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EVE anniversary lottery offers over 40 billion ISK in prizes

Brendan Drain — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, Events, in-game, Lore, News items

Since the beginning of time, or at least the beginning of the EVE Online universe, players have gambled their ISK for a chance to win it big in the BIG lottery. First launching on May 13th 2003, the BIG lottery has sold over 48,000 tickets worth a total of over 613 billion ISK. Each year, a special bumper edition of the game is launched to commemorate the birthday of both EVE Online and the BIG lottery, with CCP donating some awesome prizes.

Last year's seventh anniversary lottery included billions of ISK in prizes, including a free year of game time, a battleship model from the EVE store, and more donated by CCP. This year's eighth anniversary lottery has a similarly massive prize fund, with official prizes of 25 billion ISK and 10 billion ISK for the first and second place winners respectively. The EVE Online Hold'em poker league has sponsored two additional prizes of 5 billion ISK and a full year of EVE game time. To top things off, CCP will be giving each of the four winners a $50 gift certificate to be used in the EVE store.

Head over to the official forum thread or website for details on how to enter the contest. Tickets must be purchased before Sunday 15th May, and the drawing will occur on Monday the 16th at 2:00 p.m. EDT (18:00 EVE time) in the "BIG Games" in-game chat channel. Good luck to all those who enter!

EVE anniversary lottery offers over 40 billion ISK in prizes originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 May 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE gambling website SOMER.Blink is the target of 125 billion ISK theft

Brendan Drain — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Lore, News items

It seems like almost every month there's another huge theft or insidious kill in EVE Online, with last month's 30 billion ISK suicide attack and September's record-breaking 850 billion ISK investment scam. In EVE, theft and piracy are part of the game, and players have to make a conscious effort not to put themselves at risk. Trust the wrong person with access to your assets or let your guard down and you might regret it. That lesson was learned the hard way by EVE gambling website SOMER.Blink, as last night it became the target of a 125 billion ISK theft.

The thief, Daquaris of Test Alliance Please Ignore, had access to a stash of ISK, PLEX and items as part of his role -- delivering prizes to Blink winners. Most of the prize-distributors for SOMER.Blink are real-life friends of the site's creator Somerset Mahm, a situation that limits the potential for thefts like this. Although Daquaris wasn't a real-life friend of Somer, he was a trusted old friend from a previous alliance. When reached for comment, SOMER.Blink corporation member Andrev Nox had the following to say:

"The theft was an eventuality we were prepared for. We certainly didn't expect it from Daq, obviously, but we expected it might happen eventually. The main wallet was regularly cleared to a separate corp's wallet as a 'rainy day' fund. Because of that, Blink is still fully solvent, solid, and functional. Somer has [been], and always will be, an incredibly generous and good friend to all of us. Had Daq asked for exactly the things he had stolen, Somer would have given them unflinchingly, without a doubt. Blink can always earn more ISK, it's the loss of someone we trusted as a valued part of the business, and a long time friend."

EVE gambling website SOMER.Blink is the target of 125 billion ISK theft originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online player steals $45,000 worth of ISK in massive investment scam

Brendan Drain — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, Lore, Professions

It seems like every few months we hear about another major theft or scam in EVE Online. In most MMOs, acts of theft could earn the perpetrator a permanent game ban. In EVE Online, however, it's an accepted part of the game that people are strongly encouraged to protect themselves from. Even the game's developers have acknowledged that corporate infiltration, scamming and theft are just another part of the harsh criminal underworld of New Eden. With its latest official game trailer, CCP Games told an impressive tale of corporate theft and revenge, showcasing some of the emergent gameplay that typifies EVE.

Last week, the latest big scam to come out of the criminal underworld of New Eden came to completion. The popular investment scheme Titans4U turned bad, with the creator "Bad Bobby" stealing all of the company's assets. The theft was the ultimate conclusion of a plan that was set in motion years ago. Bobby began his investment career by running several smaller schemes to build up a positive public image. Over the years, he ran increasingly larger and more popular schemes and always returned on investments. Just over a year ago, his reputation-building efforts paid off as his good name secured the successful launch of the massive Titans4U investment fund.

