Blog Banter 32

"A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons' Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships there were calls for an "opt out of PvP" option. Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online? Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?"

I am not a fan of tears because they usually accompany whinning and my knee jerk reaction to such whinning is almost always HTFU/GTFO.  That being said, there seems to be an awful lot of tears both from players who are being griefed and from gankers who get their jollies from blowing up targets that are incapable of fighting back.

The quick answer to this questions is: NO, there should be no pvp opt-out flag in EVE.  Combat is an important part of the game; it makes game play dynamic, challenging, and fun. PVP, in whatever form it takes, is an essential part of internet spaceships.

That being said, EVE is NOT about PVP.  Eve is about empire building. This is very important because the activities that go into building an empire is what makes EVE such a rich and immersive environment.  Some of those elements include industrial production, commerce, diplomacy, resource allocation (control), and yes, military conquests.  Also, its worth noting that the most economically productive areas in RL are those that are secure, relatively risk free, and stable.  That's what an empire should strive to achieve. 

In EVE, stability is achieved somewhat artificially in High Security space, hence the attractiveness of those areas.  Some areas of Null Sec space have also achieved this level of security for its members, but lets not kid ourselves:  residence of those areas are as risk adverse as the so called 'carebears'.  They dwell in areas that are protected by honey bees rather than Concord.  Some players have sought out the isolated and easily controllable pockets of wormhole space.  Seeking a stable and secure place within EVE is a completely reasonable endeavor.

In my humble opinion, the PVP mechanics are working as intended.

CSM7

The December meeting of CSM6 is over which means two things:  a)  CSM6's influence over CCP extends only as far the likelihood of the individual candidates' incumbency, and b) its time to start looking around at the field of potential candidates. Fortunately, CCP seems to be heading in the right direction and I doubt that CSM6 will be called upon between now and elections to stand between CCP and its customers. In the meantime, its time to start researching candidates for CSM7, explore my own feelings about the direction of the game, and figure out who will best represent my feelings during the following year.

This will be the first year that I vote for a CSM candidate and I'm excited about that.  I joined EVE during CSM4 and wasn't even aware of the existence of CSM.  As I recall, it wasn't until the pop-up on the log-in screen announcing the election of CSM5 that I became aware of it.  I closed the pop-up without any further thought and didn't think about it further until I saw the posts in forums about "18 Months" and the development of Incarna.  Still, I had no opinion and no reason to vote for CSM6 candidates.

Then the shit hit the fan last summer.  Ordinarily, I don't let myself get worked up over a video game.  A confluence of events that had nothing to do with Incarna, events which occurred both in game and in real life, made me realize how much I enjoy the game and that EVE was worth getting angry about.  I was one of the players that shot at the statue in Jita.  I was one of the players that posted in threadnaughts.  I was one of the players that unsubscribed and biomassed my character.  To be frank, CSM6 still wasn't on my radar when this was all happening.

However, in the few months that I played Perpetuum Online, it occurred to me that CSM would/should have been ideally suited to communicate the anger and frustration of players like myself to CCP.  I started paying closer attention to posts from CSM members.  I started reading blogs.  Most important, I started forming an opinion about individual CSM6 delegates.  Two delegates stood out:  White Tree and Two-Step.

This year, I will actively participate in the CSM7 elections.  In the coming months, I will research a few of the incumbents' positions, I will pay closer attention to players that I think would make good candidates, and I will discuss CSM7 with anyone who engage me in a discussion. By election time, I will have an informed opinion and I will try to rally as many players to support the candidates that deserve a free trip to Iceland.

Comments, opinions, debate and discussion are welcome and appreciated.