In my last post, I wrote Why High-Sec Ganking Is Bad. There have been a few comments on that post that I would like to respond to. Initially, I was just going to post a follow up comment, but what I wrote ended up being longer than a simple comment should be, so I decided to make a new post of it.
The comments on the Why High-Sec Ganking Is Bad post are actually helping reinforce the message of that blog post. I have explained from a position of neutrality how the actions of infamous High-Sec ganking organizations can bring people to escalating tensions and an unhealthy level of real hate. In response, there have been several hate filled responses and a comment from Kudzu who is escalating tensions by suggesting I was comparing blowing up ships to real life murder.
The "tear collecting" style comments need no response. They are clearly meant to be antagonizing and are without any real substance.
As for the close to real crime comparison, it would be far more accurate to compare the more infamous actions of High-Sec ganking organizations to theft, vandalism, harassment, and defamation, all of which can be real life crimes. In making such comparison, we are talking not just about the High-Sec ganking of ships, but more importantly the actions of awoxing and attacks on a person's real life character that often go along with it. It is that combination that I am talking about when I wrote about Why High-Sec Ganking Is Bad. In affect, I let myself fall prey to the stereotype that organizations like CODE. are building for High-Sec ganking in general. Perhaps I should call it, High-Sec CODEing.
Some people seem to have a naive view of the world as being black and white, when in reality it is mostly shades of grey. Real life money is nothing more than a virtual construct that determines how much stuff a person can acquire with the time they spend earning the money. Once you are past basic needs, the difference between time in game for isk or time in life for dollars doesn't look as clear. Harassment and defamation can happen in a game just as easy as it can outside of a game, especially when in game keeps creeping further and further out of game, like on gaming message boards or people's personal blogs or the infamous bonus rooms. The line can get blurred.
It takes a level of decency and maturity to be able to step back and realize when you are pushing conflict too far with someone in a game -- when the line is getting blurred -- even if it was all for role play, and to step back and give them some breathing room. Maybe come out of character occasionally and demonstrate that being a dick is just a role and not your natural disposition (assuming that's the case). I'm pretty level headed and can take the heat, but clearly some people are getting real life upset about ganker actions and the ganker image CODE. is popularizing. It's bad for the players who are upset by their actions, and bad for other well meaning gankers who will be lumped into the stereotype being built for them. And that, my fellow capsuleers, is Why High-Sec CODEing Is Bad.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Why High-Sec Ganking Is Bad
For many of you, the content of today's blog post probably goes without saying. But I know some people, especially the gankers out there, would benefit from being reminded as to why High-Sec ganking is bad.
Yes, it's just a game. It's only pixels. Or is it? CCP has done something with Eve that very few other games do. When someone blows up your ship, your ship doesn't respawn, and you can't just go run to your wreck and put all of your modules back on (maybe a few of them if someone else didn't loot it first). Each loss is a real loss. The killboards have gone so far as to attach real currency values to every loss. Real time is lost. Real effort is lost. It is this kind of battle for resources that makes real conflict in the real world really serious. It spawns hate, endless war, and causes real suffering. And CCP has brought a piece of this undesirable realness to Eve by making losses so real.
To keep a game fun and civil in light of such mechanics, neutral zones are needed. Places where people can be free to do commerce without unexpected conflict. Then when it's time to get the battle on, that's when you head to the PvP battle areas to fight with others.
In Eve, Low-Sec and Null space are the PvP battle areas. High-Sec space is the neutral zone. CCP has provided war declarations as a way to bring additional conflict even into the High-Sec space, but in those cases the conflict is expected.
The criminals of CODE. seek to breach this friendly construct and make it so there is no safe place for players, in a world where every loss is real. They wish to steal real people's real time and effort for their own often twisted amusement while allowing no refuge for the weary. It brings their activities frighteningly close to the blurry line between real and fake crime.
