stories from EVE Online that make the game legendary

History of the “Red Alliance”

Once, during one of the courses from MIT with Coursera, the teacher said an interesting phrase: “In EVE online, gaming alliances behave the same as large nations: Americans are like the USA, the British are like the United Kingdom… but the Russians behaved like real Russians.” Actually, that's how I found out about Red Alliance (RA) – one of the oldest communities in EVE. And it became famous in the game for the fact that managed to find the entrance to to get out of a hopeless situation and be reborn after almost complete defeat.

By 2006, RA occupied a vast territory in EVE, which it had conquered from other, smaller alliances. At some point, attempts to return the territories through negotiations finally reached a dead end: Red Alliance recalled jokes about vodka and bears to their opponents and considered themselves noticeably stronger than them. Then the “Southern Coalition” was formed, which noticeably exceeded the Red Alliance in the number of pilots.

The invasion of the “Southern Coalition” began for the RA with the loss of several systems at once: the leadership of the alliance was unable to persuade its pilots to participate in the defense. The Alliance tried to attract foreign pilots with suitable time zones, but due to the language barrier, the team became more like a group of independent participants.

The Battle of Wicked Creek ended in disaster for RA – then the losses were enormous: nine dreadnoughts, the largest ships in the game, were destroyed. This defeat caused the collapse: all non-Russian-speaking corporations left the Alliance. This was enough for the faction to cease to exist and EVE Online to lose its united Russian-speaking community. But something went wrong)))

Mikhail Romanchenko aka UAxDeath: “When you're at the edge in real life because you're trying to achieve something… you have to stay on track. Because otherwise all these losses would have been in vain. When you set a goal for yourself… you have to achieve it. No matter what.”

The remaining pilots switched to guerrilla tactics: they attacked single targets and carried out raids. Losses from the raids very quickly became noticeable, and the revived Red Alliance went on a real offensive: the Red Alliance forces stormed the key C-J6MT system and organized its defense.

“We used all the power (at that time 4 alliances) to break the resistance in a single system. Nevertheless, the Russians remained all night to defend themselves, using ever new brilliant strategies to kill our dreadnoughts.”

The “Southern Coalition” again gathered forces for an attack, but this time fragmentation and a weak level of organization played against them: thanks to excellent cooperation and well-thought-out tactics of attacking in small mobile groups, the pilots of the “Red Alliance” inflicted enormous damage on the enemy and destroyed the flagship dreadnought Chowdown.

With this victory, the revival of the Red Alliance and the return of their territories began. Moreover, they have a new ally, which will be discussed in the next section. And he already spoke about the Russians more diplomatically:

“Even though the Southern Coalition called upon literally thousands of pilots to assist them, they did not have the willpower necessary to break through the last defenses… The Red Alliance was undefeated and would fight again and again as long as they could.” The Southern Coalition will not have to take a break.”

You can read briefly about the full history of the “Red Alliance” Hereand in more detail in the book Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online.

“Vile Rat” and US State Department employee 2012

In the fall of 2012, at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a short speech in memory of diplomat Sean Smith, who died in the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. Around this time, hundreds of EVE players traveled to one of the black holes, where they lined up their ships and lit their protective fields. They saw off a famous player and active member of the community with the nickname Vile Rat on his last journey. This is exactly what Sean Smith was called in the world of EVE.

​​​In EVE Online, Sean spent some time in the highest echelon of the game's government. He went from an ordinary player to a master spy and diplomat of the powerful GoonSwarm alliance. He defeated his rivals through separate negotiations and helped his alliance win a war that raged for three years. It was he who made peace with the Red Alliance.

Officially, Smith's last position was as Foreign Service Information Management Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. He was sent there at the height of the armed clashes that engulfed the country after the start of the Arab Spring.

This was not Smith’s first business trip to a hot spot. He had been to Iraq several times before. In his “virtual life,” Smith, or rather “The Vile Rat,” was a respected player and head of the diplomatic corps of the Goonswarm alliance. He had been playing EVE since 2006 and was one of the game's old-timers. Smith used the skills of diplomacy and analysis of information from real life to resolve virtual conflicts. He even created a special selection system for the alliance’s diplomatic corps. Those who wanted to get there had to write an essay, read several books and analyze political history.

Smith was known in the gaming community not only online, he attended offline meetings and spoke at EVE festivals. For example, in March 2012, five months before his death, he was in Iceland at one of the events dedicated to the game. There he discussed with other famous players and developers whether there should be an analogue of political parties in the game. At the same time, none of his playmates knew what exactly the “Vile Rat” was doing.

Sean Smith spent the last hours of his life playing his favorite game at work. When the attack on the consulate began, he was in a chat with other players, but suddenly left it and disappeared. Seeing the news from Benghazi on television, Smith's comrades sounded the alarm. They were among the first to learn about his death, connecting their contacts from government agencies in real life.

In her speech at Andrews Air Force Base, Clinton listed those whom Smith left behind: his wife, children, colleagues. “And this is only in this world. Because online, in the virtual worlds that Sean helped create, he is also mourned by countless rivals, comrades and gamers who shared his passion,” she added.

Mikhail Romanchenko aka UAxDeath: “I met Sean in 2006 in Washington. I remember it like it was yesterday: the bald little guy who claimed he could out-drink a Russian. It was a very interesting meeting. That day I also met his wife – I sympathize with her and Sean’s children.

