Major EVE alliance disbanded by defector

By Oli Welsh Published 6 February, 2009

Band of Brothers destroyed from within.

More double-agent spy drama from the world of EVE Online this week - and this latest coup makes Monday's tournament assassination look like a storm in a teacup.

Band of Brothers, the oldest and most experienced military alliance in the game, and one of the most powerful forces in the space MMO, has been destroyed from within by a director who defected to its bitter rivals, GoonSwarm.

As reported by Rock, Paper, Shotgun yesterday, the disillusioned director had enough authority within Band of Brothers to kick out all of its member corporations, clean out its bank accounts, open all its territorial holdings to attack, and steal its name.

"This event is now the most significant coup in Eve history," wrote RPS contributor and Eurogamer's own EVE expert, Jim Rossignol. "It's a titanic victory for the Goons, who had often quoted griefing Band Of Brothers as one of their core goals."

"The catastrophic effect this has means that BoB’s empire is now totally exposed to attack from its enemies, and Goon fleets are reportedly already at the heart of the former BoB stronghold," he added.

Even more remarkable, perhaps, is the story of this double-agent's turning, documented on the official forums. A relatively lowly GoonSwarm member was attempting to scam some money off the director's "alt" - a secondary character and in this case, effectively a secret identity - but was impressed enough by his manner to recruit him for real.

The Band of Brothers director liked his new home so much, and was so fed up with the arrogance of Band of Brothers, that he confessed his true identity, and offered to use his main character to sell out his former comrades. Initially, he was to act as a spy and send GoonSwarm intelligence reports, but after a conversation with GoonSwarm leader and self-professed "space tyrant" The Mittani, he opted simply to break the long-standing alliance apart.

The animosity between Band of Brothers and GoonSwarm goes back several years, and was a root cause of EVE's "Great War", which was waged by a coalition of Goons and Russian players against Band of Brothers. You can read up on the background in Jim's articles on RPS and here on Eurogamer.

GoonSwarm is the EVE branch of a wider organisation of MMO players with its roots in the Something Awful forums. The Goons are proud "griefers" who aim to subvert the game mechanics and destroy the established order of every virtual world they enter. If griefing is an art form, then the Goons have just completed their Sistine Chapel.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Eraysor #1 3 years ago

    Epic stuff, but it also highlights how fragile EVE's systems are, considering one man shattered dozens of star systems in one move.

  • jellyhead #2 3 years ago

    Historic moment in the eve universe and a classy bit of work by the Goons :)
    It's going to be a while before the dust settles on this to see what impact it has. There's a great series of images showing the extent of the BoB alliance collapse shown by their territory ceasing to exist and new ones moving in. BoB have also started a new copr under a different name. Be interesting to see what the goons do with the BoB name now :)

  • DFawkes #3 3 years ago

    That's the reason why Eve is awesome, but also why it can seem so daunting.

  • andywilkie35 #4 3 years ago

    I have never really taken much interest in MMOs and this is of course simply a game, but I'm really impressed! Incredible stuff

  • sneetch #5 3 years ago

    @Eraysor
    Epic stuff, but it also highlights how fragile EVE's systems are, considering one man shattered dozens of star systems in one move.

    Aye, especially as that move was motivated by the EVE equivalent of "I'm going home and taking my ball with me".

    Is there the ability to set a quorum for this kind of thing?

    Edit: well, more I'm going home and taking your balls with me. ;)
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/09 @ 16:00

  • Moog #6 3 years ago

    I wonder if the defector will get a real life "knock on the door" from an ex member and a kaboom ?
    Makes you wonder if the next move will move from MMO to real life ?

    He must have done this for good hard earth cash !

  • basalarmageddon #7 3 years ago

    He got a couple of things wrong there the mittani in not the leader of goonswarm, he's the head of their intelagence wing the GIA the actual leader is Darius JOHNSON who is also one of the CSM members.

    Also he has made a corp called Band of Brother's and made it join goonswarm so that TAFKAB (the aliance formaly known as bob) can never use the name again.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/09 @ 16:59

  • Gurgeh #8 3 years ago

    From the epic FoH thread:
    "One point I saw on the Eve-O forums I love as an example of Eve's unbalanced priorities regarding security.
    It takes a corp vote to unlock BPOs. But not to kill an Alliance. Someone please explain this to me."

