Biggest War in “EVE Online” History Raged Over Missed Payment

Don’t Forget Your Mortgage Payments

By Anni Simpson on January 28, 2014 at 10:21am

The biggest battle to ever grace the history of "EVE Online" (and arguably gaming in general) cost players in trillions over the past two days between coalition powerhouses N3PL and CFCRUS. What escalated into an all-out war started because one player forgot to make payments on their space station.

“EVE Online” is an MMORPG set in space where players can run and customize ships in over 7,500 star systems. “EVE” includes both PVE and PVP components, the latter allowing players from opposing factions can battle each other and take down one another’s resources (to put it simply). The game was released in 2003 by CCP Games, but the player community is still running strong.

According to redditor delphian1, who covered the event in r/games in real time:

Nulli forgot to pay for the space station in this system … PL was living in it. CFC and Rus took ownership of it knowing PL had assets in it. Both sides escalated to current shitshow.

The damages in “EVE” included the destruction of 60 Titans. CFCRUS stood victorious at the end of the fight having obliterated 40 of N3PL’s Titans. Thousands of players participated in the battle, leaving tens of thousands of real dollars worth of damages in their wake.

For comparison’s sake, only three Titans were destroyed in the battle of Asakai, which saw its one-year anniversary yesterday.

In order to handle the load from thousands of players attacking each other for hours, game time was reduced to 10 percent of normal speed.

According to a Reddit AMA by Mandred Sideous, Pandemic Legion fleet commander:

I hope nobody quits over this fight. It has been truly epic to be part of, as it’s the largest fight in the history of online gaming. It’s a shame if someone quits. This is all part of the game, and a ship hull is the price of admission for fun fights.

He also says Pandemic Legion intends to “retake if possible” following the carnage.

EVE Online

Release: 5/6/2003 [NA]

ESRB Rating: Teen

Publisher: CCP Games