Unpromising chilly November morning in the NMC editorial office was ignited by one short message.
Claim of new contact is bold -- he is among the insiders that regularly steals from New Genesis, an old and proud organization with distinct warrior ethos. And he is willing to talk about this with in fine detail under conditions of anonymity.
With mixed feelings, I fire-up the engines and fly to a rendezvous location.
Gliding over the pine forest, I remembered Anderson saying: “In NG everyone is a warrior, first and foremost”. Looks like some brothers have quite different priorities.
* * *
We met on Alioth, inside a small abandoned factory near Marketplace 17. Identity of my contact is well hidden beneath an old alpha-series combat helmet, coarse Madis sand still noticeable on his boots.
- How should I call you?
- Lazlow, - his voice is deeply modified too, probably via helmet software.
- So, tell me how you steal from New Genesis, Lazlow.
I switched the nano-recorder on.
* * *
Why New Genesis chosen as a target? Is there some poetic justice and revenge involved or nothing personal?
It was nothing personal. I wanted to see how orgs that run point systems for donations and requests and if I could steal some stuff that was a plus. As I suspected, the point systems pretty heavily favor the org in terms of the amount taken. There are reasons, in their mind, but it's not for me. Lesson learned for the longer cons.
Was initial infiltration hard?
No, there was a voice interview though. Not saying that matters, but it might if you're a well known criminal. It's not always the same person doing the interviews so you are rolling the dice if one of them knows you. Once you are past the interview there are trial things, but you can pretty much start donating for points. When you make requests they will eventually set you up with a mailbox (which is a good idea if you ask me). That is where the con comes in, actually.
How actual stealing was done? Any special techniques involved?
It's actually very basic. No social engineering required. They use M container mailboxes. People frequently order too much stuff to fit into an M container ... so where does it go? First I needed to see this happening then I needed to figure out the habits of their factory workers when it happens.
I began monitoring NG's bot channel with some homebrew methods (where you submit factory orders) and temp-requests channel (TMA IRL paid some guy to build their discord bot and it kept breaking, but the guy wouldn't fix it quickly at all lol). When a player makes an order it usually has signs in the bot channel b/c they price check it there. The actual order is done in a DM with the bot. Then, more importantly, the "request" channel shows order fulfillments. Meaning that the only stuff in requests/temp-requests is when stuff is put in containers so you as a player know you can go to your mailbox and pick it up. The problem lies with the M container as I said. NG has an overflow "General Pickup" set of L containers where they put the larger order items. Their policy is to claim every item for NGT in the mailbox or general pickup and then the player "steals" the items so they can check notifications as confirmation if something happens. I believe the bot takes care of their points, but it may be manual as well.
So at this point, all you have to do is watch the requests channel after you see signs of a big order and then wait. After I saw a request get fulfilled I would give it 30 to an hour and see if the person that ordered it responded. If they didn't I would head on over and see what's what. If there were other orders on the way I would give it 12-24 hrs for a bigger take. When ready I would go to the factory (near sanc M2) with a linked container at the nearby market and pluck items out of General Pickup! They were claimed, but I left them claimed for weeks at a time and watched the folks that ordered go "hey my stuff isn't there!" then the factory guys would go "what? I put it there... weird" At one point they were blaming NQ and its damn bugs. It was great fun.
The items were claimed, but that doesn't stop you from taking them without giving the owner a notification. The funny part is, from what I can tell TMA doesn't check notifications and couldnt if he tried as there are too many. I'm not certain, but at this point I believe they don't know that the items were stolen - but I hope they at least suspect it otherwise that's pretty damning of their leadership on "the council" hahaha. Their point system split is a borderline scam anyway... Don't take my word for it either, ask someone like MoriarTheChosen who was very outspoken about it to Busterguy and TMA the other day. In his words "get f#cked m8" when asked to mine and donate ore for points in the current system.
Why has nobody noticed for so long?
Lazlow pauses for a moment, then transfers me a long list of files. While I can’t see his face, I can bet he is smiling. I quickly skim over info. Pages upon pages of New Genesis internal comms -- yet, there is a distinct pattern in the subjects in this dosier -- factory production, ship building, logistics and... confusion about missing items.
“My stuff is not in general pick up.”
“If I can squeeze in there too I have some stuff floating around somewhere.”
“And items disappearing kind of killed my comfort of moving items around until devs get their sh#t together and fix their game instead of harassing players.”
“Like I would love to have more people work in the factory. But you read about it every day how orgs go bankrupt. So it has stay for just the select few people… so it will be slow… there is a reason we aint been robbed yet.”
Lazlow continues:
I feel that it's because of 3 things.
