In the wake of the release of the Inferno expansion the CSM went to Iceland (some in person, some via a new conferencing system) to discuss a laundry list of topics with CCP. The initial results from Seleene are available here and here.
More recently, changes to the new war system have been posted here. These changes have been decried most vehemently by Jade Constantine. As one of the most pronounced Anti-Goon people in eve Jade's alliance (The Star Fraction) was wardecced by Goonswarm, along with the Alliance of Issler Danes (The Honda Accord) [seriously? wtf? /ramble], a sitting member of CSM7. Both Jade and Issler have opened the floodgates for anyone to join their wars to attack Goons. 38 groups have joined the Honda Accord as allies. 43 have flocked to the side of Jade Constantine. Normally this kind of dog-piling would send highsec carebears into an apoplectic fit. But the vast majority of Goons live in nullsec and are unaffected by highsec wars. Only Zedrik Cayne of Standards and Practices had the guts to even come into nullsec to fight the "ebil goonies." He was being a cloaky camper in VFK until he got sent to the pwn shop by Courthouse, one of the Goon diplomats.
CCP has doubtless been watching from the sidelines since Inferno went live, all the while Alekseyev Karrde, CSM7's war expert has been in communication with CCP as well as the wardec roundtable created by Iam Widdershins, the CEO of Project Nemesis, a corp with ties to Moar Tears and The Orphanage. I am sure things degenerated just as Alek and the rest of the highsec merc/wardec community envisioned.
Just yesterday another Dev Blog came out regarding Frigate and Mining Barge re-balancing that was upcoming. It made me think about the just over 2 Trillion ISK worth of Mining Barges and Exhumers that Goonswarm had destroyed by giving the gankers bounties. I'd love to see Jade Constantine try to spin this one as being CCP in collusion with Goonswarm.
Between pondering Hulkageddon, Burn Jita and these current wars, I found myself thinking about the Goons and the effects they have on the game that benefit everyone. CCP would have never gotten the chance to see the full CONCORD aggression mechanics in TIDI if Goons hadn't attacked Jita. The mining ship re-balance might not have occurred if CCP didn't have 2 Trillion ISK worth of loss mails to show them how weak these ships are. And no one would have seen just how bad dog-piling could be under the current war system until 81 highsec organizations jumped on the bandwagons to shoot Goons in highsec for free.
In closing, as the Goons love to say "We're not out to ruin THE game, we're out to ruin YOUR game." And in doing so they give CCP the data they need to improve the game for everyone.
