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Goons 4x4ing through the Sandbox - Market Manipulation on a Grand Scale

First post First post First post
Author
Tallian Saotome
Nuclear Arms Exchange Inc.
#1401 - 2012-06-22 19:04:10 UTC
Pr1ncess Alia wrote:

The part where it states you can't use the legal game mechanics in a way to give you unintended gains over other players.

Crap. Falcon pilots, you are all gonna get banned.

So are all the titan pilots.

Oh, and every member of a tech holding alliance.

And anyone who takes part in large, alpha based fleets.

And anyone who collects a huge bounty, then kills himself with his alt to collect said bounty.

Lets not forget the people who get rich off of the things like this that happen *every single expansion*.

I'm sure I am missing a category, but if that rule read the way you think it does, then 75% of the player in this game would be banned, including you I would bet.

Inappropriate signature removed, CCP Phantom.

Jade Constantine
Jericho Fraction
The Star Fraction
#1402 - 2012-06-22 19:04:35 UTC  |  Edited by: Jade Constantine
Lord Zim wrote:
Jade Constantine wrote:
then loyalty points that can be turned into isk (from thin air.)

Tell us more about how loyalty points can be turned into isk from thin air.


Why would I do that when the full quote clearly doesn't make that claim. You are just being silly.

I was staying the bug effectively doubled LP "from thin air" because it was double counting LP on stuff from the killmail (while allowing the looted cargo to be counted again in the next killmail) LP can be turned into isk (by getting items that can be sold on the market) - I'm really sure what point you are trying to make.

The True Knowledge is that nothing matters that does not matter to you, might does make right and power makes freedom

Richard Desturned
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#1403 - 2012-06-22 19:04:43 UTC  |  Edited by: Richard Desturned
Carlos Aranda wrote:
I also do not quite understand in general, what Goons do with their ISKs. We not know, how much money Goons really made out of FW shop manipulations. We do know exactly, they sit on a monopol of Tech. Surprisingly we do not see any of this ISK. Goons still fly the same crappy fleet set ups like a few months ago, while other alliances fly t3 and have still way more Supercapitals. Others also have of course ship reimbursement programs. In other words, the wealth does not reach the average Goon. Where is that money?


you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about holy ****

npc alts have no opinions worth consideration

Darth Gustav
Sith Interstellar Tech Harvesting
#1404 - 2012-06-22 19:04:48 UTC
Jade Constantine wrote:
then loyalty points that can be turned into isk (from thin air.)



Jade Constantine wrote:
I think you need to read better.


No you.

He who trolls trolls best when he who is trolled trolls the troller. -Darth Gustav's Axiom

Ayllia Saken
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#1405 - 2012-06-22 19:05:36 UTC
The skill and execution of this ploy is admirable, right down to the forum fighting. However, I do not think letting it pass is good for the game, or CCP.

5Trillion ISK has been mentioned, reportedly earned by 5 players, between the release of Inferno (May 22?) and the date of this thread starting June 21. It has also been claimed that the OP received most of the ISK. While I am sure those players put a lot of hours into the game in the last month, and during the testing of Inferno prior to that, this strikes me as a rather impressive ISK/hour rate.

If CCP takes no action, then I believe that they are effectively stating that "End-Game" for the "Eve Financial Game" is looking for, and exploiting, loopholes in their complicated mechanics. Bugs, loopholes, and other shortcuts will always occur, so asking CCP not to release buggy software isn't a practical option.

If it stands then Station Trading and Industry, are all "second rank" activities, like level 3 missions, and all true Industry greats should spend their time reading devblogs line by line, and gaming various situations via Excel or in-game. The very public announcement and boasting increases the perceived impact of this ploy, and also the need for action.
Tallian Saotome
Nuclear Arms Exchange Inc.
#1406 - 2012-06-22 19:06:33 UTC
Richard Desturned wrote:
Carlos Aranda wrote:
I also do not quite understand in general, what Goons do with their ISKs. We not know, how much money Goons really made out of FW shop manipulations. We do know exactly, they sit on a monopol of Tech. Surprisingly we do not see any of this ISK. Goons still fly the same crappy fleet set ups like a few months ago, while other alliances fly t3 and have still way more Supercapitals. Others also have of course ship reimbursement programs. In other words, the wealth does not reach the average Goon. Where is that money?


you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about holy ****

Yeah, you guys have done way too good of a job hiding the titanswarm. People really do believe it doesn't exist, which means I must have been high as hell the day we killed a station in 4 minutes.

