really see it happening either.

I'm using it every time I can

Thirty Three!

33%

That’s what you can count on showing up.  Calling a CTA 2 days in advance?  Count on 33% of your active pvpers (in that time zone) being available.  Got an emergency in your home area?  About 33% of your folks online will be available/not AFK.  I learned this rule from Rico Minali and Sons of 0din WAY back in the day and it’s held true ever since.  There’s fluctuations, some people can bring more, some people can bring less.  When I make plans and assumptions I figure things based on that number.

The key term in the first calculation is “Active PvPers” a corp or alliance can be seriously weighed down by the number of non-contributing characters and it can make them look just awful.  For example; last week I had a couple of guys who had numerous alts in corp from a wormhole we occupied.  They didn’t do anything, and since we left the wormhole, most of them just stayed logged out.  Some of them still in the wormhole.  They inflated our numbers quite a bit but threw off any estimates the alliance might make of our participation.  Removing them allows for a more effective estimate of our capabilities as a PvP corp.

These estimates are a key part of strategic planning when it comes to alliance level operations.  Knowing what you can do and how much and how long you can sustain these operations is a HUGE part of winning at EvE as time stretches out.  Everyone can win the first few fights but staying power comes down to the 33% who keep going.  So take a look at your corp membership and ask yourself who you can count on to ship up and undock and who you can’t.  Ask yourself what the rest add to the party.  Get answers.

I'm using it every time I can