Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Who Are the Real Villains of EVE?

From the beginning, the New Order has been a strong advocate for civility and respect in the world of EVE. It's not just a good idea--it's the law. As the Code says,
"Keep local clean. Miners should be courteous in local and should refrain from the use of profanity."
EVE Online can be a pretty wild place. It offers the players much more freedom than a typical MMO. Unfortunately, there are those who take things a step too far, abusing the privileges of the sandbox. I am speaking, of course, of the highsec carebears.


Some people believe that the level of discourse in EVE is lowered by the so-called "villains". They call the gankers, bumpers, scammers, awoxers, wardeccers, etc. "belligerent" and "undesirable" and call for their removal from the community. They think this would improve things. Those of us who have lived in highsec know the truth.


In reality, it is the carebears who commit the offenses in EVE that make us all shake our heads in disapproval.


One wonders, how did the carebears get the reputation of being the "good guys" in EVE? Is there anything intrinsically good about taking ore from the asteroid belts, or shooting red crosses in deadspace? And if not, don't we have to judge the carebears by their behavior?


Once they are judged by their words and actions, rather than their PvE classification, the carebears do not appear so pure and innocent.


Still, the carebear apologists and other enemies of emergent gameplay will insist that when a carebear does something wrong, it's only because he was driven to it. "What do you expect?" they say. The carebear must have been forced into behaving badly by the evil griefers.


But what, specifically, do these griefers do to inspire such things? What horror do they bring upon the upstanding miners and missioners?


Well, they bump them out of mining range. And shoot their Retrievers. No one could experience such a thing without becoming a monster, at least temporarily.


Thus, the emergent gamers of highsec "cross the line" when they engage in PvP. By shooting spaceships in a spaceship-shooting game, they bring it all upon themselves.


We see, then, that the carebear apologists believe PvP in highsec is the great sin of EVE. It is such a great evil that, when performed against a carebear, pardons and justifies anything a carebear might do or say in response.


Once the great sin of PvP is introduced into the environment, the carebears can't help but offer death threats and encourage other players to commit suicide. Having their spaceships fired upon sends them over the edge. It brings them to the breaking point. It's psychological torture. How else to explain the carebears' behavior? Surely they aren't bad people to begin with. If a miner acts like a raving lunatic after losing a Mackinaw, then losing a Mackinaw must be really, really awful.


If we judge people by their words and actions, the carebears are the villains of EVE. However, the carebear apologists tell us this can't be true. Only a truly virtuous human being shoot asteroids with a mining laser (without miners, we wouldn't have any ships!).


But even a morally pure miner isn't perfect. He can be driven to evil by the horrors of PvP. The only answer, they say, is to remove PvP from highsec. Then everyone can be happy.


Nice logic. Allow me to suggest an alternative theory, though: Carebears might not be the kind of people you think they are.

66 comments:

  1. Were any of these banned for RL death threats ?

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    1. Judging from the responses I've gotten here in the comments, it is more than likely to a certainty that these threats are reported.

      CCP however will never disclose the circumstances of individual bans though.

      Delete
  2. I have been EVE-free for a total of 1 year now.

    Though I have been tempted to return periodically, this remains the best decision I have made as a gamer.

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    Replies
    1. amen to that, now the only thing I'm butthurt about is the HIMYM ending :(

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    2. Malcolm you need to stop torturing him before Riptard writes an article about you.

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    3. That's the biggest factor that makes me support the New Order. Most gankers I've interacted with have been pleasant and friendly. Most highsec miners I've interacted with have been defensive and hostile to even the slightest mention of the New Order. It's one thing to have an enemy in-game; it's quite another to treat them like a real-life enemy. Heck, I'm in TEST alliance, but I have literally zero problems with any Goon in real life. I would relish the chance to swap EVE stories with any other reasonable player, yet some people have taken the "EVE is real" line way too far.

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    4. Angus Adalwin - I could not agree more with your post.

