Ishukone Watch Scorpion Giveaway Statement

I've held off giving an opinion on this topic as I wasn't sure where I stood as I listened to the different viewpoints.

I also had to balance any thoughts I had with my position against CCP using SOMER Blink for its giveaway recently in "Its not the Ships, its the Venue" post.

So here goes.

1) CCP is not obligated to tell the community when it gives out gifts to players AS LONG AS the gifting is overseen by CCP's Internal Affairs department to ensure fairness.

2) The gift in question, Ishukone Watch Scorpions, may be expensive on the market due to rarity but are not unbalancing game mechanics-wise. Nor do they have any implied rarity status (i.e. not limited edition) or history.

3) SOMER Blink may be a third party for profit business, but also runs on "employees" paid in ISK and plex which effectively makes them similar to volunteers. And SOME Blink is a huge community supporter for events and giveaways (admittedly that pays back in increased advertising).

4) The ship has been given to other players in other organizations for other reasons.

Therefore, I think this controversy is a manufactured one that exploded due to the spotlight being on SOMER Blink already due to the Gold Magnate and Guardian Vexor giveaway fiasco last month. I think CCP is in the right here and should continue giving away Ishukone Watch Scorpions as they see fit as long as everything is on the up and up and overseen by impartial observers in the company.