Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Thoughts About the Code

Let's talk a little bit about the Code, shall we? The Code is always worth talking about. It is, aside from--possibly--the EULA/ToS, the most important legal document in EVE today. Countless highsec residents strive to live under the terms of the Code, or are punished for failing to do so. With over one hundred thousand views, the Code is among the most widely-read EVE-related writings of all time. And that's not even counting the number of times individual provisions are quoted in informal settings, such as EVEmails, forum posts, or local chat. The Code is a relatively recent innovation, less than two years old. But gosh, it's hard to imagine highsec without it!

The Code doesn't operate in a vacuum, of course. Whether you're a miner trying to obey the Code or an Agent trying to enforce it, the Code must first be interpreted. Thankfully, we have MinerBumping and its ~900 posts to help flesh it out. At a breezy 2,200 or so words, the Code is a quick, compact read. You can print out a pocket version of it and carry it with you wherever you go. Despite its small size, it's an incredibly rich, incredibly deep. Each time the Code is read, new insights are available to the reader, no matter how familiar he may be with its provisions. That's my experience, and I'm sure it's yours, too.

Let me give you an example of how much there is to unpack from just a single provision of the Code. Did you know that there's only one direct reference to bot-aspirancy in the entire Code? It's in the provision that reads, "Bot-aspirant behavior is not permitted." Wow! That's a lot of meat and potatoes to get from just five words, isn't it (counting bot-aspirant as one word)?

Too often, carebears attempt to reduce the Code into a simplified, money-based form. If you ask them what the Code says, they'll tell you, "Pay the New Order 10 million isk to mine." This is a very revealing assessment on their part. They see the Code in terms of a financial transaction: Grind some isk, hand it over, and then play EVE however you see fit. Although the Code says a lot about mining permits, that's only a fraction of the Code. Miners are not meant to pay 10 million isk once a year and continue doing what they were doing before.

One of the more controversial things I've said is that a Code-compliant carebear shouldn't even think bad thoughts about the New Order. Some bristle at the idea, arguing that only a carebear's actions can violate the Code. They suggest it's Orwellian to talk about "thought-crimes". This criticism doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Let's think in terms we can all relate to. I am the Father of the New Order. All the carebears of highsec are like my children. Imagine if you had a child who did what you told him to do, but who nevertheless absolutely hated you with every fiber of his being. That's not much of a relationship, is it?

Since carebears are natural liars, we judge a carebear by his actions rather than his words--though we judge his words, too. But thoughts are even more important than actions. Correcting actions alone is like treating symptoms without treating the underlying disease. To properly cure someone, you treat the disease, as well. To put it another way, the mind is like a ventriloquist and the body is the ventriloquist's dummy. The dummy only does what the ventriloquist makes it do. Focusing solely on actions is like having an argument with the dummy.

Viewed in this light, it's readily apparent that for the New Order to succeed, we must transform both the minds and the actions of the carebears. A carebear who obeys the Code only reluctantly isn't of much use to us. It's likely that he'll go back to his bot-aspirancy once he perceives the threat of a bump or gank passes. Such a carebear is still considered in violation of the Code due to his negative attitude, even if he sees fit to transfer 10 million isk from his wallet.

The good news for Code enforcers is that carebears aren't good at hiding what they think. An unreformed carebear will almost always manifest the outward signs of his rebellious nature. He'll show disrespect toward an Agent or make inappropriate comments about the Code. As far as the Code is concerned, a carebear who meets this description is just a rebel whose wallet is 10 million isk lighter. He continues to be a target for future corrective action.

The New Order is perfectly suited to winning hearts and minds. One of the reasons we have been so successful in changing highsec is that we're able to fight and win on two fronts: The battlefield of EVE and the battlefield of ideas. Our ranks are filled with the finest bumpers, gankers, wardeccers, and awoxers that highsec has to offer, so we win on the battlefield of EVE. We win on the battlefield of ideas because, well, we have ideas. The rebels and bot-aspirants don't have any. They became carebears precisely because they didn't want to think. They wanted to "relax" and go AFK, to become mindless. They rejected emergent gameplay because it requires human creativity rather than the thoughtless automation they crave.

I've often said that the Code-compliant miner is the happiest miner in EVE. That's because they are Code-compliant in thought as well as in deed. They follow the Code, not because they are forced to follow it--though they are forced to follow it--but because they want to follow it. They want a brighter future for highsec and they know the Code is the way to get there. Their optimism is unmistakable and infectious. We value and celebrate these miners. The rest of them, we burn.

53 comments:

  1. OMG
    tl;dr
    bla bla - yaketi yak - yaketi - yak.
    lol, you are realy proud of your self.
    man crap writing, lots of self - ass - liking...
    meat and potatoes over one mention of bot aspirancy...
    since b-a isnt realy a word its more lukewarm air to lukewarm air.
    hope you got something were realy good at, cause you write crap...