Inappropriate signature removed, CCP Phantom.

Weaselior
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#1407 - 2012-06-22 19:07:09 UTC  |  Edited by: Weaselior
Ayllia Saken wrote:

If CCP takes no action, then I believe that they are effectively stating that "End-Game" for the "Eve Financial Game" is looking for, and exploiting, loopholes in their complicated mechanics. Bugs, loopholes, and other shortcuts will always occur, so asking CCP not to release buggy software isn't a practical option.

This has existed in EVE since Entity became the first isklord by buying up all of the DCII bpos. More to the point it has in the past few years existed since Tyrannis's "whoops we probably should have unseeded that stuff" incident.

The end-game of the financial game is and always has been getting money by knowing more than everyone else. That's how you make staggering sums of money: everything else is just working for a wage.

Head of the Goonswarm Economic Warfare Cabal Pubbie Management and Exploitation Division.

corestwo
Goonfleet Investment Banking
#1408 - 2012-06-22 19:07:18 UTC
Ayllia Saken wrote:
If it stands then Station Trading and Industry, are all "second rank" activities, like level 3 missions, and all true Industry greats should spend their time reading devblogs line by line, and gaming various situations via Excel or in-game. The very public announcement and boasting increases the perceived impact of this ploy, and also the need for action.


This has always been the way to make huge piles of money. The OP was already very nearly a trillionaire thanks to the patch that introduced PI, for example.

This post was crafted by a member of the GoonSwarm Federation Economic Cabal, the foremost authority on Eve: Online economics and gameplay.

fofofo

Tallian Saotome
Nuclear Arms Exchange Inc.
#1409 - 2012-06-22 19:07:38 UTC
Ayllia Saken wrote:
If CCP takes no action, then I believe that they are effectively stating that "End-Game" for the "Eve Financial Game" is looking for, and exploiting, loopholes in their complicated mechanics.

uhhh....

It pretty much always has been.

Inappropriate signature removed, CCP Phantom.

No More Heroes
Boomer Humor
Snuffed Out
#1410 - 2012-06-22 19:07:48 UTC  |  Edited by: No More Heroes
Ayllia Saken wrote:
The skill and execution of this ploy is admirable, right down to the forum fighting. However, I do not think letting it pass is good for the game, or CCP.


Free publicity in the gaming press is good. Greed is good. Goons are better. Emergent gameplay = the best Big smile

If it wasn't for this latest caper you guys would be arguing or trolling the price of Zydrine or something equally as thrilling.

.

Lord Zim
Gallente Federation
#1411 - 2012-06-22 19:08:03 UTC
Jade Constantine wrote:
Lord Zim wrote:
Jade Constantine wrote:
then loyalty points that can be turned into isk (from thin air.)

Tell us more about how loyalty points can be turned into isk from thin air.


Why would I do that when the full quote clearly doesn't make that claim. You are just being silly.

Oh really, it clearly states "then loyalty points that can be turned into isk (from thin air).

Tell me more about how loyalty points can be turned into isk (from thin air).

Cyno's lit, bridge is up, but one pilot won't be jumping home.

RIP Vile Rat

Inspiration
#1412 - 2012-06-22 19:08:31 UTC
Tallian Saotome wrote:
Aryth wrote:
Tallian Saotome wrote:
Inspiration wrote:
I wonder if the EULA mentions anything about cheating NPC...which is what happened in this case. The same could theoretically be done with insurance, be it that those are based on mineral value and that is not a small market you can over time just set the price without anyone noticing it.

oooo.... I see a way to finally make use of the EAS.