      Delete
    5. I agree with Angus, bankers always seem nicer than high sec miners when the code is involved, I personally don't care about the new order because I like in lowsec and don't mine but it just seems stupid to me to afk mine and it's only 10m/year, I'd rather spend 0 minutes mining and be safe for a year then potentially lose 10* more than that because I didn't pay.

      Delete
  3. Excellent article!

    James and I should go to the press with this. I've informed Eurogamer, among others, that I would be happy to speak with them.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-04-01-was-ccp-right-to-ban-this-eve-online-player

    xoxo

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    Replies
    1. my fav line from the comments "nerd world problems" :P

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    2. I think someone needs a hug! Come 'ere you big silly!

      Delete
    3. Maybe ripard should post about this harassment towards the CODE. alliance on his blog? We all know that will never happen, because it will interfere with his agenda to turn high-sec into a carebear Island.

      Only reason that Erotica was targeted here was to further his agenda. No other reason.

      Delete
  4. Truly miners are like princes among men.

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  5. Superpowered countries tread on foreign, weaker countries' soil claiming just and noble causes to serve their needs, yet no matter what they do, there still seem to be an endless supply of terrorists still in this world. In the most unlikeliest of places, a simple farmer, a young innocent child, or a humble college student goes about their business, but the fact remains that any one of them could well push the button and kill hundreds to thousands of lives at anytime, because well... someone decided to disrupt their way of life and decided their actions was just and noble.

    And you ask what does this have to do with a video game? The immersion is real, therefore the experience is real. While some people can distinguish fantasy and reality, the social experience is real however. As much as an act of kindness to others nets you kindness in return in real life, it applies as well in a video game, no? So what's to stop violent intentions to others to take place if one is being threatened or harmed by others?

    There is evil in all of us despite all the good. It's human nature. All it takes is to make an unpleasant experience real enough to transcend thought into action and turn someone innocent into a mentally-unstable stone cold killer, in-game or out of game. Certain organizations do this for a living and I guess this is what minerbumping.com does as well.

    No one can stop you in this mission anyway. This is your choice. I wish safety for you and your families, and hopefully none of the people you do harmful intentions to would go too far. Fearful that some deranged hacker might make a business service out of this but i doubt that's in the realm of possibility. After all this is just game, right?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. In-EVE retribution for things that happened in EVE is totally acceptable (and I encourage it. It makes things more interesting.) The moment you do something out of EVE (doxing, harassing, hacking, real life threats etc.) because of something that happened within EVE, I feel like that person has crossed a major line. It's the same thing as physically assaulting someone because they're beating you in Monopoly - it shows a lack of control and an inability to separate reality and fiction.

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    2. Relevant http://9gag.com/gag/a2NGZWd

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    3. Anon 9:54

      Wait! You mean I'm not actually flying around in deep space in a battle cruiser the size of Manhattan? Who knew?!?

      - Guybertini

      Delete
  6. The following is said without irony or sarcasm.
    Reading the Anonymous comments makes it clear that most of them didn't read the article, or, if they did, they did not understand it. Their skewed morality disturbs me and I truly hope that they only act this way online. The internet provides a feeling of anonymity which makes people feel like they can do things they normally aren't able to do because of societal constraints. I really, really hope that these commentators (and the quoted miners from the article) are just reacting without thought or emotional control because they're online. I don't think being online justifies their threats or insults, but it's unfortunately common to see a normal person have the emotional control of a child once they have the internet separating them from the person they're interacting with. If they honestly mean what they've said, and they honestly mean physical harm on someone who has blown up their internet spaceship, they need psychological help.

    Wanting to stop the New Order is one thing. Highsec miners, get revenge! Organize yourselves so we have to fight harder to pull off ganks! I would absolutely love to see a legitimate highsec resistance against the New Order, one that has teeth. It would be so much fun to fight them. But if you are blurring the lines between fiction and reality to the point that you feel that physical threats and these insults are justifiable, you should probably not be playing EVE. You need to take a step back and cool off. Calm down. Nothing that happens in EVE is worth sounding like a monster over.
    We of the New Order understand that EVE is a game and whatever happens within it is fictional. Do you?

