EVE Online Banker Scams Over 80 Billion ISK

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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Specter_ said:
elmaxx said:
A friend of mine that plays this a lot says:

the maxim of this game is: Trust no one.
Isn't that the maxim of all mmorpgs?
Yeah, but only here you can loose all cash you have been investing in a firm for 4 years.

And have hundreds of people complaining, because someone stole their cash and you didn't stop him.

Jursa said:
Mmorpgs... you can now get screwed in both of your lives...
But this has been in all MMOs already.
 

Specter_

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Abedeus said:
Specter_ said:
elmaxx said:
A friend of mine that plays this a lot says:

the maxim of this game is: Trust no one.
Isn't that the maxim of all mmorpgs?
Yeah, but only here you can loose all cash you have been investing in a firm for 4 years.

And have hundreds of people complaining, because someone stole their cash and you didn't stop him.
But then again I'd call it your own fault if you invested all your money in just one company. Just like in real life...
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Indigo_Dingo said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
Indigo_Dingo said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
......

I'm astonished at this. Gold Farmers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88832-Gold-Farmers-Need-To-Be-Embraced] are TEH EBIL!, but Gold Hijackers are cool dudes?

So a game that has a robust economy unlike EQ or WOW...Uh?

Can someone explain this dichotomy of thought?
Difference between muggers and pirates man. They're still as bad, but he just has far more flair.
Doesn't an economy that can withstand this without having to employ dozens of Farmer-Deleters seem somewhat better though?
I'm not following your point.
Ok, in the former post the Redbedlam founder talked about building a strong economy so that Gold Farmers would have to risk economic instability, which was poo-poo'ed. But here the strength of Eve's economy protects itself versus a very similar attack and it's lauded. I'm just not getting the difference; especially as Xabier could easily sell the money on.

Is it just that he stole with panache rather than milking it?
 

smallharmlesskitten

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Apr 3, 2008
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Indigo_Dingo said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
Indigo_Dingo said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
......

I'm astonished at this. Gold Farmers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88832-Gold-Farmers-Need-To-Be-Embraced] are TEH EBIL!, but Gold Hijackers are cool dudes?

So a game that has a robust economy unlike EQ or WOW...Uh?

Can someone explain this dichotomy of thought?
Difference between muggers and pirates man. They're still as bad, but he just has far more flair.
Doesn't an economy that can withstand this without having to employ dozens of Farmer-Deleters seem somewhat better though?
I'm not following your point.
Ok, in the former post the Redbedlam founder talked about building a strong economy so that Gold Farmers would have to risk economic instability, which was poo-poo'ed. But here the strength of Eve's economy protects itself versus a very similar attack and it's lauded. I'm just not getting the difference; especially as Xabier could easily sell the money on.

Is it just that he stole with panache rather than milking it?
No. He stole it with Pancake.
 

Theo Samaritan

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Jul 16, 2008
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Break said:
It takes balls to let this kind of thing go on, but the success of EVE Online is proof that this is exactly the action some players are looking for.
Hell yes. This kind of thing makes me want to play EVE.

Exactly what can a ex-investments manager do with 80 million ISK?
80 billion ISK is one of those magic numbers. It is more than a lot of players will ever see, but for some of us it is pocket change.

I do know that 80 billion isk takes a long time to go down, and if its suitably invested he has a long road of riches ahead of him.

Fineldar said:
It's cool and all, and fun to do if your actually running a scam, not just withdrawing large sums from the bank vault, but what's the point? What could he possibly use that money for? He's pretty much won the game at this point.

He can't even play, since the entire game is PvP and you lose your shit when you die. Everyone would blow him up if they see him.
Despite what you think, this isn't the case. Tyrrax Thorrk was one of the main instigators beind the world-famous Guilded Hand Social Club scam, and even now he still steals some of the top end ships and items in the game from unsuspecting people. His total value in thefts has hit over 300billion. And yet, he is one of the most respected players in EVE (if not trustworthy).

In EVE, these kind of people while hated by many are congratulated by just as many. The only thing he has to deal with now are ingame mails begging him for isk.

CountFenring said:
This is why I would play EVE if my computer could run it.
If your computer is younger than 4 years, you can run it.

The_root_of_all_evil said:
......

I'm astonished at this. Gold Farmers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88832-Gold-Farmers-Need-To-Be-Embraced] are TEH EBIL!, but Gold Hijackers are cool dudes?

So a game that has a robust economy unlike EQ or WOW...Uh?

Can someone explain this dichotomy of thought?
The difference is that Gold Farmers have hold of literally Trillions [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Sandra_Dickinson_as_Trillian.jpg] of isk, and with as many people buying it as they do (it is unfortunate and they do get caught but) there is a lot more cash comming out of thin air than there is in circulation, causing a bit of inflation.

What Xabbie did (he hates it when I call him that, ah well) was take ownership of isk that was already in the economy, rather than isk that was just sat there.

And then we have the work:isk ratio. People hate gold farmers in EVE particularly (ignoring the spambots - which thankfully get taken out very quickly) because they feel that there is no work involved for the isk compared to earning it yourself. Pretty much every large fraud incident took a lot of work (when we are talking EVE here) and as such every major theft is celebrated for what it is - an impressive feat.