It was done with insurance for months in the past. Insurance Fraud on a huge scale occurred for many months when mineral prices were lower than CCP payouts. So there is definitely some precedent for this.

I know. I self destructed a few hundred iteron IIIs as a noob to make some easy isk to buy a mission domi with.

e: I was referring to manipulating the price of EAS if insurance gets linked to market price Cool


That and this thread really makes a case to remove insurance from the game altogether, as quite a few have arued over in the past. If someone wants insurance let the corp deal with it via mechanism or free market parties. Then if you loose ship after ship in pointless ways, your fee would go trough the roof or you just get plain rejected.

It would probably have the majority of the 0.0 folk go like cry baby, but it would return meaning to pvp victory and loss! Lets see how bad-ass those peeps really are :)

I am serious!

Pr1ncess Alia
Doomheim
#1413 - 2012-06-22 19:09:37 UTC
Weaselior wrote:
Pr1ncess Alia wrote:

"If I keep pointing out the simple steps taken to perform teh exploit it will magically not be an exploit anymore."

I'm actually going to talk to you like an adult here, so lets hope it works.

The difference between an exploit and an unintended and undesirable use of game mechanics is that an exploit allows you, through various methods, to break a rule of the game. I will use an example from another game: Alpha Centauri, a great game, had a bug where if you gave the keyboard command for an airdrop, it would only let you do one per turn (as intended). If you used the mouse command, you could do as many as you wanted. That's an exploit, despite you doing nothing really wrong (hell many people who only used the mouse were unaware this limit was supposed to be there).

On the other hand, a perfectly intended use of game mechanics - self-destructing missiles with a fusion or greater reactor - is incredibly overpowered and lets you wipe out stacks of units in a way that wasn't really thought though well. No part of it breaks the rules - it does damage to all surrounding units, just as intended - but it's really overpowered and something you patch out or make a house rule against.

The key reason this is not an exploit is no rules were broken. The system functioned exactly as it was supposed to. Manipulating the price of an item is and always has been allowed (and is commonly used for margin scamming, or convincing people to sell stuff at a reduced price or buy it at an inflated price). Blowing up your own stuff to collect the proceeds is and always has been allowed. The issue is that once you combine the two, you get a situation that breaks no rule, but is highly undesirable (the generation of LP at a very low isk cost). If the mechanism allowed you to generate LP for free, there would be an argument it's breaking a rule of the game. But it didn't: every LP point you got cost you a specific amount of isk.

Since this is undesirable, the devs will naturally patch it out. But because it was perfectly legitimate when done, it's clearly not something that people should be punished for. When it comes to confiscating the products of the scheme, I think it's clear that shouldn't be done as well - it would be an unfair punishment - unless the amounts generated were so vast the health of the game demanded it. That's a factual question that we can disagree over, but from my understanding of the market this is not a gamebreaking amount. For the vast majority of the time when these five were dumping, implant prices weren't artificially low: they merely were at their historical average instead of the spiked post-inferno price. This is a lot of money for these involved - sadly, I am not one of them and must be content with my vast guidance system riches - but it's not an amount that will seriously affect markets or devalue LP.


I'm going to also talk to you like an adult, I'm confident that will not work.

Alpha Centari aside, the focus of your argument is the difference between an exploit and unintended undesirable use of game mechanics. I get that.

What you don't seem to understand is the similarities. Both are a violation of the EULA, it details this very specifically. Both are considered cheating by definition. If the one wasn't, it wouldn't be considered unintended and it wouldn't be detailed in the EULA.

No one debates the fact the mechanic was broken. They admittedly maximized gains on it to a game breaking level. If I refer to it as an exploit, it's a matter of semantics, not a crushing defeat to my argument.

