I have been playing this game for about 20 years now and have been active on both the forums and Reddit for a long time. One subject which is recurring is the opinion on the suicide ganking.
Suicide ganking is the most polarizing feature for EVE community. It is a recurring subject which usually has hundreds of replies, with many of them not being constructive at all. In fact, there is not a single thread about suicide ganking that does not have a massive amount of trolling, flaming, name calling and personal attacks. As much it is a burden to the community, which has to look at the same subject and same types of thread derailments over the decades, itâs also a burden for ISD.
To determine playerâs real opinion on suicide ganking and its future, a campaign organized by CCP with active CSMâs involvement is the only solution.
Prepare a campaign to motivate as many players as possible to be involved. There are several ways to do this. Mandatory poll on login (similar to choosing a side during in-game events). Well advertised email campaign along with a devblog and launcher advertisement for the poll. Maybe some in-game reward for participation.
Prepare a filtered list of account owners to eliminate as many multiboxing entries as possible. Multiboxing is also a polarizing topic and mixing it with another one will not benefit anyone.
If and where possible, include players who are no longer active, in order to minimize the Survivorship bias argument as much as possible.
Clearly communicate how the players were filtered and counted.
Prepare a detailed poll to determine opinion on as many aspects of suicide ganking as possible. Add questions regarding Alpha/Omega status, questions to check the perceived benefits and perceived downsides of having or not having suicide ganking as a game mechanics in various forms.
Have CSM be involved in forming the questions as well as having insight into pollâs progress and detailed results. CSMâs full involvement is required in order to eliminate a possible argument that CCP is biased on the subject.
Let the poll run until statistically sufficient amount of current and ex players have participated. Set the poll date deadline, but be ready to extend it if needed.
Communicate the results of the poll in a detailed devblog.
Judging by the number of threads and comments and by the intensity of the discussion regarding suicide ganking, an organized and well executed poll like this was needed more than 15 years ago. Keeping the status quo and ignoring real opinion of the community will not benefit anyone and will only result in more threads full of trolling, flaming, name calling and personal attacks. At least with poll results published, the community could see and be clear about what is the majority opinion on the subject.
Important: The topic of this thread is gathering player feedback regarding a polarizing issue. The topic of this thread is not suicide ganking.
Disclaimer:
My personal opinion on the subject is my alone and is not and will not be shared here in any way. Any attempt to classify this request, or any part of it, as leaning towards one opinion or another will be considered as trolling and ignored.
Keeping the status quo benefits those who have adapted well to the status quo and organized themselves in a way that they either make large profits or travel exceptionally safe even with valuable cargo. Both ways giving them an advantage over other players by knowing and using the existing mechanics very well.
Other than that, good luck with the idea. Not that I think it will matter. But I appreciate the effort.
Thatâs true, but thatâs only the player base. There are three more parties involved: CCP, CSM and ISD. Having some real feedback would benefit them as well.
If the feedback is majority pro-ganking in its current form - thatâs great. It means that the game has a good direction, at least regarding ganking, and that itâs really not as much of an issue as posts claiming otherwise say.
If the community sees it as a problem - thatâs also great, because the feedback uncovered an issue thatâs really bothering the player base, and itâs an issue that was only considered to be an endless forum discussion so far.
I gave this idea some thought, and I donât really see the point of polling active players specifically about suicide ganking. For one, I think the poll results would be fairly predictable. Secondly, I donât think such narrowed data would be all that useful for stop-loss. A more generalized satisfaction survey would be more appropriate (and should probably be done).
That said, if CCP were to poll anyone, I think they should be polling inactive/former players (and again, more generally than just about suicide ganking). Find out (definitively) why the former players quit the game and what it might take to bring them back. If some significant percentage of former players say they quit EVE because they got ganked, that would certainly be useful data. But there may be other reasons as well, and narrowing the poll to one specific issue may do more to mask the problem than reveal it.
The reason such threads devolve into trolling is because the players do not have a âreal opinionâ about suicide ganking.
They have multiple opinions about suicide ganking.
Very polarized opinions.
And they will never get along with other players with the complete opposite opinion on this topic.
There is no way an âorganized and advertised campaignâ is going to change that; many people are in favour of suicide ganking to be part of the game and many others are very much against it. And that is good, it means people care.
You have already shared your personal opinion on the subject by attempting to create this âreal pollâ in what I assume one can only be an attempt to change the status quo, which means you are against suicide ganking.
Iâm sorry, but thatâs just your assumption. Iâve clearly said that the purpose is to gather direct and impartial feedback without assumptions and jumping to conclusions, just like you did here.
@Antihrist_Pripravnik Would players who donât care one way or the other be abstained from the hassle of having to make their non-existent opinion on how to poll ganking or would everyone be bothered with that sort of nonsense?
Also, I did receive a questionnaire from CCP in my mailbox not 2 weeks ago. It was a complete questionnaire with many opportunities to complain about ganking or anything should the person have wished it.
I think there is too much ado about a mechanic that influences only one part of space and can be easily remedied without calling the worldâs Security Council about it.
Canât stand ganking? Play in the other sec. space. Problem solved.
