That was the message from The Mittani this morning on Twitter, the announcement that there would be a new EVE Online site on the web, one modestly named after the most well known player in the game: Himself.
And so was born The Mittani Dot Com.
But it isn’t a site dedicated to The Mittani or just his writing. Instead the plan is to create a new EVE Online focused news site.
Endie, one of the more most well spoken member of the EVE community and someone I hope will be a regular at the new site, wrote the welcome post, which opened with:
Welcome to your numbered, collector’s first edition of TheMittani.com, a gaming site with a particular focus on Eve Online. Our goal is to create a combination of news and commentary for you that is both up-to-date and insightful, and one which combines old-fashioned fact-checking with a broad range of contributors in order to provide an authoritative source of updates for Eve Online and everything that interests Eve Online players. We have by far the largest team working on any Eve-related site – currently over twenty people both behind the scenes and producing content, and we hope that that breadth of talent will show in the quality of what you read.
The opening post is long and covers various aspects of the “how, why, and who” of the site so far. The goal is a focus on quality.
Our goal at TheMittani.com is to set a high standard for the quality of writing on this site. We hope to provide as balanced a view as possible, so that those on all sides of Eve’s conflicts can come here for information, even if they sometimes disagree with the analysis of one writer or another. And most importantly, we hope to give you something far more interesting than work to do on a Monday morning in that awkward gap between getting that first cup of coffee and fictionalising your timesheets.
So there it is.
They have even managed to avoid that common error of launching a site and having nothing to see. There are already a number of articles posted. Some have been seen elsewhere, but there is enough new to make it viable.
Aside from the lack of an RSS feed, it looks like a damn fine venture so far. We shall see how it develops.
Edit: There is now an RSS Feed.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
Hmm… “we hope to provide as balanced a view as possible”. We shall see. Because the Mittani’s web site doing balanced reporting sounds about as plausible as Philip Morris doing balanced reporting on the benefits and dangers of smoking. Or a party newspaper talking about how their party messed up.
Cute design, though. And the book review corner gives it a faux-intellectual ring.
LikeLike
Well all process information through our own lens. I would give the site as much chance as any, if not more, of trying for balance if only because the people will expect it to become the official organ of the Goons. At least it should be readable.
The comments are already beginning to pour in, so the site seems to have generated interest on its first day.
LikeLike
I like the fact we have more choice in our Eve news – important stuff! To be honest I have never paid much attention to whether Riverini was biased in one direction or the other, it was always cool to see someone care enough to write about the things happening. Was always neat to see or say “I was there in that fight!” – or you can go read Kugu where you get about 1 post per 50 that is worthwhile.
I will give it a chance and see what its about. Sort of on my circuit of pages I read throughout the day.
LikeLike
I have a strong desire to make some derogatory comment but that looks like a very nice and useful website. Easily the best looking EVE website I have come across.
Am i naive to assume that the obvious effort put into the website makes it unlikely to be used for disinformation.
LikeLike
Seems pretty Fox Newsy so far, “Fair and Balanced” screams not fair or balanced… imo.
LikeLike
@MAH – I don’t think they actually used the phrase “fair and balanced.” What I saw was, “We hope to provide as balanced a view as possible.” We’ll see how that plays out in the long term I suppose.
Of course, rushing to judgement doesn’t exactly scream fair or balanced either. Just saying.
LikeLike
You caught me Wilhelm! I did jump to conclusions, however, I did read their article on the Mining Barge changes and it just seemed very one sided. I mean it just seems like propaganda, admittedly, it is only ONE article and maybe that author used to be a ganker so he’s sour but ehhh seems like they’re muscling in on the real bloggers. :P
Here’s a link to the article: http://themittani.com/features/truth-behind-exhumer-rebalancing
LikeLike
And to follow, up your own article does have the quote from the website “We hope to provide as balanced a view as possible, so that those on all sides of Eve’s conflicts can come here for information…” which seems disingenuous to me. /shrug Metagaming isn’t my thing though, I just like to shoot spaceships.
LikeLike
@MAH – Well, we will see if it is disingenuous or not. You are right, it is starting off with a null sec bias. I read that mining barge piece and thought it was starting to sound like somebody needed to harden up a bit themselves.
But it is one article… or one of a series of three which I suspect will not deviate from the initial path.
The big question is whether or not they can get somebody who doesn’t represent the null sec and ganker point of view on the site and writing. While the name they chose gives the thing instant attention, it might make it hard to get a high sec industrialist on board.
I doubt that they will let anything like, say, Yuki Onna, erstwhile of the White Rose Conventicle, who used to routinely compare the Goons to Nazis on board, but the ought to be able to find somebody.
Anyway, it is the first day. And even if it turns into a Goon null sec propaganda mill, it will be amusing to read.
LikeLike
I guess it all depends a bit on the definition of “balanced”. If you’re looking to balance out the overall EVE media landscape, a Goon might argue that there is no one to show the world their point of view, so they could offset other blatantly lopsided sites with their own propaganda, and everything will be fine.
If the goal is to provide balanced information and opinions from one source, then the best way would probably be to get cool-headed people from different strands of the game, and let them write side-by-side opinion pieces outlining their different opinions.
That would be cool. I wish I knew what the english-speaking equivalent of “Die Zeit” was, because then I could just say “just like they do their commentaries”.
One can dream? ;)
LikeLike