Things are tough all over, even in space. The massively multi-player online roleplaying game EVE Online recently saw one of the biggest virtual thefts of all time, with thieving bankers stealing tens of billions of ISK (some sort of space-dollar) from customers. And best of all from the criminal's point of view, they did it without breaking a single law in the corporeal world. It was within the rules of the game, and when justice comes it'll probably be enforced through fleets of star ships engaged in epic exchanges of laser fire.
I played EVE Online for a while when it came out, and I recognized at once that it would require a lot more commitment than I've ever given anything in my life if I was going to experience all the game's virtues. Unlike more popular and accessible online games like World of Warcraft, EVE's game universe gives the players a lot of both freedom to and responsibility for setting up and enforcing their own institutions. The thieving bank was entirely player-run and player operated. Other players would invest money with them and would earn interest on their deposits. They just had to trust the reputation of the bank's owners. The bankers clearly had something else in mind.
I love that this happened. It is, in fact, awesome. What makes a player-run world like EVE so exciting (in theory anyway) is that there is no safety net. The game designers set the universe in motion and make sure the playing field stays predictable and follows set expectations. It's up to the players to work their angles and make that playing field as unfair in their favor as possible. In the past there have been perfidious uprisings within long-established empires that took months to set up. I'm sort of sad I don't have the time or energy to devote myself to a game this expansive and flexible, because it offers a unique kind of experience that no other game can offer because no other game lets you risk so much. Instead I'll just have to keep experiencing my EVE thrills vicariously.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2009.