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   In a world like EVE Online, where everything is ultimately about PvP, where one corporation's gains may very well mean another one's demise, the balance of power is particularly fragile. So when someone abusively tips it one way or the other, they're definitely asking for trouble! Imagine, for instance, a game developer or GM using his power to help one of the game's massive corporations, by providing them with very rare blueprints for making advanced ships. This isn't just a meaningless random example, but, as most EVE players will tell you, it's a very grave accusation that the game's developers from CCP Games are currently facing. A "conspiracy theory", if you will, that has yet to be proven true or false.

   The alleged issue is that certain CCP staff members handed out T2 BPOs (tech2 blueprint originals) to their fellow allies from "Band of Brothers" (BoB), the largest player corporation in EVE Online - see the massive blue areas in this EVE territory map. Even though people's animosity towards BoB goes back a long time (long story...), the current scandal may turn out to be crucial for the future of EVE Online as a whole. It all depends on how CCP will handle the situation, and so far they're doing a lousy job.

   What enraged the players this week is this EVE forum thread started by community manager Kieron, in which he addresses the most unimportant of issues, but mentions absolutely nothing about the alleged handout of blueprints by CCP staff to BoB members. The topic quickly exploded on 24 pages yesterday, before it was closed by Kieron last night. In his last post, he promised that more information and answers would be posted before the start of the weekend. So the story is far from over.

   Regardless of the outcome, however, it's interesting to consider that this "conspiracy" might be twofold. As one poster (ironically) comments: "I wonder how much of this public smearing of CCP is actually an attempt to coerce CCP into taking action against BoB. Conspiracies can go both ways ya'know".

   On the other hand, as one commenter points out on Shacknews, "this is exactly what EVE needs to grow beyond it's current install base. Seriously. Grab headlines. Assuming they exit gracefully. I'm betting they will".

   Well, maybe they won't exit too gracefully from this crisys. But I still believe they deserve every single EVE Online player they can attract. Yes, it may be an unfair game at times, but there's nothing else quite like it.