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    1. Unfortunately, your CODE. picks off on the weak ones, the ones unable to fight back, or lack the organization. This is what your CODE feeds off and gets rich off. The smarter and stronger ones that can fight back are either left alone or doesn't really care or fight because they prefer the path of least resistance or have other concerns instead. It's natural carebear behavior. So yeah I doubt this can happen.

      But no one here is to blame for this except the mechanics of the game. The harsh consequences only trouble the victims (mining=losing your expensive ship, and loss of fun). But Gankers dont really have any harsh consequences to them except they lose their sec status, a cheap ship on an alt but are richly rewarded with a sense of purpose: the pvp experience and the sense of bloodlust.

      You said it yourself: "It would be so much fun to fight them." That right there is the keyword: "FUN". You deny fun to carebears to win for your cause right? So wouldn't it only make logical sense that in order for carebears to win back they have to deny "fun" to the gankers, because that is the asset you hold dear correct? To have "fun" at the expense of misery on others? That is your game. So why would you think it will make sense for hi-sec miners to fight back when it will only fuel your "fun"? If in the end, all they will get is the wrath of concord and a never ending onslaught of CODE enforcers seeking more fun out of them.

      But like i said no one to blame except for the mechanics of the game. And this is just the natural progression of things in this game. I doubt the Hi-sec miners will ever get a counterpart of James 315 and be able to herd in a Hi-sec counter-movement to the CODE. The only way i can think of to actual beat gankers is to have a massive strike to the entire Hi-Sec industry. Literally, no one mining, freighting or trading and starve every other industry there is. But I doubt that will happen. lol

      Delete
    2. I was ganked. I thought it was great. My first "real" eve experience. Learned a lot from that guy because instead of calling him a sociopathic pedophile Nazi who should die in real life, I made friends with him. I learned how he worked and incorporated the proper defense into my play. I've not been ganked in hisec since.

      Delete
    3. Anon 11:38pm
      You're saying "I doubt the Hi-sec miners will ever get a counterpart of James 315 and be able to herd in a Hi-sec counter-movement to the CODE"

      Did you ever wondered why the hi-sec mining population is in such a disarray? In case you didn't, I'll tell you. That's because they don't take the game for that it really is. They still thinking they're playing "maple story" with spaceship, even though it's a game about fighting and exploding spaceships. They can't really accept the idea of "once you undock your ship is lost". Hence they can't fight. Hence they're fair game in the jungle that CCP created.

      Delete
  7. If CCP will let me in the doors and people will raise funds for a plane ticket and admission, I'll go. I might need some spending money and hotel (or couch) too. :o)

    I'd also be happy to do some presentations. As I've said many times before, you'll easily spot me with the black t-shirt with the "wanted" print in red letters on the front.

    Maybe if you guys met me in person you'd relax a little. I'm quite friendly. I'll even sing on stage if you like! Maybe for a reduction to a 30-day? lol

    We should all be able to have fun and take internet spaceships a little less seriously.

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  8. To steal something that George Carlin was fond of saying,

    "When you play EVE Online, you get a ticket to the freakshow
    When you play in highsec, you get a front row seat."

    <3 Carlin

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  9. I totally agree with this.

    The angriest players are the ones that feel the need to hide behind anonymous.

    Erotica 1 - we have escelated our war on high sec in your honour!

    http://theconference.eve-kill.net/?a=home

    16bil killed and its only day 1

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  10. http://eve-kill.net/?a=alliance_detail&all_id=8504

    are you not entertained?

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  11. I really wish James would reveal his name at fanfest. Why I'd... I'd... buy the man a beer and thank him for all the amazing content he has selflessly given us for the past 2 years.