    It's shaken things up certainly, but it's a good point about whether one person should be able to mess with the play of thousands (literally). AFAIK the defector didn't clear all banks, just that of the corp he was in, which was a substantial sum nevertheless. It's also not just opened up BoB space to attack, it's removed BoB control of those systems altogether, and scrambled the friend / foe settings of all the corps - meaning people cannot get to their ships in stations, or are treated as hostile targets by automatic defences.

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #9 3 years ago

    I meant A leader, not THE leader - but yeah, it's ambiguous, sorry.

  • rowsdower #10 3 years ago

    Consider my day made.

  • paulf #11 3 years ago

    he also works for a major investment bank ...

  • Gaiscioch #12 3 years ago

    Didn't want that alliance anyway!

  • Artemis_Matsas #13 3 years ago

    Maybe his mom made him do it...

  • R.P_McMurphy #14 3 years ago

    @Bucko A51

    Seconded. Will never understand the point in playing EVE.

  • Velios #15 3 years ago

    Was this article written by a Goonie? It certainly sounds like it!

  • rowsdower #16 3 years ago

    You're talking about The Alliance Formerly Known as BoB, right Bucko?

    Don't forget, they started this whole deal with the Goons. Goons were happy eking out a living in Syndicate until big mean old BoB came down and decided they'd tear the new kids apart for the fun of it. This didn't exactly go to plan and now, years later, you see the result: the destruction of BoB.

    They started it, Goons finished it. And remember, this director of BoB didn't defect because BoB were the greatest and most caring loveable people in the galaxy. He defected because BoB were the arrogant cocks and spoiled nerdy teenagers you describe.


    And no, Oli isn't a Goon, though I'm sure he'd be more than welcome if he applied :D
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/09 @ 20:28

  • AphoticCosmos #17 3 years ago

    Just reading this article confirms to me that I made the right choice a year and a half ago to join EVE Online; it is certainly the greatest modern MMO - a position confirmed by awesome stuff like this.

    Proud to be an "Ever", may the tears flow!

  • Velios #18 3 years ago

    M.Corp know quite a few guys from BoB, many of them good fellas who like to play the game to a seriously high level. It will be interesting to see what they do next...

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #19 3 years ago

    I realise the article sounds a bit pro-Goon - it wasn't exactly my intention, I was trying to keep it neutral while reflecting the defector's reasons for doing what he did. But it's true that I didn't come across many pro-BoB voices when researching it.

    I'm no fan of griefing, but then again, a game like EVE is built around this stuff, and thrives on it, so in that sense it's cool.

    On the other hand - it's a betrayal of trust, and as Jim pointed out in his RPS piece, it's no fun for the thousands of players who invested years into the Band of Brothers name and have had that taken away by the actions of one man.

    That's how the world turns though, and as a humble WOW player I can't imagine what it must be like to log into a game one day and find the whole political landscape changed, and the chat abuzz with scandal.

  • basalarmageddon #20 3 years ago

    Rowsdower you forgot to mention that you guys also took the piss out of one of there guys who had recently died at the time.

  • Dizzy #21 3 years ago

    If only you could right click and disband governments here.

    What happened to fighting for your turf?

  • RedSparrows #22 3 years ago

    Yeah, political instability is teh shit!

    I really need to play EVE.

  • Benno #23 3 years ago

    This doesn't impress me as other EVE stories have in the past. It was the limitations of the alliance game mechanic which screwed BoB up really.

  • Gurgeh #24 3 years ago

    And once Goons gained access to the BoB directorship the dirt starts to come out:

    [mails between BoB and CCP]
    Omir,
    We would like you to use your influence within CONCORD to have the corporations "Band of Brothers" and "B.O.B Corp" struck from their register [ooc we believe that both corps are inactive and due for deletion anyway] so that we may register our official Alliance: Band of Brothers [BoB] (please see petition No050703-000172 for details).

    In order to facilitate our future plans, we would like 1 Gallente Freighter.

