American politician Brian Schoeneman, a lobbyist in the field of maritime law in Virginia, is also an in-game council member for Eve Online’s Council of Stellar Management (CSM). Or should I say was? Schoeneman, known by his in-game name as Brisc Rubal, has been banned from his role as council member due to sharing “confidential information” with another alliance member that was ultimately used for “illicit in-game transactions,” according to an official blog post.
As a result of his actions, Schoeneman’s account has a permanent ban from his council position and the game. The two alliance members have one-year bans, and all the illegal assets have been seized. The CSM spoke to CCP Games about this scenario, who stated their thoughts within the blog post. They state that “regardless of the information,” breaking NDA goes against “everything that the Council of Stellar Management stands for.” CCP Games does not tolerate this in any way.
This situation is odd, as the politician brought great value as a council member. In an interview with Kotaku last year, Schoeneman spoke on his election into office, saying that his role in the CSM is just like his real-life career.
Now, the CSM will put in extra policies to prevent this, or anything similar, from happening again. To start, members will no longer be able to use electronics during CSM sessions. Also, the group will spend more time speaking on “confidentiality, insider trading,” and NDA policy. Soon is the CSM Summit, where the group will elect a replacement member and put in these changes.
Eve Online is under the radar of most mainstream gamers. With that said, it houses a strong community that takes the game very seriously. Because of this, some ridiculous scenarios take place that cost players thousands of real-life dollars. CCP Games is also working on a new title in the Eve universe, EVE: Aether Wars.
