EVE Online Player Took Advantage of Obscure Rule to Commit Biggest Robbery in the Game's History

The space MMO EVE Online has already been on the lips of the gaming community many times. The game by CCP Games - known for its complexity and extremely engaged community - has stunned with the with thiings like the scope of space battles or unbelievable stories of political betrayals, such as the one involving a player by the handle Samantha Myth, about which we wrote we wrote about less than a year ago.

Recently, one member of the EVE community has become famous, who executed an impressive robbery. However, in contrast to previous stories, user Flam_Hill did not enrich himself through an elaborate conspiracy, requiring months of preparation and full infiltration of enemy ranks.

The shrewd player demonstrated an excellent knowledge of the game's mechanics and possible loopholes that enabled him to carry out a stealthy attack in an extremely creative way.

Silent takeover

The victim of the audacious attack was to be a corporation called Event Horizon Expeditionaries, part of the broader Pandemic Horde Alliance structure and with 299 members in its ranks.

The organization's not inconsiderable size and resources caught the attention of the story's protagonist. His plan of action, on the other hand, was extremely simple - to gain power in the Event Horizon Expeditionaries by deception, quickly seize the corporation's reserves, and then flee with the acquired wealth.

1. To carry out such a brazen yet spectacular action as theft in broad daylight, Flam_Hill, along with an anonymous partner in crime, exploited a loophole related to the shareholding system in the corporation's structure.
2. After the account substituted by the players was accepted into the ranks of Event Horizon Expeditionaries , the heroes of the story instantly put enough of their own shares into circulation to be able to apply for the position of CEO of the corporation from this position.
3. Taking advantage of the inactivity of EHE executives, the users applied for the aforementioned position.
4. After 72 hours, the time for casting votes was over, and the bizarre result consisting of only two "YES" votes (cast by the conspirators, of course) was considered positively by the game systems.

Flam_Hill bragging about his loot. Source: Reddit

Thus, the two daredevils imperceptibly gained access to top positions in the corporation. From that moment on, the matter seemed to be a foregone conclusion: Flam_Hill and his companion immediately removed the rest of the executives from power and began the process of liquidating the organization's assesst. By the time the horrified members of Event Horizon Expeditionaries realized what was happening, it was already too late.

The amount the audacious duo managed to steal from the corporation is estimated at around 2.23 trillion ISK (the game's internal currency), which in turn translates into about $22,300 US dollars.

Preparations

While the whole operation may look ridiculously simple, it was actually quite complicated. In his post on Reddit Flam_Hill explains the behind-the-scenes of the venture.

1. Describing the preparations, the player mentions the long observations preceding the "What's yours is mine" operation.
2. The duo, after a long period of observation, was able to develop a schedule, based on which they singled out a period of reduced executive activity.
3. This element, by the way, is consistent with other similar stories from EVE Online, in which one of the main attack vectors was the use of the human factor.

Share mechanics, which enabled the daredevil duo to take over the corporation. Source: Reddit

Despite careful preparations and excellent knowledge of the loopholes in the game's mechanics, the whole plan was also fraught with very high risk.

1. The unmasking of the conspirators was at stake, while the biggest unknown was the 72-hour period, mentioned in the story, provided for voting for the election of a new CEO.
2. If any of EHEXP's board members noticed the unusual activity, the whole plan would have be a failure.

However, Lady Luck was on the side of the bold thieves and all the elements of the plan came together perfectly. Those eager to learn more about the details of the action should take a look at Flam_Hill's post, in which he details his actions.

Community reaction

Naturally, the story of the audacious takeover resonated with the EVE community. Comments on Reddit under Flam_Hill's post are full of players commenting on the cleverness and audacity of the thieves, the imprudence of the EHEXP corporation structures or the legitimacy of the existence of certain mechanics in the game.

Some users question the previous connections of the main actor of the whole event:

Among the comments there were also those criticizing the mechanics of shares:

Whatever the reactions to the recent event, the spectacular robbery commited by Flam_Hill will go into the ever-growing collection of amazing stories created by EVE Online.