Crime & Punishment

Since returning to Eve in December after a 7-month hiatus, it wasn't too long before I discovered MinerBumping and the "New Order". For the past month I've kept an almost-daily watch on his blog, feeling everything from satisfied entertainment to seething hatred. For the first several weeks, I merely passed it off as ingenious trolling covered by terrible roleplaying. Then as I started seeing videos, and testaments of the Knights, I began to see that perhaps the New Order is what they preach; that they were out for the betterment of at-the-keyboard, compliant highsec miners. While I wouldn't be voting for him, I would've bet money that James would get a spot on the CSM mere minutes after he announced his campaign.

Then today, he lays out his "CSM Platform", and now I realize the terrible roleplaying was fodder as well. All this talk of representing highsec, making it better, encouraging at-the-keyboard play, then to just...turn his back on it with this "nerf everything about highsec into oblivion".

James, Knights, you seem like very experienced Eve players. Are you aware of what the Council of Stellar Management does and does not do?

Let's get hypothetical, and say James gets his CSM seat.

For those who have been here much longer than I, please give me an example where CCP listened to the suggestions of one CSM member.

Then, give me an example where CCP listened to the radical ideas of one CSM member.

The CSM are not decision makers. They do not decide development direction. James, even as a highsec miner, I was entertained by your crusade, but now that you've turned your blog into a political pile of poo, I wouldn't be surprised if your followers begin to wane.

Because when you preach "Save highsec save highsec save highsec" and then post what you did today, do you expect everyone to continue to stay and take you seriously?

EVE is real.
In real life you have risks. The more the risks the more the rewards.
Fortune favours the bold.

His cause is just.

It's not forcing anyone to do anything, but putting meaningful consequences (noticeably lower income) on their decision to live solely in highsec seems like an ok idea to me. The trade off (lower rewards for more safety) has to be balanced, right now it isn't.

Alright, I'll bite.

I can think of a few ways to re-balance "Risk vs Reward", make low and null sec space more attractive and at the same time not ruin the life of high sec pedobea-- carebears. Mind you, I've only put 5~10 minutes of thinking into this, but I believe it has merit. As I am sure a lot of people will read this and go berserk (and call me names, say how these changes would kill EVE, how they'd quit the game if anything like this ever happened, threaten to kill me, accuse me of raping children et cetera), I kindly ask for all future reply to include at least a modicum of mature criticism. Anyway, here goes my list of suggestions:

• Remove level 4 & 5 agents from High Sec. These agents should operate at the fringe of empire space (low sec); buff the rewards if you must, but have them operate where it makes sense. WHY would a level 4 agent operate out of Funtanainen (2 jumps from Jita) is beyond me. People are farming L4 missions to buy PLEX while sitting in High Sec. Where's the risk vs reward in this?
• Remove all minerals with the exception of veldspar from High Sec. Empire space is where you learn the ropes, not a convenient place to hide and AFK mine, oblivious to the sandbox, farming PLEX while sitting in High Sec. Where's the risk vs reward balance in this?
• Remove all exploration sites (not anomalies, but the ones requiring active probing to be found) from High Sec. The proliferation of carebear explorers is a serious threat to the economy. People are purchasing PLEX sitting in High Sec. Where's the risk vs reward balance in this?

The consequences are many, and re-balancing will promptly ensue in the form of self-policing and crime watch (and the consequences of being either an outlaw or a bounty-hunter) having actual meaning and usefulness in the context of the game. EVE will flourish again, the economy will be strengthened, subscriptions will go up (regardless of the eventual player quitting for not being able to purchase PLEX while sitting comfortably in carebear land anymore), and we will all be happier for it.

If the bulk of the playerbase is introduced to concord-less space, these players will find their way to ensure their safety and make life a living hell for outlaws. And the outlaws will love it. Numbers, specially large numbers and the NEED for valuable minerals and mission agents, will unite these bears-- people into meaningful, powerful alliances. And the carebears will find their game to be SO much better this way in the end. And they will thank me. Haha.

These are my 2 cents.

Hope you guys already know that James is a goon, rite? A funny one, but still goon. And goons will aways have their own agenda. So nothing new here, like or dislike, simple as that.

As someone who lives and operates exclusively in high sec, I welcome these changes. All this talk about alienating the poor highseccer is bunk. The high sec player is already alienated in their 1 man cocoon of an existence. So severe is this alienation that they turn to bots!

The New Order brings a little bit of danger, dare I say, a little bit of low sec style danger, to high sec and look at all this fun we are having.



Did you seriously think that James 315s idea of saving high sec would be to shower miners and mission runners with more ISK? Who does he look like, Jester?

Nerfing high sec IS saving high sec. Unless your definition of improving high sec is, heaven help up, increase high sec rewards...

Also to your second point, no one here for a second believes anyone on the CSM has the power to push their vision through. It's more of a symbolic victory than anything else. When people run as the wormhole candidate, or the [insert focus here] candidate, they run with just as little hope to actually get CCP to change the game. They simply represent their voting bloc relative popularity and strength.