These are the reasons why some care bears become so livid at what should be just a game. This is why some within the Anti-Gank (AG) community and the High-Sec Militia believe they are not only playing the role of the good guys, but actually, to some real extent, are real life good guys battling against legitimate real life bad guys.
These AG and HSM community members want conflict within the game to be structured and fun, as a game should be. Those within CODE., whether they realize it or not, are attempting to bring real pain and hardship, the terrors of real world conflict into the game, finding their entertainment in the sometimes real suffering of others.
It is just a game. But even in a game, and perhaps especially in a game, it is important to harbor goodwill towards others and preserve and protect an environment of fun for everyone, and not just oneself.
Yes, it's just a game. It's only pixels. Or is it? CCP has done something with Eve that very few other games do. When someone blows up your ship, your ship doesn't respawn, and you can't just go run to your wreck and put all of your modules back on (maybe a few of them if someone else didn't loot it first). Each loss is a real loss. The killboards have gone so far as to attach real currency values to every loss. Real time is lost. Real effort is lost. It is this kind of battle for resources that makes real conflict in the real world really serious. It spawns hate, endless war, and causes real suffering. And CCP has brought a piece of this undesirable realness to Eve by making losses so real.
To keep a game fun and civil in light of such mechanics, neutral zones are needed. Places where people can be free to do commerce without unexpected conflict. Then when it's time to get the battle on, that's when you head to the PvP battle areas to fight with others.
In Eve, Low-Sec and Null space are the PvP battle areas. High-Sec space is the neutral zone. CCP has provided war declarations as a way to bring additional conflict even into the High-Sec space, but in those cases the conflict is expected.
The criminals of CODE. seek to breach this friendly construct and make it so there is no safe place for players, in a world where every loss is real. They wish to steal real people's real time and effort for their own often twisted amusement while allowing no refuge for the weary. It brings their activities frighteningly close to the blurry line between real and fake crime.
These are the reasons why some care bears become so livid at what should be just a game. This is why some within the Anti-Gank (AG) community and the High-Sec Militia believe they are not only playing the role of the good guys, but actually, to some real extent, are real life good guys battling against legitimate real life bad guys.
These AG and HSM community members want conflict within the game to be structured and fun, as a game should be. Those within CODE., whether they realize it or not, are attempting to bring real pain and hardship, the terrors of real world conflict into the game, finding their entertainment in the sometimes real suffering of others.
It is just a game. But even in a game, and perhaps especially in a game, it is important to harbor goodwill towards others and preserve and protect an environment of fun for everyone, and not just oneself.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Anti-Gank: Uedama 6/16/2015
Wolf Soprano has repeatedly indicated that he really enjoys reading my blog and asked me to write a new Anti-Gank (AG) report for June 16, 2015. It's late, so I'll be keeping this short, but I don't want to let down one of my fans, so here is a quick report.
CODE. was ganking freighters again in Uedama. Greatly outnumbered tonight, High-Sec Militia (HSM) forces had to rely largely on slowing the criminals of CODE. and damaging their will to continue such criminal activities in the future. CODE. forces were forced to use more expensive ships, dozens of their pilots were jammed into irrelevance, and on at least one occasion, CODE. was forced to retry their gank despite having what should have been overwhelming numbers.
In defense of their egos, CODE. once again had to rely on claiming success even when there was none to be found. But in the back of their minds, a truth is growing. A truth that the honorable forces of the HSM are helping the misguided pilots of CODE. to see. Crime doesn't pay. In time, with the help of the HSM, future former CODE. pilots will realize the error of their ways and find the path to enlightenment and salvation. They will leave behind their primitive animal instincts that hold them in servitude. The will find a higher intellect and finally be free of the torment they inflict on themselves.
Pilots of CODE: The HSM isn't just here to save innocent capsuleers from the tyranny of CODE. The HSM is here to save you too. We will help you see the light. You need only reach for it, and all the riches of righteousness will be yours.
