Punching someone in football is not part of the game, and against the rules.
Blowing up somene’s mining ship because you want to stop them mining, take their ore and modules, are mad because they are mining in ‘your’ space, don’t like miners as one mined out your asteroid once, or because you join a group of space cultists who invented an imaginary holy war with miners as a target to give their game meaning, are all fine and part of the game.
The reason you blow up mining ships doesn’t matter as it is legal and intended game play, and engaging in such isn’t ‘bullying’ especially given the fact the other guy doesn’t have to play with you and can log out at any time.
Not by any useful stretch of the definition of ‘bullying’ anyway. If you want to use the term ‘bullying’ in-game, like the ‘chip bully’ in poker, well that’s fine and clearly goes on, even is what this game is about at its core. But don’t conflate that with the real-world suffering bullying can cause.
Yes. But there are some clear constraints on what is usefully called “bullying”, and what is not. As has been said many times, a key element is whether you can escape your tormentors. And the fact you voluntarily play Eve with an imaginary persona you can escape from at anytime with a single click of the mouse, pretty much invalidates all but the most egregious EULA-breaking cases from being considered “bullying”.
All sorts of unpleasant, even toxic behaviour goes on in Eve. But being a douchbag isn’t bullying, nor is PvP with you according to the rules, not when you have tools and the option to leave the game or ignore that person. I am sympathetic, that Eve, especially in the past, had enough unpleasantness with inappropriate slurs and excessive insults, to drive players away who don’t like that nastiness. But I have no tolerance though for the claim that they were “bullied” because someone was mean to them in a video game. And I really have no tolerance for the characterization of someone shooting their mining ship or declaring war on them, or someone trying to extort them in-game, as “bullying”.
Sometimes people or groups are jerkwads and you don’t want to play or socialize with them. That’s fine, don’t then, but don’t call them bullies for enjoying their activity or style of interaction if that isn’t your thing. You don’t have a right to be included everywhere. It isn’t “bullying” for someone not to want to play with you, or accommodate your every expectation or desire.
That’s a lot of words to say that yes, I agree that bullying or harassment needs to be judged on a case-by-case basis, but to the OP, it is almost impossible normal in-game interactions to rise to the threshold of real bullying, and thankfully, as also has been pointed out numerous times, there are clear rules against that in the EULA that CCP readily enforces. So I really question why this thread even exists.
name it Nicolai Serkanner and eat it 
