Report: Accidental click triggers 3,000-ship battle on EVE Online

Who would have thought an accidental click would trigger one of the biggest ship battles in the history of multiplayer online game EVE Online? A report on tech site Mashable said some 3,161 players battled in the Asakai system, with 222 ships destroyed and 470 billion ISK (in-game currency) lost. Citing reports from Reddit and EVE bloggers, it said the mess started when the pilot of a titan ship prematurely entered enemy space instead of bridging allies to his location. "A lone titan in 'low security' space is like blood in the water, and players from multiple factions rushed in, with reinforcements piling on to attack and defend," it said. Because of this, some players at the Asakai battle risked – and lost – ships worth $1,000 in real currency, along with months of work. However, Mashable said a much bigger battle on EVE at around the same time. It quoted Ned Coker, who handles media relations for CCP, the company that runs the massive online universe, as saying the bigger battle was at a different location organized by two alliances. That battle was a free-for-all that had over 19,000 ships killed, Coker told Mashable. "But they were much smaller ships, and it was a pre-planned event instead of an organic battle," he added. Following the battle, he said they noted an uptick in signups and accounts. "Some are new players and some are old players returning who just can’t stay away once they hear about such things," Coker said. — LBG, GMA News