EVE Online player elected council rep steps down in wake of insider trading
by James Egan 
Sep 8th 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, MMO industry, News items
One of the unique aspects of the sci-fi massively multiplayer online game EVE Online is that it has a peer-elected council of players that represents the interests of EVE's subscribers to the title's developer CCP Games, working with them to improve the MMO. This select group of EVE Online players is called the Council of Stellar Management (CSM).
No other online game in operation has anything quite like it, but that's because EVE Online is one of the few games where something like this would even work. Given the scope of interactions that happen in EVE's single shard setting of thousands of solar systems where player actions have the potential to affect others in the game, it comes as no surprise that players can take the game very seriously. They form military and political alliances to conquer and hold regions of space. Players even establish financial institutions built upon the game's virtual economy. Any insider knowledge about how the game's New Eden galaxy will change through future development could be valuable. CSM delegates are expressly forbidden from divulging or using insider information for their own advantage, or those of their friends.
However, CCP Games revealed today that exactly such a situation has arisen. Larkonis Trassler, a prominent member of the Council of Stellar Management, used insider information to attempt to profit in the game's virtual InterStellar Kredit (ISK) currency. He has stepped down from his position on the council and his accounts have been banned by CCP for Non-disclosure Agreement violations.
CCP revealed that CSM delegate Larkonis Trassler (real name: Adam Ridgway) "bought items worth 2.5 billion ISK in order to stockpile those items before a game design change would be implemented. Further 2.5 billion was traded in these same items earlier that night based on the same information but through another character. [...] Insider information was used as the basis of this trade and this is not according to the standards that we set for members of the Council of Stellar Management."
CCP Games maintains an Internal Affairs department that investigates player wrongdoing (that is, what is expressly forbidden by the EULA) and allegations of misconduct from the game's developers themselves. That scrutiny extends to members of the Council of Stellar Management as well, as evidenced by today's disclosure.
Given the level of advance knowledge CSM delegates receive about EVE's development, CCP Games feels there must be commensurate accountability for their actions. This is largely why individuals running in the Council of Stellar Management elections are required to provide their real name and other real life information, all of which is verified by CCP Games before they're considered for the CSM candidacy. A CSM delegate's real name thereafter becomes a matter of public record.
Before officially stepping down, Trassler made a statement about his motivations to use his position for personal gain: "Unfortunately no political body is ever going to be without scandal and a bit of bad press. While attending the CSM summit I acted on some information which was revealed for personal profit and, of course, I was caught. Before attending the thought of using any information gained to aid my position in game never crossed my mind. However, we are all human and when presented with this information the urge to act on it was too great." Larkonis Trassler has been replaced by former CSM member Michele Boland (known as Issler Dainze in-game, who was coincidentally the target of last year's assassination during the game's annual PvP tournament).
The announcement on the official EVE Online website has statements on the matter from the Council of Stellar Management about the breach of trust, from CCP Games about their reasons for taking action, and as mentioned from Larkonis Trassler himself about why he did it. Whether you're an EVE player and want to know what's happened or you're simply curious about how virtual governance functions in a player-driven game, we recommend reading the full disclosures released by all parties involved on the official EVE Online website.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Russell Clarke said on 8:40PM 9-08-2009
The more I read about the game, and the machinations of the players, the more I want to give it another go. Seems more like real life than real life...only in space.
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Alex said on 9:07PM 9-08-2009
I feel the same way when I read EVE stories, but when you get right down to it, to me EVE is a lot more fun to read about and follow from a distance than it is to actually play.
Russell Clarke said on 9:11PM 9-08-2009
Yeah, come to think of it, you're right. It's definitely like real life in that regard too!
InfamousBrad said on 8:58PM 9-08-2009
Request for clarification: You report that "his accounts have been banned by CCP for Non-disclosure Agreement violations." At the page you link to, he says that "I will be allowed to run for another term in the future if I so desire." Which is it?
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James Egan said on 9:10PM 9-08-2009
I posed this question to CCP Games before running the piece but they weren't able to give me an answer before it was time to go live.
The CSM statement reads "Acting on his own, he utilized confidential information that CCP shared with us in violation of the Nondisclosure Agreement he signed by attempting to engage insider trading. CCP, who is monitoring us closely, almost instantly discovered his actions and has banned his accounts. The councilmember has since resigned his seat on the council."
Since this was an approved statement in a CCP dev blog I felt confident in saying he's been banned, but like you said, questions still remain. Specifically:
Is the player himself banned from the game, or simply the accounts involved?
As this was an NDA break rather than a EULA violation, does this mean he's able to run for re-election? (And if he's no longer a subscriber?)
If I get a response from CCP on this I'll update this article.
Myria said on 11:43PM 9-08-2009
I can't decide if someone thinking this "exciting" and "significant" is more funny then sad or more sad then funny.
It is neither. A passing blurp that won't be remember in a week in a game that is only barely remembered now.