They want bragging rights for performing an unintended stunt with game mechanics but at the same time want to insist it doesn't break any rules even though the EULA (the rules) says you can't do just that. Cognitive dissonance at its best.
Aryth
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#1414 - 2012-06-22 19:10:22 UTC
Ayllia Saken wrote:

If CCP takes no action, then I believe that they are effectively stating that "End-Game" for the "Eve Financial Game" is looking for, and exploiting, loopholes in their complicated mechanics. Bugs, loopholes, and other shortcuts will always occur, so asking CCP not to release buggy software isn't a practical option.



This has been the endgame since the launch of EVE. Market manipulation and speculation is what we do day to day. This isn't a new thing for me or others, this is regular gameplay. This one just combined a few different mechanics into one larger system. But if you aren't patch speculating on each new CCP addition to the game, then you are really missing out on a cool part of EVE.

Leader of the Goonswarm Economic Warfare Cabal.

Creator of Burn Jita

Vile Rat: You're the greatest sociopath that has ever played eve.

corestwo
Goonfleet Investment Banking
#1415 - 2012-06-22 19:11:05 UTC
Inspiration wrote:
Tallian Saotome wrote:
Aryth wrote:
Tallian Saotome wrote:
Inspiration wrote:
I wonder if the EULA mentions anything about cheating NPC...which is what happened in this case. The same could theoretically be done with insurance, be it that those are based on mineral value and that is not a small market you can over time just set the price without anyone noticing it.

oooo.... I see a way to finally make use of the EAS.


It was done with insurance for months in the past. Insurance Fraud on a huge scale occurred for many months when mineral prices were lower than CCP payouts. So there is definitely some precedent for this.

I know. I self destructed a few hundred iteron IIIs as a noob to make some easy isk to buy a mission domi with.

e: I was referring to manipulating the price of EAS if insurance gets linked to market price Cool


That and this thread really makes a case to remove insurance from the game altogether, as quite a few have arued over in the past. If someone wants insurance let the corp deal with it via mechanism or free market parties. Then if you loose ship after ship in pointless ways, your fee would go trough the roof or you just get plain rejected.

It would probably have the majority of the 0.0 folk go like cry baby, but it would return meaning to pvp victory and loss! Lets see how bad-ass those peeps really are :)


Insurance had nothing to do with what we were doing, you know.

This post was crafted by a member of the GoonSwarm Federation Economic Cabal, the foremost authority on Eve: Online economics and gameplay.

fofofo

Jade Constantine
Jericho Fraction
The Star Fraction
#1416 - 2012-06-22 19:11:21 UTC
Lord Zim wrote:
Jade Constantine wrote:
Lord Zim wrote:
Jade Constantine wrote:
then loyalty points that can be turned into isk (from thin air.)

Tell us more about how loyalty points can be turned into isk from thin air.


Why would I do that when the full quote clearly doesn't make that claim. You are just being silly.

Oh really, it clearly states "then loyalty points that can be turned into isk (from thin air).

Tell me more about how loyalty points can be turned into isk (from thin air).


You chopped off the end of a statement to try to twist its meaning into something else. Is this amateur hour at the mass debating society or something? Cool

The True Knowledge is that nothing matters that does not matter to you, might does make right and power makes freedom

Tallian Saotome
Nuclear Arms Exchange Inc.
#1417 - 2012-06-22 19:11:41 UTC
Inspiration wrote:
Tallian Saotome wrote:
Aryth wrote:
Tallian Saotome wrote:
Inspiration wrote:
I wonder if the EULA mentions anything about cheating NPC...which is what happened in this case. The same could theoretically be done with insurance, be it that those are based on mineral value and that is not a small market you can over time just set the price without anyone noticing it.

oooo.... I see a way to finally make use of the EAS.


It was done with insurance for months in the past. Insurance Fraud on a huge scale occurred for many months when mineral prices were lower than CCP payouts. So there is definitely some precedent for this.

