Free Republic

While spending money on video games is not uncommon, EVE Online stands out because players' assets can be permanently destroyed; their real-world cash outlay gone in seconds. The game's financial system is so complex that in 2025, a former economist from the Central Bank of Iceland was hired to oversee it. Players can amass huge virtual fortunes by mining raw materials or fighting as mercenaries, but they aren't allowed to convert in-game wealth back into real-world cash. Playing EVE Online can take hundreds of hours. Some see it as a second job, dedicating up to 35 hours per week to...

One of the largest video game space battles ever seen has taken place in the Eve Online game. For five hours on 28 July about 4,000 players took part in the epic battle between two of the game's biggest alliances.The two sides were fighting for control of resources within several of the game's solar systems. Time was slowed down in the virtual universe to help servers cope with the huge numbers of players and ships.The battle pitted spaceships belonging to CFC against those from the Test Alliance in a region of space known as 6VDT. It ended in victory for...

Uh-oh! Another big bank is the subject of a depositor run amid charges its chairman has run off with customers’ money. Thankfully, this scandal is taking place in Eve Online, a space-age virtual reality created by CCP, a games developer and Iceland’s coolest company. But these troubles in the ether may offer some valuable lessons for earthly banking and regulation. Eve is one of the more successful multiplayer online games. Some 300,000 people — as it happens, nearly equal to the population of Iceland — pay $15 a month to navigate characters that pilot intergalactic spaceships, manufacture and trade goods,...