10 Times Players Broke MMORPGs
3. EVE Intergalactic Bank - EVE Online
Prepare for a harrowing tale of what could happen if banks didn’t have to adhere to the law.
All MMOs require investment of time and EVE Online is no different. However, what makes it stand apart from others is the possibility to invest from a monetary stand-point. Real world money, with its own exchange rates, can be swapped for ISK (Interstellar Kredits) to get ahead in that big, imposing universe. Looking at all the corporations he could start, user 'Cally' decided to create the EVE Intergalactic Bank.
The EIB would give new players loans that they could use however they saw fit to get themselves started: ship parts, mining tools, weapons and so on. Just like any real world bank, Cally organised interest rates and repayment plans. Many gamers can attest that playing EVE is like a full-time job, but in this case Cally essentially ran a one man bank for months.
Until, one day, he didn’t anymore. He had accrued 790 billion ISK (about $170,000) and just decided one day that he was done. He bought an overpowered warship, put a bounty on his own head and said to the EVE universe “come and try it”.
Depending on your outlook, he had either become EVE Online’s first supervillain or thrown the gauntlet down for the biggest win in MMORPG history.