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“This month’s Blog Banter comes from Drackarn of Sand, Cider and Spaceships. He has foolishly chosen to poke the hornet’s nest that is the non-consensual PvP debate. Whilst you read his question, I’ll be finding a safe place to hide.
 
A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons’ Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships, there were calls for an “opt out of PvP” option.
 
Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?”
An updated list of other blog responses to the queston raised above, can be found over at Freebooted.
 
I’d like to preface this discussion with something I recall reading in a post that Rixx Javix wrote a while back. He talked about the difference between Eve Online and other MMOs like WoW.  One of the biggest points he made was that in most MMOs, you are the “Hero”, the ultimate man/beast, who’s very existance helps save the world/universe from destruction(Yes, apparently killing 10 rats over and over again eventually saves the world.. Who woulda thunk it?).
 
Now, contrast that with Eve Online.  In Eve, you may be a Demi-god.. but you are just one demi-god in a sea of demi-gods.. and no one needs you to save anything.  You, in your nice shiny ship, are just “Joe Blow Arrogant Capsuleer trying to make a living off of the backs of the working universe”.  It doesn’t matter if you are Amarr, Minmatar, Gallente, or Caldari.
 
You
are
NOBODY.
 
And likely, that will never change.  That is very profound and very real.  In our Real Lives, most everyone is an actual nobody.  We move through life fully aware that we are just like everyone else, we aren’t going to be famous, we aren’t going to be great heroes, and we aren’t going to make a mark in the world that will last.  And just like in the real world, when you lose it.. it is gone until you replace it, with your own hard earned cash.
 
This means that in Eve, loss is much more personal and more insulting. 
 
And people who don’t like that aspect should just get over it.  Eve is a “risk/reward” game not just a “reward/reward more” game.
 
However, that isn’t to say that new players in Eve need to be treated like an 18 year old girl wearing only a skimpy bikini that has just been dropped in the middle of an island inhabited by vicious rapists (for those thinking of playing Eve, it really isn’t that bad.  Usually..).  The simple fact is that there are quite a few Eve players who never graduate from the title of “13 year old, Teabagging prick” despite being well into their 50s (i.e. Goons), and they tend to go after the low hanging fruit and weak new pilots that they can easily overtake.  This presents a real problem of player retention, because most new players are used to being “spoiled” game-wise, and aren’t used to being in a game where fun requires work and thinking beyond just the mission.
 
Should people be able to “opt” out of PVP?  Simply put, No.  As I stated before, Eve is a “risk/reward” game and you have to take risks to play well.. everyone does.  However, things could be done that could ease new players into Eve to give them the time to understand the game, to make friends, and to get enough skills in the game to have a fair chance of survivability.  One of thoughts that came to me on this, I think was already mentioned by other bloggers, was to have a period of “invincibility” for about 30 to 50 hours of in game play time where they cannot be killed.  However, it can only be done on the first character on a new account, AND different areas effect how fast that time is used up.  So, in high-sec, the time would tick off at 1x, so you can play up to 30 to 50 hours in high-sec doing whatever you want (non-PVP).  In Low-sec and Null-sec, the time would tick off at 5x times so you only have 6 to 10 hours of Non-PVP interaction before you are free game.  PVP actions would immediately open you up for attack until you log off or you run out of time.. whichever is sooner.
 
Outside of that, I don’t see any reason to remove Non-consentual PVP from Eve.  I do think that the wardec and bounty hunting mechanics need to be improved and updated.. but things like suicide ganking, Ice Mining interdiction, etc is a critical part of the world of Eve.  Eve is dangerous, Eve is risk.  Just figure out how to deal with it.