EVE Online duo beats the high score on net gain from a scam in a game

EVE Online is the Wild West of MMO's. Instead of guilds, corporations exist. You can invest into corporations as well as be a part of them and serve whatever possible role. R&D, mining, protection, etc. Most roles are supported by in-game skills that can be trained even while offline. The only thing EVE Online doesn't allow is continued harassment. Anything else possible in game is OK, and the game is structured purely for that purpose. For example a guy named Bad Bobby ran an investment vehicle corporation called Titans4U. Titans are the largest class of ship in the game and are table-turners in large-scale wars. Players invested into the corporation to get a Titan in return. However, he was able to steal all five Titan blueprints and in-game currency the corporation held, worth $50,000, because he plus four other trustees each owned 20% of the corporations, and in order to unlock the blueprints, over 50% of the shares would have to pass a yes vote. So he initiated a vote to create more shares under the guise of creating more trustees, and when he did, he held over 50% of the corporations stock, and he made off with all of the company's holdings. That was game-legal. It's not like corporate thefts like this come out of left field, all players operate under a "never invest what you can't stand to lose" mindset, and corporate thefts are pretty common in the game. Just not on this scale.

It's stuff like this that makes me play EVE. Corporate theft, piracy, it's all okay. If you don't want to get blasted, stay in sectors with a high-security rating. If you don't want to lose your investments, make sure the corporation is reliable and be wary of privately held corporations. But on the other hand, if you want to be a straight up bad-ass, be a pirate. Join a mercenary corporation. Join a large corporation that has holdings in nullsec space (space that doesn't just have a low security rating, it has no security rating. Legitimately Wild West. Corporations hold down sectors as sovereign space and wars are constantly fought for territory and resources).

The persistent economic-driven aspect of the game is being expanded on with a game called Dust-514. It's an online shooter in the EVE universe where ground wars are fought over planets, and both sides are hired by corporations in EVE.

This entices me to play the game.