"The most expensive battle in gaming history" Topic

The estimated losses in terms of US dollars from one days action – brought about by someone forgetting to pay a subscription – is estimated to be $330,000. USD USD

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It also explains why I'm not one of those PvE (Player versus Environment) Hi-Sec "Care Bears"….

Never heard of this game. And if that video is what game play is like how does anyone stay awake?

Man…that's impressive.

That cost is also about the cost of second hand Battle Fleet Gothic mini's on ebay

Sometimes I miss playing Eve – that scale of gains and losses and alliances and betrayals can't be found in any other game.

But then I remember that I enjoy doing things in my life that aren't Eve-related, and it seems like you have to choose one or the other.

@snodipous
Hell, I wasn't even into Alliances and that stuff, I was a low sec carebear (with a nasty bite) and it still took way to much time. ;-)

kalgaloth – that was a slower version based on a huge battle. This may help.

YouTube link

"That cost is also about the cost of second hand Battle Fleet Gothic mini's on ebay"

Aint that the sad truth… :)

EVE online is the world's prettiest spreadsheet simulator.

As a Chartered Accountant I love spreadsheets ;-)

"That cost is also about the cost of second hand Battle Fleet Gothic mini's on ebay"

Aint that the sad truth… :)

But its chump change compared to warmaster prices ;-)

I always love reading stories about EVE. and they all sound so enticing, like the world will spring to life around you, and be an amazing universe to immerse yourself into.

That said, every time I played it (I have had four attempts) I just don't feel it while playing it. I spend a lot of time squinting at the screen, and piloting with point and click never felt, well, fun to me.

I will keep my enjoyment of EVE to reading articles like this. Thanks for sharing!

I tried it but couldn't get into it…..

Wow

Being totally ignorant of EVE, is that $300,000 USD the estimated cost of what people have put into the game in actual pay-to-play money (buying power-ups and such)? If so, what a bunch of morons. I remember being totally stunned years ago that people would pay real world money for virtual game equipment in Evercrack. Is it like that?

Doug

A fool and his money should never have been put together in the first place.

(Waiting for Firefly)

I remember being totally stunned years ago that people would pay real world money for virtual game equipment in Evercrack. Is it like that?

You can't buy in-game items with real world money directly. As far as I remember, every ship and item in the game is either looted from NPC opponents or manufactured by industrialists. The industrial/manufacturing side of Eve is a huge and vastly complicated game all to itself. Professional economists study it.

There is a way to buy a month's subscription to the game for real money, and then sell it in-game to another player for game currency (ISK). This connection is how they can draw a rough exchange rate between real dollars and ISK, and thus figure out what the real-world value of destroyed ships and items is.

All that said, what was destroyed in the battle we're talking about wasn't bought with real money, other than the subscription fees of the people who created it. The Titan ships that were destroyed in the battle are the apex ships in the game, and have to be constructed in-game, taking hundreds or thousands of people working together for months and months, all the way from miners extracting and refining raw ore up to to the high-end research and manufacturing that goes into finishing it. All of which can only happen in zero-security space, meaning that the shipyards have to be protected from hostiles the whole time.

Also, I think people who play games with toy soldiers should be careful about disparaging other peoples' hobbies… glass houses and all that.

I played for 8 years. I spent probably between 4 to 20 hours a week, but most times in the single digits. I have a real life, thus I cant devote the time. I've played all aspects of the game. I enjoyed the PvP the least, just not my nature, at least for EvE. My favorite part of the game is the exploration aspect. Finding hidden wormholes or complexes in hi, lo, and null sec space; then exploiting the resources from those sites. It was like treasure hunting. But, I havent played in 6 months. Just started to get bored with it.

I play games with toy soldiers, but I can humorously disparage EVE players who get this involved because even with all the work you have to do to get a painted army on the table, it's a helluva lot more work and dedicated hours to try and play EVE at that level.

That said, I actually think it's worth their time to do so for people who enjoy that. There are very few safe and fun ways to get involved in factional warfare like this, and at this level.

They talk about how X dollars were wasted in this battle, but that's a lot of dollars built up over time, spent in normal playing of the game. $15 USD a month for wow and all that, it adds up. Funnily enough, WoW is also putting their version of EVE's semi-real currency into effect soon.

What other game could you get such real world stakes, and have fun doing it? You get espionage, giant battles, military blunders, great leaders, weak leaders, armies of underlings, or being that underling, etc.

I used to play a slimmed down version back in the old MMO boom days, I forget the name, but it was essentially EVE on the ground where I was just a corporate guard at a portal between worlds. I would accost anyone passing through without the proper ID, heck, I'd even take bribes and other stuff. It was fun to role play.

Snodipus – thanks for the explanation.

Doug

Just a note, I use to make enough in game money (ISK) that I was able to pay for my monthly subsrciption, as described by snodipous. As with any of these types of games, eventually it felt like I had a second job, albeit in a very cool world, but a job none the less. The economy and politics of the game is fascinating.

A small piece of trivia, a player from one of the major player corporation, was one of the US State Department personnel that died in the Benghazi attack in Libya. He was one the game at the time, and told everyone he had to logout because something was going on, and obviously never returned.

In Eve can players explore planetside as well or is it all in-space?

There is a tie in game that is dirtside called "DUST 514" it's a Play Station FPS.

It's not got the following that EVE has. Really all I can do is bombard a planet from orbit. Never been called on to do it. None of my corp play DUST.

EVE is not really an avatar driven game. Indeed, your ship is pretty much it.

If there was any planetary action in that battle on EVE online in Dust 514. I may have been on the receiving end of that. I play Dust, it's free to play. Although if you want a big hand up in it you can buy skills and equipment with real dollars.

But I've found the best way to survive in Dust 514 is to raise your drop suit skills first, then the weapon skills. Because the drop suit is like powered armor and keeps you in the fight longer if you can use it properly.

And I have been bombed from orbit. Grunts, we don't know the bigger picture of what's going on. We just fight and die, get cloned back and do it all over again.

I was there. I was dropping bombs and torps like a boss. Then I got wiped by a smartbombing battleship…..

One reason I hate huge fleet battles is that TiDi (time dialation…no, it has nothing to do with the speed of light, more like the speed of the server….) is always around 10% or less. So you push a button, make a sandwich, mow the lawn, come back, push another button….one hour passes in real time, 5 seconds have passed in the battle due to the horrible lag.

Still….over 4000 players in one battle. It's pretty awesome to see.

I've played a dozen or so MMOs and the only one that truly scared me was EVE. Nowadays, I prefer to read about it than play.

$330,000 USD is very impressive, even for EVE.