EVE Council hit by insider trading scandal

By Oli Welsh Published 9 September, 2009

Councillor acted on developer info, resigns.

The latest development in EVE Online's saga of political intrigue involves the game's experiment in democracy - the player-elected Council of Stelllar Management. A CSM member has resigned after being found guilty of insider trading on the game's commodities market, based on advance notice he received of a design change in the works.

EVE developer CCP said that Adam Ridgway, known in-game as Larkonis Trassler, had speculatively stockpiled 2.5 billion ISK worth of items ahead of the proposed changes.

In their role as representatives of the player body to CCP, CSM members are privy to confidential information on the future development of the game, but expressly forbidden from acting on it for personal gain.

Ridgway steps down voluntarily, and his seat will be taken by former member Michele Boland, a.k.a. Issler Dainze. Boland is no stranger to high-profile EVE controversy - her character Dainze is the alliance leader who was publicly assassinated by a team member during a player-versus-player tournament.

"Before attending [the CSM summit] 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," Ridgway confessed in a statement.

"CCP have invested a huge amount of time, effort, money and most importantly trust into the CSM. My actions in some way have undermined that which is why I have no choice but to resign from the CSM. It is a voluntary act," he said. "I apologise to those who voted for me and those who relied on me to give them a voice in a council... I have had a tremendous time on the CSM."

"The rest of the Council condemns his actions and would like to express our sincere apologies to the players for this breach of trust," said the CSM in a joint statement. "We cannot and will not tolerate such conduct within our ranks."

Ridgway "broke the agreement between him and CCP, and more so, broke the trust he had build with other members of the council," said the game developer.

You can read more at Massively.

Eurogamer will be attending the EVE Fanfest on October 1st to 3rd, and we'll bring you the scoop on console spin-off Dust 514 and more, direct from Reykjavik.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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