    W. Steele

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  12. What is makes a villain a villain is subjective. In the eyes of the New Order, I'm a villain because I do not pay for a permit and thumb my nose at them in Abudban local, while some miners think I'm great for sticking it to The Man. In truth, I play EVE Online my way, the way it's supposed to be played.

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    1. There are some universal rules though. For example: it's universally bad to kill a healthy, well-behaving, cheerful kitten in area where no massive kitten infestation every been reported. In the same way it's universally bad to mine without having a mining permit, nevermind what you think about that.

      It's just common sense.

      Delete
    2. Yet I still mine without a permit and the Agents of the New Order do nothing. Could it be because they cannot enforce the Code as a all-binding law?

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    3. Abudban, you say?

      Delete
    4. There is absolutely no common sense in allowing a bunch of CLOWNS to dictate their view of the world to you

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    5. Anonymous April 2, 2014 at 2:46 AM, yup, Abudban. Had a good op with some fleetmates last night in the Glacial Mass, permit free. Mission ran shortly after and found a belt all to myself. The miner gods smiled on this toon last night

      Delete
  13. Loyalanon, that is awesome! I surely hope they are all carrying overpriced contracts!

    I think a lot of people would buy James a drink. There'd also be some angry men with red faces staring at him that would just walk on by... because real life lol

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  14. I hope all these accounts were banned. I find their comments unconscionable and unacceptable.

    That being said I've heard tell of CODE Agents saying some pretty horrific things themselves. Admittedly this is only hearsay

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    1. In other words, it depends on the person regardless of the pro- or anti-miner sentiments.

      Delete
    2. LSM,

      Repent and be saved!

      James is very forgiving if you just own up to your past mistakes and accept the Code into your heart.

      Delete
    3. Now that would be a mistake, accepting the code, and following a Buffoon like james315

      Delete
    4. Why repent and go back to high sec when I can stay in null sec...? I thought you wanted people to play the game... not mine... make up your mind

      ~LSM

      Delete
  15. "Keep local clean. Miners should be courteous in local and should refrain from the use of profanity."

    That is actually laughable. Replace "Miners" with "Everybody" and you would have made a valid point. I mine without a so called permit and I'm proud of it. CODE does nothing. I mine in their territory (highsec) all the time. Granted, it's all roleplaying, and it's a game, but it sure is fun because I even tell the enforcers that I mine without a permit and won't pay and they do nothing. Your CODE has no teeth.

    Oh, and how is your war with To The Stars going? I see that Break-A-Wish Foundation has abandoned you, or did you try to stiff them with the so called CODE like you try to do with miners? Remember, there are more anti-gankers than gankers, we are legion, we are strong, the CODE will fail, the CODE will fall.


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    1. You're wrong on.

      CODE don't own jack-shit!

      Other than that, +1

      ~LSM

      Delete
  16. I find myself coming here more frequently each day, and less so to places like Ripards. In the early years of my experience in Eve, I thought you were a bit crazy James, however, I have grown to realise I was shortsighted in understanding your goals. I also support the unbanning of Erotica 1. I may not condone your actions, but will stand firmly for your freedoms to perform the actions in the name of justice.

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    Replies
    1. Textbook example of Gallant followed by Goofus right here

      Delete
    2. *Textbook example of what James thinks and what someone else thinks

      ~LSM

      Delete
    3. No actually, it is a comparison between someone who is polite and tactful and someone who just spews hate and foul language.

      Delete
  17. That's it. Dedicating an alt to the destruction of this bullshit.

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  18. So Jimbo is going then? Excellent.

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  19. This is one of the most depressing articles on MB.com for ages, and yet I can't fail to conclude that it's something we've all known for so long.

    I've experienced it myself when I too lost my first ship 'minding my own business undocked and flying a ship in a pvp game'. But after that initial lose and subsequent mind altering state of awareness, I came to value what Eve actually is, regardless of whether you enjoy the adrenaline rush of pvp, or the sheer boredom of finding targets in low/null sec.

