Robert Khuu Presents

Rule of Law in an Unfettered Utopia

You can call it a video game or massive social experiment, but EVE Online has several interesting results. For the uninitiated, EVE Online is a space MMORPG made by CCP where players do what most players do in MMORPGs: do things to get better things for their character. The most distinguishing feature of EVE Online is that the developers take a laissez faire approach to the in world economy and legal system.

For the most part, players can do whatever they want. They can cheat, steal, scam, and/or kill other players with impunity. On the other hand, players can be perfect little angels. All of this unfettered-ness has resulted in an in game economy that is both prosperous and ruthlessly capitalistic. The problem is that when someone does something “illegal,” there is no recourse. There is no punishment. In this regard, the game is most unrealistic. This lack of accountability (outside of reputation) results in a situation where players, when given the opportunity, will steal billions of the in-game currency. It has also resulted in mercenary assassination guilds being formed that cause massive harm to other guilds and players. While many players and critics laud the hands off approach that the developers take, one of my two criticisms (the other being more related to game mechanics) is that there really doesn’t appear to be rule of law. If you get scammed through a misrepresentation, then too bad. You should have known better. Many say that the economic decisions you should make are similar to real life financial decisions. As the Wiki states:

Such dangers are an inherent part of Eve Online’s virtual economy and thus are purposely not dealt with by the developers. Players are expected to make financial decisions based (among other factors) on the possibility of other players’ financial malpractice, much like in real-life economics. Source: Wikipedia.

The problem is that in real life, those bad actors get punished and people recover some, if not all, of their money. Granted, yes, I get it. It’s a video game and it wouldn’t be much fun unless there is some allowable mischief. Even WoW allows some level of “illegal” behavior (e.g. assassination guilds) on their RP-ing servers in addition to the time-honored practice of ganking. Imposing some kind of rule of law requirement would likely hinder the gameplay, but I can’t see the situation where players can literally steal billions of the in-game currency as a good set up. Is there a way for the in-game companies to recover? Is there a way to punish the bad actor? Or more precisely, is there a way for the in-game companies to tangibly police their rank-in-file? Correct me if I’m wrong (I haven’t played the game seriously) but from what I can tell, there really is no way to do any of the above.

Then again, I suppose that’s part of what makes the game fun. Even just thinking about the prospect of playing the game however you want sans lore is appealing to me. I start my own mining corporation. I can be a smuggler. I can be a hired gun. I can even become a pirate. The game offers a veritable wild west in space where survival is based on guns and wits. What the game offers me is very appealing in terms of the possibilities it offers, but thinking that it is a pure capitalist market economy is a little inaccurate. Even capitalist economies have rule of law where thievery and misrepresentation are not tolerated. It’s implying that a pure capitalist economy in the real world would allow thievery and misrepresentation. Even my most ardent radical capitalism supporting friends wouldn’t agree with that.