Paper short abstract:

Eve Online is a game with few rules. Characters can lie, cheat, steal, extort, kidnap and murder without breaking any official rule. But if you look deeper you find that the players set rules for themselves and others. I will examine these rules and their rationale.

Paper long abstract:

Eve Online is a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). A big draw for players is that the game has very few rules. Characters can lie, cheat, steal, extort, kidnap and murder without breaking any rules set by the designers of the game. But this is only the surface; if you look deeper you find that the players set principles for themselves and others. Some are grounded in personal morality while others come from their respect for the game itself. In this paper I will examine the values that govern game play for the various different types of gamers that inhabit the world of Eve Online. From this I will look at the various conflicts that can arise from the diverse moral outlook players have towards their game.