    Raging at anyone for the loss of a ship in Eve, comes down to poor planning and lack of fiduciary responsibility. If you can't afford to replace what you fly - should you be flying it? Will you be happy if it's a one off purchase just to say you HAVE flown it. If you can buy and fit 5-10 ships for specific purposes wouldn't you be more prepared to have fun with the pixel assets?

    Sweeping statements can be true - people who think mining is fun are not fun people.

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  20. If there was any remaining doubt about the carebears of EVE, let the comments of this article put those doubts to rest. They are guilty folks, every last one. They can spew forth vitriol and violent fantasies to their hearts content, but that is all they have. It's hard to 'come to Jesus' so to speak, and realize how painfully wrong they've been. Granted, some carebears can cope with this fall in their mode of thought; they are the saved ones. Most cannot distinguish between reality and the game. They are all guilty, its time they answer for their crimes.

    Death to all rebels and illegals.

    sohkar for CSM

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  21. I'm not sure if you're posting this to make a point or to put it up for mockery.

    ReplyDelete
  22. http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2012/0912/Top-5-bullying-myths-What-you-don-t-know-about-bullying/Bullies-lash-out-because-they-have-low-self-esteem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the case of miners as bullies, I agree with you - to believe Eve consists entirely of mining is a result of low self esteem.

      People with higher self esteem seek each other out, due to their gregarious nature, plus their willingness to interact in many forms with fellow players of Eve Online. Often to the extent that groups of players often play other games outside of their initial MMO. Rarer, but still valid is the real life meet ups that Eve Players create and attend.

      Is there any empire mining corporation that has more than family members, that hold a regular/annual meet up? I would be surprised if there were none at all, but most of the attendee would probably consist of ex-Eve players, leaving after realising mining (ergo in their minds Eve Online) wasn't actually fun.

      Delete
    2. Well said, Daniel. I always find it humorous that care bears try to insult us by essentially accusing us of being like them. The 'lonely sad person in his mother's basement' for example. Coming from lonely, sad people that play an MMO alone and do nothing but walk away from their keyboards...it loses it's sting somewhat.
      Seeing the vaguely literate state of the average care bear, their obsession with incest, gay sex, and sexual violence- only reinforces that the care bear is at best sadly immature, perhaps mentally disturbed. Their sheer inability to separate a video game from real life would be sad if not manifested by sexual deviancy and violent thoughts.
      Really, we RP a certain type of character...care bears don't RP, what they do and say in local is a representation of the person behind the keyboard.
      At the end of the day, I turn off Eve and my NO character goes with it. But these care bear low lifes- internet tough guys, sexual deviants (or more likely just immature about adult topics like sex), whiners and crybabies....that doesn't get left behind when the game is off. That is who they are, how they live, and how they deal with the world around them.

      Delete
    3. So all miners are like that?....

      Wow ... u musn't have allot of friends... I myself as a miner Take great pleasure in obtaining the minerals and playing the economy with it...

      oohw wait i must live in basement ... with my mom...
      Get over the stereo types not every miner is like that.

      there are enough normal minded miner out there.

      although most normal minded will NOT get permit and a few with low selfesteem isseus will get a permit

      Note: english is not my langauge

      Delete
    4. Buhuhu we are butthurt gankers why don´t people want to play with us :(

      Delete
    5. There you guys go again, "Disregard Real life", yet they always go back to say the people behind the computers have mental/anger issues.

      STFU

      ~LSM

      Delete
    6. Well it's kind of hard not to say that when you see these people that say you should put a gun in your mouth and shoot, IRL no less, over pixels on a computer screen.

      Delete
  23. I hope all agents and knights that were previously laughing off the threats they received for enforcing the Code are now petitioning CCP.

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  24. To EROTICA 1:

    i was listening to the "soundclick" recorded talking of one of the last actions.