Skip past the cut for the full story of how this apparently secure investment scheme turned into one of EVE's biggest scams to date.

Continue reading EVE Online player steals $45,000 worth of ISK in massive investment scam

EVE Online player steals $45,000 worth of ISK in massive investment scam originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE player destroys over $1000 worth of game time

Brendan Drain — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, PvP, News items

Like many MMOs, EVE Online has a problem with players buying ISK from shady websites to short-cut the ISK-making process. On the other end of the spectrum, many players are great at making ISK but unable to afford the monthly subscription. To kill two birds with one stone, CCP created PLEX. Sixty-day game time codes purchased for cash can be converted into two 30-day Pilots License Extensions, which become items in the game. The PLEX can then be traded to other EVE players for ISK, creating a legitimate way to buy ISK without fear of being hit by the ban-hammer. Players with some ISK to spare can buy PLEX from the market and redeem them for game time, essentially playing for free. It's an innovative system, and until recently it was a completely safe market to deal in.

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EVE player destroys over $1000 worth of game time originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In-game ad spending to reach over $1 billion by 2014

Kyle Horner — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, News items

In a future where unfathomably large sums of money are spent trying to get you to buy things, only one man can make a difference. We haven't found that man, so until he shows up we're going to buy a new Dell and maybe some Pepsi. We don't know why this urge has struck us -- maybe it has something to do with all those ads we just saw in [INSERT LATEST ACTIVISIONBLIZZARD TITLE HERE].

We know not what fate awaits us in this future, but since everyone will be too busy buying stuff it probably doesn't matter. It's not like the machines will rise up or anything, right?

In-game ad spending to reach over $1 billion by 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 26 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Realtime Worlds grabs $50 million

Mike Schramm — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, New titles, Virtual worlds, All Points Bulletin, Crime

Techcrunch is reporting that developers Realtime Worlds (makers of last year's Crackdown, which could be an MMO, and the upcoming All Points Bulletin, which we heard lots about at GDC) have picked up a whopping $50 million in funding from a round of investment capital, including lots of it from Maverick Capital.

So good news for APB fans -- of course, it's just a fraction of that billion dollars that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick claims anyone will need to take on World of Warcraft, but $50 million buys a lot of artists, programmers, and servers, all things that a great MMO needs for a strong launch. APB is still in the development stages of course -- we've heard that it'll drop this year, though at this point (and with the extra cash going into a little extra development), we're probably looking at a spring 2009 release.

Realtime Worlds grabs $50 million originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Investment of $1 billion+ wouldn't dethrone WoW, exec says

Chris Chester — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Business models, MMO industry

We all know that World of Warcraft is the big daddy on the MMO block. Hell, with the amount of money Blizzard is raking in, World of Warcraft is the big daddy on the gaming block. And what's more, it's still growing. According a report, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated in an investor meeting that his company had done extensive research on the MMO category, and came to the conclusion that even a game bolstered by an initial investment of $500 million to $1 billion would still probably have a hell of a time competing in the same space as the Blizzard juggernaut. This likely came as part of their research prior to the massive merger with Vivendi Universal late last year.

Kotick points to the relative failures of big companies like Microsoft in trying to develop a competitive product as proof in the pudding. Even companies with decades-long track records of extracting money from lose-lose situations don't stand to gain much from trying to directly compete in the same space. For his part, Kotick believes it's the ingenuity of the guys at Blizzard that is really the deciding factor. Since no amount of money is liable to recreate the success of Blizzard, they simply found the prospect of buying them out more amenable. If you're wondering why it seems like so many MMO development houses are scaling down their products to make them more niche oriented, this is why. Throwing money, even a billion dollars, into a competition with World of Warcraft is only likely to end in tears.

Investment of $1 billion+ wouldn't dethrone WoW, exec says originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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