First, I didn't steal two days in a row. Often I would wait a week... sometimes I waited because the orders dried up and sometimes I had to restrain myself. In particular, my last theft netted 2 warp drives, 20 M wings, 2 XL space engines, 6 AGG pulses and 3 territory scanners. If I had pulled the trigger a few hours before, I would have forfeited 1 warp drive and 3 Territory Scanners. Patience is worth it a lot of the time in thievery.
Second, their factory workers aren't always on at the same time and I don't think they communicate well at all. Missing items weren't always known to the collective group because someone would just sort it out by throwing items at the problem which I witnessed multiple times in the bot/request channel chats lol. I would watch the confusion of "it's not there" followed by "weird, i'm sorting it now" AKA they were giving them elements they already had sitting around.
Third, their org isn't run by someone who can sit there and check notifications all day and I don't blame him for it. NQ's current game is not well suited for running an org or seeing the reputation of players. I can't fully blame NG for not noticing this issue, but obviously it's concerning they didn't pick up on it over the course of several weeks. Not a great light for their leadership to be in. To their credit, I had to accelerate my timeline because VarietyMMOs wants to move their entire mailroom to the top of the elevator and I assume it won't include general pickup. Certainly now it may not. I expect VarietyMMOs to one day rob NG for a much larger take, by the way. I want to call that now because if I ever get outed I can point back to this article and go "See! I told ya!" hah.
Why do you suspect VarietyMMOs?
I don't know enough details, but I suspect VarietyMMOs for two reasons. Both reasons are enough for me to suspect him by themselves, but to outsiders I don't know that folks will feel the same way. That said, I will state my thoughts.
Reason 1: is my perception of his behavior. A classic streamer ego is present although not a terribly big one. He has moved up in the org quickly while becoming much more vocal recently which puts him in a great spot to maneuver himself or org assets to a spot that he can take advantage of. I get a vibe from him that this is what's going on in his mind. When lacking evidence I have learned to trust my feelings and so I am now.
Reason 2: is because of the character needforspeed who owns the space platform, elevator and ore containers at the top. Now, I am opening myself up on this one to look foolish if someone else owns it, but if VarietyMMOs owns that character then he is definitely in a spot to steal a ton of org assets whenever he wants. If anyone other than Anderson, Busterguy or TMA own needforspeed then I wish NG well in their short lived org because that ship is gonna sail one day.
NMC's investigation showed that VarietyMMOs was once linked to (or even owned) an organization called exactly the same -- Needforspeed.
And are there other thiefs in NG?
In NG? Yes, definitely. I know of 2 and suspect a third is about to be born as mentioned above. Some items went missing that I didn't take so there's that, but I am also friends with one of the other thieves (let's call him Trevor Phillips). He is a good buddy of mine, someone I actually trust in this game. His take - by other means I won't advertise - was much larger. That story is his to tell, but he was kind enough to give me a screenshot of what he got. I will say that we didn't use the same methods or really work together at all except to laugh at the little golden discord nuggets of NG obliviousness regarding stolen items. I don't mean this in a cruel way, they are okay people, but to not figure out & adapt to the thievery on the second occasion is funny from where I sit - shame on them.
How much was stolen by the end of the day by you and your friend?
I cleared 20M quanta myself. I got 6 AGG pulses, 2 XL engines, 40 M wings, 2 Warp Drives, 3 Territory Scanners and 39 L containers. I got some other random junk like warp cells, but I'll spare you the reading.
Some NG items stolen by Lazlow (rest, he explains, already stored away).
On the other hand, I think my friend cleared a few hundred million. The screenshot he provided was pretty hot tbh. Very naughty boy. Since he is still in the org, I hope it grows into something more... but time will tell.
Cache stolen by Lazlow’s friend, “Trevor Phillips”.
What’s next?
I'm ready to try out some other big orgs, but NG was honestly too easy. Their org management competence was sub-par based on the evidence and I don't think an org like Hyperion/IC/ODY/BOO would have let it go on this long without noticing and adapting. I think a mid level or small org is my best bet to hone my skills.
Moral of the story?
For anyone interested in this story, I encourage you not to rely on claiming items as a sole means of protection. It is a fallacy. I also encourage you to take 10% or less of the value of the item as the orgs cut or risk more thievery. NG takes way more and it makes them indefensible to anyone with a brain cell. "We are a PVP org you pay for the pleasure of PVPing by donating to us at a loss and buying stuff from our factory at another loss" That's really what is going on inside NG. Moral of the story: find out what cut the org gets for ore donation and item buying before joining. I knew this going in of course, but kept my opinions quiet because at that moment I figured I was in the org and could just steal some stuff down the line to make up the costs which I did.
Lazlow salutes and quickly disappears in a labyrinth of rusting cargo containers, probably never to be seen again. At least -- without a new identity.