Over six thousand people engaged in a virtual battle on Monday, Jan. 27, on the online multiplayer sci-fi game EVE Online, resulting in virtual damage worth more than $200,000.

EVE Universe

EVE, a virtual intergalactic world, attracts thousands of gamers who pay to purchase the game in addition to a monthly subscription to participate in the game. The most popular multiplayer game on the web, EVE boasts over 300,000 players and the EVE Universe is comprised of 5,000 solar systems. The game mostly revolves around characters or gamers who are pilots of various space ships and members of four different races. The Universe has its own currency named ISK, a central market system and has a real-time approach to advancing a player’s skills or level in the game. For example, players earn money by mining on various moons or planets and can purchase skills that they must then train. Each skill takes a certain amount of time, so a player must be committed to the game to become more immersed into the EVE Universe. According to the EVE website, players are free to market themselves however they see fit and are also free to form alliances or create corporations.

“In EVE you are free to choose your own destiny. You start out as a character from one of four races that inhabit the EVE universe but apart from slightly different starting skills you are free to take your character in any direction you want,” boasts the webpage.

One of the most valued possessions within the EVE Universe is the Titan ship, described by EVE as a “Judgement Superweapon." Traditionally, Titans have been the main target in any EVE Universe war. They are the ships that can carry the most massive weapons, and in the 10 year history of EVE, the largest number ever destroyed in one battle is 12. On Monday, during what has been dubbed ‘The Bloodbath of B-R5RB,’ 75 Titans were destroyed in warfare that lasted almost 21 hours.

The Greatest Multiplayer Virtual Battle Ever

According to EVE’s report on The Bloodbath of B-R5RB, Titans “take thousands of man hours to produce [and] take months to train to fly,” and it is these man hours, and the money spent by players for those hours, that amounts to the estimated $300,000 in damage resulting from the battle.

The battle began with a relatively mundane infraction, the HAVOC corporation, which operates for the Pandemic Legion alliance, either experienced a glitch or forgot to set their bills to automatic payment and forgot to pay a sovereignty bill. The sovereignty bill protected a region of the EVE Universe called B-R5RB. HAVOC had acquired this region, but, by forgetting to pay their bill, left the region vulnerable and up for grabs. Suddenly, war broke out in the virtual space and the rest is history.

The war was fought mainly between the Pandemic Legion, alongside their N3 coalition allies, and an opposing Coalition made up of the CFC Alliance and A Russian coalition. Based on the wreckage reported, the CFC and Russians won the war, losing only 16 Titans – N3 and Pandemic Legion lost 59.

In addition to the 6,000 players who participated in the battle throughout the day, thousands watched online as players live-streamed the game.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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