Thursday, May 30, 2013

Hydra-Headed Lies, Part 2

Previously, on MinerBumping... Celebrated isk doubler Erotica 1 invited me to act as an escrow agent to help her 100th client win big in a special Bonus game. The client, Hydra Fire, was told to systematically contract me all of his assets, which he did.


Erotica was well-versed with every possible way in which an EVE player could have assets stored up.


After Hydra took down his market orders, he had a few more assets to transfer to me. But since he had already given away all of his liquid isk, he couldn't pay the contract creation fee. Erotica stepped in and gave him some money to cover it.


Everything was going extremely well for everyone involved. Both Erotica and Hydra were acting with the utmost decorum, proving the cynics wrong about EVE. Maybe all of those stories I had heard about slick con artists in Jita were a bunch of hooey.


Hydra's task, to put total faith in Erotica and relinquish all in-game assets, was reaching its conclusion.


To confirm that Hydra was not attempting to scam Erotica, he had previously supplied a full API for his character. I cross-referenced the contracts he had assigned to me with the API-supplied asset list. The tension was building in the Bonus Room; everyone held their breath as I prepared to make my recommendation as to whether the jackpot should be paid out.


Everything was accounted for. Satisfied that everything was in order, I gave Erotica the green light. The big payday was imminent.


From the beginning, Erotica had Hydra in a TeamSpeak channel. Though Erotica was not able to speak, she could listen. Hydra had done some of his communication regarding the contract transfers via TeamSpeak. Once he started assigning the contracts to me, he relied more on the in-game chat, and was silent in TeamSpeak. As Erotica prepared to pay Hydra the jackpot, she asked him to speak. This is her custom; she loves getting the live reaction of the big winners when the jackpot is paid out.


Unfortunately, Hydra didn't feel comfortable speaking aloud, since he was in a public library.


Erotica urged him to at least quietly whisper a song to her. Hydra was reluctant.


Erotica recommended the song "I'm A Little Teapot". I didn't see any harm in someone whispering a song in a library, especially under these circumstances.


As this was going on, Erotica was prepping the big jackpot payout. True to her word, she opened up a trade window with Hydra and put the grand prize of 25 billion isk into it. All she had to do was press the "accept" button. The payday was now just a click away. Inspired, Hydra agreed to whisper a song.


Hydra ran through "I'm A Little Teapot" in hushed tones. Erotica requested an encore, and asked the participants in the Bonus Room to suggest a love song for Hydra to sing. Afterward, Hydra would receive the full 25 billion.


Joe Endicott made a love song request, and Hydra looked up the lyrics online. He was now just moments away from winning a quarter of a tenth of a trillion isk.

A SoundCloud recording of Hydra Fire's time on TeamSpeak has been uploaded for your listening pleasure. Though the event covered a couple hours, the silent portions have been edited out, and the recording parsed down to just three and a half minutes. The singing begins at the 1 minute 49 seconds mark. Here's the link:

Hydra Fire TeamSpeak Recording

Just as Hydra was wrapping up the love song, something extraordinary was heard.


It was the unmistakable, bloodcurdling ring of a telephone. Everyone in the channel froze up like a deer in the headlights. And that is when we began to discover that nothing was as it seemed.

To be continued...

23 comments:

  1. Why can't these people just be honest? I don't know how Erotica 1 can stand to be around such deceitful people. Erotica 1 is one of EVE's brightest beacons of honesty and integrity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh dear ... he was not in a public library, was he?

    Lying during a trust game is generally considered a fail.

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  3. This guy is stupendously, outrageously, shockingly, colossally stupid...


    ... to lie to an honourable business person like Erotica1. If only he had told the truth he could have cashed out big like I did.

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  4. moral of the story: sing "im a little teapot" as fast as you can, so the phone doesnt ring during your love song encore, AND TAKE THE MONEY!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dogs love me \o/
    but
    cats are ambivalent. vov

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds like someone is having a bad day, would a hug help?

    ReplyDelete
  7. You should have you isk doubled by Erotica 1. I did and I felt much better after.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can the New Order actually sink any lower?

    (It is a rhetorical question as we all know the answer is yes)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. try trolling harder, maybe that'll help

      Delete
    2. You can't troll the New Order as they are actually proud of their 'achievements'. Although what these amount to is not something the vast majority of players would recognise as such.

      Delete
  9. Why did he lie to Erotica? I would be nervous about doing business with a liar. Where is the trust? If Erotica indulged a liar, then it invites other liars to take advantage of her already generous risk doubling

    Hydra didn't even sing loud and proud. For the service Erotica provides I would sing in public no matter the crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Erotica 1 is probably one of the best isk scammers I've ever heard of. His methods are very sophisticated, unconventional, well-worded and surprisingly believable. Compared to him, all those Jita "1 trit", "Gnosis sell" and others look like total amateurs.

