Not the same at all. While EVE does have a few ships that take quite a lot of time and effort to obtain (unless you steal one from someone), the developers (CCP) do not sell them. That would be between players on a secondary market and is against the EULA of the game. The developers do not profit from those kinds of transactions at all. This is not unique to EVE and is prevalent throughout many MMOs. EVE has also been around as a complete and shipped game for over 12 years now.Doesn't Eve Online have ships that people trade on the side for $5k to $10k?.