EVE Online money buyers exposed

Thousands of character names used to buy illegal EVE Online money and goods from major seller Isbank have been revealed online.

EVE News 24 (via the Eve Online Eurogamer forum thread) was handed a file documenting 4190 transactions on Iskbank, which added together total a staggering $290,248. On average, that's $69 a transaction, although numerous purchases were done by the same character - some spending hundreds of dollars.

Controversially, EVE News 24 decided to reveal all transactions and associated names to the public.

Owner of Iskbank, Vadim, accepted that in the short-term, EVE maker CCP could ban the associated characters and his company's reputation would be tarnished.

"In the long-term?" he added. "Nothing is going to change; neither in the industry, nor with us ISK farmers."

Bizarrely, Iskbank then responded on its website claiming the leaked character names were "fictitious and nothing to do with our customers' data". Furthermore, Iskbank accused EVE News 24 of "slander and intentional harm to EVE users". (We can't find this statement on Iskbank.com, but Eve News 24 has reproduced it.)

EVE Online developer CCP responded officially through a GM (gamemaster) on the game's forum.

"At this time we cannot comment on the information in focus but we would like to use this opportunity to remind everyone that buying ISK for real money is a violation of our EULA and anyone doing so risks getting the ISK removed and punitive action against their accounts, including possible permanent bans," wrote GM Gremmi.

That's EVE Online, then - an MMO with more drama than EastEnders.