Large online games have scandals that sound a lot like scandals that take place in the real world. The space faring setting of Eve Online is no exception to this rule.
What the Scandals Involved
Scandals affect the world of Eve Online just as they affect the real world. In the most recent case, a loophole exploited by some players went unpunished for four years. Eve Online game masters banned the players using the exploit four years after someone notified CCP of the problem. Another game scandal involved developers giving blueprints to corporations that the developers favored. Perhaps the most interesting of the Eve Online scandals in the past several years eerily mirrored the banking crisis that took place in the real world in 2008.
The Eve Intergalactic Bank Scandal
A pilot named Cally decided to form an institution where players could deposit their money. He would then oan this money out to other players, and the interest he charged on the loans would enable him to pay a rate of interest to his depositors. It sounded like a good idea. The bank might have worked beautifully. Cally took the money of his investors and absconded with it.
Eve Online game masters needed to determine if the owner of the Eve Intergalactic bank violated any terms of the end user license agreement before they could take any action against him. The EIB CEO violated no real world financial laws when he stole 790 billion isk from other players. The Eve Online player community probably caused Cally's remaining days in the worlds of New Eden to be unpleasant. The author found no information about what happened to Cally.
The Ebank Scandal
Another scandal involving a diffent player run bank took place in July of 2009. This time, a player going by the name of Ricdic took 290 billiion isk from the bank. Players made a run on the bank in itself to retrieve their money. Ricdics owner, a man whose first name is Richard, sold the 290 billion isk to a third party site for $6,100 Australian. CCP banned his accound for selling their property. Richard needed the money to pay for his son's medical expenses. The new Ebank CEO, David Carter, expressed disappointment over Richard's actions. He did not blame Richard for choosing the health of his family over a game.
Did Eve Online Developers Give Loot to Corporations That They Favored?
This scandal started because of accusations posted on the Eve Online message board according to Wired. Players accused CCP staff members of giving out high end loot and ship blue prints to player-run corporations to which a developer belonged. The response from a company spokesperson had the same tone of a government official stating that he can neither confirm nor deny these rumors at this time.
The company deleted the developer characters who had their in-game identities revealed. Developers handed out items such as the Sabre BPO. Eve Online staff did not state whether the company took any additional actions against the staff responsible. They said the scandal took place during a story arc.