‘EVE Online’ Dev Clears Former GOP Election Official of Wrongdoing
“EVE Online” developer CCP Games is reinstating three players it recently banned after an internal investigation found they’re innocent, it announced in a blog post on Thursday.
One of those players is former GOP election official Brian Schoeneman, who goes by the name “Brisc Rubal” in-game. Schoeneman was elected to “EVE Online’s” Council of Stellar Management last year. He was accused of sharing the confidential information with a member of his alliance that was later used by another alliance member to conduct illicit in-game transactions. Now, CCP Games said its initial findings were incorrect and based on “unsubstantiated assumptions.”
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“Neither Brisc Rubal nor the other players implicated in this incident breached CCP’s confidentiality, the terms of the Non-Disclosure Agreement, or used privileged information to obtain an in-game advantage,” it said.
“We made a mistake here and we offer our formal apologies. First, to Brisc Rubal and the two other players involved, both for making the allegations and for the disturbance and stress caused by the way in which we handled this situation. Second, for not collaborating with due care with the members of CSM 13, who have acted responsibly throughout. Lastly, we owe our sincere apology to the ‘EVE’ community for this error. We take full responsibility for any confusion and mistrust caused by our initial assessment of the situation.”
Right now, CCP Games said it’s in the process of restoring the three players’ accounts. Going forward, it will also make changes to its procedures and policies to make sure this kind of situation doesn’t happen again.
Schoeneman thanked CCP Games on Twitter Thursday and said he’s chosen to resign from the Council of Stellar Management. “There’s not much time left in the term, and I need a break after all of this,” he said. “Maybe in the future I’ll consider running again, but this has been tough for me and the fam and I could use the time off.”
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