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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:50:00 - [ 1]
My goodness! Hello once again. I wasn't quite sure whether to expect you, gentle CAOD reader. You certainly are persistent.
According to tradition, this is the point where I normally explain what the Band of Brothers has been up to over the last one hundred days. There's not much to say this time, since they haven't done much. They're "MAX" now, since "BoB" is not fearsome enough, SirMolle personally lost two titans in an effort to get some much needed attention, and, oh yes, their campaign against the Northern Coalition failed completely.
In a way, it's kind of sad. I mean, who can fail against something that is both northern and a coalition? BoB did, just as I promised. I am not in the business of disappointing, gentle CAOD reader!
There's also the news that AAA is helping BoB. Or at least, it would be news if it had not been happening all year.
If the present events were all part of the master plan, there must have been "sleek, sexy" BoB members spit-taking barbecue all over their DICE T-shirts when they were being briefed, that I can assure you!
But I digress. You did not go to all the trouble of opening this thread just to hear the latest about some has-been alliance. No, you wanted to learn Eve's secrets. And where better to look than the center of all important things in Eve? No, not the CAOD forum, silly. I meant me!
And so, on this special day, we will take our first descent into the dark, stony stacks of Eve history. To the very beginning. A time before there was even a YACAODI1MAC to keep things in order.
This has been the fifth hundred days.
(Proceed to section 2, where there is Bonus Content!) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:51:00 - [ 2]
BONUS CONTENT!
THE HISTORY OF ALL EVE An Eve History
I am immersed in The World Crisis, Winston's brilliant autobiography disguised as a history of the universe. -- Arthur Balfour
Chapter 1: A New Hope
"Grandpapa, is it true that you are the greatest man in the world?" "Yes, and now bugger off." --Nicolas Soames and Winston Churchill
Though nothing important was to happen within its bounds for nearly two years, the Eve Universe came into being in early 2003. Many of the forces that would shape Eve's existence were already at work. Several of BoB's founders helped to Beta-test Eve, a fact they used to justify the special favors and lines of communication they received. Within Eve itself, the roots of BoB formed the early power blocs. They also gobbled up winnings in the Tech II blueprint lotteries, since there were few Eve players and even fewer lottery participants.
As for me, I was not an Eve player in those days. When Eve began, I had not even yet played any online game of any kind, nor had I any intention of doing so. Eve's future looked very, very bleak.
But in the summer of 2003, when I was visiting the home of an old friend, he happened to be playing an online computer game. I took an interest in the game and decided to acquire a copy for myself. No, the game was not Eve. As I said, no one played Eve back then. It was Battlefield 1942, a popular first-person shooter, which had been out for about a year.
The months and years went on inside Eve's already static, stultifying environment. There was something called the Great Northern War, but it was not significant or meaningful in any way. It was simply an event that the older members of Eve could point to as evidence of their oldness. During the War, however, the original elements of BoB came together for the purpose of ending and preventing warfare in Eve. By "warfare," I mean a situation in which two alliances or coalitions battle each other. BoB wanted to create an alliance that contained all PvP forces of any consequence. Then, BoB and its PvP'ers would never have to risk losing a war. Instead, they would simply roam around the galaxy and beat down the remaining alliances, which would be defenseless. In essence, BoB wanted Eve to resemble what the Chinese server later became famous for.
They succeeded, and all Eve suffered immensely. The universe groaned. The people cried out for a hero. The wind of destiny took flight, seeking such a one as would bring justice to the world.
Which is why it was so providential when I, in the summer of 2005, happened upon a new game which struck my interest. No, not Eve. Seriously, not that many people played it. It was Battlefield 2, the sequel to Battlefield 1942. Duh.
Battlefield 2 could be a lot of fun if you had a good squad with teamwork. While I was on a Battlefield 2 forum, someone happened to post a link to a server that provided such teamwork (by requiring it). It was TacticalGamer. I decided to check it out. I played on the TG server and perused their Battlefield 2-related forum. I never looked at their general-purposes forum. But for some reason, I decided to read it one day in December. My curiosity was piqued by a thread which claimed to have a tale of treachery and deceit in an online game. It told the story of the famous heist performed by the Guiding Hand Social Club. Eve looked like an interesting game.
But still, it was a MMORPG, and I had never played one of those. Worse yet, it was a MMORPG that was over two and a half years old, leaving little room for a new player to catch up. Could I find a niche of my own in a game like that? It seemed unlikely.
While thinking things over, my eyes caught sight of a book sitting half-buried in papers on my desk. It was a gift from an uncle, and I had not yet opened its pages.
The title read: Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend.
(Proceed to section 3) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:51:00 - [ 3]
The basic framework of my idea came together almost instantly. I would see if it was possible to create a Ponzi scheme within the game mechanics of Eve. Then I would sign up for Eve and create two characters: one to front the Ponzi scheme, and the other to be my "main" character, which would gain all of the skillpoints necessary to make use of the plunder.
Indeed, not only did Eve make a Ponzi scheme possible, it practically demanded it. A simple Google search revealed that a notorious scammer named Morbor had created one within the first few months of Eve. As with any standard Ponzi scheme, he claimed to be an expert investor who could give customers their money back plus a huge amount of interest in a short amount of time. In reality, of course, he did not invest the money he received. Instead, he kept it in his own account. When it was time to pay someone interest, he would pay them using money from his own account. As long as positive word of mouth kept spreading, he would get an increasing amount of money from new investors. By the time their interest payments came due, he would have more money from even more new investors. But eventually too many payments would become due and he would simply keep the money for himself.
In Morbor's case, his wealth grew exponentially, but he became sick for a few days and could not make the interest payments that came due during that time. Negative word was spread, and Morbor decided the bubble had likely burst, so he kept the money.
So a Ponzi scheme was clearly possible in Eve, but Morbor's infamy had soured public opinion and taught potential investors a lesson they would not soon forget. Nor were Morbor and I the only people to consider Eve the ideal environment for such scams.