CODE. was ganking freighters again in Uedama. Greatly outnumbered tonight, High-Sec Militia (HSM) forces had to rely largely on slowing the criminals of CODE. and damaging their will to continue such criminal activities in the future. CODE. forces were forced to use more expensive ships, dozens of their pilots were jammed into irrelevance, and on at least one occasion, CODE. was forced to retry their gank despite having what should have been overwhelming numbers.
In defense of their egos, CODE. once again had to rely on claiming success even when there was none to be found. But in the back of their minds, a truth is growing. A truth that the honorable forces of the HSM are helping the misguided pilots of CODE. to see. Crime doesn't pay. In time, with the help of the HSM, future former CODE. pilots will realize the error of their ways and find the path to enlightenment and salvation. They will leave behind their primitive animal instincts that hold them in servitude. The will find a higher intellect and finally be free of the torment they inflict on themselves.
Pilots of CODE: The HSM isn't just here to save innocent capsuleers from the tyranny of CODE. The HSM is here to save you too. We will help you see the light. You need only reach for it, and all the riches of righteousness will be yours.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Greyscale Neocon Menu Icons -- Quicker To Identify?
In a prior update, CCP changed the neocon menu items from colored to greyscale colorless. Many of us were left wondering whether this was truely an attempt to improve the game, or if it was just change for the sake of change.
Those within CCP stated numerous times that it was quicker and easier to identify the greyscale icons than the prior colored icons. The explanations were very touchy feely and the general message was that you have to try it out to realize they are better.
These greyscale icons have now been with us for awhile, and I'm still not convinced they are better. They certainly don't look better. They look worse. Or at least, they are less appealing. Photography, television, and motion pictures all went from black and white to color, and most considered this an improvement. Any time black and white is championed today in any of those medias, it is only for what I will call "artsy fartsy" reasons.
So I did a little research to try to find studies that addressed the topic of symbol recognition performance for greyscale versus colored symbols. There are studies out there. Examples include "The role of colour in implicit and explicit memory performance." by Vernon and Lloyd-Jones, and also "The Influence of Colour on Memory Performance: A Review" by Mariam Adawiah Dzulkifli and Muhammad Faiz Mustafar, both available through the web sites for the National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The general findings from these studies seem to suggest -- and I quote this from the latter source -- "participants took faster time to recognise objects in the coloured than non-coloured condition.".
These studies would seem to refute the reasoning provided by those who have commented on it within CCP. This leaves a couple of possibilities (not mutually exclusive mind you).
Those within CCP stated numerous times that it was quicker and easier to identify the greyscale icons than the prior colored icons. The explanations were very touchy feely and the general message was that you have to try it out to realize they are better.
These greyscale icons have now been with us for awhile, and I'm still not convinced they are better. They certainly don't look better. They look worse. Or at least, they are less appealing. Photography, television, and motion pictures all went from black and white to color, and most considered this an improvement. Any time black and white is championed today in any of those medias, it is only for what I will call "artsy fartsy" reasons.
So I did a little research to try to find studies that addressed the topic of symbol recognition performance for greyscale versus colored symbols. There are studies out there. Examples include "The role of colour in implicit and explicit memory performance." by Vernon and Lloyd-Jones, and also "The Influence of Colour on Memory Performance: A Review" by Mariam Adawiah Dzulkifli and Muhammad Faiz Mustafar, both available through the web sites for the National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The general findings from these studies seem to suggest -- and I quote this from the latter source -- "participants took faster time to recognise objects in the coloured than non-coloured condition.".
These studies would seem to refute the reasoning provided by those who have commented on it within CCP. This leaves a couple of possibilities (not mutually exclusive mind you).
- That they really believe the greyscale icons are quicker to recognize based merely on their own gut feelings, in which case, perhaps they shouldn't trust those gut feelings and instead look for more authoritative and well tested hypotheses on such matters.
