In what sounds like the plot of a movie, this weekend’s EVE Vegas 2018 event in Las Vegas almost fell apart at the last minute only to be saved by a player making a discreet back room call to a contact at the Department of Homeland Security. It seems that containers full of equipment and supplies needed for the event were being held for inspection by customs and wouldn’t be processed in time for the event opening.
EVE Online player Commander Aze went to registration at the event early and learned of the issue, but Commander Aze was in a position to help. A quick call to the right people to help explain the situation and the containers were processed and released. The volunteer Streamfleet team worked around the clock to make up lost time and get everything set up on time, and so the event was saved.
We spoke with EVE Online Community Manager Paul ‘CCP Falcon’ Elsy to get the lowdown on this bizarre story.
“We had a couple of containers come in late through shipping. So [CCP Guard] tweeted out about it and we actually have a person who plays EVE who’s [job title]. He got in contact with a guy at Homeland Security at CBP and the guy was just like ‘Yep,’ the forms got stamped, and the stuff got shipped.
It arrived here with hours to spare and everything got set up, Streamfleet and our technical guys worked super hard all through the night to get everything running and we were streaming on time. It’a not what you know, it’s who you know! You would never find that anywhere else in gaming, EVE players have their tentacles everywhere.” – Community Manager Paul ‘CCP Falcon’ Elsy
First and foremost I want to say yes I made a call when I heard what had happened, as a status check with someone I know personally over in the airport it was processing through. I want to be clear this was not bypassing any required checks or removing any level of scrutiny on the contents; nor was I asking or implying for preferential treatment in the que of processing.
I asked about the status (recieved a we will look into it) and got a healthy laugh when I told them what it was all for. At no point in time did I ask for any preferential treatment. It was several hours later that the equipment was processed through and released to CCP. And I believe the gear made it very early morning the day of the keynote.
That said I’ve suggested to CCP they ship the equipment earlier in the future in case things get flagged for additional screening. I do want to personally thank Customs for the great work they did in getting the equipment through the process in time for the event to be pulled off.