Read it as "this is what I want and represent" not as "this is what I promise to get CCP to do."

Well moon goo would plenty reason enough to move out to null but the powers that be in every large SOV holder put it off limits to the average sheep. Null sec is similar to high sec, but the rats are a hell off a lot tougher along with no concord. Low sec from the POV of a miner just isn't worth the risk. Every good entry in low camped, it is next to impossible to get into a SOV holding Alliance if you are not 100% PVP only pilot. Since mining is only for carebears according to Goonswarm. If any imbalance exist it is because of the big players in EVE politics. If ypu want a perfect example of risk vs reward take a look at WHs. The income potential for taking the leap of faith that moving to a WH requires goes hand and hand with the risk. You Null Power Blocs want to see more people move out to Null or low sec start being a bit more welcoming. Otherwise STFU.

I know the New Halaima Code of Conduct and the daily blog entries have been so interesting and entertaining in their own right that many people have never bothered to open the LINKS page of the site and see the root documents of what the New Order of Highsec is really about.

James 315 clearly has spelled out his concern that CCP has slowly but relentlessly made highsec safer and easier with each patch. Each change to CONCORD, insurance, miner buffs to EHP and ore hold, etc has made it more and more possible for a player to "solo" Eve even to the point of afking the majority of his on line experience. Miner bumping by Agents of the New Order and ganking by the Knights of the New Order along with all the clever tactics for boxing in the carebears, the avoidance of war decs, the "invincible" Stabbers are all part of pointing out the ludicrous situation that exists in high sec today. Frankly, we can be such pains in the @** because of the demands that the miners have made AND RECEIVED from CCP have made it difficult for anyone to stop us. For those slow on the uptake, we use things that we think are BAD for the game to thwart our opponents in order to get them removed or at least moved back to where they were before they were nerfed (or buffed depending on your perspective).

So now, at long last, after all the "Look at me!" aspects of our campaign have brought the eyes of highsec upon us, James 315 is using the upcoming campaign for CSM to repeat, yes, repeat where he thinks highsec needs to go. I'm not sure what many of you thought "save highsec" meant. For us, it means stopping the direction we are heading, turning this massive thing around and starting in the right direction.

There are a lot of players who think that Highsec means safe. That it means they can do what they want, prosper greatly, and never be bothered by other players. www.minerbumping.com has succeeded in showing the true colors of these players. They are numerous. They do NOT want to fight for what they get. The do NOT want to have to change what they do. They do NOT want to have to actually pay attention to their game. Frankly, they just want to make the most amount of ISK they can without taking any risk. They have been vocal, they have been threatening to CCP and they have been catered to. And its ruining Eve.

So, are James 315's suggestions (which we all agree is what the CSM is about) radical and extreme? Probably. Can he or any member of the CSM force CCP to follow his will. Well, that is an interesting question. There is little doubt that the CSM helped CCP salvage the "golden ammo" disaster by telling them why players were so angry. CCP listened, changed things, and the game got better, arguably even saved.

So,this is what James 315's campaign means. Elect James and it tells CCP that the players want a game in which people are incentivized to leave highsec and venture into the less safe areas. A combination of reducing the value of staying in "safe" highsec and increasing the value of going into lo and null sec. Elect James and you are sending the message that you want things to be more dangerous, more risky, more exciting. Vote against James if you want things to be safer, quieter, more boring, so boring you can't even stand to actually play and thus afk your experience.

Highsec is broken, not because people don't like it, but because people LOVE it. They never leave, they never move forward, they never experience the dark, dangerous universe. At its root, what makes Eve great is people interacting with each other. We could have interaction by having joke telling contests in local, or meeting up to fly around in large groups admiring each others ships. But in Eve, the best interacting, the interacting that makes Eve, Eve, is blowing each other up, either ship wise or scams or any of the other ways you force someone to do your will. We are losing that. The New Order and now, James 315 candidacy for the CSM are a chance to fight back.

315 4 CSM8

Highsec is worth fighting for.

Bing Bangboom
Agent of the New Order of Highsec
Belligerent Undes

I have highlighted what I have found provable in your reply.

Yes, they are numerous.

Do you think CCP is going to risk alienating these numerous players? And please, be honest with yourself, and try to see things from their perspective as a developer whose decade-old game is still miraculously paying for the electricity in their building.

Our population numbers have pretty much stayed the same the past few years. The only reason they've "increased" was because they opened that Chinese server.

I pretty much agree with this.

Does lowsec need work? Yes. Does nullsec need work? Yes.

Do you make them work by pulling a 180 with highsec? Hardly.

And that is something CCP is never going to do based on the whims of one trigger-happy, piracy-loving, tear-gathering CSM rep.

If you nullbears want conflict, here's a suggestion; stop blue-ing each other.

It doesn't take a genius, or even an idiot, to see that your agenda is just to push unwilling players toward a gatecamp for more kills. Give me a ******* break.