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When Is a Con Not a Con?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ethical-dilemmas-of-modern-life dept.

From the journals, here's some food for thought: Does a "crime" committed in an alternate world have any ramifications in the "real" world? Case in point is this article from the Gamers With Jobs site outlining the exploits of one Dentara Rask, a character in CCP's Eve Online massively multiplayer online world. According to the the article, Dentara Rask ran a Ponzi scheme within the game, amassing a large amount of on-line wealth (700 billion ISK), and then bragging about it. The question is posed: since a Ponzi scheme in real life is a punishable criminal offense, what about when it happens in a MMORPG? Assuming there are no rules within the game environment to prevent this, how would you go about punishing someone in the real world for something they did in an artificial one? And can they be punished?

4 of 441 comments (clear)

  1. wtf? by xophos · · Score: 5, Informative

    It`s a game. And the scam was clearly inside the rules of the game. So i see no need for discussion here.

  2. Re:someone is missing the point of games by Idaho · · Score: 5, Informative

    He violated the rules of a game.

    No, he didn't. As others also pointed out, there is nothing in the Eve Online EULA or in the game mechanics that forbids what this guy has done. There is no "exploiting" of bugs or broken game mechanics going on here. "Exploiting" of stupid people, sure, but that's a different matter.

    What *is* explicitly forbidden by the EULA however, is converting in-game money to real money. That is a bannable offense.

    --
    Every expression is true, for a given value of 'true'
  3. This is the whole point of EVE by MORB · · Score: 5, Informative

    EVE is a PvP game where players are pitted against each others. Unlike most other MMOs, however, it goes way beyond killing each others.

    CCP made a lot of efforts to setup complex and realistics economics in their game for the sole purpose of making all kind of swindling possible.

    People ripping each others of money, corporate politics, corporate spying, economic war, thief, and of course murder are possible and encouraged in EVE. The whole game is built to enable these things to occur, and it's what people playing that game seek.

    So why on earth should it be punished? You can't complain about getting conned in EVE anymore that you can complain about getting slaughtered in UT2004, because it's the reason why you play the game in the first place.

  4. Only Partly right. by Martin+Spamer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Selling ISK on ebay directly is against the EULA, however it is not against EULA to purchase game-cards for isk and sell those for local currency.