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Occasionally you'll see a story about a dramatic months long heist take place in Eve Online [1] - the in game currency of Eve is loosely convertible to real wor

Occasionally you'll see a story about a dramatic months long heist take place in Eve Online [1] - the in game currency of Eve is loosely convertible to real world USD currency and the amounts 'stolen' (this is a tricky point because it happens in game) are real world significant: tens of thousands of dollars. Bitcoin strikes me as similar, it has a weird quasi real feel to it, there are markets that trade between BC and USD and spot prices and everything, but I have a hard time thinking how/if a prosecution could occur with it. [1] - http://gamergaia.com/pc/1724-eve-online-space-heist-one-trillion-isk.html http://gamergaia.com/pc/1724-eve-online-space-heist-one-tril...

ChuckMcM 15y ago
This is an intriguing parallel. I'm only personally familiar with World of Warcraft gold farmers, but have read about Eve, Star Wars, even Everquest folks trading goods/gold for real $$. So computationally, I wonder what the cost to 'mine' a bitcoin is, vs the cost to 'generate 1000 gold' in an MMO that sells for an equivalent amount? I will definitely have to add this to my never ending book project.
- michaelbuckbee 15y ago
  I was referring to more of a cultural feel and my own reactions, I never made the link of computation to computation, we need an economist to weigh in on this. Also, if you find this sort of thing intriguing you might enjoy Charles Stross's Halting State - http://www.amazon.com/Halting-State-ebook/dp/B000W9180A/ http://www.amazon.com/Halting-State-ebook/dp/B000W9180A/
- TazeTSchnitzel 15y ago
  The cost to "mine" a bitcoin isn't constant, the network is self-regulating and the difficulty increases over time, to ensure a certain rate of supply.
stcredzero 15y ago
Occasionally you'll see a story about a dramatic months long heist take place in Eve Online As far as I can tell, investment opportunities in Eve are pretty much all Ponzi schemes. Much of the political change and economic activity centers around monopolizing certain things in 0-security space that are like "dungeons" and "quests" and much of that happens through skullduggery and betrayal. I quit playing Eve because in some ways, it was too emotionally involving.
- relaunched 15y ago
  I loved Eve...and hated it too. The idea of free-actions through any space, pirates and what not was awesome. The politics, empire building and something for everyone rule system was great. And the economy was amazing. +1 on being too emotionally involving

ChuckMcM 15y ago

This is an intriguing parallel. I'm only personally familiar with World of Warcraft gold farmers, but have read about Eve, Star Wars, even Everquest folks trading goods/gold for real $$. So computationally, I wonder what the cost to 'mine' a bitcoin is, vs the cost to 'generate 1000 gold' in an MMO that sells for an equivalent amount? I will definitely have to add this to my never ending book project.

michaelbuckbee 15y ago
I was referring to more of a cultural feel and my own reactions, I never made the link of computation to computation, we need an economist to weigh in on this. Also, if you find this sort of thing intriguing you might enjoy Charles Stross's Halting State - http://www.amazon.com/Halting-State-ebook/dp/B000W9180A/ http://www.amazon.com/Halting-State-ebook/dp/B000W9180A/
TazeTSchnitzel 15y ago
The cost to "mine" a bitcoin isn't constant, the network is self-regulating and the difficulty increases over time, to ensure a certain rate of supply.

stcredzero 15y ago

Occasionally you'll see a story about a dramatic months long heist take place in Eve Online As far as I can tell, investment opportunities in Eve are pretty much all Ponzi schemes. Much of the political change and economic activity centers around monopolizing certain things in 0-security space that are like "dungeons" and "quests" and much of that happens through skullduggery and betrayal. I quit playing Eve because in some ways, it was too emotionally involving.

relaunched 15y ago
I loved Eve...and hated it too. The idea of free-actions through any space, pirates and what not was awesome. The politics, empire building and something for everyone rule system was great. And the economy was amazing. +1 on being too emotionally involving