Someone has vandalized the new Eve Online monument, which was unveiled last week (opens in new tab) as the Fanfest player meetup began in Reykjavík, Iceland. Posting on Twitter (opens in new tab) with the account "@The_Real_Gevlon" (unlikely to be the real Gevlon (opens in new tab) ), the vandal targeted player Xenuria by scratching out his or her name. Developer CCP, the Eve Online community, and the country of Iceland are not nearly as impressed by the prank as the bragging defacer—they're pursuing criminal charges.
"This is damage of public property in the City of Reykjavik," writes Community Manager CCP Falcon in the official forums (opens in new tab) . "The police have been informed, and investigation is ongoing. This is not a laughing matter, and will be dealt with as a criminal offence. We are currently reviewing security footage from a number of surrounding buildings."
"What's happened is absolutely disgusting," continues Falcon. "It's an insult to the entire community and is clearly the work a person who believes that behavior in a virtual world is a valid reason to make a real life personal attack on someone, and deface public property."
However the Eve community feels about Xenuria—who, apparently, is not very popular—the near consensus on the vandalization is in line with Falcon's outrage. "Shameful," wrote (opens in new tab) infamous Eve alliance leader The Mittani. "I dislike Xenuria, but that's a monument to all of us, not just some of us."
According to accounts from players at Fanfest (opens in new tab) , The Mittani's Goonswarm Federation also defaced the monument, but with a regular sticker, which supporters say can easily be removed. The reaction to that prank has been gentle compared to anger over the scratches, which ranges from disbelief to enraged condemnation.
The most consistent message is that, while Eve is happy to be a virtual world full of villainy and piracy, in-game behavior should never spill into the real world. Tempering the outrage, though, Falcon has also condemned finger pointing and rumor-mongering, and has agreed to go easy on the vandal if they voluntarily come forward. If that happens, CCP will "take it as a gesture of good faith after an extremely stupid act that was committed."
As for repairs, Falcon says (opens in new tab) CCP will "most likely" have to replace the plate with the scratched name.
