Feedback on HyperNet Relay – Concerns Regarding Listers Bidding on Their Own Items

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
1

Dear Eve Online Developers

I’m writing to raise a concern about the current HyperNet Relay system, specifically the practice where the person listing an item can purchase a significant portion of the nodes themselves — in some cases, half or more.

From a statistical and fairness perspective, this creates a problematic dynamic:

  • Artificially Inflated Demand – When a lister buys their own nodes, it makes the listing appear more popular than it is, potentially misleading other participants into believing the raffle is more in demand than reality. This can induce more bids from other players under a false sense of urgency.

  • Stacked Probability Advantage – If a lister purchases half the nodes, they effectively halve their risk of losing the item while still gaining most of the ticket revenue if they win. This is similar to a casino allowing the dealer to also place bets — the dealer has both insider knowledge and a vested interest, which is generally avoided in real-world regulated raffles.

  • Increased House Edge for Listers – A lister who self-buys is playing with both sides of the table. Even if they “win” their own raffle, they still retain the item and have lost only the ticket cost (which is recycled to themselves in the payout pool). This drastically reduces their actual loss rate compared to other participants, which breaks the expected fairness of an equal-chance raffle.

  • Player Trust and Market Health – Allowing listers to buy nodes undermines confidence in the HyperNet system. If players perceive the odds as inherently skewed in favor of the lister, participation rates may drop, harming the in-game economy that the feature is designed to stimulate.

Recommendation:

I believe the HyperNet Relay would be more equitable if listers were prohibited from purchasing their own nodes. This would:

  • Ensure all buyers are genuinely independent participants.

  • Prevent artificial inflation of perceived demand.

  • Create a statistically fair playing field.

  • Improve long-term trust and participation in the system.

I greatly enjoy the creativity and emergent gameplay that EVE offers, and I believe this change would align the HyperNet Relay more closely with fair, transparent raffle practices while keeping it exciting and profitable for the player base.

Thank you for considering this feedback.

Kind regards,
Stuart Prince /ElCadaver

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2

Alts can still do the same thing.

2 Likes
3

why does this read like it was written by ai?

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4

How would this work? The lister can still log on with an alt, log on with a second account, or send money to a friend to purchase the listings he would have purchased himself. This is not enforceable. The lister can share everything about the listing with friends to ensure that he is able to purchase the nodes that he would have purchased by himself.

Also, this is Eve. Nothing is supposed to be fair. Nothing.

5

Could you please share your prompt next time instead of the output?

I’d like to respond to your ideas.

Anyway, on topic of people buying their own tickets: other (alt) characters can do the exact same thing as the owner. There is no way to block this.

Also there is mathematically nothing bad about alts buying tickets for you as other customer. Your chances don’t change and your price doesn’t change, the raffle goes exactly the same for you whether all the other tickets are bought by the original owner of that hypernet offer or the same amount of tickets is sold to other players.

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6

Buying your own nodes is either a) a tactic to drum up interest in the offer or b) proof you’re bad at math.

1 Like