Myria said on 11:45PM 9-08-2009
I can't decide if someone thinking this "exciting" and "significant" is more funny then sad or more sad then funny.
It is neither. A passing blurp that won't be remember in a week in a game that is only barely remembered now.
Dblade said on 9:08PM 9-08-2009
tl;dr; dude gets banned, film at eleven. Player council or not, do you really need a press release or news article when all of one person gets banned for an exploit?
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James Egan said on 9:21PM 9-08-2009
People get banned from EVE everyday. But there's a substantial difference between any regular player who uses an exploit and someone who has advance knowledge of the changes coming to the game -- *having been actually involved in the development pipeline* -- and using that knowledge to profit where other players could (or would) not.
Brendan Drain said on 9:23PM 9-08-2009
It wasn't an exploit. He was part of a group that was flown to CCP HQ and discussed upcoming changes to the game with the developers under the agreement that he wouldn't tell anyone that information or attempt to profit off it. He signed a confidentiality agreement and then broke it. It's not the banning that's a big deal, it's the fact that someone the players voted for to represent them to CCP abused his position and it was handled pretty well.
If you don't play EVE this story won't matter to you but for EVE players that have a strong interest in the EVE community and the game's development and growth it's pretty big news.
Dblade said on 9:51PM 9-08-2009
There's no substantial difference, its not really something that affects the EVE population in any real way. It's just one guy trying to corner the market on materials or something and getting caught. Probably all of that council does it as well through third parties, he just was too obvious.
If the whole council got caught, that's news, because that will have serious implications about how players and ccp can work together. One guy isn't really that much in the game scheme of things, and its getting a little annoying how much press EVE gets over things that aren't that newsworthy at all, because it crowds out the rest of the site.
DrewIW said on 10:33PM 9-08-2009
Dblade, can you name a single piece of MMO news today that's as significant as this?
In fact, can you name any MMO that has major events and happenings as often as EVE?
Don't get butthurt just because exciting things happen in EVE. Just go back to WoW where the most interesting thing happening is a guild downing a raid boss... again... and again...
Dblade said on 2:35AM 9-09-2009
Exciting? This is the equivalent of one guy getting banned for a speed hack. Or selling his account on ebay. So what if he was giving feedback to the devs as part of a player council?
EVE events are not happenings, they are just what other games do and don't get reported on. When FFXI banned for salvage, one guy who was banned lost an account with eight relics. That's an insane amount of effort-a titan is gimp compared to that, and thats not all he lost. I didn't see massively cover that, and rightfully so.
EVE is overrated as hell though, CCP is going to learn the hard way when DUST gets all of 10k subs and tanks on the console.
Tyranor said on 3:54AM 9-09-2009
Stop feeding the troll Drew....
onetrueping said on 4:41AM 9-09-2009
Dblade, this wasn't "some player." This was someone with DEVELOPER KNOWLEDGE. This isn't using hacks or cheats like anyone else. This is someone that a large number of other people, including the EVE developers, trusted enough to put him in that position. And he violated that trust. This isn't like a petty criminal robbing a bank, here, like a cheater is. No, this is a high-ranking elected politician using his position and knowledge of laws about to be passed to make a huge chunk of money illegally, or a high-level accountant working on Wall Street abusing the trust of those who put him in that position to do the same thing.
This isn't a small-scale crime like those that happen every day. This is big time crime, not unlike the very scandals that killed the economy.
Only in a game.
Lets see another game do that, hm?
Graill said on 5:29PM 9-09-2009
quote]
"Dblade, can you name a single piece of MMO news today that's as significant as this?
In fact, can you name any MMO that has major events and happenings as often as EVE?
Don't get butthurt just because exciting things happen in EVE. Just go back to WoW where the most interesting thing happening is a guild downing a raid boss... again... and again...
Endquote]
This is to funny, Drew actually took the time to type the above quote. Silly people.
Utakata said on 9:11PM 9-08-2009
...not only do you need a spreadsheet to play this game, you'll need a lawyer. :(
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Xiphos said on 7:34AM 9-09-2009
Wow. For all of the benefits a CSM member is granted, he risked it all to make a few isk? He was in the position to influence the game he played, talk to developers, and fly to Iceland for meetings. All for a video game. I am simply floored that he would risk such a great gig for virtual currency. Corrupt politicians, even gaming has them!
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Chris said on 11:03AM 9-09-2009
you have to look at it as what it was, greed 2 billion ISK worth of mineral that for all we know might be worth 10x - 100x that much after the patch, for all you know he could have sold it again for 200billion ISK, its ingame currency, but realistically 20billion ISK is a crapload lol
Brendan Drain said on 9:16PM 9-08-2009
I think this shows that CCP take their confidentiality agreements very seriously. It's reassuring not only because CCP employees are held to the same standards but also because of the clear and open way this was handled. This was definitely handled the best way possible by all parties involved, including the offending CSM member Larkonis Trassler. It makes you wonder what you'd do in his position.
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