In January of 2006, when I first joined Eve, there were two Ponzi schemers hard at work. They were unaware of each other at first, but their paths would cross in the midst of a glorious financial disaster, one which would change Eve--and all MMORPG economics--forever.
Their names were Currin Trading and Cally.
Cally was an acquired alt of Dentara Rast, an Eve pirate who began his combat career in 2004, long before he had any plans for a Ponzi scheme. Cally was also an old character, which brought him at least a little credibility. Cally also acquired several other characters, and together they created a corporation called the Eve Intergalactic Bank (EIB).
Cally's plan was to create a professional-looking website and a corporation with enough alts to look like the bank was legitimate. He would also have a few unaffiliated alts who would talk up the Bank's legitimacy in the Eve Marketing Discussion forum. Finally, he would have the bank make high-profile donations to various causes (such as the Eve Lottery) to generate publicity. Since the EIB, like real banks, would provide relatively small interest payments, it would appear feasible.
Currin's plan, by contrast, was primitive and audacious. Currin was completely new to the game and, as such, had no acquired characters, reputation, or even his own corporation. All he had was a character made in 2006 that belonged to Caille University, a well-known n00b alt corp. The Currin Trading character did not even have a bio, since he was unaware of the feature. Rather than offer modest "interest" like a bank, he claimed he could return 15-20% on any investment within two weeks. He was such an obvious scammer that he did not bother to advertise on the Eve forums--or any forum--because he knew he would be instantly shot down. And he could not generate publicity with money donations or contests, because he had no ISK of his own.
(Proceed to section 4) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:52:00 - [ 4]
Currin did, at least, have the idea to create a website. But unlike Cally's professional design, Currin had massively pixilated images of Eve icons that he copied from the official Eve website, which he then resized and created into a background border. Cally had his own domain; Currin used Geocities, whose mandatory ad banners made an already hideous-looking website look worse, somehow.
In a few months, Cally's EIB became the most trusted financial institution in Eve history. Cally became a celebrity in the Markets forum, repeatedly issuing press releases and soaking up the adoration of the self-appointed experts who resided there. Cally ensured that a link to his website was included in every thread with equally professional-looking signature banners. Currin dared not even show his face in the Markets forum, or anywhere else. On one occasion, someone who came across the Currin website posted a question about it in the Eve general forum. A few people replied, dismissing it as an obvious scam. One confused individual, who had not even invested with Currin, declared that he had lost money in the scam. A moderator, operating under CCP's then-ambiguous policy on scams, closed the thread and politely requested that no more links to the Currin site be posted.
And yet, within a matter of weeks, Currin Trading became one of the most successful scams in Eve history: Currin's ultimate take of 30 billion ISK, ending only when he was permabanned by CCP, was second only to Cally's.
How was it possible? Because what Currin lacked in resources, he made up in...something else.
Currin knew that as a n00b in an alt corp, he had no credibility. Instead of fighting it, he embraced it. He claimed that Currin Trading was fronted by an alt corp character as a means of protecting Currin Trading's neutrality. His customers could therefore anonymously invest, regardless of what alliance faction they belonged to, regardless of wars. The traders supposedly working for the Currin Trading organization could operate in complete secrecy.
To combat the problem of not having a history, Currin invented one. The "announcements" section of his website was in reverse chronological order, with the newest announcements up top, and the old ones--nearly all of which pre-dated Currin's existence in Eve--trailing back through months of imaginary events and evolutions of the organization.
Currin had no allies to spread positive word of mouth, so he created fictional investors. The website contained a spreadsheet with all of the details of all of the investments, including amounts invested and maturity dates, with the account holder's name in a code which only he and Currin would know. This would supposedly allow any account holder to easily check his own account on a public file--but its real purpose was to advertise the fake investors (safely hidden behind the code names), who were fake-investing billions of ISK.
Since Currin could not go on the forums without being burned alive, he had to collect investors directly. He went to the most populated systems of Eve and jotted down the names in local. He then eve-mailed as many of them as he could with an advertisement for his website. He knew only a fraction of them would even bother to look at the website, much less be convinced by it, so he simply eve-mailed more people--thousands of them. And since almost none of them ever posted on the forums, the Currin Trading scam's success took place completely off the grid.
(Proceed to section 5) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:52:00 - [ 5]
On the surface, Currin Trading was an obvious scam. But the more one looked into it, the more the details pulled one into the deception and ask how it could all be phony. The FAQ section was replete with answers to all manner of questions no one had ever asked. As the fake investors' investments became due, the spreadsheet would be updated with new investments, and sometimes not. Investors would come and go. Some would invest for the long-term, others for the short term. Some big, some small. Some many investments, some only once. The spreadsheet itself was an Excel file created months before Currin Trading existed--because Currin set back his computer clock when he made the file. The announcements section posted timely warnings about scams and had commentary on other events, even inviting visitors to donate to the Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief. According to details on the announcements page, sections had been added or removed. The graphics had been criticized. The page was temporarily resided over by a fake partner of Currin's while Currin was supposedly on vacation (before Currin existed, of course). And the updates made during that time had a different writing style and format.
On the rare occasions in which Cally's authenticity was questioned on the forums, Cally's many admirers (and investors) shouted down the dissent. Cally rarely stirred from his throne to answer such challenges. Anyone who dared question the most trusted financial institution in Eve must be ignorant or a troublemaker. By contrast, Currin had to deal with all of his clients personally. When they asked him how they could be sure it wasn't all just a big scam, he boldly replied that there was absolutely no way to know. He then happily accepted the investment.
By the end of May, Cally and Currin had billions of ISK stored up in their wallets. Currin took little notice of Cally's Bank, assuming as everyone else did, that it must be legitimate. Cally, like virtually everyone but Currin's own investors, was unaware of Currin's existence. Currin decided he had enough ISK and enough investors to properly introduce himself to the Eve forums.
