Posted Aug 22, 2006 at 01:42PM by Timo K. Listed in: News, Eve Online
Ó

Eve Online logoMost EVE Online players probably heard about the GHSC infiltration incident, when a group of agents worked for one of the most successful corporations in the game, spending over a year undercover to gain the trust of the members, who eventually granted them access to the corp hangars. What followed was one of the most incredible heists in MMORPG history, as the group stole over 30 billion ISK from the corporation as well as destroying the leader's ships and escape pods.

The community uproar was big and sparked one of the most interesting debates in regard to MMOs: In a fully open-ended game, with a player-driven economy and politics, should the developers step in and intervene when extreme things like this happen? Make no mistake, as cool as it sounds for outsiders and while the victims weren't innocents either, the work of GHSC ruined the efforts of many gamers who spent hundreds and thousands of hours in EVE trying to build up wealth and technology.

Now the community has barely had time to calm down and here it is, the next incident that easily surpasses the numbers GHSC achieved with their heist. It's the story of a guy named "cally", who ran a corporation, a player-operated bank called "Eve Intergalactic Bank". Over the course of four months, hundreds of players deposited money in his bank, which offered interest, loans and insurance like every other ordinary bank. Except for the fact that one day, cally decided to grab all the money that was deposited and fly off to space with an alleged total sum of 790 billion Isk. In real life, this would translate to $170,000 - quite possibly the biggest MMO scam ever conducted.

Not only that, he also took the time to record a video in which he confesses his crimes, makes fun of the community, and reveals that he is a pirate, who once held the highest bounty in the game.

No doubt this event will once again make the rounds on mainstream gaming sites as well, and it's time for your opinion on this. Do you think scams like this one make the game more compelling and more realistic? Or is it just a punch in the face for all the gamers just wanting to have fun, an unnecessary display of ego by someone who perhaps isn't successful in real life? We're very interested in your comments.

Download: [Cally's EVE Online Confession Video]

Thanks to Shinnen & Emma for sending this in!


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72 Comments


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   by skullwolf (Unregistered) - 2006-08-22
 » holy crap

holy crap, that dude's my hero. If the Devs step in, that's lame. A virtual economic collapse would be interesting to study.

   by frothy (Unregistered) - 2006-08-22
 » crazy

Its funny how much a virtual world can mirror the real one...I think the devs should wait to repair the damage until the players are allowed to make thier revenge on the culprits. But I commend the thiefs for their ingenuity, and the devs for making such an open ended 'game'.

   by Zev (Unregistered) - 2006-08-22
 » Let him play Eve from his prison cell

I would love to see the gamers make a real-life class action law suit against this guy. He made a contract which he then failed to fulfill. I wonder if he could actually end up in prison for fraud.
~Before you jump on that last sentence consider:
-On the Eve website it specifically states that individuals may peruse their grievances through out-of-game authorities.
-In any value trade there is either an implied, verbal or written contract.
-The legal question is simply whether "Cally" deliberately failed to fulfill his agreements.

   by Snowspot.net (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » Well...

THis makes me want to try playing these games. lol. But the dev's SHOULD NOT step in, the whole point of the game is that this is possible, anything is possible....so anything should be able to happen without people getting arrested.....ITS JUST A GAME!!!! If you don't want to lose time or money, don't invest a lot, it's a simple thing to understand.

   by Jordan (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » BALLS

WHO are we kidding?
someone is playing a game in a fantasy universe where you fly about and kill people.
He steals stuff, then people want to sue him in the real world!>?
What a joke.
ITS A GAME FOR F's SAKE. Why play a game if your going to be real.
When I play Grand Theft Auto I dont stop at lights and crossings when I am driving about! I run MOTHERS over!!
Thats what he did - he ran those cheesy mothers over.
Now they cry.
HA!

   by pGSX (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » I agree with Jordan

Its part of the game. It would be like suing someone you lost to at poker. Stealing from people is obviously part of the game - I know that I dont even play. People who do play have no excuse.

   by hmm (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » Now wait

I have played MMORPGs and have spent hours/days/months/years on such and to have it all ruined by some dip sh%6 who thinks how funny it would be if he did this would make me very very upset. Why would I waste my time on a game when some blow hard dude comes in and ruins the fun of it. These games are for fun past time and see how high in the ranks you can get. Not to punch these people in the face and kick em when there down so yea I think that it is unnessisary for things like this to happen in games like these

   by Akard (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23

/kneel to there guys! Awesome lol. A new scam-sama appear!

