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


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   by B2point1 (Unregistered) - 2006-09-03

two words
BOUNTY HUNTERS
put a contract on his vert arse & drag him in

   by ctron (Unregistered) - 2006-09-04
 » No Police Much Crime

Eve itself doesn't offer the means to actually go against such big time offenders. Bounties are useless if he simply changes accounts.

This is where Eve and real life differs. In RL we have police, courts and considerable punishments for criminals. It acts as a deterrent.

I really think that in such big cases Eve devs should intervene. They can track the money across accounts. Close those that benefitted from the money (through donations:)) and if T&C permit it, even pursue legal action against the most severe cases. After all, such criminal activities are hurting the game, and in doing so are hurting CCP. How many scammed accounts have been closed already? Just a few actions like this and you'll see scam artists running away.

   by Anthony Damiani (Unregistered) - 2006-09-04
 » This is fantastic

I mean, crime is PART of the game. This is totally emergent gameplay. Can you imagine an RPG with a big-score heist mentality built in? Now, there may be ToS issues-- I believe Blizzard authorizes GM intervention for fraudulent trade, but crime of any sort isn't intended as a gameplay element there.

The real danger here is if the IRS gets involved. They could easily make a real hash of all sorts of online economies.

   by JeaLouS (Unregistered) - 2006-09-06
 » CCP should offer some sort of recourse for those who were scammed

The only thing i don't agree with is that he bought the Cally character. i can understand CCP not stepping in to do anything, but its not like in the real world where you're still physically the same person just with a different alias or something.

He bought another persons character after having already pissed off half the universe with his main.. and since the heist went down he's gone and bought another one. There's no way to track him via the game, so there's not even a chance for recourse in the game when it can be played like that. 'Concord' (ingame police) quickly blow people up who try to pirate in protected areas, but they aren't able to do anything at all to this guy when he steals a huge some of cash from the entire galaxy?

I'd have quit and given CCP the finger unless they refunded the money, or allowed me to track that guys different characters in the game so i could hire mercs to be on him 24x7.

Nobody deserves to be stolen from. Nobody deserves to be scammed. Sure there are stupid and foolish people, but thats like saying a women deserves to be raped for dressing a certain way.

Put your epeens away.

   by Athenian (Unregistered) - 2006-09-07

It's an ethical error to let fools keep their money.

   by Thunderballs (Unregistered) - 2006-09-07
 » Sad?

what is ultimately sad about theserthings is that the masjority of players truly want their vision of what mmog should bo become reality.

the najority want simple risk-free worlds with a sugar coating.

We should not expect developers to intervene in virtual worlds jsut becasue a majority of players get annoyed becasue their plans have been twarted by someone elses actions - as logn as those actions are withing the actual ruules of the game.

As another poster has said - decvelopers should try to develop the means by which players like this can be bought to account - but this will be extremely difficult to do unles it is purely based on a random outcome not a volume based process (becasue 99% or more of a gaming community will deliver whatever they need to deveiver to hound these sorts of people out of the game).

Sometimes the bigger the scam - the harder it is for peopel to belive it is a scam - learn to play, learn about life - the crowd is not always the safest place to be

   by Thunderballs (Unregistered) - 2006-09-07
 » Sad?

what is ultimately sad about theserthings is that the masjority of players truly want their vision of what mmog should bo become reality.

the najority want simple risk-free worlds with a sugar coating.

We should not expect developers to intervene in virtual worlds jsut becasue a majority of players get annoyed becasue their plans have been twarted by someone elses actions - as logn as those actions are withing the actual ruules of the game.

As another poster has said - decvelopers should try to develop the means by which players like this can be bought to account - but this will be extremely difficult to do unles it is purely based on a random outcome not a volume based process (becasue 99% or more of a gaming community will deliver whatever they need to deveiver to hound these sorts of people out of the game).

Sometimes the bigger the scam - the harder it is for peopel to belive it is a scam - learn to play, learn about life - the crowd is not always the safest place to be

It is far too simplistic to use adolescent abuse and attempts to marginalise people who scam as sad. They play a role, and no they are not necessarily real world criminals bullys or anything else- they role play !

   by Machinator (Unregistered) - 2006-09-10
 » It was fun..

How about - this is all there is to do in EVE. A bunch of *****wads, ripping each other off. Sounds like real life. Fun?

I dont think so.

If EVE had any sort of engaging game beyond what was player-created, than this sort of thing might not happen. As it stands, people are bored to ***** with mining.

RIP EVE

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   by Chris (Unregistered) - 2006-09-14
 » The developers should stay out of this.

The developers of EVE have no business controlling this sort of issue. Part of the game is the player run community, and any and all actions the bankers took to gain that money was perpetrated through the rules of the game.

Just as you do not expect Parker Brothers to step into and fix an individual shady deal in a game of Monopoly, CCP should not offer any sort of support to those that made an alliance with the wrong people.

   by zz (Unregistered) - 2006-09-27
 » GIME YO MONEY

yea right like your dumb enough to gime your money.

oh wait eve is

   by Nigedo (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » Fools and their money!

This is not the first time this has happened and, as long as there are idiots prepared to trust only the words of others, without game mechanics in place to protect contracts, it will not be the last either.

The scammed got everything they deserved.

And I strongly doubt the amount of ISK published here. I have seen that figure rise from 450 billion to the now indicated 700+ since this scam first surfaced. Urban mythology tends to exagerrate the facts.



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