Following on from our report on the Goonswarm’s latest heist in Eve Online, we grabbed CCP’s spokesman Ned “CCP Manifest” Coker for a quick comments. Were CCP aware of the market manipulation? Is this going to destroy Eve’s economy? What can you do with FIVE TRILLION ISK anyway?

Was CCP aware of what Goonswarm was doing while it was going on? If so, why didn’t you stop them?

No, but when we became aware of it, we immediately stopped their ability to do so.

As with Burn Jita a few weeks ago, do you find this kind of manipulation of EVE’s mechanics and economy to be beneficial to EVE as a whole, or is this going too far?

We haven’t completed our investigation, so we can’t really say quite yet whether this was appropriate for EVE or not. At the same time, news of this sort of thing doesn’t surprise me as EVE is filled with some of the most imaginative players in the world who enjoy exploring opportunities wherever they may arise.

Will any action be taken against Goonswarm in the wake of this huge manipulation of Faction Warfare?

This also depends on our investigation. Once concluded though, we will certainly continue on our tradition of communicating with our players.

Do you think that the five trillion ISK is going to be detrimental to the delicate balance of EVE’s PvP? Can’t Goonswarm basically bankroll any war they want with that kind of money?

Those numbers haven’t been confirmed yet, so we’re forced to respond similarly to the above. It is very important to note that our experiences in the past though do show that the force with vastly superior resources in EVE doesn’t necessarily guarantee victory for them. There are some pretty famous/infamous examples of this in EVE’s sandbox.

What do you think the ramifications of Goonswarms actions are for EVE as a whole?

That’s a terrific debate to have and one the EVE community engages in not only with Goonswarm, but also with other groups of players that provide their own “flavor” to EVE.

Personally, I waffle back and forth on the Goons a bit. On the one hand Goonswarm has a proven track record of providing amazing content for players not in Goonswarm-whether through alliances, wars, metagaming, “internethumor”, etc… On the other hand I worry that some players don’t see it that way, that they don’t understand they are capable of matching Goonswarm’s (arguable) successes through the strength of their own imagination and social circle and that Goons, like any Alliance in EVE’s history, aren’t laser-proof. They are certainly near the top of the pack when it comes to communicating their accomplishments both inside and outside the game, which is probably why you are here now asking questions!

We’ve been speaking to the Mittani and should be getting aGoonswarm comment shortly.