Currin created a fake lottery, claiming he was giving away a billion ISK that a retiring investor was donating to whomever could win it. Admission to the lottery could be had for a paltry ten million ISK. But entry was free to Currin's investors. An investor could simply enter the thread and say "I'm an investor, sign me up." As a publicity stunt, it could not be more obvious.
But it was also risky. After advertising the impending lottery so all of his investors would show up, Currin was also introducing his investors to the forum. For the first time, Currin's investors would hear skepticism from the general public. He hoped that a flood of his own investors would show up quickly enough to drown out the cries of "it's a scam!" If they did, Currin would at last have respectability in the Eve community.
After opening the lottery, Currin decided he had better ensure the investors entered the thread quickly, so he went to work sending eve-mails to all of them. The thread was a success. It was quickly filled with investors who flooded out all of the criticism that popped up. Before long, the thread disappeared. A CCP moderator decided to unceremoniously toss the thread into the less-traveled Events forum without so much as a word. Currin only discovered what had happened because he had saved the link. Still, the thread gained him much need publicity.
The results can be found here: http://eve-search.com/thread/345294/page/all
(Proceed to section 6) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:53:00 - [ 6]
Currin's investments increased dramatically. Within a few months, he amassed thirty billion ISK. This was an unthinkable sum for an individual at a time when there were only a few built motherships and no titans. Only the original Tech II blueprint holders had anything approaching that much ISK. Currin decided that beginning in July, he would make a full-frontal assault on the Market forum, flooding it with posts and propaganda, using his investors as his army.
Before July could arrive, CCP permabanned Currin Trading.
To this day, no one knows why the permaban took place. Perhaps CCP saw a n00b alt with an obscene amount of ISK and banned him for suspected EBay ISK. Or maybe they saw the numerous "Currin Trading" trial account alts who hoped to siphon investments, and they banned Currin on accident. Or maybe a rogue CCP enforcer wrongly thought they were still banning scammers. Whatever the reason, the Currin Trading scam was finished for all time.
Currin felt the ban was likely a mistake, so he petitioned it through the Eve website. If he could get unbanned within a day or two, the pyramid might not collapse. But as luck would have it, the petition system was being overhauled during those few days, and Currin did not get a response until he re-petitioned later. Currin was unbanned a week after his original permaban--one of the few ever to "escape" the ultimate punishment.
The "permaban" only lasted a week, but its impact would have a much greater reach than anyone could have imagined. During the week he thought he would never return to Eve, Currin decided to write a full account of his story on the Geocities site, announcing his scam in intricate detail. All along Currin had planned to do this one day, but he thought it would be after he determined the bubble had burst. The ban had forced his hand.
While he was writing the story, he occasionally checked in with the Market forum to see if anyone had yet noticed that he was not returning investments. It was then that he took a closer look at a post involving Cally's EIB. The thought suddenly occurred to him: could Cally's bank also be a Ponzi scheme? It seemed impossible. Everyone knew and respected the Bank. The website and banner ads looked like they were made by someone who knew what they were doing. And the EIB had several agents who spoke for it.
Currin did not want to believe the EIB could be a scam. After all, if the EIB were legitimate, then Currin Trading--stunted as it was by the ban--was the most successful scam in Eve's history. Something compelled Currin to look deeper anyway. He browsed a few EIB threads and noted some questions about a time when Cally was gone for a few days and the agents seemed to be gone, too. An interruption, like Currin's ban or Morbor's sickness.
But the question was, was it feasible for one person to control all of the alts who were employees of the EIB? Were there few enough members of Cally's corp? Currin had to register a trial account just to use the People & Places search to look it up. There were only a few members of the corp. One person could do it. Currin's mind was made up: the EIB was the biggest scam in MMORPG history, and apparently he was the only person who knew it.
What better way to shake things up than by including the revelation in the announcement of his own scam? Currin finished his story and included an epilogue declaring the EIB to be a scam. Surely this would attract some attention.
Link to Currin's story: http://www.geocities.com/currintrading/index.html
(Proceed to section 7) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:53:00 - [ 7]
Once Currin replaced his website with an announcement of the scam, the news hit the Eve forums with a bang. Originally, someone posted about it in the Eve general forum, but a CCP moderator moved it to the Market forum. Then, when others began posting about it in the general forum, the moderator locked their threads on the basis that there was already a thread for it elsewhere.
The news electrified all those who had followed the scams and businesses of Eve. They were unsure of how to respond to the allegations that the EIB was a fraud. Even the Eve Tribune, then only a five issues old, covered the story as front page news: http://www.eve-tribune.com/index.php?no=1_5&page=0
Desert Fox was the Tribune writer who wrote about Currin. He proved to be a capable reporter, easily the best of the Tribune staff. The owner of the Tribune publicly requested Currin get online for an interview, but Currin declined. He felt it would be best to lay low and avoid the angry convo requests from cheated investors.
Currin's account of events was almost entirely truthful. For appearance's sake, and to add some drama, he claimed that he had toyed with the idea of returning the ISK, but had decided the ISK was too enticing. In fact, he had always intended to keep it. As for the EIB, he claimed his evidence proved it was a scam, but he had nothing particularly concrete. For instance, he claimed to have observed all of the EIB employees using the same writing style and sharing spelling errors. This was assumed; he did not investigate their posts until later, when his suspicions were confirmed.
Cally read the account from beginning to finish. For the first time, he had been seriously accused of running a scam that had otherwise gone smoothly from day one. Worse, it was an accusation carried in the most high-profile news item of the day. As a result, Cally had a minor mental breakdown in the forums. He raved wildly about the fact that his EIB could be a scam but that everyone should trust him for some reason.
But did Currin have any credibility? He was an admitted scammer. On the other hand, he was coming clean about his own scam, and the expression "it takes one to know one" seemed to apply. There was no way for Cally to know how investors would react to the allegation. Would his pyramid begin to tumble? How should he respond to questions on the forums?