- That the reasoning wasn't just for icon recognition performance, in which case, they should just own up to having done it to satisfy their own style of artsy fartsy.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Return of the Bacon
I've been somewhat inactive lately. Not entirely so, I have actually investigated a few bumpers and and gone on a couple of patrols in the last couple of months, but on those few occasions I did not see any action. But I'm not gone.
Ganker activity has changed. More sporadic. Less focused. And it's time for me to work some new angles. To that end, I have been more heavily augmented than usual as I finish up new skills intended for the service of the High-Sec Militia (HSM) and the Anti-Ganking (AG) Community at large.
Come June, I will be refreshed, trained, and ready to step up my activity within the HSM to serve and protect the good citizens of Eve. It's a new day. My HSM and AG brethren -- grab some eggs and pancakes, because I'm bringing back the Bacon.
Ganker activity has changed. More sporadic. Less focused. And it's time for me to work some new angles. To that end, I have been more heavily augmented than usual as I finish up new skills intended for the service of the High-Sec Militia (HSM) and the Anti-Ganking (AG) Community at large.
Come June, I will be refreshed, trained, and ready to step up my activity within the HSM to serve and protect the good citizens of Eve. It's a new day. My HSM and AG brethren -- grab some eggs and pancakes, because I'm bringing back the Bacon.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Ore Reprocessing Changes -- Mosaic
With the Mosaic update, null sec ores are having their minerals changed. Below are tables showing old versus new. As with my previous ore reprocessing table, the units are in Minerals Per 100 m3.
Beware that some minerals are being reduced or eliminated from some ores. In particular, CCP seems to be forcing players to sink even more skill points into mining and train for Bistot and Arkonor in order to effectively mine Zydrine and Megacyte, whereas previously players could get by mining other ores like Gneiss and Spodumain for those minerals.
Note: The Chg values will appear off by a value of 1 on some rows; this is because the numbers are actually fractional but are being rounded to the nearest whole number (with the exception of Mercoxit which was rounded to 1 decimal place). The data is shown in two tables instead of one largely just to improve layout on the page.
High-Sec Minerals Per 100 m3
Null-Sec Minerals Per 100 m3
Beware that some minerals are being reduced or eliminated from some ores. In particular, CCP seems to be forcing players to sink even more skill points into mining and train for Bistot and Arkonor in order to effectively mine Zydrine and Megacyte, whereas previously players could get by mining other ores like Gneiss and Spodumain for those minerals.
Note: The Chg values will appear off by a value of 1 on some rows; this is because the numbers are actually fractional but are being rounded to the nearest whole number (with the exception of Mercoxit which was rounded to 1 decimal place). The data is shown in two tables instead of one largely just to improve layout on the page.
High-Sec Minerals Per 100 m3
| Tritanium | Pyerite | Mexallon | Isogen | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old | New | Chg | Old | New | Chg | Old | New | Chg | Old | New | Chg | |
| Veldspar | 4,150 | 4,150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Scordite | 2,307 | 2,307 | 1,153 | 1,153 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Pyroxeres | 1,170 | 1,170 | 83 | 83 | 167 | 167 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Plagioclase | 306 | 306 | 609 | 609 | 306 | 306 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Omber | 142 | 142 | 57 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 142 | 142 | ||||
| Kernite | 112 | 112 | 0 | 0 | 223 | 223 | 112 | 112 | ||||
| Jaspet | 36 | 0 | -36 | 61 | 0 | -61 | 72 | 175 | 103 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hemorphite | 60 | 733 | 673 | 24 | 0 | -24 | 6 | 0 | -6 | 20 | 33 | 14 |
| Hedbergite | 0 | 0 | 27 | 333 | 306 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 67 | 1 | ||
| Gneiss | 256 | 0 | -256 | 0 | 440 | 440 | 256 | 480 | 224 | 48 | 60 | 12 |
| Dark Ochre | 1,101 | 1,250 | 150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 200 | ||
| Crokite | 1,312 | 1,313 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Spodumain | 2,451 | 3,500 | 1,049 | 311 | 753 | 442 | 0 | 131 | 131 | 0 | 28 | 28 |
| Bistot | 0 | 0 | 1,036 | 750 | -286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Arkonor | 432 | 1,375 | 943 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 156 | 76 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mercoxit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Null-Sec Minerals Per 100 m3
| Nocxium | Zydrine | Megacyte | Morphite | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old | New | Chg | Old | New | Chg | Old | New | Chg | Old | New | Chg | |
