EVE General Discussion

Well, there's a TON of valid reasons why people don't PvP.

Like you said, some just "freeze up" due to the sheer novelty of it. Which is fine, and can be easily fixed by a "holodec" dueling system. This is something I saw done in Pirates of the Burning Sea (2008 MMO), and it worked beautifully. Basically you take your ship and everything you normally would have. And you set up a fight with one or more people. Then you duke it out. But in the end, nothing is lost (or gained), it is considered a practice match. I believe there was "this is a dream" explanation for it? In EVE, it could be a "holographic training simulation". A few days/weeks of that, and you'd have competent pilots who don't freeze up any more, without hassle of re-shipping or third party interference while doing so.

Some people just CAN'T PvP physically. Their reaction to stress, even mild stress, is just too severe. Hands shaking badly, tunnel vision, inability to think, etc. Really no amount of training will help, it's just a severe physiological reaction. Which is why I get mad when people sneer at carebears. Just like some get seasick or are afraid of heights or have vertigo, some people just can't PvP and making fun of them is just rude.

And of course some simply choose not to. Call it pacifism or whatever. I myself spent a goodly amount of time carebearing it up in high-sec. Just spend a quiet evening semi-comatose, running L4s and chatting with folks in the Missions channel. It was simple, calm, relaxing and yet profitable enough to keep me plexed without taxing me physically or emotionally. At the time, my real life was MORE than stressful enough for me to add to it in my "entertainment" time.

Further, I would go as far as to say that general unwillingness to PvP in a videogame is actually more common than PvP-bloodlust. Perhaps even prevalent enough to be called "the norm". Do you know what the best-selling PC game of all time is? The Sims 2! A game that has no PvP in any way, shape or form, and very little stress. Think about that for a second. WoW had 13 million subs in its heyday, and that game had PvE servers where PvP did not exist unless you purposely flagged yourself. Meanwhile, games with non-consensual PvP like EVE, Ultima Online, Mortal Online, Darkfall, etc., at some point struggled to break 250k subs. If PvP is so good, why are games that are PvP-centric doing so poorly?

There are solutions to some of these. And some of these are not even problems. If someone is careabering it up in high sec, that's their choice, and the game IS supposedly a sandbox and their choice is as valid as anyone else's.

I’ve talked with a few carebears over the years and I have come to believe that they can’t PvP. Not because they don’t want to kill the griefers and gankers, but because they physically can’t do it. They freeze up at the keyboard when they get attacked.

Maybe if they were eased into it and trained they could get over that reflex, but it would take months or years to do.

It might be easier to give them a mechanic that they could prepare before combat, perhaps a castle building exercise of sorts. Let them hire NPC mercs in different types of ships and build a little npc fleet that they could preset some options for. So when they get attacked and freeze up the NPC’s will jump in and rep them and jam the attackers, giving the carebear a chance to warp out or perhaps even collect themselves enough to target the aggressor and actually shoot back.

Or maybe much longer locktimes across the board; the PvP community would adjust and it might allow the carebears time to react in a meaningful way. Or maybe just longer locktimes in highsec! Oh that’s a great idea, it would push some PvPers into low and null, reduce suicide ganking, and maybe give care-bears a chance to do something besides stare dumbly at the screen and pray for CONCORD to show up.

Whatever the solution I think it needs to look at why some people don’t PvP.

I don't mind being wrong here, just a thought I had that I can't seem to shake. Any feedback is appreciated.

I’ve talked with a few carebears over the years and I have come to believe that they can’t PvP. Not because they don’t want to kill the griefers and gankers, but because they physically can’t do it. They freeze up at the keyboard when they get attacked.

Maybe if they were eased into it and trained they could get over that reflex, but it would take months or years to do.

It might be easier to give them a mechanic that they could prepare before combat, perhaps a castle building exercise of sorts. Let them hire NPC mercs in different types of ships and build a little npc fleet that they could preset some options for. So when they get attacked and freeze up the NPC’s will jump in and rep them and jam the attackers, giving the carebear a chance to warp out or perhaps even collect themselves enough to target the aggressor and actually shoot back.

Or maybe much longer locktimes across the board; the PvP community would adjust and it might allow the carebears time to react in a meaningful way. Or maybe just longer locktimes in highsec! Oh that’s a great idea, it would push some PvPers into low and null, reduce suicide ganking, and maybe give care-bears a chance to do something besides stare dumbly at the screen and pray for CONCORD to show up.

Whatever the solution I think it needs to look at why some people don’t PvP.

I don't mind being wrong here, just a thought I had that I can't seem to shake. Any feedback is appreciated.

I’ve talked with a few carebears over the years and I have come to believe that they can’t PvP. Not because they don’t want to kill the griefers and gankers, but because they physically can’t do it. They freeze up at the keyboard when they get attacked.

There is a way that these people can get over their inhabitions? There is somthing called the test server where people can go and just shoot stuf. with it costing 100isk for everything. Why are people unable to make full use of the tools that CCP provide us with!?

/Princess

I think CCP should fly around and randomly gank people who have never been killed, just to show them that this game is made for PvPers for PvP purposes.