(Image not by me -- it was found in photobucket here.)

The space-ship themed MMORPG EVE Online has been at the forefront of virtual economies, with a thriving gaming world containing billions of virtual credits, overseen by a real-life actual economist. Like any good MMORPG, all those virtual credits add up to a couple of real-world dollars -- a fact that proved tempting for one player of the game. 

RicDic -- a name that will live on in infamy -- decided that while he was rich in EVE, he wasn't all that well off IRL So, he decided to pull a good ole fashioned robbery. Being a CEO of an in-game corporation (the equivalent of a guild in a fantasy game), he had access to all the funds collected by his gaming-group. With one massive withdraw, he purged the company accounts, ending up taking somewhere around 200 billion space-credits. Sold to other players in the real world, this worked out to about $5,000 USD.

"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it," the terrible person was quoted as saying. "But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," said the thief, as quoted by the Reuters news agency.

This big huge robbery caused a run on the in-game banks, and caused all sorts of anger explosions to break out in the game's forums.

"Anyone who 'understands' RicDic's actions and sees them as justifiable should be treated as a future scammer and should not be trusted with anything worth more than a Mexican peso. RicDic mismanaged his finances and found himself in a situation not uncommon to many people in these current times," said Lecherito, one of many upset EVE players.

"He should have stepped down and sold his computer, sold his car, moved to a house/apartment actually affordable on what must be an absolutely dismal salary, get a second job, etc etc etc etc. When **** hit the fan he made the decision of a weaker man. Stabbing friends in the back for his own benefit."