Oh, by the way, for anyone monitoring this thread, I am currently working on a new video about The Great PvP Debate, Ganking, and my concerns that CCP is going to place additional restrictions on always-on PvP in Eve online.
Case in point, the slide of ominous portent somehow managed to conclude that any instance of newbro killing that didn’t profit the attacker is proof of griefing. However, there are extremely rare circumstances when this might possibly perhaps not be true.
Explanations Other than Griefing
- Learning how to gank
- Practicing ganking on gates
- Practicing Multiboxing
- For extortion
- Made a mistake and hit the wrong target (I’ve accidentally done things like hit the wrong Wreathe, or accidentally popped an AP shuttle while multiboxing)
- Scanning targets requires an alt, can spook them, takes time, and can be difficult
- Explorers and T1 industrials are like player made loot boxes with a very low cost to open
- Opening up everyone’s character sheet is tedious and time consuming- so it’s not a matter of seeking out newbros, but a matter of not going out of your way to avoid them
- Don’t believe in coddling newbros -better to learn hard lessons in cheap ships, than learn hard lessons in expensive ships
- Member of a targeted group
- Killing a PvE Competitor
- Killing a Ninja Looter
- Creating a killboard history for spy, awoxer, and thief alts
- They’re not actually newbros, but confirmed alts
- Recruiting by Shooting
- Additionally, lossmail data doesn’t show when gankers give newbros ships, isk, or advice after killing them
I also brook issue with other stuff on the slide. For example, I fully expected to be killed the first time I was ganked because… and stick with me here… I started playing Eve Online specifically because I had heard that it was a brutal, always-on PvP game with a harsh death mechanic. And, I don’t appear to be alone in this, Mike Azariah mentioned at this very fanfast how paranoid newbros are. So, I somehow doubt that there are tons of newbros getting blindsided by PvP here.
I also fully understood why I was killed -he wanted to take my stuff.
I have to admit though, it was extremely difficult for me to bootstrap back into another venture. I ruined keyboards with my blood, sweat, and tears as I spent weeks grinding for that ship. I was devestated when I lost it, and had no clue how I would every be able to afford another one… no wait, I remember now, I GOT TWO OF THEM FOR FREE FROM THE CAREER AGENT REWARDS! So, I already had a spare. Moreover, they were selling for below build cost out of Rens (I remember because the Venture BPO was one of the first BPO’s I bought, and I was surprised to find that I was better off selling my raw ore).
But, you don’t have to take my word for why I don’t think that newbro griefing is a problem in Eve Online. Because CCP agrees with me… er, at least they used to.
So, what’s going on with their Fanfest 2022 slide? What’s up with the bad analysis, and why are they suddenly singing a different tune about newbro griefing. Well, I have several possible explanations.
- It’s straight up bad analysis, and they need to talk more to gankers and newbros.
- Player demographics are shifting. It might not have been a problem when the average new player wanted an always on-PvP MMO, but can be now if Eve is attracting a lot more carebears.
- It could also be a compression artifact. It’s easy to lose a lot of detail and nuance when compressing an extremely complicated topic down to 1 slide a few minutes of presentation. So, it is possible that they just did a bad job of presenting their argument.
- And then there’s the worst possible explanation -that slide was propaganda.
- We know that CCP will try to manage player perceptions (see graph porn justifying scarcity in the keynote),
- we know that they have previously said that newbro griefing isn’t an issue,
- we know that there is a much bigger audience for casual MMO’s than for hardcore PvP MMO’s,
- and we know that casualizing Eve would piss a lot of existing players off.
- So with all of that in mind, is it that ridiculous to wonder if what is really going on is that CCP wants to take Eve in a more casual direction, but is trying to managing the backlash by framing it as an attempt to address griefing?
I don’t know what’s going on with slide, but I feel my spidey senses tingling. Sigh. I hope I’m just being paranoid because I’m used to playing with a bunch of manipulative assholes (a.k.a. my kind of scum 
).