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   by Tom (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » @zev

I doubt it.. They willingly gave him their ISK. And until he sells it, he has made no real profit off of it other than ingame money.

Secondly, anyone who would go after him needs to get a life, and a brain. For being stupid enough to give isk to a PLAYER RUN corp.

@ dude who did this, rofl... thats the funniest thing i have heard all day lol..

   by Akard (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23

/kneel to these guys! Awesome lol. A new scam-sama appear!

   by eve player that was scamzzored (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » he is a f**kwit

that dentara rast guy scammed me outta nearly 20 billion isk that took me almost 2 years to build up. I hope he dies of testicular cancer -- if this ***** scammed you then spam his email address with hate mail dentara.rast@ntlworld.com
Thanks to him im quitting eve, the game that i love.


   Re: biz (Unregistered) - 2006-10-19
 » Owned

Son, you got sat the ***** down. 20billion isk, ROFL - this guy done the ultimate pirate number on loads of carebears.

Kudos mofo.
   by Eric (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » FUN!

This game looks like tons of fun! That actually makes me wanna play the game.

   by Tom (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » @ dude that got scammed...

Lol, you got owned by your stupidity then.

   by Snowspot.net (Unregistered) - 2006-08-23
 » 11

Get a life dude. Lol....it's a game, don't invest if you can't handle what can happen. ANd yeah, wishing someone would get cancer because of a game is probably the most immature thing I've ever heard. Someone who would say that obviously doesn't have all their priorities in the right place.


wow...

   by tieger (Unregistered) - 2006-08-24
 » part of the game

harsh? yes.
part of the game? yes.
should there be repercussions in real world? nope.

the only problem comes if he starts trying to sell that in-game-cash for real money. and you can bet the ccp arnt just gonna sit and let him do that - he's most likely going to be the most watched player in the game in the coming months, as will anyone to whom he trades a significant portion of the money to.

not sure what he plans to gain from it really. i mean, he cant sell it. And theres absolutely nothing he can do with that much cash realistically.

   by Runirokk (Unregistered) - 2006-08-24
 » Power to the People

Devs stay away from this one. What devs should do in instances like this is to give people the means to respond in the virtual world.

This is something that makes the game come alive, even though the scam is bad in itself. People might sue "Cally" - That would then take its due course. Break the law, get busted. The devs need to empower people in the game to make and uphold the law.

The folks that "Cally" scammed have themselves to blame, really. Everyone KNOWS this can happen. If you take the risk, you better be prepared to take the fall.

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   by Coyote (Unregistered) - 2006-08-24
 » Correct me if i'm wrong

Did he or didn't he make a contract with these gamers(clients of the so called bank) ?? If so then he's in direct violation of that contract and the Dev's should intervene like every real life lawsuit would take place. Sure they could have a hearing, but the man was stupid enough to confess this on video !!! Calling the others stupid if they signed a contract is one thing, but confessing to the WHOLE shabam afterwards (when there might be a contract in the dev's archives) WTF.

If there is a contract for the deal that went through with deposits from each corp/player then Dev's intervene.

If not then the players that deposited money into his "bank" - get ready to be called stupid.

my two cents

   by Tom (Unregistered) - 2006-08-24
 » I agree...

Coyote - Yes, if there was a contract something perhaps should be done to be in all fairness.

However, if there was not then they devs should not do anything as it was the players who willingly gave their ISK to the bank without a contract.

   by Ape Drape (Unregistered) - 2006-08-24
 » LOL

Contract? LOLOLOLOLOLOL
There's no contract. If there was a contract, it's not worth the paper it wasn't even written on.

Don't play MMOGs if you think its going to be all peace and puppies, stick to single player games.

Fools and their money.

   by Lee - EVE Player (Unregistered) - 2006-08-28
 » This scam is yet another lesson

The first thing that people who want to be sue happy need to remember that no property was actually stolen. In-game money and items still remain the property of CCP. CCP has always approved of scams and thieving in EVE-Online, so there really isn't much of a case here.

