The MMORPG EVE Online is known for grand stories and a universe that can be massively influenced by its players. One player has now executed an absolutely absurd plan, thus acquiring unimaginable wealth. We at MeinMMO summarize the situation.
What exactly was stolen? The reddit user Flam_Hill has detailed his genius absurd plan “Operation yours is mine” on the platform. He managed to extract an incredible amount of money from one of the largest alliances in the game and proves this in the thread with corresponding screenshots.
In total, he stole currency, ships, and materials worth 2.230 trillion ISK from the “Pandemic Horde Corporation”, the in-game currency of EVE. While this cannot be exchanged one-to-one for real money, it can be used to buy Plex, the “real money currency” of the MMORPG.
How is the money value derived? 2.230 trillion ISK corresponds to 446,190 Plex, which in turn has a value of an incredible 20,420 Euros. This sum was pocketed by the thief Flam_Hill and an unnamed accomplice.
Together, they executed the largest heist in the history of EVE Online, according to the website PCGamer. But how did they manage that? The story is as incredible as the amount itself.
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No epic battle, but stocks bring victory
How do stocks work in EVE? The raid on the alliance happened just as nerdy as the new integration of Excel into the space MMORPG suggests. To understand what happened there, one must comprehend how “guilds” work in EVE. They are essentially companies or corporations and can distribute stocks to allow members to profit from the group.
Members of the respective corp with more than 5% of the shares can initiate votes to establish or change rules within the group. It is also important that both of these criteria must be met independently. A player can hold more than 5% of the shares but cannot do much with them as long as he is not a member of the corporation.
The number of shares a corp has, how these are distributed and more are determined when the company is created. However, some mistakes can be made during this process that enabled the heist, which were made by the founder of the “Event Horizon Expeditionaries”, a corp that is part of the Pandemic Horde alliance and the target of the attack.
How did the heist begin? The player simply purchased 1,000 shares of the corp that was to be attacked. Then he, along with his accomplice, began to observe the members of the company for a long time.
They collected information on when and how long which guild members were active. They particularly noted where the corp had important locations and expensive assets. They noticed that the leader of the group was not very active, which ultimately initiated the plan.
New CEO undermines previous owners – Because no one notices the vote
What did the robbers do? Both created fresh new accounts with “clean names and little history”. With these accounts, they leveled the skill Corporation Management to level 1, a skill that is usually overlooked and rarely needed.
Subsequently, they applied to join the Event Horizon Expeditionaries. After passing some security checks and a long wait due to the inactivity of the powers that be, they actually managed to join the corp as new members.
From his main account, the thief transferred the 1,000 shares of the guild to his new account, which was a member of the corp. This suddenly fulfilled both conditions to start a crucial vote in the corporation mostly unnoticed.
Vote goes unnoticed, thief becomes new CEO: After the thieves had long observed the activities of the guild, they chose the perfect time to initiate a new vote. This should make the robber’s fresh account the new head of the corporation.
He and his accomplice voted yes. Now it was a matter of waiting, as the vote remains online for 72 hours and requires at least 50% “yes” votes. After all, they were only two in the 299-member corp.
But their plan actually worked, and none of the other members noticed the vote. With only 2 votes, both for “yes”, the thief became the new CEO of the corp. He then fired and deposed all previous leaders and soon set about plundering all accounts, ships, and materials of the corp.
Thus, the two thieves disappeared on March 30, 2023, with 2.230 trillion ISK without a single battle or destroyed ship.
Community reacts skeptically and impressed
What do the fans say? After Flam_Hill shared his story on reddit, many people quickly gathered in the thread to comment on the absurd story. One of the biggest points that makes people skeptical is how Flam_Hill originally acquired 1,000 shares of the guild, a surprisingly high value.
Apart from that, however, the story is quite possible and plausible, and for the thread creator as well as many commenters, exactly what makes EVE so great. However, where he actually got the shares presents a problem for many.
While some fans believe that the founder of the corp must have made mistakes when creating it, others have a strong counter-theory.
This theory suggests that the thief could theoretically be the original founder of the corp who then left the group. This would explain why he still had so many shares of the guild left and could comparatively easily use a second account in the corp. However, Flam_Hill has not commented on the theory so far.
What do you think of the story? Have you ever experienced something similar in an MMORPG? Feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO.
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