Brisc Rubal Removed From CSM 13

"Brisc Rubal suggests that it should be made clear what results in a player being banned versus their account. Exploits, real life threats, RMT and botting. He also suggests putting out a forward facing document that explains the differences and provides players with an understanding of what activities can result in different kinds of penalties."

-- CSM 13 October 2018 Summit Minutes, p. 19

Yesterday, CCP Dopamine, the coordinator for the Council of Stellar Management, announced the removal of Brisc Rubal from the player-elected body.

"It is with great disappointment that I bring you the following news. Brisc Rubal has been found to be sharing confidential information with a member of his alliance that was later used by another alliance member to conduct illicit in-game transactions. As a result, the following actions have been taken: 

• Brisc Rubal has been removed from his role as a CSM 13 representative effective immediately and will not be able to run in any future CSM elections.
• All his in-game accounts have been permanently banned from the game
• Two other players involved in this incident have received a one-year ban.
• All the illicit assets and ISK gained from this incident have been confiscated. 

"To be fully transparent, this misconduct was brought to us by the CSM themselves as an immediate threat to the integrity of the CSM as an institution. CCP’s stance on this is clear: regardless of the type of information shared, acts like this go against everything that the Council of Stellar Management stands for and will not be tolerated under any circumstances."

The rest of the statement went on with some flowery language about trust and respect. One item that raised my eyebrows was an announcement on the ban on electronics during CSM sessions. That leads to a question, what exactly was the nature of the leak? A voice recording? A screenshot or a picture of a display? That's the big question.

Brisc a few hours later put out a statement on the EVE sub-Reddit. I'll post it here in full:

I received an email from a senior GM this morning informing me that I had been removed from the CSM and permanently banned from EVE Online for a breach of the CSM’s non-disclosure agreement. The email provided no information regarding the allegations, charges or evidence supporting such a ban. I am innocent of these allegations. I have not, and would not, violate the NDA I signed after being elected to the CSM. I have not provided any proprietary information furnished by CCP to me as a CSM member to anyone.

Immediately upon receipt of the email, I contacted CCP Dopamine and CCP Falcon to request information about the ban. As of the time of this writing, I have received no response from any one at CCP in response to my repeated inquiries. The lack of communication, transparency, and due process coupled with the rush to publicize my removal is indefensible and damaging to my reputation.

As an attorney and a public figure in the United States, my ethics and reputation are regulated by a code of professional responsibility and statutory law, unlike CCP's opaque community team. As a licensed attorney for nearly a decade, I have never had a complaint filed against me. I have served in positions of public trust in the United States Government and have never had a complaint filed against me. The claims that I would risk my reputation by providing proprietary or otherwise confidential information to members of my own alliance for personal gain are false.

These baseless charges have had an immediate and negative impact on not only my in-game reputation but my out of game reputation. I have spent the last year working hard on behalf of the community that elected me to represent their interests to CCP. I have done so diligently, attending more than 95% of all of the meetings and conference calls that have taken place. There is no reason why I would jeopardize all of that by violating my word, putting my reputation on the line, and risking all of this to provide a fellow player with an unfair advantage in the game.

In addition to me, two of my fellow alliance mates, both of whom are very senior in our alliance, have received one year bans. These two players, Pandoralica and Dark Shines, are the senior strategic FCs and the backbone of one of the largest alliances in the game. Their bans are wrong and a travesty – neither of them received any information from me and any actions they took in game with their own accounts or money was based on their own decisions and not based on any CSM related leaks. They do not deserve to be banned from the game, even for a year, and I strongly urge CCP to reverse these bans - not only for the sake of those two players but for all of the players who rely upon them.

I will fight these false allegations, restore my reputation and seek all avenues for recourse available to me for these reckless actions.

Thank you to all of those who have reached out to me, and to all of those players who put their faith in me.

We are starting to see the story spread from traditional gaming media like Kotaku, PC Gamer and Eurogamer to more general entertainment sites like Variety and ScreenRant. A story with the hook like this may even make the general news sites.

Normally when a player starts making noises about legal action I laugh it off. Given Brisc's real life profession, though, a lawsuit over allegations of an NDA breach are a real possibility. The situation is about real world reputations, not accounts that allow someone to access a game.

Before ending this post, I need to mention the others who are affected by the scandal. The other two players involved, Pandoralica and Dark Shines, are senior strategic level fleet commanders in a 5100 character alliance, The Initiative.. Even with the prevalence of having multiple accounts among EVE players, INIT still has hundreds, if not over 1000 players. The effects of losing key leadership in a prominent alliance not only will affect those players, but also the hundreds of players they fight with and against. Sometimes people concentrate on the stars and forget about the nameless grunt who logs in and helps make the big stories possible.