Gamers hone hypercapitalist skills online
By Chris Nuttall in San Francisco
Published: May 6 2007 22:00 | Last updated: May 6 2007 22:00
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, rampant capitalism held sway, free from the restraints of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, SEC inquiries and European Commission investigations. There were large-scale scams, widespread corporate espionage, military-industrial alliances and interplanetary wars. Welcome to the world of
Eve Online.
The sci-fi virtual universe, which celebrated its fourth anniversary at the weekend, has attracted chief executives, city traders, MBAs and economists to learn hard financial lessons they can take into the real world.
“Eve seemed like a playground for totally unfettered hardcore capitalism, with none of our justice systems or controlling bodies,” says Trey Ratcliff, a former player and chief executive of Austin, Texas software developer John Galt Games.
He says it appeals to two types of players: experienced online gamers who no longer find established franchises such as World of Warcraft challenging; and “non-gamer types who like business and capitalism and buying and selling”.
Eve is a rare gaming success from Reykjavik. Its Icelandic developer, CCP Games, made it for Simon and Schuster Interactive in 2003 but bought out rights at the end of that year. It has turned into a solid cash generator – with 200,000 players paying a $15-a-month subscription.
A supercomputer in London serves the game up as a single universe as opposed to the multiple servers or “shards” of World of Warcraft, the biggest online role-playing game with more than 8m subscribers. Eve’s players form “corporations” similar to the guilds and clans of other games but with the aim of achieving market dominance as well as territorial control.
Mr Ratcliff has given up on Eve for the time being to concentrate on his real-world business.
Being CEO of Taggart Trans Dimensional – among the largest corporations with more than 1,000 player/employees – took too much of his time. He spent 40 hours a week on the game, despite delegating many tasks such as financing and marketing to his management team: “Once you have managed a virtual corporation that spans the universe, you can easily manage a real corporation that spans the earth.”
Jason Schripsema, chief executive of SolarBOS, a maker of solar electric products, says he became fascinated with manufacturing and marketing products for other players. He learnt valuable lessons about how to maximise profits and prioritise projects.
“Eve is a good training ground for anyone interested in business – the markets really work and you can spend a lot of time studying the potential for your product lines,” he says.
Dan Speed, acting economist for CCP, says the game is “hypercapitalistic”; rife with corporate espionage and wrongdoing. One group, the Guiding Hand Social Club, infiltrated a corporation, assassinated its chief executive and carried out a heist. Another staged a successful IPO to raise money to build space stations. Investors lost everything when the outposts were attacked and taken over by a rival.
Yet honest players survive and they are earning virtual qualifications for real-world jobs, says Mr Speed.