Currin assumed that his public accusation would lead to questions on the part of the investors, which would lead to an investigation revealing enough details about Cally's alts that would collapse the bank. But Currin was wrong. Cally's pyramid had become too big to fail. Too many people had invested. It had become too integral a part of the Eve economy, securing the assets of large alliances and holding up the growing Eve stock market. The reputations of too many financial "experts" were at stake. The denizens of the Market forum found Currin's story interesting, but they did not react or take it too seriously. Only Cally himself was rattled.
Expertise is a funny thing. People become trusted experts because of their knowledge and critical thinking. But when a community of experts makes a mistake for whatever reason, they protect their reputations by disallowing critical examination of their own ideas. Rogue individuals challenge them, and they are personally attacked in response. But at some point, the experts lose strength, the dam bursts, and everyone wonders how anyone could have held the misconceptions in the first place.
But in the Eve community, there was no one to examine the EIB.
After being released from his "permaban," Currin decided to make a personal visit to the forum. It would never be the same again.
(Proceed to section 8) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:54:00 - [ 8]
Currin had correctly assumed that Cally would not be clever enough to alter the writing style of his various alts. In his accusation against the EIB, Currin declared as much. But it was not until his warning had gone unheeded that Currin decided to make an actual investigation into the alts. As expected, Currin found that all of the employees of the EIB shared a unique writing style. The most distinct feature was that no EIB employee ever used apostrophes, e.g. "This is the banks money." Unaffiliated supporters of the EIB suffered from the same problem.
Since no one could or would see this, Currin jumped into a thread discussing the Currin/Cally controversy and outed several of Cally's alts. Now, surely, the intellects of the Market forum would get to work examining the posts of EIB employees and discover what had been staring them in the face all along.
It didn't happen. The people of the Market forum were unconvinced. They were not willing to throw away the stability of the Eve economy for the sake of a few missing punctuation marks. Instead, they would let Currin go about squabbling in the thread, ride out the storm, and wait for everything to return to normal. Cally dismissed the latest accusations with a laugh, encouraged by all of the support he was receiving. As far as everyone was concerned, the matter was settled.
Things could have gone in one of two ways. Currin could have decided that he had made a good faith effort and everyone who continued to invest with Cally deserved to lose their ISK. He could retire from the forums, sit back, and watch the EIB collapse--someday. The EIB's rates of return were low enough, and the population of Eve big enough, to continue on potentially for years. Currin could view the scene from the sidelines and return just in time to say, "I told you so."
Then there was the alternative. He could return to the forum and launch a one-man war against the entire economic establishment of Eve to personally ensure it all burned to the ground. Currin viewed this as the more attractive option.
The next day, Currin returned to the Market forum and launched a new thread declaring Cally a scammer. It focused on the similarity in the writing styles of Cally's alts/employees. http://eve-search.com/thread/361242/page/all
At first, the forum reacted with amusement. But as Currin continued with one reply after another, each more bitingly sarcastic and self-assure than the last, the forum's amusement turned to rage. Currin actually thought he could destroy the EIB. And while the vast majority of readers felt Currin was out of his mind, there were a few skeptics who wondered if there was something to it. If he continued, could the stability of the Eve markets be jeopardized?
Before long, the entire Market forum was engulfed by the controversy. Nearly everything in the Eve economy was at least tangentially related to the EIB, and Currin went from thread to thread with more challenges and accusations against an increasingly beleaguered Cally. Cally attempted to respond, but despite all of his supporters, he was fading fast. Cally began making mistakes, putting his foot in his mouth time after time.
The time had come for decisive action by the financial community. Naphtalia, an old and well-respected financial guru, investment manager and publicity hog, announced that his firm (EMFi) would be conducting an audit of Cally's bank. He would personally ensure that everything Cally was doing was on the level. To Currin's amazement, Cally agreed to fully comply with the audit. The Market forum rejoiced. There was no way it could all be scam. Cally's supporters gloated across the forum, and the well of skepticism dried up.
(Proceed to section 9) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:54:00 - [ 9]
For the first time, Currin was perplexed. He was absolutely certain that the EIB was a solo operation scam, just like Currin Trading had been. But how could Cally agree to an audit by Naphtalia? There was only one answer: Naphtalia must have decided to join Cally as a co-conspirator. Currin already looked ridiculous enough by accusing Cally of scamming, and if he were to accuse Naphtalia, no one would ever listen to him again. But if he didn't do anything about the Naphtalia situation, the audit would simply come back giving Cally a clean bill of health, and everyone would assume Currin had been proven wrong anyway.
There was no way to forcibly take down the EIB with a forum war. The Market forum was widely read by EIB investors, but one simply couldn't do enough damage. Cally's investments continued to pour in, even before Naphtalia came to his rescue. Once the "audit" was complete, everything would return to normal.
There was just one weak link in the chain: Cally himself. Everyone saw how spooked Cally had been by Currin's original accusations. Currin realized there was only one thing to do: he would make Cally's life a living nightmare, drive him stark raving mad, and force him to confess.
Currin modeled his psychological warfare on the effects of the bombing campaigns against Germany in the Second World War. According to SS reports, when the bombing continued day and night, the citizens became numb to it. It was only when the bombing suddenly and unexpectedly escalated that their morale cracked. So Currin decided to stop posting, disappearing from the forums entirely for several days. Cally and the rest of the forum would be lulled into a false sense of security, thinking perhaps the storm had passed. And then Currin would bombastically return, bringing even more devastating attacks in his wake.
The bombshell landed on July 10th. Currin launched yet another thread, entitled "True Colors: The Quotable Eve Intergalactic Bank." It was a propaganda tour de force unlike any the Eve forums had yet seen. Currin simply listed several empirical questions, each followed by a properly documented quote of Cally to answer the question. Cally had made so many gaffes in response to Currin's accusations the previous week that there was plenty of material. Cally's own words proved that he fit the model of a Ponzi schemer like a glove. http://eve-search.com/thread/362844/page/all
Currin also resumed his flood of replies throughout all of the Market threads. The forum was outraged by Currin's return. As far as they were concerned, Naphtalia and the audit (repeatedly delayed though it was) would be the final answer, and there was nothing left to discuss. Cally seethed with rage, the hissing in his responses almost audible to the reader.
