I’ve recently had a craving to come back to Eve Online, It’s been quite a few years since I’ve played. I’ve been playing MMO’s for a very long time now (all the way back to UO) and I am totally burnt out on the combat aspects of gaming, which is why I was excited to come back to Eve. We all know Eve has the best player driven economy out there, and I had really talked myself into coming back and diving head first into the mining and industry side of the game. I was really looking forward to a more ‘mature’ MMO experience while avoiding 20+ years of combat burnout.
Of course, the first thing I did was to read through the forums and Reddit. I can’t even begin to express my disappointment at learning that suicide ganking, and ‘CODE’ is still a problem in this game, even after all of these years. This has killed all the enthusiasm I had for returning. This kind of thing adds zero quality to the game, it is just so old and tired, and I have absolutely no desire at all to deal with it anymore. There are so many opportunities for PVP in this game, is it really necessary to force it down everyone’s throat?
Fortunately, I’ve learned about this before investing any time or money back into the game. I just wish I could express how disappointed I am, it’s hard to do in a forum post. At the end of the day, we all play to have fun, but I guess I’ll never be able to comprehend why you choose to prioritize the fun of a handful of gankers who’s sole purpose is ruin the gameplay of others, over the fun of a large sector of players who are actually vital to the game’s economy. One thing I do comprehend though is that the older I get, the more valuable my quality gaming time becomes, and sadly this game no longer meets that quality threshold.
You know, as much as they would like to make you think they are a big deal, CODE & Co. are pretty negligible… Either pick a relatively out of the way system of high sec with a way to a trade hub that doesn’t involve going through the usual gank systems, or join a NS corp (where the real industry happens, with the largest scale mining and ship building) and you will be fine.
But honestly, if you aren’t even willing to give the game a chance past looking at the forums, yeah, coming back is probably too hard for you. You’d need to find a corp and system, build infrastructure, figure out the market, build your spreadsheet, so much work…
I hear ya OP. They really let suicide ganking get away from them and now it is more meta than ever. It is one of the things that make EVE not worth playing.
I think the problem might be that you think suicide ganking and CODE. are a problem. CCP certainly doesn’t seem to think so, and I’d wager that the majority of players don’t think so either.
Here’s hoping you find games that better suit your tastes.
Of course you are 100% correct.
There are 2 main factors that have created this travesty in the game, that drives players away:
CCP is still infested with people, zealots in fact, that think that griefing is not only a valid playstyle, but one that should be celebrated.
Now that the RMT cartels completely control the economy and major wars are only fought by the very rich fighting for more income sources, null sec is very stagnant, and boring. So the rank and file in the null sec cartels create alts to grief high sec players, to alleviate that boredom.
If you intended to do PI, industry etc seriously you would almost certainly need to have gone out to null-sec and joined a corporation. CODE doesn’t operate out there, you have friends to back you up, and with a bit of nous, the risk is minimal.
The gankers in hi-sec are barely seen if you take a tiny bit of care, anyway, but hi-sec is not the place for an industrialist.
I am not saying anything about the topic at hand but I am not sure if CCP’s thoughts are quite the strong backbone for an argument anymore. Stating the community seems to have more power ever since CCP failed many projects, canned many more, and caused enough problems for themselves to incur staff cuts, semi hefty ones.
You’ve just explained why CODE. or someone like them needs to exist. In a player economy where nothing wears out of goes obsolete - why would anyone buy the stuff you make? Ships need to explode.
There are ways to mitigate risk - don’t make yourself an attractive target. Build an occasional loss into your business plan - not a big deal.
Thriving as prey is part of the challenge that keeps me interested in Eve.
But we’d still need to establish that the wider community thinks something should be done about it. The opinions of the vocal minority are a poor metric to consider when deciding how best to allocate dev time.
Oh, the irony.
If only CCP had listened and agreed to that statement years ago when the cartels began their campaign to remake Eve into the cartel printing press it is today.
I was going to suggest making polls but then there are alts… Perhaps a democracy (or at least congress) with the CSM? Having representatives from the majority and minority making committees that argue on topics (smaller ones) before speaking it to the two halves, then to the CSM for final judgement, etc… but that seemed very slow or complicated for the topics being argued about…
“How does everyone get heard?” An easy question to ask, but so hard to answer…
I don’t know if I buy that. I have a hard time believing that they cause even a fraction of a percentage of market attrition that alliance warfare causes.
It gets old, it’s no longer an adrenaline rush, now it’s just an annoyance. I’ve been playing Ark for awhile now. If you think PVP is brutal in Eve, you should try that game.
I suggest you take a look at the monthly economic report. 7 of the top 10 regions for destruction are in Empire. It isn’t all CODE. - there are other highsec gankers! (Edit: replaced highsec with Empire - forgot those regions also contain lowsec communities)
I haven’t lost a ship in highsec in close to 3 years, although I haul billions each week in unarmed ships. People try - I’ve collected a number of kill rights, but knowing how to fit your ship helps. My PVP is on the markets.
+ 
= 
+ 
!= 