    In order to help your followers recoup from their campaign in Bleak Lands we would also like 3 bhaalgorn bpc's.

    Expediency is of the essence, we look forward to hearing from you.
    Quote:
    Hi Kieron,

    Welcome back (I assume u, along with most of the staff, have been on a much deserved break).

    Below is a copy of the mail I sent to Omir, if you need anything else, just holler

    Omir,

    Please set the following corps to positive for the Blood Raider faction:

    Black Eclipse Corp [BNC.E]
    Black Nova Corp [BNC]
    Reikoku [RKK]
    Evolution [EVOL]
    Rough-Necks Inc [RN]

    We shall also soon be creating an official alliance, which we would obviously want setting to the same positive, we'll pass that information to you once it is finalised.

    Pilots to receive +9.5 standings:
    Bubbles
    oropendia
    Louisa Torres
    dimensionZ
    CapnMordo
    Prime Mover
    Fourier
    TinyM
    Alex Capone

    One more is to be forwarded to you shortly. We would also like to request that all current members of the above corps that are currently at negative standings to yourselves have their Blood Raider faction set to neutral. Also, as per our original agreement, please remove your sovereignty claim from outside the two constellations it was agreed you would settle in, particularly the system of NOL-M9.

    Regards,

    Dianabolic

    p.s. Kieron, we never sent the 10th name in.

    p.p.s the sovereignty issue is ongoing, we've had numerous petitions closed (the gm's believe it is the same bug as the rest of the game is suffering, whilst it quite obviously (to us and others, anyway, not) - could you suggest to me how we could elevate this matter beyond the gm's we're having to deal with, or is there not a procedure in place for that?"

    No surprise to anyone really

  • RobotRocker #25 3 years ago

    The most hilarious thing about this incident is that it was caused by people being helpful to (Who they belived to be) a newbie. Goons get a bad rep in most games for being griefers and aiming to break it (See W-Hat's second life exploits if you have a chance. Some of the stuff they pulled of was glorious), but they are quite friendly and helpful to newbies who dont piss them off or be your standard internet douche and most Goonswarm members are newbies who were taught by Goon players who were in there from the start. So they easily amassed an army of people who knew how to play the game simply by being helpful and teaching them how to play the game. And also by doing interesting/hilarious stuff like Jihadswarm and the GIA.

    And thats enough saying goon for now. Goony, goon, goon, goon, goon.

  • UncleLou #26 3 years ago

    Seconded. Will never understand the point in playing EVE.

    I have a hard time understanding how any gamer can not be fascinated by how almost everything in EVE is controlled and done by the gamers, within what's basically just a framework. Whether the actual mechanics of the game are your cup of tea is another matter, but the design philosophy behind EVE is so far ahead of anything else in the genre I am aware of, it's almost frightening.

  • sneetch #27 3 years ago

    @rowsdower
    You're talking about The Alliance Formerly Known as BoB, right Bucko?

    Don't forget, they started this whole deal with the Goons. Goons were happy eking out a living in Syndicate until big mean old BoB came down and decided they'd tear the new kids apart for the fun of it. This didn't exactly go to plan and now, years later, you see the result: the destruction of BoB.

    They started it, Goons finished it. And remember, this director of BoB didn't defect because BoB were the greatest and most caring loveable people in the galaxy. He defected because BoB were the arrogant cocks and spoiled nerdy teenagers you describe.

    Hey, BoB could be the worst assholes in the universe or the nicest guys ever, either way, it's irrelevant: the point remains that one guy destroyed BoB. This wasn't some magnificant victory by The Goons, they had a guy dismantle an alliance built by, what? Hundreds? Thousands? That a single, disgruntled member was able to do all he did points more towards limitations in the implemenation of the corporation and alliance system than anything else.

    I can never understand this kind of thing when it comes to EVE players. They have people who do stuff like this in WoW too, albeit to a lesser extent, and they are almost universally despised. Here people are making it out as if it was the greatest coup ever and glorify his vandalism by calling him a "defector". No, he got pissed off and betrayed his alliance so if you want to apply a real world term to him then I believe the term you're looking for is "traitor".

