In EVE Online a pilot has been scammed out of a valuable ship. He found out as one of the last.
PCGamer tells one of the famous war stories from the SF MMORPG EVE Online. In EVE there are ships that are particularly valuable, the “Alliance Tournament” ships. They are awarded by developer CCP as a prize for winning a tournament.
These “AT” ships cannot be manufactured otherwise. These ships are worth billions of ISK – so incredibly valuable. They are rare collectibles.
A group of pilots, the “Amamake Police”, collects these ships and flies into battle with them. This is rare because ships can be destroyed in EVE Online.
Therefore, many pilots shy away from war with “valuable ships” and only fly what they can easily replace. However, the Amamake Police flies with their most expensive and finest ships. They seek the thrill.
It’s a bit like betting your Super Bowl ring or your Oscar in a game of roulette. So quite cool.
Famous Frigate has 400 Killmarks – legendary ship in EVE Online
One of them, Tikktokk, has upgraded and refined his AT ship, a Chermoas Frigate, over the last few years. He has installed increasingly expensive equipment so that the thrill is even higher when he goes to war with the frigate. In addition, his ship has now collected 400 killmarks, which are markings for destroying other pilots.
The frigate that Tikktokk pilots is legendary within EVE.
And it was about this frigate that Tikktokk was scammed, and he learned about it in the EVE Online newspaper, in the reddit forum. One day when he logged in, friends showed him a thread on reddit. There, someone proudly tells how he tricked Tikktokk out of the ship worth 300 billion ISK.
Earned trust over 16 months
It’s quite a malicious story. Over 16 months, the pilot had wormed his way into the inner circle of the “Amamake Police”, befriended Tikktokk. He made himself useful, gradually working his way up into the inner circle.
Within the Amamake Police, it is common to exchange the expensive AT ships with each other: “You give me yours – I give you mine.” Because the pilots of this group have known each other for years, are confidants and good friends. They see themselves as a kind of brotherhood.
When the fraudster belonged to the inner circle after 16 months, he then managed to move up through some deals, exchanging for increasingly expensive ships. He was fair, did not do anything with them, until he finally got to Tikktokk’s frigate.
Genius fraudster of EVE has a bit of remorse
Then he dropped the bombshell, opened the reddit thread to celebrate himself as the greatest fraudster of EVE.
He somewhat regrets it as well. He says that over the months he developed sympathy for his victims, but that’s just how EVE is played.
The only reason was ultimately to pull off this fraud and gain “fame”, internet celebrity.
Duped becomes the hero of the fraud
Tikktokk takes it all in stride. He says: The fraudster was the one he did the most with in recent months and who he really liked. He is more annoyed about losing a friend than the loss of the ship. The hours of shared fun are more important to him than some space pixels.
The attitude received much more applause from the fans than the clever fraud. Thus, the victim is the hero of this fraud and not the perpetrator. Even though the universe of EVE Online is often rough: many value friendships in EVE higher than a ship, even if it is such a valuable one.
By the way, the issue with the ship has been resolved: the EVE community came together and repurchased the priceless ship. It is now back in Tikktokk’s possession. He has his ship again. The fraudster is now several billion ISK richer – but he has lost his friends.
Tikktokk, however, does not want to lend his Chermoras anymore: “But not because I am afraid of losing the ship, but maybe losing another friend.”
The sci-fi hardcore MMORPG EVE Online is the simulation of a ruthless universe. On a single server, thousands of players go at each other in a constantly changi...
