The New York Times (registration required) has a report on a new development in EVE Online, as CCP has announced plans to hold elections to place players in the role of ombudsmen to oversee in-game activities to ensure fairness (thanks FiringSquad). After being rocked by scandals where some players of the game allegedly used their positions as developers to obtain advantages (story and story), CCP is looking to restore some lost credibility:

So now CCP plans the radical step of opening itself up to independent oversight: nine player-overseers who will act as ombudsmen for the game’s subscribers. The company says it will hold the elections in the fall.

“I envision this council being made up of nine members selected by the players themselves, where you announce your candidacy, and if you win the election, they come here to Iceland, and they can look at every nook and cranny and get to see that we are here to run this company on a professional basis,” said Mr. Petursson, CCP’s chief executive. “They can see that we did not make this game to win it.”