Rich Men Walking: Goonswarm claims over 5 trillion isk in assets seized by CCP

[BaronIveagh]

Dateline: EvE Online

Goonswarm alliance recently announced that they had, in a case of massive market manipulation, managed to exploit a little known aspect to the loyalty point store, totaling over 5 trillion isk (approx 150k dollars US). However, they didn't keep their ill gotten gains long as CCP then seized said assets when goonswarm members posted the details of their con on EvE's forums, boasting of how they were smarter than EvE's devs.

Apparently not, guys.

Goonswarm, as the reader may know, is no stranger to controversy lately, thier leader, the Mittani, was given a 30 day ban and ejected from the games Council of Stellar Managment following a cyberbullying incident at CCP's fanfest 2012.

CCP's response to this new situation has been as dyslexic as ever, however, with PR rep CCP Xhagen issuing press statements that it was not a exploit, while CCP Sreegs, one of CCP's investigative devs, had this to say:

"Xhagen had no access to any information and is not involved in the investigative process. You can basically use any article written about this thus far for toilet paper as anything contained within the articles is fantasy invented by the bloggers writing the articles."

Any further punishment for goonswarm members involved has not yet been decided.

 

[BaronIveagh]

Addition:

Sources on the EvE-O forums have contacted me stating that CCP Spitfire has begun banning any and all players that post that CCP should administer the full punishment of a permanent ban on the members of goonswarm involved.

Given the volatile nature of the situation, this may simply be rumor.

 

[Moridinice]

im going to hit the Eve Forum and see if the counsel of stellar management has a opinion of this. if not then goons got what they deserve

 

[BaronIveagh]

im going to hit the Eve Forum and see if the counsel of stellar management has a opinion of this. if not then goons got what they deserve

Despite requests, neither CSM nor The Mittani himself have been forthcoming with a statement. CCP forum mods though are now locking threads related to this.

For those that wish to read the original locked thread:

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=124145

 

[shrekfan246]

CCP's response to this new situation has been as [HEADING=1]dyslexic[/HEADING] as ever

Isn't the whole point of EVE Online for the players to basically run the system and screw over other players however they can? Or is this the equivalent of hacking the servers so the developers need to actually get involved? Anyway, funny stuff. It's always amusing when people get proven wrong about thinking they know more than the people who made the game.

 

[Dryk]

CCP has always said that they can do whatever they want to each other as long as they don't use exploits to do it

 

[BaronIveagh]

Isn't the whole point of EVE Online for the players to basically run the system and screw over other players however they can? Or is this the equivalent of hacking the servers so the developers need to actually get involved? Anyway, funny stuff. It's always amusing when people get proven wrong about thinking they know more than the people who made the game.

My understanding of it is that it's a somewhat foggy area in between. They basically forced the game to do something it wasn't supposed to via manipulating the interaction between the market and LP system, effectively giving themselves infinite LP, and therefore infinite isk.

And, on the dyslexic thing, actually it was quite right, as they started with the PR guy doing an interview without bothering to find out what was actually going on, leading to various GMs and devs making lots of conflicting statements.

 

[Altorin]

CCP's response to this new situation has been as [HEADING=1]dyslexic[/HEADING] as ever

Isn't the whole point of EVE Online for the players to basically run the system and screw over other players however they can? Or is this the equivalent of hacking the servers so the developers need to actually get involved? Anyway, funny stuff. It's always amusing when people get proven wrong about thinking they know more than the people who made the game.

They weren't screwing over players. They were manipulating the actual game systems. That's the distinction. If it were just a market ponzi scheme or whatever, CCP wouldn't directly interfere, but they were pulling money out of literally nowhere.

 

[shrekfan246]

My understanding of it is that it's a somewhat foggy area in between. They basically forced the game to do something it wasn't supposed to via manipulating the interaction between the market and LP system, effectively giving themselves infinite LP, and therefore infinite isk.

I see.

And, on the dyslexic thing, actually it was quite right, as they started with the PR guy doing an interview without bothering to find out what was actually going on, leading to various GMs and devs making lots of conflicting statements.

"Developmental reading disorder, also called dyslexia, is a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols."

A PR guy without any actual knowledge of the events happening behind the curtains isn't equivalent to a learning disability that impairs reading comprehension.

Maybe "disorganized", "frenetic", or even "schizophrenic" if you really want to apply a mental disorder to the situation, but "dyslexic" isn't the word that fits.
"schizophrenic: 2. Informal experiencing or maintaining contradictory attitudes, emotions, etc."

They weren't screwing over players. They were manipulating the actual game systems. That's the distinction. If it were just a market ponzi scheme or whatever, CCP wouldn't directly interfere, but they were pulling money out of literally nowhere.

And fair enough. I've never played EVE, so it's not like I know what they're actually talking about.

 

[Dirty Apple]

I only made it a couple days into the trial of EVE before I felt overwhelmed and lost. That being said, these machiavellian schemes are endlessly entertaining. Also, I respect the CCP's "anything goes" attitude to gameplay.

I think the funnier part is that if these couple Goons had just kept their mouth shut they probably could have gotten away with it. Isn't the first rule of a heist to sit on the money for awhile and NOT draw attention to yourself?

 

[skywolfblue]

I'd probably agree it's pretty solidly near "exploit" territory. Instead of player interaction they're manipulating the system in a way that wasn't intended.

Still, I find it kinda funny, a grand scheme pulled off excellently, with many laughs had along the way. But a part of that may be because I don't play EVE so I personally didn't have to suffer the consequences of them ruining the economy.

I think the funnier part is that if these couple Goons had just kept their mouth shut they probably could have gotten away with it. Isn't the first rule of a heist to sit on the money for awhile and NOT draw attention to yourself?

I think an operation on this scale would appear on the developers radar, regardless of whether or not goon swarm had posted it on the forums or not. So if the developers are going to find out anyway, might as well announce it yourself.

 

[BaronIveagh]

I think an operation on this scale would appear on the developers radar, regardless of whether or not goon swarm had posted it on the forums or not. So if the developers are going to find out anyway, might as well announce it yourself.

Announcing it isn't so much the idiot part, it's proclaiming in the process how you are smarter than the ccp employees. That's just asking for a banhammer.

 

[BaronIveagh]

"Developmental reading disorder, also called dyslexia, is a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols."

A PR guy without any actual knowledge of the events happening behind the curtains isn't equivalent to a learning disability that impairs reading comprehension.

Maybe "disorganized", "frenetic", or even "schizophrenic" if you really want to apply a mental disorder to the situation, but "dyslexic" isn't the word that fits.
"schizophrenic: 2. Informal experiencing or maintaining contradictory attitudes, emotions, etc."

Yes, but a common symptom of dyslexia is the reversal of the order symbols go in. In this case, the reversal was the order in which CCP staff shot their mouths off, rather then the correct one.

 

[Woodsey]

Isn't the whole point of EVE Online for the players to basically run the system and screw over other players however they can? Or is this the equivalent of hacking the servers so the developers need to actually get involved? Anyway, funny stuff. It's always amusing when people get proven wrong about thinking they know more than the people who made the game.

They're given the tools to do whatever they want, pretty much, but they're still bound by the Rules of the Tools. This was clearly an exploit in a game system.

 

[TrevHead]

Goonswarm probably did CCP a favour, they uncovered the exploit. Only they did it in a typical Goonswarm way.

 

[BaronIveagh]

CSM position on the whole thing via twitter:

"definitely glad it's patched"

Edit:

The forum bans thing is apparently real: I just got a 2 week one for it, their reasoning is it qualifies as 'trolling' to discuss it.