Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Carebear Ultimatum

CCP's recent decision to allow miner bumping has brought renewed interest to the noble craft. There's been a bumping renaissance of sorts. Not everyone is happy about it.


People are always worried about carebears quitting the game, but they're a persistent lot when they want to be. Despite CCP's public announcements on the subject and thousands of denied petitions, the miners still petition to ban bumping.


Meet Gehb Ormand. He would probably consider himself new to the game, having played only for a few months. The anti-Order bio tells you exactly what kind of player he is. We've seen his kind before. But today, he's going to let us delve a little deeper into the psyche of the carebear.


Like most carebears, Gehb is in a state of constant dissatisfaction. He's upset about the bumps, and he "threatens" to quit the game--though I kind of doubt he will. But why so angry? He explains:


Most carebears aren't as open and honest about their motives as Gehb. He shares the reason why he enjoys mining at a click per hour: It gives him a feeling of control. It's an escape from a world in which he doesn't have any power over his surroundings.


But EVE isn't for therapy; it's a competitive multiplayer MMO. And Gehb's misperception about the game has crashed violently into its reality, courtesy of the New Order.


Shanija reveals another important clue about Gehb and the rest of the carebears. It stems from the fact that the New Order doesn't stop miners from mining in highsec. It simply charges them 10 million isk for a permit. Gehb has the cash. So why doesn't he pay and resume enjoying the game as before?


Gehb holds nothing back. Even though he understands that he could pay 10 million isk and continue mining, that would cut against the game's purpose, in his eyes.


Gehb seeks a reality in which no one can impose anything on him, not even a trivial sum of isk. Nullsec and lowsec are out, obviously, since he could be shot at. In highsec, other players cannot affect you--or so he believed until his encounter with the New Order.


Non-carebears understand that in a multiplayer game, other players necessarily interact with each other. They affect each other, especially in EVE.


Gehb's vision of EVE cannot coexist with the real EVE, unless EVE is transformed either into a single-player game or a theme park.


Sometimes I like to say that carebears prefer a "zero-player" game, one that doesn't even require the human element. Gehb would like EVE to run in the background while he makes dinner, does housework, or takes care of his children. He doesn't need to interact with EVE for the game to have value; the idea that he's steadily racking up spacebucks on his own terms is enough. It's not the graphics or gameplay that bring him to EVE, it's the illusion of uninterrupted progress.


EVE is not a game to him--it's a therapeutic device. For Gehb, the EVE galaxy would be great if it weren't for all those other players. There are many Gehb Ormands out there. They cannot coexist with the rest of us in the sandbox, and they do not intend to--hence the petitions. They'll keep asking CCP to nerf the game until there's no "game" left. If they don't get what they want, eventually they'll quit. If those are the two choices, the choice makes itself: We must be in favor of the carebears quitting the game before they destroy it.

36 comments:

  1. We all knew it would come to this.

    It's us or them!


    -Galaxy Pig

    315 4 CSM8!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Considering I subbed specifically to join in on some bumping, I see him unsubbing and me subbing as an even tradeoff to CCP, but a victory to preserving the sandbox.

    315 4 CSM 8!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll proposition, it's an even better trade. My SO has gotten REALLY interested in resubbing, since she's been reading about how The New Order is improving highsec.

      One bot-aspirant for two content generators seems like a great exchange.

      Delete
    2. And another thing! People who get involved in the New Order see a whole range of gameplay opportunities open up to them and will tend to purchase extra accounts so that they can train up different characters simultaneously.

      The net effect of the New Order must be to the betterment of CCP due to new and resubbed accounts.

      Delete
  3. From the first hour I witnessed Deadsea Youngblood bumping in Otela, I grasped the economic rationality of paying the mining fee. And from that first day, I am continually astounded at the proportion of miners who refuse to pay based on principle. I chalk it up to the modern era: our endless talk of rights and the supposed sovereign individual, and the related blindness people have to the hierarchies of naked force all around them.

    But it still astounds me that people don't realize that EVE is independent of their lived reality. Even if in real life you were, as you like to imagine, utterly uncoerced, that would mean exactly nothing in EVE. You pay your taxes in real life; how do you rationalize that? Pay your mining fee.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, thank you! That's exactly how I think too! RL has natural rights and you're entitled to certain things. Eve is completely disconnected from that. I bought a permit within the first couple hours too because any perceived rights you think you have in this game is a lie. The only right you have is controlling your own actions.

      Delete
    2. >You pay your taxes in real life

      lol. i don't pay taxes in real life.

      Delete
  4. "If those are the two choices, the choice makes itself: We must be in favor of the carebears quitting the game before they destroy it."

    Do not easily give up educating them! Every entitled soul crying for instant, effortless gratification deserves saving!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sir Robin Idle > Gehb Ormand you work as an ice miner IRL?

    I LOLed hard :) Class line :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gehb Ormand is the biggest bitch I've ever encountered in local. He has problems.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a load of propaganda crap. The New Order needs to DIE.

