For quite some time, the Jita solar system has been the most populated solar system in EVE Online on a sustained basis, having organically risen as the main player trade hub in game due to its location and the basic human need to gather together and trade stuff.
And, starting last Friday, it was on fire.
The planning happened both in game and outside of game, via voice over IP chat, secret forums, Twitter and more. Using game mechanics and some very impressive logistics, the coalition, lead by a group known as Goonswarm, amassed a tremendous amount of manpower and ships in a concentrated effort that would probably make many real life military strategists jaw-drop.
…we reinforced the Jita solar system on our beefiest hardware, further reinforced all neighbouring systems and set out to monitor the event and provide the best experience we could to willing (and unwilling) participants. Then things started to unfold a day earlier than announced on Friday morning. We gathered data and fine-tuned the systems and as CCP Veritas put it: “It’s okay, didn’t want that Friday night anyway.”
Awesome writeup of handling a big, sprawling, user-generated load spike. It’s all the more fun to read because of the space opera/spy intrigue backdrop of EVE Online, one of the craziest, coolest online worlds you’ve never heard of.