And while Cally seemed to get closer to the edge each day, the regular readers of the forum were also driven to the brink of insanity. Virtually everyone in the forum was on Cally's side, and they poured venom onto Currin with each post. They were entirely dependent on Cally's scam, and they could not bear to see it dismantled so artfully before their eyes.
Dark Shikari, famous for posting literally tens of thousands of times on the Eve forums, had become the EIB's chief defender. Upon reading Currin's latest masterpiece, he suffered a nervous breakdown even more severe than Cally's. First, he attempted to defend Cally's quotes. Then, about two minutes later, he thought better of it and made another reply. "You are a fool, Currin. Your 15 minutes of fame which weren't even deserved in the first place are up, and nobody cares anymore. You have failed in your alt-fueled vendetta against the EIBI, and NOBODY CARES ANYMORE."
(Proceed to section 10) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:55:00 - [ 10]
Edited by: James 315 on 04/12/2008 15:55:06 Although he didn't care anymore, Dark Shikari's entire being became devoted to the EIB cause from that moment on, posting hundreds of replies in Cally's defense each week, and demanding that Currin be silenced. Ricdic, another financial fixture of the Market forum, competed for Dark Shikari's title. Petitions went flying to the CCP forum moderators to put an end to Currin's crusade once and for all. The moderators obliged by locking as many of Currin's older threads as they could (since new discussion continually bumped them). But even the moderators could not end the discussion entirely, since the scandal fueled new threads flooded with replies.
The situation in the forum became so intense that Currin once again made the cover of the Eve Tribune, the second time in the Tribune's then seven-issue history: http://www.eve-tribune.com/index.php?no=1_7
Currin was reviled by virtually the entire forum, including all of the financial experts, the esteemed auditor Naphtalia, and even the moderators. Not one person made any serious effort to join Currin's side. Impossibly, the war continued. Currin simply would not stop hammering away at the EIB.
A curious thing happened. The forum began to accept Currin's presence--to a degree. No matter how much hatred and mockery Currin received from the public, he continued in his mission without appearing ruffled in the slightest. The complete rejection of Currin and his ideas did not seem to discourage him at all. People began to wonder why. Some decided that there must be at least a little truth in Currin's words. And if Currin could take upon himself the full amount of abuse the forum could generate, why should they be afraid to voice their own doubts about the EIB? Skepticism, at long last, could flourish.
More importantly, Cally's psyche was starting to crack. Every day there were more questions from more nervous investors. The forum, once Cally's throne and source of income, was a hellhole. Cally's pyramid was still in good shape, but he couldn't stand the thought of another Currin post.
Naphtalia started to become nervous, as well. Currin made a point of never directly challenging Naphtalia, since he knew he could not prove that he was part of the conspiracy. Instead, Currin raised expectations about what the final audit report should show: it would be unacceptable to have it simply say that everything was okay (as Naphtalia and Cally no doubt planned); rather, it should have verifiable information proving the Bank was sound. Thus, Currin preemptively foiled their plan without having to openly attack Naphtalia.
Naphtalia was stuck with Cally. He had made too many false audit reports about the EIB, and was forced to pretend he was still working on it. If Cally went down, so would Naphtalia--along with the rest of the economy. Naphtalia could see Cally disintegrating right before his eyes. Cally continued to stall the audit, claiming that his website had been hacked, his apartment had been broken into, and his computer had been stolen.
The first sign that the end was in sight came on August 9th, 2006. Some guy in charge of the "United Eve Mining Association," an organization that had willingly put itself under EIB control, quietly attempted to break away from the EIB. Cally's disappearances and erratic behavior troubled the investors, as did all of the talk about Currin's accusations. The UEMA voted to leave the EIB's control. Cally decided to prevent this, and he stole all of the corporate ISK. The UEMA leader then went on the Market forums to announce the theft.
Naphtalia desperately attempted to control the situation. But Cally was in charge of the conspiracy, and Cally told Naphtalia what to do. Cally had a plan. But it was not the confident, ingenious Cally of the past--it was Mad Cally, his brain scrambled by Currin's torment. As Cally's plan unfolded, one of the most bizarre chapters of Eve's history was about to begin.
(Proceed to section 11) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:55:00 - [ 11]
The UEMA scandal brewed. http://eve-search.com/thread/376505/page/all
As his excuse, Cally told Naphtalia to claim that Cally had been wounded in a traffic accident and could not go online. This was a stupid story. But Cally's insanity turned a stupid story into a surreal one. Cally insisted that Naphtalia should "discover" the traffic accident by reading the newspaper and simply assuming Cally was involved, because it took place in Cally's "home town."
As always, Currin jumped into the thread, asking the obvious logical questions: how and why did Naphtalia discover a traffic accident story in the newspaper, and why would he assume Cally was involved? As planned, Naphtalia produced a link to an online newspaper article about a traffic accident in Middlesbrough, UK involving a large bus. Currin was disappointed. He hoped that Cally would attempt to fake an accident and be forced to provide details. But instead, Naphtalia was simply making conversation and noting the article about a bus accident.
At least, that would have been the case if Cally had still been sane. In the midst of a still ongoing food-fight over the UEMA, Cally demanded that Naphtalia go back into the thread and produce a fake e-mail from Cally to Naphtalia claiming that Cally was in the hospital after a bus accident.
The skeptics of the EIB were finally free to come out of the woodwork and declare Cally a scammer. But the financial experts and chief EIB defenders, including Ricdic and Dark Shikari, continued to believe in Cally. Dark Shikari insisted that Naphtalia contact the hospital and learn from the hospital staff whether Cally was involved in the crash. One of the new EIB skeptics quoted the article, which revealed that "A boy aged 13, a woman (80) and another female suffered serious cuts and were kept in the James Cook University hospital overnight. A 15-year-old boy and two men, aged 19 and 49 were released from hospital with minor injuries." Another skeptic noted, "Here is a hint, the only one of the males that actually stayed in the hospital was 13. So either Cally is yanking your chain, or you have deposited billions of ISK with a 13 yr old...Good luck!"