    For some reason the guy (ingame name : Erotica

    " sounds exactly like the guy here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2340978/Nuisance-999-caller-phoned-police-complain-prostitutes-looks-meeting-flesh.html

    ReplyDelete
  25. I wonder how many of the people who sent the mails and chat messages in this post were white-knighting in the threadnaught. I guess real life threats and telling people to commit suicide isn't against the rules, but having someone read the code and sing on TS is.

    I love the double standard of certain people in the EVE community here >.>

    ReplyDelete
  26. Ah, the rage of a Carebear. There are few things as pure as rage refined by hours and hours of doing menial, repetitive tasks for months.

    That said, Albert Enderas was indeed correct about me. I do enjoy seeing a prick roughed up. Especialy if it's my own.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I don't mine. I am all PVP, but I feel that all this is taken a little too far. You are making accusations that ONLY carebears rage like this. I know many pvp fights where I have gotten angry remarks or death threats. Emotions run high in a game were you can lose everything. I doubt many, if any, of us can say we have never threatened someone in RL.

    You're system is flawed and wrong. Really? You make miners pay for a license? I have no problem you suicide ganking bots, but a license? You arn't the police, CONCORD is.

    Just because some people's play style does not match yours doesn't give you the right to ruin theirs. I have a lot of friends who are miners. They are older gentlemen. They can't do the pvp. I don't shun them for mining. Let them play their game and enjoy it.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Understandable that you disagree, however, we aren't just saying that carebears only rage, it makes perfect sense that they aren't the only ones.

      The permits were actually CCP's idea, if only indirectly, as it adds the expectation of profit from the venture. Otherwise no one would have to pay a permit and there would only be bumping and ganking free of charge. That's why it is rather cheap, so that it is easy to afford and lasts a calendar year as long as you follow the guidelines.

      However, here's where you venture into bad territory, this is a sandbox, we can choose to mess with who we want when we want within the rather loose guidelines CCP has set.

      And we're not trying to ruin the playstyle, the New Order is trying to inject some danger where previously there was little to none, these actions have been celebrated just as much as they are protested. And the game provides many ways to actually deal with NO ganking, there are those that have found this out.

      The key here is to adapt.

      Delete
  28. While I do not condone the behaviour of these carebears, it is somewhat similar to what happened with "sokar" in the bonus room last month.

    These players do not feel CODE is evil for blowing up their space-ship or bumping it out of range. Rather they feel CODE members are bad people because the motivations in doing so are to extract tears.

    As such they are in a fit of rage when they make such comments. Again I do not condone it but it's unreasonable to evaluate it as their true nature.

    ReplyDelete
  29. The rage in this thread is epic. So, not only do carebears rage out at having their ships destroyed, but they rage out at the mention that they might mostly be terrible people.

    There are good carebears. Chribba is universally adored, in EVE. And for good reason. He's polite and kind to everyone. That's why he's jokingly referred to as "EVE Jesus" or "EVE Buddha".

    I will say that I used to be one of those "white knights". Before I returned to full-time PvP, I would patrol systems with static ice belts where New Order Agents like to show up. I don't know what I was thinking. Carebears were ungrateful at best, and hostile towards the mere presence of a combat ship in "their" ice belts.
    Eventually, I gave up helping them. Especially after I got into SMERG and caught ragemails from careless lowsec missioners we would kill in our home system.
    Ninja miners in Ventures and Retrievers were worse. My corpmates and I rat in the belts to keep their security rating to socially acceptable levels. We chain the spawns to keep BShip rats recycling. Miners and roving ratters would clear the belts out, and ruin our ratting chain. When I found them doing so, I would kill them. It was rare that I didn't get cussed out after doing so.

    Now, carebears are on their own, and I am a CODE Sympathizer. James 315 and his agents are doing good work, and I will never say anything bad about them, again.

    ReplyDelete
  30. why hello there space-monkey

    ReplyDelete

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