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  2. I will admit that the Code is well-written. Where it fails is in the disconnect between James' sweeping proclamations and reality. The New Order can lay claim to 'controlling' only a handful of highsec systems. You get points for propaganda but the reality is that James', his alts, and a handful of mostly childish cowards believe in something that is of concern to anyone stupid enough to mine in systems that they legitimately control. The rest of us in highsec laugh at you. The rest of us in lowsec laugh at you but take notice because if you ever did reach your potential you could help make our ore more valuable. And after all, that is the ultimate goal.

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    1. Calls people out for being cowards, posts anonymously. GG.

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    2. Many laughed at the hordes of Genghis Khan. "Who are these pot-bellied ruffians with their tiny hats and furs and moustaches and demands of submission?" they would ask, giggling smugly right up to the point when an arrow landed in their chest and the wholesale butchery of their village commenced.

      I have travelled the length and breadth of James's dominion and everywhere I implore the miners not to make that same mistake. Many learn from history and see the sense in living in peace under the Khan of highsec. The others inevitably end up with a Catalyst-shaped arrow in their metaphorical chests. The soulless laughter of the delusional is soon replaced with the honest, heartwarming laughter of the playground - for just as children do, miners crave boundaries and structure.

      Yet even the great Mongol hordes could not butcher every village at once. We are few, but we are growing, and our arrows are shot from infallible bows of justice. Giggle at our potbellies at your peril.

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    3. The new order really does not LEGITIMATELY control anything, they claim their authority is legitimate, but their "authority" is as bogus as any fraud scheme in EVE...look at the BUFFOON they call their leader, he is a confessed scammer...

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    4. That's just a testament to the transparency of the New Order, remember that guy who said he found the New Order scedules and everyone was actually THANKING him for it? Seriously, that is old news man, get with the times.

      Plus, does CONCORD stop the NO 100% of the time before they gank, the answer to that is no. So NO can essentially enforce their will in highsec regardless of the CONCORD forces stationed there and NPC faction police, how is that not control?

      I will be more than happy to debate what legitimate control is with you, please continue with this argument, examples and logic would be most welcome.

      ---Friendly Neighborhood Scoundrel

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  3. If the new order is so small and ineffective how come I see so many more people mining in tanked procurers, when only a few years ago no one would both doing such a thing.

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  4. ^^ because of rats, silly goose, and war times^^

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    1. Hi Anon 8.34, I ganked a Retriever recently, piloted by a charming but misguided gentleman of Russian extraction. He'd no tank and no business mining in James 315's Highsec sans Permit.

      The very next day I observed him mining again, still without a Permit but, lo' and behold, sporting a pimped procurer and a smug yet affable demeanour.

      Sasha.

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    2. Horse crap.

      Hisec belt rats can't kill anything bigger than a frigate, and that's assuming you are AFK. You can literally sit in an untanked Covetor...in a 0.5 system...and watch the belt rats shoot at you for 5 minutes and they won't get your shield below 50% before they warp away.

      As for wardecs they dock up, the smarter ones anyway. The dumb ones get blapped, and tank doesn't matter.

      No, ganking, and the Order in particular, is the only reason ANY hisec miner fits a tank. Period.

      -----------Mike Adoulin

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  5. Oh, this is going to cause a shitstorm of carebear tears.

    A long James post with lots of words.

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  6. "When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us: so long as he resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation. In the old days the heretic walked to the stake still a heretic, proclaiming his heresy, exulting in it. Even the victim of the Russian purges could carry rebellion locked up in his skull as he walked down the passage waiting for the bullet. But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out."

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    1. Also: The object of ganking is ganking. The object of trolling is trolling. The object of tears are tears.

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  7. so difficult to recon mittans as a CSM when he quit and said he's wants nothing to do with it anymore. is this some epic troll or is james just ignorant of another's players stated goals?

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    1. you havent gotten the joke have you? went straight over your head...

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  8. As one of the top enforcers in the New Order and for our Saviour James 315,

    We have proven that we are capable of changing a miners game, we are now starting to prove that we will change freighter pilots games, if only they read the code and did not play it away from keyboard they would not have any problems with us.

    It is sad that the only ones to whine about the new order are ones that see nothing wrong with mining away from the keyboard, piloting there freighter on autopilot through known new order ganking systems.

    High Sec needs to wake up and realise that the Code is the last line for this game becoming a botters/bot-aspirants playground.

    loyalanon

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    1. Top enforcer? I murder about 10 of you every day. I think you guys have me marked as red because every time for the last month when I enter a system with you guys in it, you guys either log off or run. Some enforcement. As for the botting, that's CCP's job to enforce their own rules. It's not your's, James 315's, or the new order's place to do so.

