It’s undeniable that griefing in high-sec has reached astronomical levels. Groups like CODE./Safety. are killing hundreds of innocent non-combatants every day, and those numbers are only growing. It’s becoming virtually impossible to mine, run missions, or transport goods in an area of the game that should be free of violence and unwanted interference by virtue of its very name.
As has been established in other recent discussions, our current NPC police force simply isn’t effective in its stated intent to combat crime. Psychopathic bullies will continue to adapt in the face of any changes implemented to alleviate griefing. Making CONCORD respond to criminal activity faster, making combat ships do less damage or industrial ships have more hit points, or increasing the punishments for criminal activities will all be met with increased use of alts and underhanded tactics.
We need something more than just faster CONCORD responses or panic buttons. Perhaps we should take inspiration from the movie “Minority Report”, in which a police unit containing special people with precognitive abilities is able to predict crimes before they happen, enabling it to intercept and arrest the future criminals before they can go through with their terrible acts. EVE likewise needs an NPC police force that doesn’t merely punish crimes, but can prevent them from taking place at all.
This wouldn’t be too difficult to implement, as it could be handled by conditional scripting. For example, if someone browses for Catalysts, small blasters, or cargo scanners on the market, a police task force would be dispatched to that station’s undock point, and would take out the pilot when they undock from it. Or the police force could keep track of all ships that have unconventional fitting setups, such as the absence of an active tank or industrial modules usually necessary for business in high-security space - anyone using such a ship/setup in space would be intercepted immediately upon arriving on the same grid as a ship that exceeds a certain ISK/hit point ratio, or at the alignment stage of a warp to an asteroid belt or ice field.
The system could even cross-reference in-game chat logs against a database of words and phrases commonly used by gankers right before they go through with ganks, in order to predict when someone who isn’t otherwise a ganking pre-suspect is getting ready to perform the act (this is a conveniently roleplay-friendly method because all communication goes through star gates).
We’re really close to finally solving the issues that plague our game, and making EVE a safe, equitable, and forward-thinking utopia for all players. All we need to do is think outside the box, even if it’s one that doesn’t yet really exist.
And if anyone has any other interesting ideas for making this “precrime” police force operate, do share!
