EVE Online players can now sell off individual skills and training

EVE Online has yet another exciting new economic feature.

EVE Online has allowed players to buy and sell characters for some time now, as part of CCP's forward-thinking approach to things players are going to do anyway - sell gold, trade characters - and would prefer to do somewhere they won't have to interact with someone called "Be$t_g0ld_f@rming_n0t_a_SC4M" who does the Internet equivalent of leaving them in a bathtub of ice and a hole where their kidneys should be.

But the developer has now implemented a new twist on the feature, allowing players to trade not full characters but chunks of skill training. Training up skills in EVE takes time, and not everybody wants to spend that time. Helpfully, it's pretty easy to spend that time and then realise three months later you have absolutely no need for whatever it was you spent two weeks learning to do. It's a match made in heaven.

The economy of EVE is central to the experience so naturally the player base has greeted this addition with mixed feelings; anything that upsets the balance is a bit of a concern. It'll be fascinating to see how it plays out. Visit EVE Online blog for all the details if you want to know more.