    I can predict that Hydra ends scammed of everything he previously owned. I hope it will serve him as a warning, that all "easy money" schemes, isk doublers and lotteries are fake, no exceptions, that his own work is the best method of earning money, and that noone in Eve can be trusted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Erotica 1 is a genius for sure. Probably on par with James. But neither is a scammer. I sent her a billion and got 3 billion back, without even testing smaller amounts. The same day I got that, I saw a number of people break the rules and have their donations kept, as they should have been. I would have sent more if I could.

      Hydra's greed is probably what messed things up for him. I believe greed is one of the seven deadly sins.

      Delete
  11. What is the gripping shocking end to this????

    Seriously, this has been posted on the in-game forums and Hydra says Erotica took everything... there is no reason to drag this out for days. There is no real anticipation since the outcome is known.

    It's just sad that stories like this take days upon days to get posted when I am sure there are NO kills that should be being posted daily.

    But, seems that since James was involved in this scam the NO Agents get left out of the stories while James discusses his actions.

    Fionia

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    Replies
    1. I'll listen to the story as told on minerbumping.com, the premier news source for highsec, thank you very much!

      Delete
    2. People can say what they want on the forums, but we will show them the truth here.

      Delete
    3. Sadly James315 does waffle/rant a fair bit however in his defence he is preaching to his unwashed followers here.

      Delete
    4. James is a prophet for sure. I think that's why the masses refer to him as the savior of Highsec.

      Years from now hopefully this website remains intact so that generations do not have to rely upon stories of his miracles being passed down from father to son.

      Who else but James 315 could attract followers as diverse as he has? I mean, even some of Eve's super rich such as Erotica 1 are freely giving to his cause.

      Delete
  12. Exactly how does redistributing pixels in an online game equate to torturing animals?

    Why do you have this fascination with animal torture?

    Seek professional help please.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @Agent Trask, I believe the OP is talking about how your actions in a virtual world are a reflection of your RL desires. A basic understanding of psychology would reveal to you that the actions taken by those associated with "The New Order", are clearly indicative of a need to acquire some sort of sadistic gratification. It's very easy to forget that behind those pixels is an individual who is trying to enjoy this game in a way that best makes sense to them. Who are the advocates of TNO to say that the way they play is the "incorrect" way? Are they cheating? Are they exploiing the game in some manner? No. If you all were really honest with yourselves, you would see that what you people so proudly "fight" for, is nothing other than cyber bullying, which shows you all for what you really are... cowards. You want a real fight? Why not try your hand at fighting those who can fight back? I'm sure you guys are capable, but just a bit lazy to pick on someone your own size. It's all rather pathetic, really. Oh well, whatever you do in this game is sanctioned by CCP, so who am I to speak against it. I guess we all just have different values. Just understand that when you guys encounter the resistance that is well on it's way, that it too is happening out of "emergent" gameplay, and I hope you guys don't shed too many tears when odyssey limits your so called "honorable" actions. Fly safe out there. :)

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  14. You sure are an angry elf. What's wrong, is mining no longer relaxing to you?

    ReplyDelete
  15. @ Anom 12:14

    You're an idiot. Now that that's out of the way allow me to explain why. One should not compare an individual in a video to an individual in society who suffers from mental illness/es and say they are the one and the same simply because of how one plays a video game. Once you start comparing Real World issues with video games and people you don’t like who play these video games in an attempt to support your argument, you become a strange, strange person. Despite what you think they are not the same. They are completely different. Let’s continue, EVE = Everyone vs. Everyone. For example, if I see a wreck and I know the owner of that wreck is coming back to collect, I'm going to check it out to see what's inside. If it's worth my time, I'm going to loot/steal it. However, if someone drops their backpack, or purse, I'm not going to walk up to it and check what's inside to determine if I want to take something. On the contrary, I will try to get that person's attention to let them know they dropped something. But that's the difference between RL and a fantasy video game. I hope you’ve learned something today.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Steeped Beverage DispensaryJune 3, 2013 at 4:16 AM

    @anonymous: Let me try to answer some of your questions, they are quite piquant and deserve answers.

    "Who are the advocates of TNO to say that the way they play is the "incorrect" way?"

    I'm a little teapot, short and stout.

    "Why not try your hand at fighting those who can fight back?"

    Here is my handle (one hand on hip),
    Here is my spout (other arm out with elbow and wrist bent).

    "Just understand that when you guys encounter the resistance that is well on it's way, that it too is happening out of "emergent" gameplay,..."

    When I get all steamed up,
    Hear me shout,
    Tip me over and pour me out! (lean over toward spout)



    ReplyDelete

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