Hulkageddon – MMO Fallout

Hulkageddon is one of my favorite MMO-related holidays, but a friend of mine recently asked: Omali, don’t you wish Hulkageddon would last forever? And I said no, friend who asks conveniently timed questions. Because then I wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy Hulkageddon. If you don’t know, Hulkageddon is a celebration in Eve Online where players are encouraged, and paid, to kill miners in massive quantities. Normally, Hulkageddon only lasts for a limited time each year, but in a post by Mittani on the Eve Online forums, Goonswarm intends on continuing to pay users for dead miners.

For every ten miners you kill, Goonswarm will pay you ten million ISK and one hundred million per ten exhumer. So far Hulkageddon has claimed more than eleven thousand ships and over two trillion in damages and twenty seven billion in rewards paid out.

Now Hulkageddon is a perfect example of emergent gameplay and capitalism at work in Eve Online. Now, Goonswarm pays people millions to destroy hulks, meaning more people are buying hulks to replace those that were destroyed. Can you imagine who is manufacturing the hulks that are being destroyed? Do you see how this comes around full circle?

(Source: Eve Online forums)

Eve Online is a persistent world MMO where, short of exploiting bugs, a moral code is virtually nonexistent. Eve’s history has uncovered major ponzi schemes, illicit banks, corporate espionage on an enormous level, and more. The phrase to live by in Eve Online is “it may not be ethical, but it isn’t against the rules.” For some players, however, Eve Online is just a little too safe for AFK-miners and resource gatherers who sit in high security space. Thus, several years ago, Hulkageddon was born.

Hulkageddon is an event where players are encouraged to suicide-gank as many miners and gatherers in high-security space as possible, with points assigned to the best individual players and corporations that take part. Points are alloted based on several variables, including what type of ship was killed. This year, however, the victims are not just miners. As posted on the “about” page:

Since merely blowing up mining vessels is fun, this time around we are broadening the target spread to generate more tears of dismay! In Hulkageddon 4 all mining vessels, orcas, freighters, haulers, noctis and primae count towards your score! Yes, you read that right, all the vessels mentioned there count for the main prize. In addition to that some vessels have their own achievements linked to them, check the prizes page for all the details!

There are a ton of prizes in categories from most kills, to first kill, kills in certain regions, most expensive kills, and best hatemail generated. Yep, if you can manage to devolve your victim into the virtual equivalent of a child screaming in the WalMart parking lot, you can win wonderful prizes (Eve Online prizes).

I’m expecting to take some of the flak for supporting Hulkageddon from miners and “carebears” who attribute the enjoyment of this event to both the lack of a female partner of the opposite sex, as well as inadequacy in the groinal region. That being said, Hulkageddon is a reminder that Eve Online is first and foremost a PvP game where players team up or work solo to make their way up to the top, with success built on the dead bodies and ships of other players who stood in their way, or just were present at the wrong time. Crude? Yes, but Eve Online fills its spot, and a big spot at that with over three hundred thousand subscribers.

You can find the killboard here, and Hulkageddon’s website here. The event runs from February 19th to the 28th.