EVE's Quarterly Economic Newsletter focuses on impact of anti-RMT operation
by James Egan 
Nov 10th 2009 at 7:00PM
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, MMO industry
One of the strengths of the sandbox game EVE Online is its player-driven economy, which developer CCP Games monitors through a small team of researchers headed up by Lead Economist Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson (aka CCP Dr.EyjoG). They observe all manner of player interactions and sift through a tremendous amount of data to track how EVE Online's economy changes over time. Their findings are presented to the playerbase (or to anyone curious about virtual economies) in the form of Quarterly Economic Newsletters (QEN). CCP released the 3rd Quarter 2009 report this week, which gives us a look at player demographics and the most popular ships flown by those players. (It's interesting to note that the most popular ship in the game is now the Hulk, a mining vessel which has usurped the Raven battleship as EVE's most flown ship, while Black Ops battleships are EVE's least flown ships.)
This latest QEN also gives various price indices and Market Snapshots, which chart the volumes of a number of popular items traded on the open market. CCP also shows the impact "Operation: Unholy Rage" -- their anti-RMT initiative -- has had on EVE Online's economy with over 18,000 (paying) accounts banned to date. Dr.EyjoG writes, "Unholy Rage taught us a great deal about RMT operations in EVE. We now have a much clearer picture of the extent of operations and the tools and methods they use."
If you're interested in checking out more about the virtual economy of New Eden or getting more details on the impact of Unholy Rage, you can download the latest QEN for EVE Online as a PDF from the game's official site.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
zeekthegeek said on 8:02PM 11-10-2009
Why the '(paying)' comment on the ban of RMT people? Sure, gold farmers are paying customers. Doesn't mean they shouldn't be banned.
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James Egan said on 8:16PM 11-10-2009
I mentioned "paying" to clarify that the figure of 18,000 banned accounts does not include the free trial accounts banned as well.
zeekthegeek said on 9:20PM 11-10-2009
Ah my bad then, I just assumed some sort of malice - which is more and more common online :P
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Benicio said on 12:48AM 11-11-2009
Hopefully the changes in the next patch will entice people away from the Hulk and into more fun aspects of the game.
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mpdivo said on 1:27AM 11-11-2009
I'm a hulk player. Works well with my graduate work and strangely addictive.
Plus, I will not return to combat until they fix high sec warfare and station games - it's the worst form of PvP that has such an easy fix. It should be a priority with CCP because new players don't go straight to 0.0 pvp. They join corporations that are constantly griefed by players who understand how to exploit stations.
It's not PvP, it's not fun, and it's an easy fix...when EVE addresses it, then I'll go back to the more "fun" aspects of the game.
Yoh said on 2:52AM 11-11-2009
mpdivo, by fun, do you mean mining?
Are you fucking serious? I think cutting myself sounds like more fun to me.
At least that's engaging.
One word - Catatonic.
However, building stuff and market manipulation can be quite fun thou, but it's not for everyone.
However I do agree with your rough assessment or hisec PvP, it is a bag of cunt half the time.
~Yoh
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Schtix said on 4:37AM 11-11-2009
Hey guys, take something into consideration: the Hulk is undeniably the best mining vessel in the game, so obviously, every miner will strive to fly it, hence why there are so many of them. However, it won't be the case that every PvPer will want to fly one particular battleship because it's 'the best.' Just thought I'd throw that out there.
But really, let's not get into the whole, "I play the game more funner than you," argument, please. Null sec can be ignorantly summarised as, "You hear name lock target and push F1 lawl," just like industrial aspects of the game can be mentioned as, "Mining is stupidly boring omg my soul."
But hey, anyone else wish CCP could focus a bit more on T3 in their next QEN? I don't know if it's just because the market is a newer one, but I'd really like to see more information on it.
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Psychotic Storm said on 5:51AM 11-11-2009
I agree with that, just because an aspect of the game does not appeal to you it doesn't mean it is unappealing to everybody else.
GaaaaaH said on 5:58AM 11-11-2009
0.0 is significantly more complex than that, depending on your role.
For example, tacklers need to activate point THEN F1
Tyranor said on 10:06AM 11-11-2009
As an econ student, I really wish we could get more data from CCP...seriously, EVE could be one hell of a huge economics experiment if you had the right data.
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mpdivo said on 1:21PM 11-11-2009
CCP seems like the type of company and you are an economics student doing a research paper - if approached right, I'm pretty sure they would release some of the data to you. Especially in light of the fact that they have a paid person specifically to deal with the economics of the game.
They would probably invite you to the studios as well. Flights to Iceland during the winter are incredibly cheap.
ed anger said on 10:10AM 11-11-2009
Null sec can be ignorantly summarised as, "You hear name lock target and push F1 lawl," just like industrial aspects of the game can be mentioned as, "Mining is stupidly boring omg my soul."
i'd agree with both statements ;)
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phillip said on 11:33AM 11-11-2009
idk why there are so many orcas YOU ONLY NEED ONE IN YOUR FLEET.
i think its hilarious when noobs make a fleet of 1x hauler 1x hulk and 1xorca and the person in the orca thinks he's actually helping alot but he's not he's only boosting mining output by 30% if he was in a 2nd hulk he would be boosting mining output by 100%
you need at least 3 mining ships to where the bonuses actually boost enough to be greater then a 4th individual in a mining ship no matter how i try to explain this to noobs they never get it they just like "no way orca is teh leetzors"
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