Even Dark Shikari had to laugh at that, although he still held out hope that Cally was telling the truth and barked at anyone questioning Cally or Naphtalia's credibility. Cally's alt bank tellers, along with Ricdic, an actual non-Cally bank teller who had been recruited due to his defense of the EIB, went into overtime trying to take in as many investments as they could before the impending collapse. The tellers, including Ricdic, also had control of 15 billion ISK "floats" to help them give out withdrawals to customers in case the pyramid could still be salvaged.
But the drama over the bus accident continued. Someone posted in the thread claiming to have worked in the hospital two years earlier, and that patients were not given internet access. Someone else actually phoned the hospital and spoke to two people in the "Patient Liaison" department and said there was no internet access for the patients. Naphtalia replied that Cally must have bribed a nurse or somehow gotten outside access.
Meanwhile, Cally activated a new alt to use as the EIB's spokesperson: Kal D'vogh. Incredibly, Cally still had not learned from Currin's original observations about the lack of apostrophes in Cally's writing, so Kal wrote in the exact same style as Cally. By this point, it was not even necessary for Currin to mention it--ordinary Market forum readers brought it up. In response to the hospital internet quagmire, Kal D'vogh suggested the e-mail was never really from Cally in the first place.
(Proceed to section 12) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:56:00 - [ 12]
The EIB was going down in flames, fast. Though Ricdic, Dark Shikari, Naphtalia, and other assorted EIB defenders tried to keep things together, the embarrassment of the obvious Cally alt was too much. Finally, they petitioned a CCP moderator to come by and lock the thread for unspecified "flaming and trolling."
The madness was not to end so quickly, however. http://eve-search.com/thread/379097/page/all
Cally, as Kal D'Vogh, made an official statement with yet a new version of events. He claimed that he was seizing control of EIB while Cally was unavailable. And why was Cally unavailable? Was it the bus accident? No. Cally claimed he was--I am not making this up--in prison. Using those words was too laugh-out-loud hilarious even for Cally, so he used the expression, "enjoying accomadation at her majesty's pleasure." Furthermore, while the e-mail was legitimate, Cally had entrusted all of his "real life issues" to--and again, I am not making this up--"a guy named Peter." According to Cally, Peter had been put in charge of Cally's e-mail and was told to make an excuse for Cally's absence but not to mention prison. Cally claimed Peter thought the bank was a real-life bank.
Currin laughed. That is to say, he simply posted a "laughing" emoticon in the thread. Dark Shikari was livid, and defended Kal despite Kal obviously being Cally. Naphtalia confirmed that everything Kal said was absolutely true. But Kal was forced by the regular forum-goers to at least attempt an explanation for what was going on, and how "Kal" managed to acquire all of the assets from Cally, who had been offline. Helpfully, the CCP moderators arrived once again and locked the thread, "pending an investigation."
Though it should have been beyond obvious to everyone by this point what was going on, the drama continued. http://eve-search.com/thread/379913/page/all
Kal was asked to explain the UEMA situation now that "Kal" was in control. For some reason, many people still believed Kal was not Cally. Kal even logged into Cally's EIB website--as Cally--to explain events. He then changed his name from Cally to Kal on the website, but it left the old Cally signature still there. Dark Shikari dismissed the website evidence as yet another conspiracy theory.
As Kal, Cally explained the website blunder with characteristic diplomacy and top-notch customer service: "I couldn't care less wether you think i'm cally or not. Your opinions mean nothing to me and neither does the posts of every anti-EIB forum ***** out there. If it makes you happy thinking i'm cally, then so be it. Call me cally - but you won't get an answer. If you don't like it. Tough. You can demand all you like, it is never going to happen. Unlike Cally, I will do things in the way I think is best and not how the 'mob' thinks things should be done. That was the problem with Cally. Always trying to please everyone. Since i'm at the helm of the EIB now, things are done my way and it is not up for discussion. The EIB is not a democracy it is a dictaitorship, and I am that dictaitor. If we lose public investment - good. It is more of a pain than anything else. If you don't like it don't use us. Simple. *****ing on the forum just makes you look pathetic. Here is my 'views' on the EIB situation. Cally was the mother. You lot were the children. Very spoilt little brats always getting their own way and walking all over Cally. You know the type. Whiney little bastards that stamp their feet when things don't go how they want. Things went how you wanted and things went to ****. Now.. Dad has taken over the house and it's his law now.You whine at me? you will get ignored. You demand something from me? You will be refused it. Simple. Do us all a favour and go play on the motorway with the cars."
(Proceed to section 13) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:57:00 - [ 13]
Oh yeah, and then Cally faked his own death. http://eve-search.com/thread/380916/page/all
Cally had an alt go into the general discussion forum and claim that Cally died of a "horrific drug overdose" and that his funeral would be held the next week (not online, sadly). Ricdic then tossed a link to the death announcement into the update on UEMA thread. Kal posted his reaction, saying "Hospital lie? yes, Prison lie? maybe but death... that's different. It's not something you lie about and I would never have put Cally or the poster down as someone who would make a sick joke such as that. I suggest anyone who has suspicions on this keep them to themselves as a sign of respect. If you joke or question this I will personally make your gaming life hell for the next year."
Next, the same person who had actually contacted the hospital involved with the bus crash incident contacted the "Coroners Inquests and Registrar" to check up on the claim. Naturally, it didn't check out. Kal expressed outrage and disgust that Cally would deceive him by faking his own death. Most forum readers were less than convinced. But Dark Shikari expressed his own disgust at people being willing to accuse Cally of such a thing without evidence.