The people who put their money into EIB know there is no in-game mechanism to help them keep their money safe or to keep cally honest. It was all a trust relationship and those people just put their trust in the wrong person.

I remember when EIB appeared and my first thought was, "Damn, this is a obvious scam." But I guess there a lot of other people who don't have the same good sense as I did.

EVE-Online is a cut throat type of game where you can easily lose everything you own if you make stupid mistakes. I hope people learned their lessons. ;)

   by Cell Satimo (Unregistered) - 2006-08-29
 » There is one born every minute

Let's not forget that this so-called 'Bank' had no game mechanic supporting it's title. Nor did it have any game mechanic supporting the contracts.

Players basically mis-placed their trust in an unknown 3 month old alt character, who 'promised' them, to invest their money and give them a return.

So you have a bunch of players sending their game currency to essentially an unknown.

The main reason this particular pyramid scheme was so successful, it that Cally drew it out for a number of months. Previous schemes lasted only a week or two.

   by Suisfonia (Unregistered) - 2006-08-29
 » Pathetic.....

Sad.... real sad...

You play MMO's to have fun, to escape reality sorta speak. Then you suddenly have this prick come in and ruin the experience all because he's lonely and hasn't had any..

Truly sad...

I hope the dev's DO intervene, you play online game's to have fun, not to be scammed by idiots. Scam's are just as much illegal in real life as they are in a game, don't use a game as an excuse just to scam someone.

   by Eilie (Unregistered) - 2006-08-29
 » Idiots got what they deserved...

This was such an obvious scam. Many people posted on the forums warning people not to invest but they didn't listen.

There have been many other scams in EVE and the devs allow them all. Everyone knows this but they still keep falling for them... so they deserved to lose their money!

I just wish I was the one who did it. Maybe I'll start my own scam soon... :P

   by Pinda (Unregistered) - 2006-08-29
 » What if RL crimenals got their inetrrest in this??

Its a scam, people pay to play. They invest time and money. I think nomral laws should apply to this. What if RL crimenals start using this method to wash their dirty money???Just buy virtual money and sell it a months later...Its all possible..

   by Xvash2 (Unregistered) - 2006-08-29

Only adults can actually file any suit against Cally. A minor cannot be bound by a contract, written or bound, without a parent's permission.

   by Strenoth (Unregistered) - 2006-08-29
 » Contracts?

If there were any contracts, they were not between players. THe contracts woudl have been in-game contracts, which means it was between characters.

he's effectively an actor playing a part that only effects the game. Which doesn't mean you have to like him, but it does mean that no contract is going to be binding from character to player.

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   by Orientis (Unregistered) - 2006-08-29
 » No intervention!

Just think of the possibilities here! The devs should definitely not step in, as far as I can tell this is exactly why people play MMOGs, in order to do things they can't do in real life.

Imagine if the devs, instead of intervening in a real-life kinda way, create new game modules to take advantage of the biggest heist in in-game history? Imagine the bounties! The new crime factions!

I'm siding with the '/kneel to these guys' crowd. Good on him.

   by Sam (Unregistered) - 2006-08-30

If what the article said is true about the exchange rate 790 billion Isk = $170,000 then the best way to deal with him is to get the IRS involved. Now that is a slippery slope my friends but entirely plausable.

   by Yak (Unregistered) - 2006-08-30
 » Fantastic.

There's a sucker born every minute. It's no surprise that this many came along over the course of four months.

Heh. I started playing EVE because I hoped it would have such things. The best thing about this is that the devs will likely do nothing, as they should. They built the game precisely so things like this can play out. EVE isn't like most games, where there's a defined structure and path each character follows to promote order. It's a massively open-ended (and therfore chaotic) story with the players given all the tools to write it. This is just another chapter in that story, and an interesting one, too. I hope that my pirate career has such memorable events.

Be careful who you trust. It's just as true in the game as it is in real life.

   by AhrimaaN (Unregistered) - 2006-08-30
 » W00t

thats awesome shizzle...

this shoud be disputed ingame.. its retarded people want to get all suey on his arse when its a friggen game.. so solve it in the game - start a galactival bounty up to bring him down (in game police force) or something where the group that brings him down gets the money or something. I dunno... stuuuupid stuuupid cry babies want something out of the universe done. its the game, solve it in the game



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