EVE Online Mining and Refining Exploit Uncovered

How long can an exploit in a videogame, especially a MMO, be hidden from sight? No one thought the answer could be a resounding “four years” but it appears that in EVE Online, the space based MMO created by CCP, some of the largest alliances in the game have been creating in game currency out of thin air by using a massive exploit that has been around ever since moon mining was introduced to the title, some four years ago.

Basically, to create something in EVE, you need blueprints, factory time and raw materials. More advanced stuff, like Tech 2 ships, requires a Tech 2 blueprint and raw materials, which can only be obtained from reactions, which in turn require materials mined from moons. This means that those who control the moons control the materials for reactions. Also, bear in mind that there’s a finite supply or harvestable moons, which means that there’s conflict in EVE fought to control them and that the biggest alliances have quickly moved to secure harvestable moons.

The exploit requires an alliance to set up a refining space station and get all to initiate a reaction. Players found that you could turn off the supply of raw materials once the reaction began and save the raw stuff for further use, while still getting the raw materials. Basically, a player could create high end materials out of thin air and do it again and again, fuelling his economy for free. Some sources say that the bug was reported, but it has not been addressed by CCP yet. There are people that suspect foul play on the part of some of the developers.

YouGamers cites one player who claims he made more than 2,000 billion ISK from the bug, a huge sum for EVE. And all the money practically came from players who then bought all the materials in order to use them to make finished products. The game forums are abuzz with talks about the exploit.

At the moment, players are waiting for a statement from CCP regarding the mining exploit and the identity of those that made a profit out of it. Some of the biggest alliances in the game might have a hand in all this and players could see a big shift in the way the EVE Online economy works.