The drama came to an end on August 20th. http://eve-search.com/thread/381324/page/all
Cally finally confessed that the whole thing was a scam and that he had taken all of the money. He made a rambling, fuzzy, videotaped confession that somehow lasted sixteen minutes. The video was quickly yanked by CCP moderators, since the confession contained profanity. However, it can still be found on Google video to this day.
In his "confession," Cally attempted to absolve Naphtalia of all guilt. He also claimed that he did not originally intend for the bank to be a scam, but he got tired of "certain people" bothering him on the forums. He could not bring himself to say the cursed name of Currin. He did, however, claim that he had gotten in trouble with the law on assault charges, to ward off any scammed individuals who might be tempted toward physical revenge. In the thread, Cally included screenshots of his wallet, which have largely been considered fakes.
It was, by far, the biggest news ever to hit Eve Online, and one of the most famous news items to come out of a MMORPG. News of the scam hit major media outlets, not only video game ones, and sparked conversations about the tax consequences of "virtual" money. And, of course, it made the front page of the Eve Tribune's eleventh issue, vindicating Currin Trading. http://www.eve-tribune.com/index.php?no=1_11
The size of Cally's theft was enormous, but debate continues as to just how big it actually was. The screenshots had a picture of a wallet with 671 billion ISK, and this was the widely reported figure. If true, the ISK would have been worth well over $100,000 (US). CCP staff said they would keep a close eye on the accounts to ensure that the ISK was not sold, and said the 671 billion figure was inaccurate. But by the time the scam was revealed, a lot of ISK had changed hands. Cally had already shifted ISK into his many other accounts, and had reimbursed approximately 50 billion ISK, in addition to the 15 billion ISK floats given to Ricdic, among others. Cally had much more time to scam ISK than Currin, and he had a lot more credibility and publicity. Considering these factors together, Cally likely stole at least half a trillion ISK. Since he funneled the amounts into other accounts, he could not put it all into one wallet and show off how much he stole. It is not unlikely that Cally indeed stole somewhere around 671 billion and was seeking credit.
Then he attempted to sell it.
(Proceed to section 14) ****
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 James 315 Caldari Caldari Provisions
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Posted - 2008.12.04 15:57:00 - [ 14]
On a radio interview done shortly after the news became public (yes, he actually got on a talk radio show about video games), Cally claimed that he would never sell the ISK. The interviewer was incredulous, given the high number involved. Cally spent several days parading around the forums with a banner that read "Cally and Dentara Rast: The Official Winner of Eve." The Caligulan excess came to a close when CCP started banning Cally's accounts. The Dentara Rast character somehow managed to be sold and is still in use. CCP deleted the Cally character altogether, though someone re-registered it last year.
After the bannings took place, one of Cally's other accounts posted on the Market forum, claiming that before the bans, he had succeeded in offloading most of the ISK to one buyer, who paid him about $50,000 (US).
Grotesquely, the Kal D'Vogh drama continued into September (before the final bans, apparently), as Kal continued to claim he was not Cally and pretended to liquidate the ISK. Naphtalia also went along with the scam beyond its expiration date. Naphtalia was officially in charge of the EIB and said he was "working on" getting the assets to their rightful owners. But a few days later, Naphtalia left the EIB corp, maintaining Dentara Rast had somehow regained control to steal the ISK. For a long time afterward, Naphtalia was still a trusted member of the Eve financial community (until he disappeared with a bunch of ISK from one of his own obvious scams).
But that community was shattered. Dark Shikari was never the same, cutting his posting rate down to only a few dozen a day, and bitterly venting skepticism at all future IPOs, calling them potential EIBs and Currins Trading. Ricdic tried to make his own company, and probably stole a few billion, but no one noticed.
On the other hand, the lucrative EIB scam did not go unnoticed by many. Few weeks went by without someone reading about the scam from a news report or the Currin Trading website and attempting to recreate it. The Eve community was too burned and jaded to put its faith into another EIB. More fertile grounds were found elsewhere, in other MMORPGs.
The biggest took place in the game "Second Life," where a Ponzi schemer modeled a scam on the reports of the EIB. His bank went online in February of 2007 and burst in August, a year after Cally's. That scammer reportedly made over half a million dollars (US). By early 2008, the company running Second Life banned "unregulated banking activities" from the game. It is likely that future MMORPGs will follow suit.
Quite a lot of fallout for a forum war.
And as for Currin? He never attempted to sell his own stolen ISK, nor was he permabanned for any other reason. He simply vanished. After Cally revealed himself a scammer, Currin politely reminded the forum he told them so, and he disappeared forever.
But a year later, those who still had Currin Trading on their buddy lists noticed, on rare occasions, that green light briefly blink on and off as Currin logged in to move money from his scammer alt to his combat main.
Who was Currin, really? Why was he so sure the EIB was a scam when no one else believed his "evidence"? Why was he so hell-bent on destroying the EIB, even when the investors he was trying to free from the scam were attacking him? What did he spend all of that ISK on? Why didn't he ever come back?
We may never know the answer to these questions. In a way, it is fitting that no one knows the true identity of Currin Trading. He came to Eve with nothing but a n00b corp alt and turned it into one of the biggest fortunes Eve had ever seen. Then he went to the Market forum with nothing but the name of an admitted scammer, took on the whole system, and dropped it like it was nothing.
The truth is, Currin Trading represents the best in each of us, and our potential to...
Ah, **** it.
I am Currin Trading.
End of Chapter 1.
- 315
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 Omeega Amarr Ab Origines White Noise. |
Posted - 2008.12.04 15:58:00 - [ 15]
great read, as always.
(tl:dr)
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 Generally Whingeypops Gallente THE INTERNET. Goodfellas. |
Posted - 2008.12.04 15:59:00 - [ 16]
Edited by: Generally Whingeypops on 04/12/2008 16:00:16 Hrrm I challenged James 315 to a post off in another thread last night, which is presumably why he's posted this. But I really can't be arsed to read even the first paragraph :(
Edit - he doesn't post for months, I challenge him to post last night and just like magic he does. Whingeypops - controlling James90210's game.