Over time I got to know Sean very well. We spent a lot of time together, drinking and sharing stories. Some of his stories were heart-stopping, but Sean was always optimistic and full of life. His desire to help others was never limited to just playing. Sean was a very big man in EVE and beyond. Rest in peace my brother.”

Raising Game 2012

Financial fraud in EVE is possible not only at the level of alliances and corporations, but also on the scale of the entire game – it’s not for nothing that the developers employ an employee with a doctorate in economics.

In 2012, one of the EVE players nearly destroyed the entire in-game economy. Then, during one of the updates, new “loyalty points” were added to the game, which were awarded for the destruction of enemy ships. Their number depended on how expensive the ship and the cargo in it were. With the points you earned you could buy special items. And then a scheme occurred that the developers, with difficulty, but managed to uncover and cover up in time.

One of the players found a useless type of item on the in-game market, one unit of which cost 1 ISK (the local currency in EVE), and bought them all. After which he put the same item on the market, but now worth 1 billion ISK, and immediately bought it from himself. As a result of this transaction, the average value of this item increased millions of times.

The player then purchased hundreds of cheap cargo ships and filled their holds with these supposedly expensive items, then sent them to specific locations where they were destroyed by other users. Due to the fact that the goods that were in the holds of these ships were valued on the market at millions of ISK, players who destroyed them received a huge amount of “loyalty points”. The in-game economy began to falter, and the developers just needed the services of an in-house economist who was able to discover exactly how the market was being manipulated. The player was identified, and the method for fraud was covered. Obviously, by that time the swindler had earned a decent amount of real money, which could be transferred to him by players who destroyed his ships with valuable cargo.

Mercenaries led by an intriguer

In the world of EVE Online, there is an organization called the Pandemic Legion: it consists of very experienced players who know how to fight well. All they do is take part in wars throughout the galaxy.

Pandemic Legion's main source of income is mercenaries. At the same time, the organization itself is small compared to other alliances, but everyone respects them for their military skill and does not neglect their services.

The head of the Pandemic Legion is Peter Farrell, known under the nickname Elise Randolph. According to him, he started in EVE Online as a peace-loving player and extracted resources. But then he got involved with pirates, who taught him to rob and kill peaceful players. After this, Farrell decided to devote himself to war and join the Pandemic Legion. They didn’t hire him right away, and at first he did routine work. But at some point he came under the command of a player with the nickname Shadoo, who was an admiral. For several years he learned from him how to manage the fleet and analyzed its actions during battles. When Farrell became sufficiently experienced, Shadoo appointed him as his successor, and he himself stated that he needed a break from the game. Since then he has never appeared online again.

Farell headed the organization, made its name even more significant in the world of EVE Online and began to retire – now his subordinates are fighting. When there is a lull in EVE Online, Farrell, along with the Pandemic Legion, provokes military conflicts. At the same time, sometimes they deliberately delay them, allowing the enemy to win some battles so that he does not call allies or does not give up too quickly.

The strength of Pandemic Legion doesn't just lie in the seasoned veterans of EVE Online. A player under the nickname Jin'taan claims that Farell is the eminence grise in the world of the game and he decides who wins and who loses. According to him, Pandemic Legion has spies in almost every alliance in the game. Farrell skillfully pits factions against each other, knows who is planning what, and invites other players to advance them during political conflicts for a price.

Farell himself claims that the experience gained in the game is useful to him in real life at work. According to him, he is often asked where he learned to manage projects and teams so effectively. Farell tells his colleagues that it’s all about good books, and does not talk about his “second life.”

New Year's battle 2020 for 378 thousand dollars

From December 30 to 31, 2020, EVE Online hosted one of the largest battles in the history of the game. More than five thousand users simultaneously took part in it and fought for 14 hours.

The battle in the M2-XFE system became the most expensive in the history of computer games. According to estimates by the EVE Online developers, players lost ships totaling $378,000. In the “M2-XFE massacre,” players lost 257 Titan-class ships, the most expensive in EVE Online. Their prices reach several thousand dollars.

The battle was part of World War II, or World War Bee 2, a conflict between the PAPI coalition and the largest clan in the game, The Imperium. As a result, after 13 months of fighting, in which several tens of thousands of players participated, the war ended. The PAPI coalition forces were exhausted and they had to retreat, but The Imperium held out under the onslaught, went to recapture the lost sectors and finish off the retreating enemy.

Cosmic Heist 2023

In 2023, EVE Online experienced the largest heist in the game's history. A user under the nickname Flam_Hill, together with an accomplice, created clean accounts without history and joined the Event Horizon Expeditionaries corporation, whose leadership was not very active in the game.

Flam_Hill had shares of this corporation, which he transferred to his clear account. There were enough of them to start voting for the selection of new leadership. The player and his partner voted in favor, but the current corporate leaders skipped it due to inactivity. A few days later, Flam_Hill became the CEO of Event Horizon Expeditionaries, fired its former heads and began stealing all the money the corporation had. Together with his partner, he stole 2.23 trillion credits, which is equal to 446 thousand in-game currency PLEX, or 22 thousand dollars. It is unknown how Flam_Hill received enough shares of the corporation to vote and how he learned about the inactivity of management.

The game EVE Online has become a real “sandbox for sociologists”: these games formed the basis research about how real events influence the behavior of players – and allowed us to find evidence of this connection. EVE Online has shown that virtual worlds can be used in scientific work to test economic theories and observe social processes.

That's all for me. If you want to dive deeper into the world of EVE Online and read about alliances and battles that took place in the past, read the book Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online.