I know. I self destructed a few hundred iteron IIIs as a noob to make some easy isk to buy a mission domi with.

e: I was referring to manipulating the price of EAS if insurance gets linked to market price Cool


That and this thread really makes a case to remove insurance from the game altogether, as quite a few have arued over in the past. If someone wants insurance let the corp deal with it via mechanism or free market parties. Then if you loose ship after ship in pointless ways, your fee would go trough the roof or you just get plain rejected.

It would probably have the majority of the 0.0 folk go like cry baby, but it would return meaning to pvp victory and loss! Lets see how bad-ass those peeps really are :)

Uh, as one of those 0.0 folk, we already HAVE corp/alliance supplied insurance. I have not paid for a pvp ship lost in combat in 2 years, and for the past 6 months I've been flying capitals exclusively. Those of us in nullsec would be hurt the LEAST(well, those of us who have moons).

I can guarantee this, as the dude who does my corp level Ship Replacement Program.

Inappropriate signature removed, CCP Phantom.

Lord Zim
Gallente Federation
#1418 - 2012-06-22 19:12:23 UTC
Pr1ncess Alia wrote:
What you don't seem to understand is the similarities. Both are a violation of the EULA, it details this very specifically. Both are considered cheating by definition. If the one wasn't, it wouldn't be considered unintended and it wouldn't be detailed in the EULA.

So, what about tracking titans? neutral logis? falcons? POS bowling? carriers with full cargorigged and expanded iterons? neutral alts circumventing wardecs?

Cyno's lit, bridge is up, but one pilot won't be jumping home.

RIP Vile Rat

Comrade Commizzar
Eve Revolutionary Army
#1419 - 2012-06-22 19:13:18 UTC
Welp...

GOONS WIN !!

Time to go play HAWKEN... I hear the beta is open.
Khergit Deserters
Crom's Angels
#1420 - 2012-06-22 19:13:53 UTC
Weaselior wrote:
Pr1ncess Alia wrote:

"If I keep pointing out the simple steps taken to perform teh exploit it will magically not be an exploit anymore."

I'm actually going to talk to you like an adult here, so lets hope it works.

The difference between an exploit and an unintended and undesirable use of game mechanics is that an exploit allows you, through various methods, to break a rule of the game. I will use an example from another game: Alpha Centauri, a great game, had a bug where if you gave the keyboard command for an airdrop, it would only let you do one per turn (as intended). If you used the mouse command, you could do as many as you wanted. That's an exploit, despite you doing nothing really wrong (hell many people who only used the mouse were unaware this limit was supposed to be there).

On the other hand, a perfectly intended use of game mechanics - self-destructing missiles with a fusion or greater reactor - is incredibly overpowered and lets you wipe out stacks of units in a way that wasn't really thought though well. No part of it breaks the rules - it does damage to all surrounding units, just as intended - but it's really overpowered and something you patch out or make a house rule against.

The key reason this is not an exploit is no rules were broken. The system functioned exactly as it was supposed to. Manipulating the price of an item is and always has been allowed (and is commonly used for margin scamming, or convincing people to sell stuff at a reduced price or buy it at an inflated price). Blowing up your own stuff to collect the proceeds is and always has been allowed. The issue is that once you combine the two, you get a situation that breaks no rule, but is highly undesirable (the generation of LP at a very low isk cost). If the mechanism allowed you to generate LP for free, there would be an argument it's breaking a rule of the game. But it didn't: every LP point you got cost you a specific amount of isk.

Since this is undesirable, the devs will naturally patch it out. But because it was perfectly legitimate when done, it's clearly not something that people should be punished for. When it comes to confiscating the products of the scheme, I think it's clear that shouldn't be done as well - it would be an unfair punishment - unless the amounts generated were so vast the health of the game demanded it. That's a factual question that we can disagree over, but from my understanding of the market this is not a gamebreaking amount. For the vast majority of the time when these five were dumping, implant prices weren't artificially low: they merely were at their historical average instead of the spiked post-inferno price. This is a lot of money for these involved - sadly, I am not one of them and must be content with my vast guidance system riches - but it's not an amount that will seriously affect markets or devalue LP.

Well said, I have to admit.