EVE General Discussion

This is completely subjective. There are also many ISK generating activities in EVE which you cannot reasonably calculate their ISK/hr simply because of how subjective those activities are. Exploration in highsec might generate 300mil ISK/hr for some and only 10mil ISK/hr for others performing the exact same task. Additionally, the amount of risk being taken performing the same task depends not just on the person performing them, but on the people who occupy the same area of space and, in the case of Exploration, the kind and number of people performing the same task in a given band of security status in all of EVE.

If you take a large enough sample, the fluctuations should average out to a reasonable isk/hour value... At the same point, you make a valid argument that we need to look at the variance of the isk/hr reward as well as the average!

This is true. The ISK/hr for any given activity will fluctuate wildly based upon any number of factors depending on where, when, how and by whom the ISK generating activity is being performed. ISK is also just one of many ways to measure Reward in EVE Online the Internet Spaceship Game. There are also multiple ways to measure Risk based on some of the same factors involved in measuring Reward. However, Risk is certainly less subjective than reward, since it has fewer determining factors.

The only way this discussion could ever come to a logical conclusion would be the requirement that Risk and Reward be given a strict definition in the context of this game and that just can't happen when there are so many factors to consider and each one of those factors is based on the individual performing the tasks.

Note to self: do not compute isk/hr while in warp.

Such as?

Again, no. They're just subject to measurement errors, be it low validity or accuracy, and given the same data, two people will arrive at the same result. This is usually solved by trying to increase your sample size.

For those, the risk:reward is NaN and you simply say that there is no ISK reward — you engage in the activity for some other reason than ISK. This doesn't make the measurement subjective, it just questions the arbitrariness of the definition.

…and ISK/h offers such an objective definition that doesn't vary with who is engaged in the activity or who is measuring it.

ISK/h varies wildly by who is engaged in the activity.

Yes, but it's still an objective measurement.

You don't suddenly earn different kinds of ISK worth something other than the standard ISK, nor does your activity take some other kind of time that cannot be measured in hours. Also, ISK doesn't suddenly become Altarian Space-Złoty nor do hours turn into Wowtanium-decay pulses just because Bob over here is the one counting rather than Alice over there.

Unless you come up with a spectacular explanation for how ISK isn't ISK and hours aren't hours, ISK/h is an objective measurement of rewards.

Yes, but obtaining ISK/h is completely subjective to each and every person engaging in the activity you're trying to gauge.

ISK/hr is also not the only measure of Reward in EVE. Narrowing it to one specific metric fits your definition, but is not plausible in a game with dynamic variables and thousands of people with differing goals and definitions of Reward.

No, it's just variable between samples. This is trivially overcome through the use of statistics.

You seem to be very confused about what “objective” means. It does not mean that everything is always exactly the same. It means that the result is observer-independent; that the calculation of the same values always yields the same results. It does not mean that those values must themselves always be the same. Conversely, “subjective” means that the same calculations can yield different results depending on who does them. The values varying does not make the measurement subjective — it makes the measurement a new data point. The ability to apply the same metric and methodology to a range of different activities does not make it subjective — it makes it general. Being able to use spot measurements on some and statistical measurements on others does not make it subjective — it makes it comparable. As long as you calculate what it says on the tin: ISK per hour (and explain how you got those two values), it's as objective as anything can be.

…which, again, only raises the question that it might be a bit arbitrary and that it's not universally applicable. That is not a problem. Not everything is about risk vs. reward, so if those activities cannot be measured on that scale, then so what? If I want to juggle eggs, I don't care about gas mileage.