Gamer steals from virtual world to pay real debts

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
Life & Style blogs

Living a long, healthy life – looking after your heart

In my clinic I see all sorts of people walking through my door. Mostly, they come to me because they...

Tips on renting your property to students

Five important things to think about before the Freshers arrive...

Problem neighbours make 17,000 people move home

Should you research your neighbours before you buy?

Facing real world debts, a trusted figure in a popular online game stole money from the virtual bank he ran and exchanged it for cash through the black market.

It happened in EVE Online, where more than 300,000 subscribers pay $15 a month to play. They gain wealth through hard work, manipulating the market, or killing rivals in a distant future where humans have colonized the stars in an online game similar to World of Warcraft and Second Life.



EBank, EVE's largest player-run financial institution which has thousands of depositors, is at the center of the scandal.



"Basically this character was one of the people that had been running EBank for a while. He took a bunch of (virtual) money out of the bank, and traded it away for real money," said Ned Coker, of the Icelandic company CCP, which developed the game.



The CEO of EBank, a 27-year-old Australian tech worker who identified himself only as Richard and used the online name Ricdic, embezzled about 200 billion interstellar kredits, the game's virtual currency.



He broke the rules of the game by exchanging the stolen virtual funds for $6,300 Australian ($5,100) with players who preferred to buy virtual money rather than earn it playing the game.



"It was a very on the spot decision," the married father of two explained in an interview.



He said a spam email for a black market website that traded online money for real cash popped up on his screen, prompting him to exchange the virtual cash for real money to cover a deposit on his house and expenses related to his son's medical problems.



"I saw that as an avenue that could be taken, and I decided to skim off the top, you could say, to overcome real life (difficulties)."



Word of the theft spread quickly within EVE. Panicked customers started a run on the bank, worried that they would lose the money they had amassed by hunting space pirates or mining asteroids.



Ironically, if Ricdic had merely stolen the online money he could have stayed in the game. But exchanging the virtual cash for real dollars broke the rules and CCP banned Richard's EBank accounts.



"It unbalances the game," Coker said.



Players can only buy virtual money with real money, or use virtual cash to pay for playing time, but they cannot exchange game money for the real thing.



"We have never seen ourselves as gods who make the rules of social interaction," said Eyjolfur Gudmundsson, an economics adviser to CCP. "You are able to lose the things you have created. That's what makes the world interesting."



Ironically, Richard had built a reputation as one of EVE's few trusted players -- a rare commodity in a game where repeatedly blowing up a violator's spaceship was the only way to enforce some contracts.



Asked if he had any regrets about the scam, Richard said he felt he let down his fellow EBank staffers, many of whom he considered friends.



"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it. But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," he said.



EBank survived the crisis. But Richard will not be returning to EVE anytime soon.



"At the moment, we've got our hands full," Richard said about his family responsibilities in the real world.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Ridley Scott: The most macho man in movies?

His cinematic CV is unparalleled. Yet the Alien director is still obsessed with beating his rivals.
Being Gary Lineker: The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport

Being Gary Lineker

The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport...
Gallic gourmets are putting French cuisine back on the culinary map

Gallic gourmets put France back on culinary map

Overdone, out of touch and old-fashioned: French cuisine has never been at a lower ebb...
So Moorish: Mark Hix offers his own take on classic Moroccan dishes

So Moorish: Mark Hix's Moroccan dishes

Why not create a north African-inspired feast to share with your friends?
Sin and the single mother: The history of lone parenthood

Sin and the single mother

Maureen Paton explores the history of lone parenthood.
The outsider: Margaret Howell is British fashion's queen of minimalism

The outsider: Margaret Howell

The designer tells Susannah Frankel why she has never felt part of the fashion industry.
The 50 Best luggage

The 50 Best luggage

From chic cases to compact baggage, pack it all in this summer
For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos

On a secluded peninsula in north-east Greece lies an enclave that's way off the tourist map, especially for women...
48 Hours In: Faro

48 Hours In: Faro

More than just the gateway to the Algarve, this city has much to tempt you off the beach.
Here, the coast is always clear: Celebrating sixty years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

60 years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

Mick Webb reveals a land of puffins, tanks and Hollywood blockbusters.
Free Range: Meet the designers of tomorrow

Free Range

Meet the artists of the future
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years