Crime & Punishment

I played EVE once... like 7 years ago... for about a week. I found the game promising but ultimately hard to play, especial with WORLDZ OF WARCAFT!1! to sate my younger self.

During the Steam sale though, I picked EVE back up. Why not give it another shot, I thought.

Because I didn't exactly understand the steam linking, I accidentally made *two* accounts (my Steam one and another trial one) and spent the first full day playing my trial account. As soon as I realized what happened, I decided to simply play with two accounts. I mean... why not. At least then I can escort myself during mining.

But I wanted some "starter funds" and decided to go ahead and buy a PLEX (well a 3 pack actually) to sell for ISK.

So I buy my PLEX and while I'm waiting for delivery make the 17 jump trip to Jita in a starter ship.

Finally, I collect my PLEX and excitedly check the market, ready to be on my way to the world of EVE.

Wait, what? Oh that's right. To list on the market I need the deposit fee. Well I'll just sell to a matched buyer... it's only 9 million less and... wait, WHAT!? On a matched buyer, even though you're guaranteed an instant purchase, you need to front the deposit? It can't come from the sale?

Well... that sucks. Maybe I'll look into what these contract things are... well crap. They require upfront deposit as well and the deposit is actually higher.

So here I am, needing at least 5.5 million ISK to sell my PLEX, and only 700K ISK in my wallet. Maybe there's someone in Jita local with a contract? Nope, all those are scams. Man, I wonder who falls for those anyway?

So I post in Jita local, explaining that I'll pay 10 million ISK to anyone who can front the listing fee for my PLEX, and I'm willing to discuss what sorts of guarantees would be comfortable.

Lo and behold, someone private chats me. They seem pretty friendly, but I'm nervous. First rule: trust no one.

He doesn't want to front the ISK to me because I don't have comparable collateral. While setting off alarm bells, it's also reasonable...

So I ask him for collateral if I trade him the PLEX to list. We agree, he gives me three implants supposedly worth 500 million. I check market values before I agree, but I can't find a decent price for them. I'm wary but... I'm also eager. I just want to dump this PLEX for ISK and start on my way.

I do the trade.

We chat in a friendly way while the listing sits and he says "read my bio, it's pretty good". I pull up his bio and see some links, but don't click on them. Quirky innocuous text.

We keep chatting, and the PLEX sells, so I start going over what his fee is. He goes, "Yeah, but there's one problem. You haven't read my bio yet have you?"

I get a sinking feeling. I know what just happened. Never the less, I open his bio again, and click on the first link.

This pops up: http://puu.sh/3GT2S

Well... that sucks.

"You're going to keep it then," I say.

"Let this be a lesson," he says to me. "Never trust anyone."

I'm... a bit upset. In any other setting he just stole $20 of my *actual* money, and it would be a criminal thing. But... this is how EVE works. I'm sure I could rage, and I could complain, and I could petition a GM, and maybe even get my $20 of hard earned cash back. But then I chuckle. That was masterful, that was.

So instead I bid him goodbye, find someone who I *can* trust, and sell one of the remaining two PLEX. As promised to the first person I dealt with, the person who actually fronted me the ISK gets back 10 million on a 6 million loan after 30 seconds. No reason I can't be trustworthy.

But then, I start to think. Raging isn't super appropriate, and doesn't really help... but this game... this game has bounties, and that's actually a great system to deal with this.

Unbeknownst to the gentleman that taught me a lesson, I actually work a very good job, and have hundreds of dollars of disposable income per month. So I decide that with my next pay check I'm putting up a 2 billion ISK bounty on top of the 112 million ISK bounty already on his head. [EDIT: As pointed out below, this probably wasn't a brilliant idea either, and I decided against it.]

Some people look at stuff like this and feel like in the end, only CCP wins, because I bought the first PLEX, and then I'll buy several more to place the bounty. But this guy, he wins too, because he's a starway swindler, probably having an awesome time testing his wit and charisma against other people. And me, I win too, because despite losing money, I get to play in a game that's so immersive and with such a strong community that I can actually have a genuine desire to pour that kind of money into it.

As frustrating as it was to be swindled, when I knew that I wasn't *that* gullible or naive, I can't help but feel like it's things like this, the risk of *genuine* losses, that make EVE so fun to play.

Good on you for taking the loss so well, but regardless of how much disposable income you have, please do not waste it by putting a 2b bounty on him. Bounties are essentially worthless in this game, and he will take it as the biggest compliment if you do bounty him that much.

Instead, you should take that 2b and buy some suicide ships and gank his ass if he ever undocks

If you need a productive way to spend that much isk, I can, for a fee, help teach you the ins and outs of a lot of the criminal element. Send me an eve mail.

Don't waste the isk on bounty. If you want to make a (silly) point use the isk for mercs or your own ganks. But a better lesson would be to recognize the personal gain to be found fleecing those who were once in your place. Then you can be a teacher of lessons.

An eve tutor in asset management.

Befriend him, join his corp, talk to him on Teamspeak, build up a bond of trust,
Find out his mains name over time,
Then pay one of the many lovely Merc corps on this forums 2b isk to go repeatedly teach him a lesson.

Sit back, get a beer, and once hes been podded a few times, let him know it was all you.

Revenge.

and if you think that's over the top, check out what this guy did when he lost his merlin.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGplrpWvz0I

p.s. Welcome to EvE :)

If a PLEX is all you lose in your eve career and teaches you a valuable lesson count yourself very fortunate op. I have scammed entire Alliances many times over the value of a single PLEX in my travels and my alts so for others the lesson is more costly.

I will say one small quip in regards of trusting no one. It is true yet in the end (if you are lucky) you will develop close friendships and bonds that last with others long after even a corp or alliance exists. Never forget that and never forsake those whom may actually call you friend.

Blood after all is thicker than water. Or isk. There are friends of mine I would not betray even for all the isk in Eve. Because there comes a point where isk becomes a tool. Merely a means to enable to do things in Eve you want. And that isn't worth burning relationships over especially if it isn't in your best interest.

Nope.

Once bought, the in-game item has no cash value and is actually the property of CCP, along with everything else you have in-game; as agreed when you ticked the check box on the terms & conditions.

First of all, I just want to say that you're an excellent writer. I feel like you captured the essence of our conversation with clarity and poise.

Secondly, thank you for not being one of the many butthurts. You look at EVE as an adventure worth seizing (like me) and if more people did that, there would be a lot less tears.


And don't forget the end of our conversation. I stand by what I said. And I bet many others do too:

[ 2013.07.22 04:56:11 ] Lux Marquis > think of this as the best learning experience you've had yet in eve
[ 2013.07.22 04:56:22 ] Lux Marquis > this is FAR more valuable than any of the tutorials
[ 2013.07.22 04:56:29 ] Mina Allas-Rui > yeah, im sure thats how you think of it

Good luck and fly safe!