Eve Online initial development funded by board game featuring Icelandic mayor

Initial development for CCP Games' MMO Eve Online was funded by the success of a board game featuring the current mayor of Reykjavík, Jón Gnarr, reports PC Gamer.

Gnarr, elected as mayor for the country's capital and biggest city in 2010, found work as a comedian prior to taking office. He was featured in CCP's board game Hættuspil, which means "Danger Game," and appeared dressed on the game's cover dressed as an elderly woman. He later ran for mayor under the Best Party, a fictional political party, but won the vote due to his candidness, according to PC Gamer.

The success of Hættuspil, PC Gamer writes, helped fund Eve Online in its early development stages. Speaking in a panel after last week's Eve Fanfest, the annual gathering of Eve Online and Dust 514 fans hosted by CCP, Gnarr said Iceland's people are proud of what CCP has done for the country and capital city Reykjavík.

"I suspect that Eve Online could be an obsession," he told PC Gamer, noting he doesn't play the game himself. "I've been, yeah, I was obsessed with Warcraft and...uh, yeah. And Half-Life, and I just had to erase it and get rid of it."

Gnarr will appear in an English localized version of Hættuspil that will be bundled in the Eve Online Collector's Edition, launched to commemorate the sandbox MMO's tenth anniversary. Pre-orders for the edition, which costs 149.99 euros (U.S. $197.57), are available now.