Massively reports that an EVE Online player-versus-player tournament match this weekend was upset by an assassination attempt, in which an infiltrator destroyed his own team leader's ship.

Warfare in EVE Online is a political, no-holds-barred affair, which is why developer CCP hosts a PVP Tournament to allow player alliances to test their strength against each other on a level playing field. However, a player going by the handle Happy Joymaker changed all that when he turned his weapons on the leader of his own team, Issler Dainze of an alliance called The Honda Accord, before self-destructing.

Happy Joymaker turned out to be an agent of another alliance, The Dead Parrot Shoppe Inc. Apparently the assassination was motivated by a personal grudge and intended to be a public humiliation of Dainze, rather than an attempt to sabotage the chances of The Honda Accord in the tournament.

Just as well, since The Honda Accord went on to win the match regardless, as you can see from the match report and video footage.

The victim of the attack seems quite happy with the extra attention garnered for his team's first entry into the PVP tournament. But the move has caused some debate among EVE players. Some feel the manipulation of an organised tournament was a step too far. For others, the game's complete freedom of action and deep political machinations are what sets it apart, and this assassination is the perfect example of that.

One thing's for sure - writing MMO news would be much more dull in a world without EVE Online.