A Load of Crap

"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?"



As a female, I tend to be somewhat softhearted toward the less fortunate in EVE. I always cringe a little when my evil corpmates steal loot, troll noobs in general militia chat, or grab point on an unfortunate nuetral Orca that accidentally jumps into the warzone. I'm fiercely loyal to my corpmates when push comes to shove, but I'm always a little saddened.

I become downright upset when people do things that outright endanger someone elses enjoyment of the game. After all, who are we to say that one type of game play is 'right' for all players? This is supposed to be a sandbox afterall.



I was playing LOTRO last night, trying on different dresses that I had acquired and trying to match them to various cloaks while clicking a button a thousand times to level up my cooking/crafting skills. (I'm trying really hard to get good enough to make Blackberry Tarts. They look really yummy, virtually wise.)  As I was running around killing various deer afterwards, I thought, if only EVE was like this. Relaxing, enjoyable, without the stress of worrying so much if people are going to target you when you undock if you're not particularly in the mood to pvp at that moment.

But it's not, and here are a few things that need to change:*

High-sec should have no pvp whatsoever. Drastically reducing a suicide pilots standings to make it difficult to constantly suicide gank is not good enough. High-sec should be a protected area where people can mine, haul, and roam around looking at the new nebula in peace. Not only that, but they should make it so wardecs and faction war have no effect there as well. It should be like a 'friendship' zone of sorts where people can get away, be friends, and take a break from the war struggles around them.

Bubbles and points should be completely removed from the game. If a pilot wants to get away, they should have the right to get away without another player doing something to keep them there. Warp Disrupters, Warp Scramblers, Interdictor bubbles, and anchorable bubbles limit the sandbox and make it easier for the evil pvpers to carry out their evil plans.

Thirdly, low-sec should be made safer. Right now, it's the home of pirates, theieves, and griefers. Low-sec is supposed to be Empire still, just not as perfect as high-sec! So why does it sometimes feel that low-sec is almost more dangerous then null-sec?

• They should increase the GCC timer to at least 30 minutes.
• They should make perma-flashy like being permanently GCC, with the gate and station guns always firing at them.
• They should make it so that no pvp can take place on empire owned structures, such as gates and stations.
• If there is someone GCCed, or with bad sec status in a system, a popup should come up when you jump in warning you that their are bad people in local. 

They could even add a game mechanic, similar to the private chat mechanic, where a popup appears on your screen from the leader of a gang to another saying, "Individual X would like to initiate combat with you, do you accept?" If "Yes" is pressed, then the fight would commence, otherwise, the gang would be unlockable.

Fourthly, They should make it very, very difficult to help a pirate in empire, even if they are in the same corp, militia, alliance, etc. Right now, if you help a pirate in your corporation, you only get temporary GCC at that time! It should be that your standings drop significantly, based on a formula that takes into account the standings of the pirate you are helping, vs the people he is shooting. (The people you are helping him kill.) Therefore, the better the standing of the person he's shooting will make your standing hit greater, and the lower the pirates standing, the even lower the hit will be, whereas helping a sort-of pirate kill another really evil person won't be as bad, based on the formula.

The formula should also take into account the level of the system you are in, therefor if it's .4, you will get a worse hit then a .1, etc. It should also take into account the size of the system, because how fast you can get there to help him does matter, so you will need to calculate the average distance between the two further points in space. And then, apply a factor based on the mass of each ship involved, so that if you use bigger ships to help, it costs more, and if you help him kill bigger ships, it also costs more.

That would help against people using neutral logistics to help them. It would be best to make it so that no logistics can be applied on a pirate whilst in battle, but that might be pushing things a little.

Also, shooting player-pirates should increase your sec status in the same way killing rats does. You are, after all, helping CONCORD.

Finally, they should have a space jail. It apparent to me that standings losses, GCC, etc., are not helping to win the battle against griefers. People who are griefed upon should be able to 'press charges' with some sort of created tribunal, allowing that tribunal to throw the offending party into the space jail.

In this space jail, you could force the pilots into labor, making them mine and manufacture things for the good of the empire. They could be forced to work until they had made up the difference of whatever they stole, killed, etc. to repay the injured party.

You could have the CSM oversee this jail, as a part of their duties, or even have the CSM be the tribunal to which we complain. As elected officials, they would be expected to keep the peace, and judge the offending party. All player petitions regarding griefing, and other atrocities would automatically be forwarded to the existing CSM Chair's inbox.

And that's all I have to say about that. For now.




*No pirates spontaneously killed themselves while writing this post, nor was bribery involved. The author of this post may have been under the influence of a brief bout of insanity during the writing of this post. Individuals with no sense of sarcasm should not read this post, and those who find themselves heartily agreeing with the opinions and suggestions herein should be systematically taken out and shot.