

Gamer steals from virtual world to pay real debts - aj
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE56141L20090702

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trickjarrett
EVE Online fascinates me. A few years ago there was a news story when
SomethingAwful's in game group decided to infiltrate one of the biggest
corporations in the game, and then at a signal all their sleeper agents
basically stole the company's entire inventory.

I don't think that stuff got cashed out, but this isn't the first time
something like this has happened in the game.

~~~
dougp
The Mittani is the spymaster of Goonfleet the corporation you are referring
to. He writes a weekly article about EVE that you will probably find
interesting.
[http://www.tentonhammer.com/search/node/sins+of+a+solar+spym...](http://www.tentonhammer.com/search/node/sins+of+a+solar+spymaster)

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gamerates
I covered this a bit on the GameRates blog
today([http://www.gamerates.com/posts/show/global_recession__virtua...](http://www.gamerates.com/posts/show/global_recession__virtual_crime_eve_bank_heist)).

With Eve these matters are a bit confusing as you can "role-play" a morally
bankrupt character or a thief and such behavior is at times semi-encouraged in
the game. Players known this when they sign up for the game. However, when you
use your trust within the community to steal from a player-formed bank and
then use the proceeds for real life gain it seems to cross an ethical
boundary.

I've debated before over the justification for real money trade
([http://www.gamerates.com/posts/show/debate_over_the_justifca...](http://www.gamerates.com/posts/show/debate_over_the_justifcation_and_legality_of_rmt))
and compared the "War on Gold Farming" to the "War on Drugs"
([http://www.gamerates.com/posts/show/the_war_on_drugs__the_wa...](http://www.gamerates.com/posts/show/the_war_on_drugs__the_war_on_virtual_currency)),
but all of those arguments required that the RMT/gold farming be a sort of
"victimless crime" which would not hurt the game or community anymore than if
you choose to play extra hours instead of outsourcing that boring playtime to
China (boring repetitive gameplay is at anything a game flaw in MMO's as it's
expensive to make original unique gameplay that can keep players busy for
months/years; and very cheap to make them replay the same event hundreds of
times aka "farming").

It seems the thief made the common mistake that just because you are anonymous
and online that it is somehow OK to cheat and steal. I mean how many of you
have had someone try to cheat you out of something online, but doubt the same
person would ever be so brazen in person? It didn't seem like the theif was
"role-playing" to enhance the wild-wild-west-in-space nature of the game
either. He stole virtual money from a bank he was entrusted with (that players
had spent a great deal of time acquiring and valued) and then sold it to a
website that spams virtual currency ads to pay some bills.

It is one thing to outsource boring parts of the game to another to player for
you, and another to steal from your fellow players and then sell the proceeds
to pay your personal bills. If the player who did this was fine with his
actions, he should have publicly released his name. However, hiding behind
anonymity shows he's probably not that comfortable with his actions "role-
play" be dammed.

I know if I ran a google search of his name and this was the top story that
came up I'd have reserves about hiring him.

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pmichaud
This reminds me of the story about China banning gold farming. It's such a
gray area because you have this virtual play money affecting the real money
supply. It's almost like counterfeiting because of it's potential deflationary
effects, but it doesn't fall under the law as such yet. I wonder how this will
play out in years to come.

~~~
Tichy
How would that work, though? So to counterfeit money, one could just take two
people and make them sell air to each other?

Or is it because the virtual currency becomes real currency as soon as there
is an exchange rate? Then it depends on the economics of the virtual world
(there isn't always an infinite supply of virtual money).

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jsz0
My first thought was he could have stopped playing video games hours a day and
got a part time job to cover his debts but I'll admit his scheme seems to have
worked pretty well. Someday an MMO maker is going to see the opportunity here
and allow players to cash in items/gold for real life currency.

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zandorg
I remember mentioning to my friend in 2000 that you could "Mine gold in an
imaginary world" [Ultima Online] and he said it was the best job title ever.

Then history caught up with me in about 2003 and suddenly it was big news.

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Tichy
Sounds as if he got away with it and doesn't even have regrets.

~~~
Tuna-Fish
The only thing about what he did that was against the T&C of Eve was
converting his credits to real money.

Eve online is modeled after a frontier, and as such, many things that are
strictly banned in other MMOs are actually encouraged in Eve. If you manage to
gain the trust and passwords of someone high up in some alliance, and transfer
all his assets to yourself, it's considered good intrigue and gameplay by CCP.

~~~
electromagnetic
There's an entire bounty system set up in game, if you've got a problem with
someone you either deal with it yourself or pay someone stronger to deal with
it for you. It's a very simple system, and I'm unsure why so many people are
using the 'banks' in game, because it's essentially handing money over to
someone who can now buy an unstoppable ship.

Personally my 'bank' account was collecting ores in secure stations.

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DanHulton
This is such OLD NEWS. I remember reading about this WEEKS ago.

Not to be a snob or anything, but it's funny how long it takes the "real
media" to cover a story like this.

~~~
DanHulton
Curious as to why I got modded down to hell. It's an interesting aspect of the
story that nobody's covering - the fact that while newsworthy, traditional
media took forever to address it.

~~~
allenbrunson
if you had used the same tone in your first comment that you are using here,
you likely wouldn't have been voted down.

now that you've restated it in a calm way, i can see that you might have a
point. but your first comment reads like a flame. your own noise drowned out
your signal.

~~~
DanHulton
A good point and an excellent reason to quit commenting pre-coffee.

Lesson learned.