      Consider this: When I play EvE, WoW, Aion, and others, I am at the keyboard most of the time. I'm paying to play the game, so what's the point of not being at the keyboard? However, I will NOT pay your licensing fee. Sorry, but you can't force people to pay you to mine in empire space. Those that do are fools. And you know what they say about fools, right?

      "A fool and their money are soon parted."

      Nothing more needs to be said. The mining permits are a scam can can be revoked on a whim for any reason, even when people are doing nothing wrong.

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    2. Dear Anonymous 1:08

      "I murder about 10 of you every day. " - white knight much?

      - Guybertini

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    3. Every chance that I can get.

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    4. Sir, I hearby scoff at your claim of 10 New Order kills a day. Since apparently all NO gankers fear you, post with your name and a link to your epic killboard. Until then, I'll assume you are merely a blow hard of the highest order.

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    5. My corp got war dec'd by the NO once... we killed like 5 of you, had only 1 real 'fight', you guys never really showed up to battle (Save an inty and a Raven that only got your inty killed), and we ended up mining even more ice while your 'all mighty agent' stood by and could only watch as we consumed so much ice and profit

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    6. Yes, you did so well under a wardec you have to hide your name for fear of your profit skyrocketing again. I'm sorry if I don't believe your tales seeing as you are unable to reveal even your name.

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    7. NO is still a jokeMarch 26, 2014 at 3:07 PM

      Sorry but i'm only following standard practice in EVE to hide my identity and have corp security from spies and enemies... I thought the NO stood for actually participating in the sandbox and not just being AFK and mining? I guess not, seeing I can't be anon for security reasons or I'm lying :/

      NO Of Hypocrites

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  9. I just found this site and have read a few posts. Sounds like you have fun! One thing I'm not sure about though. What is a bot-aspirant? Basically, please define "bot-aspirant" for me.

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    1. I will most certainly define it. A bot-aspirant is a player that wishes to be as much like a bot as possible, which means that they wish to have as little interaction with the game and the community as they possibly can. Even though they aren't botting as defined by the EULA, they are still treating this MMO that is EVE in a way similar to a single-player game.

      They would much rather let the game run itself than participate in any other content. And there is no better way for them to do this than make a point of being AFK.

      That is my definition as I interpret it.

      ---Friendly Neighborhood Scoundrel

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    2. Thanks. Though it doesn't make much sense to me as to achieve this "they wish to have as little interaction with the game and the community as they possibly can" wouldn't you just stop playing? Then they would be "winning"? Anyway, thanks for your effort though it doesn't make sense to me.

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    3. A bot aspirants desire for playing Eve comes solely to see their wallet flash, to watch their list of assets grow, without having to work for it. If they could have a bot program mine for them, and make them free money, without getting banned, they would, just to watch their wallet grow so they can say they are 'winning' EVE even while their soul dwindles and dies.

      p.s. I'm not editing that because I'm tired and I like run-on sentences.

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    4. A bot-aspirant is someone who, were CCP to allow botting software, would use it.

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    5. So many definitions... Some where it's currently impossible to tell if someone is a bot-aspirant or not. I get the feeling it's just a term used to justify actions against someone, which is odd as eve being the sandbox that it is means I never justify my actions towards anyone else. Shoot them and have fun. End of story.

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    6. NO is still and will always be a jokeMarch 26, 2014 at 3:21 PM

      Don't listen to them. They use this CODE as a ruse just to be like all the other talent-less ganker scum who couldn't PVP in a real fight if they tried. They go after miners because that is the only way they can see THEIR wallet flash and feel like they are making a difference in EVE, when they do relatively little. The thing is they attack miners because they are the easier, and pretty much only, excuse for the anti afk jargon that they spew into local chats. Planetary Interaction, Playing the market (non Jita/Trade hub), and manufacturing are all what can be described as "AFK-able" activities because you don't have to be there while they happen. In fact, for something like PI, you can't be there while it is working, so therefore you can set you colonies to run, tab out of the game and do something else. The problem is, CODE can't do anything to disrupt this, except for the hauling of goods, but the manufacturers, planetary industrialists, and market warriors are pretty much more "afk" than an AFK miner because a miner has to have his client open to mine, while the other three can actually shut the game off and their profession will still operate. If the killing of freighters, as a pathetic and useless task it is, is the only way CODE could interact with the 3 professions I mention, but they aren't doing so because they can't disrupt it in the process like innocent miners. There is no "pay 10 million to manufacture here" scam, no "you can't trade in this region unless you pay 10 million scam". I suppose CODE could put high taxes on PI, but those wanting to use it would go somewhere else and go on with their business un disrupted. All in all, CODE is nothing but a hinder to the economic health of EVE, and a minor one at that.

