I take it as him denying all of it.

He lies all the time. His style of leadership to the rank and file is to provide a narrative they can buy into, and whether the facts fit that narrative or not doesn't matter. He just needs to keep the narrative roughly coherent for everyone to consume in his group.

To my eyes he's currently playing the, "I'm the victim here, but despite being blameless I will step down for the greater good of the organization" martyrdom and us vs them story. That sets him up nicely for a return to visible power after a few months.

To be clear on the 3 points I listed out, the only thing I can personally attest to is that the pedophile in question is indeed a pedophile, as we kicked him out of my former group many years ago once we found out and that he somehow found a landing spot inside of Goons despite them knowing full well what he was.

He denies everything, that is his MO.

The chatlogs of him calling the victim of harrasment a "bitch who could not find the block button", "Wounded bird", "Amber heard" etc is sufficient to want him out of power and indeed the game.

I do believe most of the other accusations - but won't claim anything is definitely true.

It indicates a change of culture that Goonswarm would care about that sort of thing enough to encourage Mittani to exit instead of (at best) just taking it as part of the old "dogs will be dogs" internet culture.

(Not a bad change; just observing the turning of the wheel).

In the end, Goonswarm is nothing but a tool for him. A way to make money and to feed his ego. I highly doubt this is anything but a tactic to move away from the limelight while maintaining tight control. The way Eve's mechanics work, he has to maintain that control or some fuckwad could tear it all down overnight.

In game power has been moved already (The executor corp is under the control in game of Xttz, and Goonswarm under TheAdj).

I don't doubt that the majority of the coalition would happily welcome him back though, the people outraged at his behaviour are loud and passionate but the minority for sure

So that begs an interesting question. EVE Online has one of the most nakedly Machiavellian power structure social dynamics I can think of in any multiplayer game. The combination of hypercapitalist core rules mechanics and hands off approach from moderators makes it a game where power is power.

If the people outrage it his behavior are a minority, why is he leaving? They must be a minority holding a big enough stick to prevent being simply ignored or marginalized.

It is an interesting question to which I do not have a good answer. I personally expected him to take a couple months off to "reflect", ban the troublemakers, and come back refreshed.

To quote: > the_mittani: and just like last time, i will simply put heads on spikes over and over again until order is restored, with the occasional oops sorry about that one overly enthusiastic apology thrown in

I believe the real issue was his name being dragged through the mud on Reddit and SomethingAwful etc. I think his monetisation was also being attacked - sponsors of shows and so on simply do not like being associated with this sort of stuff. I still simply do not know what was going through his head. But stepping down for "the greater good" and playing the victim may simply be a tactic to let things die down