The challenges and rewards of espionage in EVE Online
by James Egan 
Nov 20th 2009 at 12:00PM
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Interviews
Goonswarm spymaster The Mittani took a different approach with his latest EVE Online column at Ten Ton Hammer, and conducted an interview with a corporate saboteur titled "The Most Dangerous Agent". While it should be stated that most players in EVE do not engage in espionage, it's a career path of sorts that any player could potentially engage in, provided they have the combination of intelligence, social skills, and dedication needed to succeed. It's that aspect of dedication which often goes unmentioned -- the challenge of maintaining long-term duplicity.
The Mittani's interview with a player anonymously referred to as "Darwin's Accelerator" explains how a player with destructive aims greater than simply engaging a few enemy ships at a time can use intel to devastating effect, wiping out entire fleets. Maintaining a persona that fits in with the target organization and thus won't arouse suspicion, however, can be difficult if the infiltrator genuinely dislikes the members that comprise the corporation or alliance.
As Darwin's Accelerator tells The Mittani, "Maintaining a suspicion-free persona amongst people you may not necessarily enjoy spending time amongst can be tedious and emotionally exhausting. The constant poseur pressure gets old sometimes but thus far, I have largely been able to mute my mic when I have to start screaming."
Darwin's Accelerator recounts his (or her) past experiences with undermining the efforts of various target alliances in the interview, from decisive victories to covers nearly blown. "The Most Dangerous Agent" is a good read, even if this isn't remotely near your own play style. No doubt some readers may find it a bit controversial, but corporate espionage is an aspect of conflict in New Eden and is in many respects a testament to what players can do in a sandbox MMO.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DonSailieri said on 2:20PM 11-20-2009
Yet another very good read by The Mittani - that guy sure gives me the creeps :P
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Dblade said on 5:46PM 11-20-2009
I don't see any plusses to this, personally. Darwin's is spending a ton of gaming time among people he doesn't like, in an organization he wants to see destroyed, putting up a false front just to manipulate people and situations. He has to buy and sell characters just to pull it off.
It's pretty sad as I play EVE I start to notice all of the big achievements tend to be negative, and proportional to the number of players you shaft or wreck.
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Graill said on 6:37PM 11-20-2009
Another example of the failure of EVE and its resultant niche market existance.
You have losers like Mittani, that use real world tools to commit fraud, and theft, all real world.
Nothing can be countered in game, there are no tools ingame to stop a person from gaining real life confidence nor to stop a person from buying into other accounts to commit fraud, this equals a failure on the CCP devs part to claim there is anything close to espionage in EVE.
There is real world fraud, there is real world theft, as bad as if you had taken someones account pass, which in reality is what you have done, stupid people aside. What is CCP going to do when more folks press the issues? It has happened, and last time i checked there is no expiration on fraudulant crimes.
To have espionage in game there must be counters ingame, CCP has none.
I think a few folks need to read up on what happened to the first guy that was a "spy" he got what he deserved. I think more folks will have this happen to the point CCP will be forced to at some point to litigate, then the players commiting these real world crimes will feel the pain, CCP wants your sub money, they could care less about you. This game has no consequence, however a few EVE players have found out what real life consequence is all about.
What say you CCP?
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Joel Falconer said on 6:57PM 11-20-2009
Care to show us the depths of your ignorance and inform us exactly (and succinctly if you can manage) what this so-called real world crime is?
The interviewee legally purchases accounts. He doesn't hack them.
ian.75 said on 7:44PM 11-20-2009
I presume you mean "couldn't care less" (could NOT) because that means you care so little about something it is impossible to care any less about it.
I couldn't care less about spying in game because it's all part of Eve. It's only when it crosses over into RL that it becomes a concern.