Comments on: The question is - was this illegal?

The question is - was this illegal?

Orange Goblin — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 09:44:42 -0800

By: quonsar

quonsar — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 09:53:20 -0800

news flash. decades into the internets existence, whippersnapper stumbles over fact that people behave in fantasy worlds as poorly as they behave in life. film at eleven.

By: papercake

papercake — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 10:00:52 -0800

In case you haven't deduced by now, mining in Eve Online is about as fun as fucking a fat chick's festering corpse. Lovely kid.

By: rks404

rks404 — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 10:33:38 -0800

Definitely an interesting article, it's a good peek at a world that I don't have the stomach or the time to play. I saw someone playing EVE once. They opened up one of their accounts or wallet or something in the game and I swear the screen looked more complicated than QuickBooks. I gave up any hope of playing the game right then and there.

By: JakeEXTREME

JakeEXTREME — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 10:54:33 -0800

Man, mmorpg scams are way more complicated now then they used to be.

By: gravelshoes

gravelshoes — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 05:21:15 -0800

I tried out EVE a couple of months ago to see what all the fuss was about. It's the only MMORPG I've experienced, but it's an incredible piece of work. It sucked up a week of my life before I knew it. Thankfully some arsehole blew my ship up and the prospect of starting over again cured me instantly. Since 100m EVE isk currently go for about $90 the scammer has technically stolen about $600. Could he be taken to court?

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 05:36:42 -0800

As I understand it, all virtual money and property in a MMORPG is owned by the company that makes the game, which is why such companies don't officially condone the selling of things on ebay. So, as the virtual money always remained the in the game and in possession of the company, nothing legally changed hands, so there was no theft. Doesn't seem quite right though, hence the post title.

By: spazzm

spazzm — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 08:14:40 -0800

"[EVE] rewards the greedy and violent, and punishes the hardworking and honest [...]" Sounds pretty realistic to me.

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 11:40:36 -0800

In case you haven't deduced by now, mining in Eve Online is about as fun as fucking a fat chick's festering corpse. Jesus... get a life kid.

By: abcde

abcde — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 11:41:34 -0800

It probably actually is illegal (there was a real contract, so it's fraud) - but no one would waste a greater amount of money than they've been scammed out of to pursue it legally.

By: Busithoth

Busithoth — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 12:19:15 -0800

Wow. I read through this entire, epic scam. An entertaining read, especially since I've no interest in playing the game myself. I had a hard time understanding the power aspect of the game, since the kid would describe having this super-powerful ship, only to have it get blown to shit in no time by a single pirate. and that's after building up his character for months. No thanks. but the last guy he scammed, who threatened so much retribution, he must've found this website, since it's posted under the same screenname as the one the author used to scam everyone... I guess nothing ever came of it, though. At least it keeps the kids off the streets, right?

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 13:51:31 -0800

Eh, this is incredibly outdated, past its prime, and everyone watches for scams these days. Just like in real life, scammers can only work well if people cooperate with them. Either game designers design to fix bugs, or players start realizing that they could be scammed and learn tactics to figure out if someone's a scammer or note. (For instance, if gravelshoes up there had bought insurance on his ship, he wouldn't have had to start over again because the insurance company would've paid out enough to buy a new ship with...) Eve-online is in a constant state of flux, design-wise. It's a work in progress and there's at least one large feature or content-changing patch every month. However, it is incredibly complex. It isn't mindless at all. It's about life strategy, as well as business strategy and combat tactics. I love it because I'm a business major and I can find ways to accomplish things and make profits that casual players can't.

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 14:08:29 -0800

And sheesh, this guy's a loser. Fly out to 0.0 in a lifepod?! Fer chrissakes. And he obviously didn't have any sort of insurance at all, otherwise it would've been impossible for him to lose *any* of his stats. This is a very misleading story.

By: skallas

skallas — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 14:18:23 -0800

I spent years playing this game, except it was called Tradewars and had less whiney kids and cost nothing.

By: chrid

chrid — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 15:20:47 -0800

I play Eve Online, and although I find this story fascinating (and the writing horrible) I have no sympathy with anyone involved. Well, maybe apart from that one guy, whose name I can't remember. Yeah, him. Sucks to be that one guy. Yeah. Anyway, once the scammer had done the deal, he discovered the ultimate truth. Once you have broken the game, it's broken, and you can't have fun playing it any more. Ten zillion squigmillion points to you my friend, spend them wisely.

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 17:20:12 -0800

[this looks boring, but is really interesting]

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 17:44:53 -0800

Actaully, I take that back; it's only kind of interesting. And my bullshit detector went off a few times. Still, worth a read.

By: firestorm

firestorm — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 20:33:16 -0800

fun to read. I like the writing. On the side, stop blaming the kids. Everyone was immature, but not everyone was a dumbass. Chances are if you were a dumbass then, you are probably still one now. I don't understand how a little bit of wisdom that everyone's supposed to pick up could suddenly cure you of your fundamental flaws.

By: DWRoelands

DWRoelands — Mon, 16 Aug 2004 05:32:19 -0800

While some of the details are almost certainly embellished, my own experiences in MMORPGs lead me to believe that the basic facts of the story are probably true. This guy probably pulled off a huge scam, going so far as to seed EVE message boards with phony conversations. After seeing the degree to which some people allow their lives to be overwhlemed by these games, I don't doubt that someone would go to such lengths for virtual currency. All that being said, this validates (in my mind) my decision to stay away from EVE Online. I don't mind player-vs-player combat, but I always suspected that EVE was just a big gank-fest. Paying a monthy subscription fee for the privilege of being jacked by some summer-vacation high-schooler is not my idea of a good time.