It’s not uncommon to see MMO players spending real cash to get the items or in-game currency they need to progress in a game faster than just playing. To feed that need gold farmers have setup shop in the most popular virtual worlds to make some money. It is also possible to sell your virtual possessions for cash on the black market.
One such black market trade has just occurred in the MMO Eve Online, but it did not involve virtual items or currency a player had in their account. Instead this player committed virtual theft in order to pay debts he, known only as Richard in the real world and Ricdic in Eve, had to pay.
Eve Online is a very open and player-driven MMO where corporations and businesses are commonly seen created. Those businesses include virtual banks; one of which is called EBank, and Richard was the CEO of EBank giving him privileged access to the bank’s coffers. Richard was a trusted member of the Eve Online community, but has now had his account banned and won’t be returning to the game.
The decision to embezzle money from the bank was made when Richard received an e-mail for a black market service offering real cash for virtual Eve interstellar credits. Richard explained:
It was a very on the spot decision, 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) I am not proud of it at all, that is why I did not brag about it. But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would have chosen the same path based on the same situation.
That skimming amounted to 200 billion interstellar credits, which were then traded for $5,100 through the black market. Richard may have paid his debts, but has lost his account and friends he said he had as staff working at EBank. Post-Eve he is now focusing on his family life.
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