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 Bane Glorious Amarr Ministry of War
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Posted - 2008.12.04 16:00:00 - [ 17]
smoke weed |
 Tholarim Amarr Destructive Influence IT Alliance |
Posted - 2008.12.04 16:02:00 - [ 18]
If you write this much about a game without getting payed for it you're ****ed. |
 Generally Whingeypops Gallente THE INTERNET. Goodfellas. |
Posted - 2008.12.04 16:04:00 - [ 19]
Hey James I have an idea for improving your posting style. Instead of having 'proceed to section xxx' at the end of each post, why not add a degree of multiple choice? FOr example...
- Did you smite the Golem with your crystal mace (+2)? If so go to page 32
Then maybe people would bother to read it? |
 Planetarian Gallente Covert Operations Inc.
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Posted - 2008.12.04 16:06:00 - [ 20]
Wall of text!  |
 darth solo Caldari Celestial Apocalypse
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Posted - 2008.12.04 16:06:00 - [ 21]
O M G.
darth solo. |
 Nicholas Barker Caldari Deez Nuts. Nut Up Or Shut Up. |
Posted - 2008.12.04 16:07:00 - [ 22]
tl;dr |
 Gareish Gallente The Scope
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Posted - 2008.12.04 16:09:00 - [ 23]
Originally by: James 315
According to tradition, this is the point where I normally explain what the Band of Brothers has been up to over the last one hundred days. There's not much to say this time, since they haven't done much. They're "MAX" now, since "BoB" is not fearsome enough, SirMolle personally lost two titans in an effort to get some much needed attention, and, oh yes, their campaign against the Northern Coalition failed completely.
Its very entertaining to go and read your old BOB posts and laugh how wrong they are on pretty much every conclusion you make in them. If your stories regarding bob would base on anysort of insight we would be dead, buried and delve ran over 100102 times. |
 Splash Whale Gallente FinFleet Raiden. |
Posted - 2008.12.04 16:10:00 - [ 24]
Yes, I can see what you're getting to. |
 Nahia Senne Gallente Initium Malum
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Posted - 2008.12.04 16:13:00 - [ 25]
Eve is not just a game. OP proves it with every single thread. |
 Ace Frehley Minmatar Mercenaries of Andosia Northern Coalition. |
Posted - 2008.12.04 16:14:00 - [ 26]
auch, what happend?, my head.....  Must been hit by a ton of text in my head...  |
 Nero Winger Amarr Galactic Trading
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Posted - 2008.12.04 16:14:00 - [ 27]
Edited by: Nero Winger on 04/12/2008 16:17:55I didn't even read the first sentence of this but hey dude you got some serious issues. you should visit a professional for that. See kids that's what drugs do to your brain, listen to your parents! Edit: "End of Chapter 1"!!?? theres more to come?  |
 Dianabolic Gallente Reikoku IT Alliance |
Posted - 2008.12.04 16:18:00 - [ 28]
The economic downturn must have hit you REALLY hard, James, if you have this much MORE time on your hands.
Good luck to you man. |
 Afale II Caldari Space Pony Farm
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Posted - 2008.12.04 16:19:00 - [ 29]
I knew it all the time!!!! |
 Tholarim Amarr Destructive Influence IT Alliance |
Posted - 2008.12.04 16:20:00 - [ 30]
Edited by: Tholarim on 04/12/2008 16:52:17 Originally by: Gareish Its very entertaining to go and read your old BOB posts and laugh how wrong they are on pretty much every conclusion you make in them. If your stories regarding bob would base on anysort of insight we would be dead, buried and delve ran over 100102 times.
I just dug up some of his pearls of wisdom. Look at this! (middle august 2007) Originally by: James315 BoB is undeniably losing the POS war, and its failures to attack and defend deathstars are unprecedented. They can only result in the loss of more and more territory. BoB's participation is declining and will continue to do so, especially for capitals. This is the result of their failure to get easy wins, and also makes certain more failures in the future: a classic failure cascade. BoB and pets, the supply lines will not save you. Feythabolis is close to the front lines, and jump bridges and other Eve features prevent distance from being an important factor. The Querious front puts you in an even more perilous situation. The ISK for POSes will not save you. RSF has plenty of cash and, unlike BoB, is not losing deathstars. As the front moves westward, RSF can reuse deathstars to avoid being out-spammed. Red Alliance will not spare you. It desires, deserves, is gaining and will have its breathing space, at your expense. CCP will not save you. It is not going to radically alter the game or break it for your benefit. If it wanted to do that, it would not have fixed the supercapitals. You are outnumbered due to your own faults and you will increasingly be outnumbered as your participation drops and pets flee your side. Constellation sovereignty will not save you. It will not make your systems invincible, and in fact will assist RSF more than you due to the introduction of jump bridges. The Mercenary Coalition will not save you. It is busy in Querious, where it has not been distinguishing itself but has been providing lots of fun for IAC and AAA. Bonus note: Seleene screwed up big time, and I told you so. BoB, the renters will not save you. You have failed to live up to your own contract terms. They owe you no loyalty and will not turn out in greater numbers to make up for your own failings. Renters, BoB will not save you. It cannot hold its own systems and is weakening steadily in terms of both fleet performance and capital participation. Do your own people a favor and get out while the getting is good. BoB directorate, your organization will not experience a second wind, and you will not find a magic fix in either a morale blog or threats of mandatory ops. Your job will not become more pleasant as the defeats pile up and your people demand answers and offer unrealistic solutions. Things may look bad for BoB now, but they are going to get much, much worse.
There is a train in the distance, you can hear it already. In all respects it is a lovely, energetic train. No expense was spared in the design and construction of this train or the manufacturing of its components. It is perfect and complete, right down to the last detail. But in the creation of this train there was one unfortunate oversight.
This train haven't breaks.
- 315
As always, you were right about everything james! Good work! |
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