Monday, July 6, 2009

Thievery - Not For Everyone

So, it seems this blog is increasingly becoming more of a guide on how to save your skin in EVE and not get burned.


Thus far, I have kept my mitts off the Caerus project, have let the Expedition leaders such as Rayth, Ajax, Sarah, and Nlor maintain a level of autonomous operation that allows them to make their own command decisions, and overall just let the project evolve on its own. I still plan to do so for as long as the project is active.

The Caerus project, being more of a summer diversion, but still a serious expedition into a new game mechanic, has gone well for the most part, and I have been proud of the focus that I have seen from the members who participated, but we have hit a rather sour note.

Now, granted, the following story is very discouraging in some respects, but I would like to point out the amusing silver lining to the whole scheme.

Vhero Min, confirmed corporate thief, via private communique on the corporate forums before I deleted his account, has stolen four Raven class ships from the Caerus POS, one of which was a CNR estimated at approximately 500,000,000.00 ISK.

Now, as you all know, or at least as I know, Vhero Min and his supposed friend Sennka have been in the corporation for three months. They did not log very often, they did interact when they were present, but for the most part they were just wall flowers.

However, this weekend, having asked to get their alt into the corporation so they could leave it in the WH system while their main was in Empire, Vhero stole the member's private assets listed above.

Let me break this down for you:

Two Account Scenario (Vhero, Sennka)
90 days per account.
180 days for both.
650,000,000.00 ISK average for a 60 day GTC.
1,950,000,000.00 ISK average for 180 days worth of GTCs.
900,000,000.00 ISK average for the ships stolen if he is lucky.

One Account Scenario (Vhero)
90 days per account.
650,000,000.00 ISK average for a 60 day GTC.
975,000,000.00 ISK average for 90 days worth of GTCs.
900,000,000.00 ISK average for the ships stolen if he is lucky.

Notice how the math does not add up? I am personally amused by this.

So I brought it up with Vhero in private, and he said it was his first theft, was merely an experiment, and that he woulda gotten away with it if he had not left his shuttle at the POS. He hopes I have learned a lesson. How kind of him.

So even with just one account for three months, that is 975,000,000.00 ISK in game currency for what may have been 900,000,000.00 ISK in game assets stolen.

Golden.

Don't quit your day job, Vhero, please.

So, the lesson here is that security is paramount in EVE, as people who did not finish elementary school abound everywhere you look.

I hope he enjoys having to roll a new account because every corporation Vhero Min joins from now on receives an EVEMail alerting them to pod him repeatedly for shits and giggles because he is a corporate thief, and a bad one.

Shameful.

Now that we have the name of his main account, things will progress from there as well.

You can see me right now, rubbing my hands together, eager for bloodsport, right Vhero?

*Note: It has been brought to my attention over the course of the past week that more ships were taken than initially reported, along with a plethora of basic fittings, supplies, harvested materials, and etc. However, I still stand by my account of the events at hand insofar as someone who spends three months in a corporation knowing that all corporate assets are and forever will be inaccessible to them then stumbles upon a private project operated by members of the corporation is no thief. They are merely carrion animals incapable of hunting prey, and instead rely on nature, chance, or real predators to do their work for them.

What aspiring corporate thief loiters in a corporation for three months knowing full well that the CEO keeps everything in a vault slathered with security measures to the point of obsession?
Obvious failure is obvious.