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  10. Well folks, I see that James 315 has gone over the deep end. "I am the Father of the New Order. All the carebears of highsec are like my children. Imagine if you had a child who did what you told him to do, but who nevertheless absolutely hated you with every fiber of his being. That's not much of a relationship, is it?" All carebears are your children? Seriously? Now you are beginning to sound like you think you are a god. Well, Satan thought he was God, look what happened to him. Maybe you should change your handle to John 316 as you seem to be that delusional.

    As for the so called code, new new order, and those so called "enforcers", they are all a piece of shit that was crapped out of a dog's ass.. In fact, I print it out so I can use it as toilet paper and mail it to CCP. The code is not a binding legal document, it's not even a legal document. It will not stand up in a court of law anywhere. The real legal document is the TOS/EULA. Now that *IS* a legally binding contract between the player and CCP.

    Beware folks, the code is in itself a scam run by people who are criminals. Extortion, ransoms, scams... The last time that I checked, in real life, these are crimes that will land you a lengthy prison sentence. Am I a rebel miner? Yes I am and I am proud of it. So Mr. James, if that's your real name, come on down and suck my dick, since that's all that you are good for.

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    1. Do your drones destroy pirate ships while you are mining? The last time I checked, blowing up a ship and its crew is a crime that will land you a lengthy prison sentence. So how about you take a deep breath before you incapacitate people laughing at your space lawyering, Mr/Ms Anonymous (if that is indeed your real name)?
      Incidentally I also believe that mailing human waste to Iceland may constitute a crime depending on which country you live in (I'm assuming Nutjobistan).

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    2. Well Clara Pond, if that is infact your real name, the last time that I checked, if someone starts shooting at you, you have the right to defend yourself.

      And this is from me to you, compliments of James 315 and his assholery.

      James 315's Portrait

      Enjoy.

      Delete
    3. The Code goes beyond a legal document, and as such it is irrelevant if any Court of Law anywhere would act on it. It is much more a moral document.

      Whether Agent, Knight or "Enforcer" (what do the enforcers do?) we live and die by these ideals in order to fulfil The Saviors Vision.

      Of course a bonus is the amusement when anonymous Miners come here to whinge.

      Delete
    4. oh anon who posts goatse, your tears and impotent rage fuel me :)

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    5. far be it for me to say this, but you guys do realize that you are being trolled, right?

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    6. Anon 7:03 - we try to give the Carebears... even the angry ones... the benefit of the doubt.

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    7. NO? Yep, still a jokeMarch 26, 2014 at 3:23 PM

      The CODE is worthless and full of the bottom feeders of EVE. Good words from Anon /me tips hat

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  11. Bot-aspirant: behaving like a bot, not playing the game (being afk to pee, autopiloting, skill training). Skill training is perhaps the most insidious and egregious forms of bot-aspirantcy. Even while a capsuler trains skills he must be at the keyboard playing Eve, otherwise he is guilty of bot-aspirant behavior and thought crimes, these are punishable by all means necessary (including but not limited to: banking, bumping, podding, extortion and any other forms of hooliganism that can be concocted)

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    1. Rofl - gd, you banked me! Why?!?!

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    2. What is banking?

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    3. So this bot-aspirant thing encompasses every player? Should probably just call them players or pilots. Much less confusing than bot-aspirant.

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    4. We would add to this list, that to exist in EvE and believe yourself never to come under fire is akin to Bot-aspirantcy as well.

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    5. Existing in EVE and never coming under fire would be very boring. Though I'm often disappointed when I try to get myself shot at and fail. Example, looting a can to make yourself suspect in order to encourage a rebellious miner to shoot you. And then being sad when he warps to station instead. :(

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    6. I would say that Banking is the Ganking of a Bot or Bot-Aspirant.

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    7. Ah I see, so killing someone who is always at the keyboard would be ganking, but killing a bot or bot-aspirant is banking. I'm ok with that definition.

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    8. Well I think it is as good a term as any... they are after all completely different activities with completely different requirements and challenges...

      all I need to be able to Bank is to not completely mess up the DPS calculation... and not to lag so much that the faction police are all over me before I have loaded out of the station!

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    9. Indeed. The start of a Bank is the worst time to see a lag spike.

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  12. Indeed, the CODE is an idea and not an action, therefore actions do not violate the CODE, but merely reveal the sick and dying botheart that is itself the violation of the CODE. There shall be no rest for them, in this pod or the next.

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  13. Do you strut around like Hitler in front of mirror while you lie to yourself that you created a document somehow relevant to considerable amount of people?

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  14. You must be realy bored at eve if you kill miners in highsec. I killed 3 hulks and it was not fun doing it and it was easy!

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