> Side Note:
As a whole, the population of EVE realise that the current legit system of selling Game Time Codes for ISK (another player driven market, just supported with a secure system from CCP) is essentially the same as buying ISK from a gold seller, but it is given more tolerance because firstly, CCP are still getting paid, and secondly due to the price difference it is vastly more expensive and pretty much impossible to buy the billions upon billions of ISK using this method that you can from a gold seller.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Ok...I think I'm beginning to understand that gold farmers work on the premise of real economy whilst gold hijackers work on the premise of in-game economy; but as Theo says, if farmers are going to exist anyway why not make provision for them doing that?

For instance: Gold/ISK that is kept is taxed whilst stored is not; and have an in-game IRS of sorts?

From the vibe I'm getting, a lot of the top players have done everything they can, so seek out new ways of having fun. Perhaps a job with the IRS could be their ultimate goal?
 

SirCannonFodder

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Nov 23, 2007
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Samah said:
Blank__ said:
Neat stuff. I recall reading a lengthy story/narrative about a guy who scams a bunch of investors out of several billion dollars worth of ingame stuff, including blueprints for a Battleship (..? I think it was whatever ship was most expensive back then). The lengths he went to to secure the money was incredible to read about; he even had to run to a local library to receive a call in the porn section from a skeptical, would-be investor! In the end, he couldn't figure out what to do with all the cash/guilt he had accumulated and randomly dumped it all on some n00b. Very well written stuff.
Ah I remember reading that one too... I must look for it at some stage. Almost as good as the P-P-P-Powerbook [http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/]!
Here you go [http://www.wirm.net/nightfreeze/part1.html].
 

Copter400

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Sep 14, 2007
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I am simultaneously impressed, disgusted and happy that I stopped playing that game.

But seriously, I totally agree with the writer. The idea that taking the resources the game designers have made available to the players, people have organized the huge corporations...it's staggering.
 

Solo508

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Jul 19, 2008
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Lmao... I love the seriousness of this. This is exactly why I don't play MMOs. Rofl.
 

Tyran107

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Nov 14, 2008
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Wow that's hillarious, and also why I don't play eve anymore. But I'm kind of confused, is there like a limit on how much your in game "bank" account that your character has can hold or something?(i never got into the uber amounts of cash) Cause I'm confused as to why there are player run banks cause I've been pod killed before but I still had all my shit (well other than my ship of course).
 

Lyri

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bkd69 said:
The main difference, I think, is that in conventional MMORPGs, the "economy" is little more than a rudimentary market, that's really an addon to the core gameplay, so any economic activity that takes place outside of those basic markets really comes down to metagaming.

In Eve, on the other hand, CCP's non-intervention in the economy has allowed a highly sophisticated financial market to grow that comprises a core gameplay element.
If anything the main difference is that Gold farmers work outside the rules of the game, they use 3rd party programmes to farm their piles of treasure whilst other gamers suffer a time to money ratio.
This player seemingly worked within the "Laws" of the game, he didn't use 3rd party programmes (That we know of) and still ended up walking away with a giant sum of money.
There is something charming about that, in all honesty.

Perhaps I'm romanticizing it but i personally would love to be a rogue with such a name and price on my head.
It's utterly wonderful.

Edit in: I just remembered, i had a brief stint on Eve myself and the game itself has the option to steal and loot from other players.
The fact this has happened to a player run banking society is completely plausible and people should be prepared for swindles of this nature to take place.
They've created a society and within every society there will be people looking for the golden egg so to speak.
This guy found it, kudos to him.
 

Theo Samaritan

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Jul 16, 2008
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Tyran107 said:
Wow that's hillarious, and also why I don't play eve anymore. But I'm kind of confused, is there like a limit on how much your in game "bank" account that your character has can hold or something?(i never got into the uber amounts of cash) Cause I'm confused as to why there are player run banks cause I've been pod killed before but I still had all my shit (well other than my ship of course).
Simple, they make money from loan interest, and people who use the banks get interest on their isk, which in turn makes more isk and so on.
 

Evilbunny

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Feb 23, 2008
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The nice thing about EVE that separates it from real life is that when somebody pulls off a scam and steals billions of dollars in EVE, somebody can just off the bastard. In real life you get in trouble if you do that.
 

bkd69

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Nov 23, 2007
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Wizzie said:
bkd69 said:
The main difference, I think, is that in conventional MMORPGs, the "economy" is little more than a rudimentary market, that's really an addon to the core gameplay, so any economic activity that takes place outside of those basic markets really comes down to metagaming.

In Eve, on the other hand, CCP's non-intervention in the economy has allowed a highly sophisticated financial market to grow that comprises a core gameplay element.
If anything the main difference is that Gold farmers work outside the rules of the game, they use 3rd party programmes to farm their piles of treasure whilst other gamers suffer a time to money ratio.
This player seemingly worked within the "Laws" of the game, he didn't use 3rd party programmes (That we know of) and still ended up walking away with a giant sum of money.
That's metagaming.