| Veldspar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Scordite | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Pyroxeres | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Plagioclase | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Omber | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Kernite | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Jaspet | 36 | 38 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Hemorphite | 39 | 40 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Hedbergite | 33 | 33 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Gneiss | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | -12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Dark Ochre | 22 | 15 | -7 | 11 | 0 | -11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Crokite | 17 | 48 | 30 | 23 | 8 | -15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Spodumain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -5 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bistot | 0 | 0 | 15 | 28 | 13 | 7 | 6 | -1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Arkonor | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | -7 | 14 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mercoxit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 0.2 | |||
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Freighter Escort and Bumper Clearing Service
Have a bumper pilot you want dead? Don't have the manpower to conduct a wardec? Are the bumpers hiding in npc corporations? Your search ends here. With this new business proposition you can haul your freight and sell it too.
This is a new business proposition that is not yet active. Initially, I'm looking to see how much interest there is in using and participating in this service. If you are interested in either aspect, please mail me in game. I will track interest and review player histories of interested parties.
There are two initial services that could be provided: for now, I will refer to them as freighter escort and bumper clearing.
Freighter escort would be for any freighter pilot who wants added protection for a shipment. Contracts would be arranged in private and clients would need to have a clean player history with no ties to high-sec ganking activity. Freighters would be escorted by a fleet large enough to discourange and, if necessary, violently remove bumpers who interfere with the shipment. Partial payment up front, refundable if freighter is lost to gankers.
Bumper clearing is more of a bounty program. If any bumper has been harrassing a high-sec area and you want them to pay a price for their criminal activities, you can offer a bounty to the service. Parameters of the bounty could be negotiated. A likely bounty would be one with a time limit, partial payment up front (maybe 10%), refundable if the bumper isn't brought to justice within the time limit. Once a bounty is active, the service will actively seek out the bumper and destroy his or her ship (generally limited to Machariels, ship types will be defined as part of the bounty contract). After the bumper ship is destroyed, the remainder of the bounty is to be paid.
All of this is subject to revision and dependent on player interest. Mail Scott Bacon in game with a summary of your character history and what aspect of the service you would be interested in.
This is a new business proposition that is not yet active. Initially, I'm looking to see how much interest there is in using and participating in this service. If you are interested in either aspect, please mail me in game. I will track interest and review player histories of interested parties.
There are two initial services that could be provided: for now, I will refer to them as freighter escort and bumper clearing.
Freighter Escort
Freighter escort would be for any freighter pilot who wants added protection for a shipment. Contracts would be arranged in private and clients would need to have a clean player history with no ties to high-sec ganking activity. Freighters would be escorted by a fleet large enough to discourange and, if necessary, violently remove bumpers who interfere with the shipment. Partial payment up front, refundable if freighter is lost to gankers.
Bumper Clearing
Bumper clearing is more of a bounty program. If any bumper has been harrassing a high-sec area and you want them to pay a price for their criminal activities, you can offer a bounty to the service. Parameters of the bounty could be negotiated. A likely bounty would be one with a time limit, partial payment up front (maybe 10%), refundable if the bumper isn't brought to justice within the time limit. Once a bounty is active, the service will actively seek out the bumper and destroy his or her ship (generally limited to Machariels, ship types will be defined as part of the bounty contract). After the bumper ship is destroyed, the remainder of the bounty is to be paid.
All of this is subject to revision and dependent on player interest. Mail Scott Bacon in game with a summary of your character history and what aspect of the service you would be interested in.
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