4 ms·

tl;dr: Someone got betrayed by an ingame friend and lost approximately 10K pounds (real money) worth of virtual assets. Players were pissed the developer didn't

by gr3yh47 11y ago

tl;dr: Someone got betrayed by an ingame friend and lost approximately 10K pounds (real money) worth of virtual assets. Players were pissed the developer didn't do anything, and 500 people left the game over it. The game almost collapsed. Then there was a news article about the incident, and 5000 people joined the game.

vog 11y ago
Thanks! A straight answer to a straight question. Much appreciated. Sounds like it will be worth the time to read that article.
codeulike 11y ago
And, importantly: That incident was way back in 2005 and set a precedent for how the game would be played in future: espionage, counter-espionage, huge complex teams, and battles and sabotages that cause damage to in-game assets with real-world values estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars. edit: see also recent metafilter comment discussing the lengths people go to in espionage/counter espionage in EVE online http://ask.metafilter.com/278002/Are-there-any-hobbyist-espionage-groups#4031599 http://ask.metafilter.com/278002/Are-there-any-hobbyist-espi...
- Squarel 11y ago
  the metagame in Eve also happens way outside of the null sec areas, figuring out which character is a new incarnation of an old scammer by many hours of internet digging is an entertaining way to spend time while waiting for your wallet to blink, as well as digging deep to find links between people who are setting up loan and bond offerings. Not as much impact on the game as the null sec meta-gaming, but nonetheless it is oddly satisfying when you have had a "feeling" about someone, and then after working with a few others with chat log cross-checking, internet digging, and generally being very suspicious of everything you end up finding the final pieces which put it all together, and (hopefully) put paid to their loan/bond/trading scams (until their next alt pops up).....at which point the whole thing starts over again.

by gr3yh47 11y ago

vog 11y ago

Thanks! A straight answer to a straight question. Much appreciated. Sounds like it will be worth the time to read that article.

codeulike 11y ago

And, importantly: That incident was way back in 2005 and set a precedent for how the game would be played in future: espionage, counter-espionage, huge complex teams, and battles and sabotages that cause damage to in-game assets with real-world values estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars. edit: see also recent metafilter comment discussing the lengths people go to in espionage/counter espionage in EVE online http://ask.metafilter.com/278002/Are-there-any-hobbyist-espionage-groups#4031599 http://ask.metafilter.com/278002/Are-there-any-hobbyist-espi...

Squarel 11y ago
the metagame in Eve also happens way outside of the null sec areas, figuring out which character is a new incarnation of an old scammer by many hours of internet digging is an entertaining way to spend time while waiting for your wallet to blink, as well as digging deep to find links between people who are setting up loan and bond offerings. Not as much impact on the game as the null sec meta-gaming, but nonetheless it is oddly satisfying when you have had a "feeling" about someone, and then after working with a few others with chat log cross-checking, internet digging, and generally being very suspicious of everything you end up finding the final pieces which put it all together, and (hopefully) put paid to their loan/bond/trading scams (until their next alt pops up).....at which point the whole thing starts over again.