Eve Online: CCP to form 'oversight committee' from playerbase to audit the company

I get to reference an actual, respected news source today, and that makes me happy. The New York Times is reporting that in response to the most recent allegations of developer misconduct, CCP is treating the game like a democratic nation and forming an oversight committee to audit CCP's internal workings:

So now, in a sociological twist, the company that makes Eve, CCP, based in Iceland (population 300,000), says it will tackle the problem the way a democracy would. In what appears to be a first, the company plans to hold elections so that players can select members of an oversight committee.

The company will then fly those players to Iceland regularly so they can audit CCP's operations and report back to their player-constituents. And taking cues from transitions to democracy in the developing world, CCP says it will call in election monitors from universities in Europe and the United States.

"Perception is reality, and if a substantial part of our community feels like we are biased, whether it is true or not, it is true to them," Hilmar Petursson, CCP's chief executive, said in a telephone interview. "Eve Online is not a computer game. It is an emerging nation, and we have to address it like a nation being accused of corruption.

"A government can't just keep saying, 'We are not corrupt.' No one will believe them. Instead you have to create transparency and robust institutions and oversight in order to maintain the confidence of the population."

I myself do not plan to run for one of the 9 positions. It will be interesting to see what the final makeup of the committee itself is. As we learned in Florida in 2000, elections can be rigged as well. All it's going to take is one too many members of BoB getting in, and this goodwill gesture will all be for naught.

I really do hope they get responsible, mature and unbiased players that will take this seriously. I think it's a great opportunity to show that some companies understand how to deal with their players' concerns, and not do things like Blizzard.