Competition between two Ultima Online gold farming titans breaks out into open warfare with heavy losses on both sides:

The face of the Ultima Online economy changed forever today as the Blacksnow group and the Cartel, two  of Ultima Online's biggest gold farming companies, went into open warfare after negotiations failed concerning a possible merger deal.  Both sides appear to be reporting each other's known characters to GMs, resulting in mass bannings.  The two sides combined were believed to have controlled well over half of the gold in UO, although the bannings may have eliminated most of these reserves.  Cartel leader Rich Thurman is reported as having said "My accounts are gone. Every last one got banned. I am dead in the water right now."

     The trouble appears to have begun as a result of failed negotiations between Thurman and Lee Caldwell of the Blacksnow group.  The two had discussed merging their operations.  Together, they would have had near complete control of the UO gold market.  However, talks faltered over a piece of code called exevents, which the cartel refused to share with Blacksnow.  Subsequently, after multiple characters from both groups were banned, Blacksnow discovered that exevents had in fact been shared with a blackmailer to keep him quiet.  Caldwell vowed revenge, and has since been reporting every cartel character he finds to the GMs.  The Cartel has responded in kind, reporting all Blacksnow characters it finds.  It is likely that both groups' presence in world will be wiped out, at least for the time being.  Stay posted for more news!