    But hey, as Oli pointed out EVE seems to encourage this type of griefing so I guess you get what you pay for.

    Edit: screwed up the quoting
    Edited by 1 at 07/02/09 @ 01:21

  • Hunam #28 3 years ago

    This article potentially sold me this game!

    Got a trial (thanks beeboy) and will start being a spaceman tomorrow!

  • BastoJ #29 3 years ago

    Brilliant game, takes quite a bit of learning which is the only problem with it. Certainly the only MMO that really interests me, just need the time to get playing again.

  • 4thVariety #30 3 years ago

    The question is how CCP is going to react in the long term to players whose outspoken goal it is to grief others. As funny as it may seem, people too frustrated with being griefed all the time will leave, so the developer is loosing money over this.

    Is the goal to create a social gaming experience, or create a platform for coordinated anti-social behavior?

    If anything, this shows how much of a "bug" it is to allow one person to wield that sort of power. In the interest of social gaming, there would need to be a number of game mechanics aiming to create some sort of a checks and balances system. A way for an organization to protect itself from attacks from within. If not democracy, then at least some sort of board of directors. That way the regular griefing is intact, but one person can't ruin everything in a few clicks.

  • dirk_aircool #31 3 years ago

    this game souds great . wish I had time to mess about with Pc Games . its seems full of DRAAAMMMAAAA .

  • TuftyMcTavish #32 3 years ago

    Most awesome! The best proper stories come out of Eve as far as I'm concerned.

  • Velios #33 3 years ago

    ^^ what he said

  • vegard #34 3 years ago

    "GoonSwarm leader and self-professed "space tyrant" The Mittani"

    i lol @ u!!!!!!!!!!

  • vane101 #35 3 years ago

    Smart stuff and makes the game much more interesting than most. The problem is though that this can ruin the game for a lot of players The more adventurous might think to see what new opportunities have arisen but the more casual players will just leave risking the future of the game.

  • TitusCrow #36 3 years ago

    Amazing stuff! there is no other MM0 out there in which you could read about this kind of stuff happening, if the idea of these worlds is to be a living world where everything of significance is done by the players EVE is there! all othere mmo's are at this point in time for the most part just a single player game where everyone else can play beside you and talk to you.
    Its a damn shame i hate space mmo's or id be all over this, here's hoping darkfall can get this sort of player interaction in the high fantasy genre :)

  • TexMurphy01 #37 3 years ago

    Oli, you shouldn't defend yourself here and I think you may only open yourself up to further attack.

  • 3william56 #38 3 years ago

    Goddamn, that's some sad-ar$e nerdy sh*t right there.
    Hopefully the thousands of poor, betrayed BoB folk will open the curtains and go get a life.

    /points
    Geeeeeeeek! Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

  • Gurgeh #39 3 years ago

    "If anything, this shows how much of a "bug" it is to allow one person to wield that sort of power. "

    Speaking of bugs, BoB got Sovereignty level 1 back immediately, instead of the 7 days it should have taken. How "odd".

  • basalarmageddon #40 3 years ago

    says the person posting a comment on a gaming website

  • AphoticCosmos #41 3 years ago

    Goddamn, that's some sad-ar$e nerdy sh*t right there.
    Hopefully the thousands of poor, betrayed BoB folk will open the curtains and go get a life.

    /points
    Geeeeeeeek! Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!


    You're on a gaming website - you obviously take gaming fairly seriously as a hobby - how can you NOT qualify for geek status . . .

  • Transcendent #42 3 years ago

    War and treason seems fun, but not when the mechanics that enable it are unbalanced.

  • #43 3 years ago

    i wonder how many will stop their subs now over this. Goons are ingame cunts and I hate them. They used every dirty trick in the book and exploited every thing they possibly can in doing so. In saying that I was no fan of BoB either.

    The political landscape is interestingly changed.

    /considers resubbing.

  • presh #44 3 years ago

    So, basically, GoonSquad are also the bunch of twunts who do nothing but drive around tracks the wrong way on GRID and ruin every FPS ever made by being idiots. But somehow by doing it in EVE it's clever... or something.