    Kind Regards

    Spi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spionkop, I look forward to your Anti-Bumper blog in the future, followed by less and less frequent updates on killmails of our Knights where CONCORD is the killing blow.

      Delete
    2. Spi, thank you for your continued tears. The steady flow keeps our market sustainable. They are also quite delicious.

      Kind Regards

      Vin King

      Delete
    3. Oh, you will also need a list of all the Agents and Knights, with the estimated SP for each pilot magnitudes above reality and the "times" when they will be active. I hope I'm not forgetting anything here.

      Delete
    4. I did forget something! Post up a list of "anti-bumping" tactics that are proven not to work such as hugging the ice asteroids, orbiting, shooting bumpers, bumping back bumpers, and bumping bumped miners back in place. You have a lot of work ahead of you, I suggest you start drafting the site right away.

      Delete
    5. Does he have a list of which of us are each other's alts and/or which one of us are spies yet?

      Delete
    6. Great point! I've compiled a list of alts in the New Order, starting with main characters followed by their alts.

      Agents:
      James 315
      - Every Agent is his alt.

      Knights:
      James 315
      - Every Knight is his alt.

      Supreme Protector of Highsec:
      Every New Order Agent and Knight
      - James 315 is everyone's alt.

      You can go ahead and use this, no need to credit me.

      Delete
    7. L...O...L! BillMurray you are a riot!

      Delete
  8. Why is Gehb even playing EVE. He doesn't really play it. Doesn't want to interact with other players. Doesn't even want to be at the computer when playing the game. I smell a RMT player rat.

    He deserves everything he gets. He gets a double red pen notation from me. And I will kill him at every opportunity.

    Long live New Order!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These are the "fighters" that entitled carebears deserve: brave spammers.

      James 315 4 CSM 8

      Delete
    2. Don't what? Fight for a theme park?

      Delete
    3. Gehb shouldn't be forced to talk with other people. If he doesn't want to, he shouldn't have to.

      Delete
    4. He doesn't have to, that's the beauty of the freedom of EVE! Of course, not responding to an Agent will lead to many, many bumps. Every action in eve has a reaction, and inaction is a statement of resistance.

      Delete
    5. Maybe you should just leave him alone. Even if you buy a permit, and react within a few seconds, you still get bullshit from the New Order.

      Delete
  9. Why don't ccp just create another safe version of the game where all the carebears can go to? That way ccp can earn more subs to help plow into the game.

    They could even provide a bridge to the more exciting version of eve for those that start to get adventurous.

    I know better still create a separate area in Eve called high-security space...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you know, anonymous, that attempting to end conversations here with a denial of service attack can cost you your internet connection?

      This is a privately owned blog. James 315 does have your IP address.

      Delete
    2. There is a safe version of the game, it's called the test server, non consensual PvP is forbidden outside of certain solar systems.

      Highec does not mean safe, it means that it's safer than lowsec, Concord are not there to protect they are there to punish.

      Casa

      Delete
    3. There is a safe version of EVE. And the great thing is these carebears don't even have to interact with other people.

      Reference:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_(game_series)

      Delete
    4. Test Sever is probably not quite what is required, but it shows it is technically easy to create a "safe" version, which the carebears can use.

      Personally I prefer the one "sandbox" with a high security area. Carebears also serve as a cheap labourforce keeping prices of minerals low.

      However, better the carebears in a safe version than playing
      X_(games_series), which does nothing to help ccp's wallet.

      Delete
    5. Prices of minerals should not be low. They should be set to a reasonable market value. Value comes from the one true limited resource: time. AFK miners and bots are devaluing minerals by devaluing time. Our time is shared, so they are stealing from us all.

      Delete
    6. Thank you Zechrabah for making some sense! The cheapness of some people for buying minerals and even the ores ranges from annoying to outright infuriating sometimes.

      Delete
    7. The advantage of of carebeears and I'll call them "PVPers" in the same sandbox is that each gets maximum utility from what they enjoy. Bears enjoy extracting minerals and building that means they will keep the prices low for PVPers who therefore get to do more of what they enjoy. Meanwhile PVPers create the demand that keeps prices higher for the bears than would be in a pure carebear world and enables the bears to do more of what they want.

      Of course there are a very small number of i'll call "reprobates" whose enjoyment comes from griefing bears (such as New Order gankers). This very small subset threatens to break the relationship and cause the vast player base to suffer. Both PVPers and Bears alike.

      Delete
    8. Why should anyone get a subsidy?

      Ganking is as much of a play style as PvP and Mining.

      If ships become more expensive, then PvP players will have to adjust. I minerals become more expensive, then competent miners, who stay at the keyboard and interact with other players instead of going AFK will make more money.

      Your argument that ganking "breaks [ economic ] relationships" is fatuous. Ganking is part of the relationship.


      Besides, CCP has also decided that Ganking and Bumping is part of the game. So, in the words of the entire CCP staff ...

      ... HTFU.

      Delete
    9. He didn't say anything about a subsidy.

      Delete

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