Random Posts from Auga

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?

Why does feel Eve real? One key contributor is that adrenaline rush created by the ‘real’ danger of combat that can occur at any time, even in hi sec.  You are never 100% safe, and it both keeps you on your toes and provides a thrill that no other game can match.  Without that omnipresent danger presented by other ‘real’ pilots, Eve would not be the game that it is.

I can still recall my great anxiety the very first time I had to travel through the dreaded ‘low sec.’  That warning made my gut wrench, I expected to ambushed the moment I jumped through.  What a relief when nothing happened.

Then there was the time I saw my first pilot that was yellow, and then the first time I saw a blinky.  My corp mates (ironically, now mostly hard-bitten PvPer) all clamored for me to dock.  That flashy dude was SCARY.

Then there was my first PvP loss—ratting innocently in my Stabber in Bosboger, I was chased around the belts by a guy in a Ferox.  I still have him set to red.  I let him chase me around, but then at one point I spent too much time trying to get info on him and got scrammed.  I couldn’t believe how fast that guy wiped me out, and how ineffective my own damage was.  I keep hoping we’ll meet again now that I’ve got thousands of kills of my own under my belt now.

Then there was null sec.  I was so nervous the first time I jumped through—it was Great Wildlands, I was in a ratting cyclone fitted with a cloak.  The gate was camped and bubbled.  I cloaked up, then actually slow boated my way back, barely dodging clouds of drones and guys buzzing around in orbit trying to decloak me.  Moving at about 30 m/s, I actually made it… it was awesome.

All these happened before I became a confident PvPer, but I still get that rush of excitement each time I jump into Amamake or the war zone, with or without backup.  I get that rush when I’m just hauling stuff around and running gate camps.  Without the possibility of this danger, I might as well mine all day. 

Even hi-sec mining is full of danger nowadays—does that bother me?  Not one bit—just makes me fit a better tank and pay more attention to my overview.  Sure, I lose a mining ship now and then.  But hell, my alt miner also gets the occasional kill mail…

For other blogger’s thoughts, see Seismic Stan’s blog.