Crime & Punishment

[quote=Trep Algaert

The biggest problem I have is the argument that if people stopped afk mining minerals would be worth more, or if ccp nerfed mining ships then mining would be more profitable, or if XX happened, mining wouldn't be the worst activity in EVE. If people stop mining, then mining becomes more profitable, and therefore there's more incentive to mine more, which drives prices down, which then means isk/hour is lowered, which means more mining must be done for the same profit. Mining is a vicious cycle, but is about as stable as "careers" get in eve, which means it is the most reliable way to earn isk in the game. [/quote]

This argument is hilariously wrong. A. Mineral cost isn't subject to positive feedback like this, it's subject to negative feedback. If supply drops, than others are incentivized to pick up supply a little bit, and the impact is lessened. It doesn't overcorrect like this, necessarily. B. If you do believe that overcorrection is inevitable, why stop at one cycle? Ore prices go up, more people mine, ore prices go down, less people mine, now ore prices are 3 billion ISK per mack load, now everyone mines, now ore prices are so low they go negative, now the register overflows, everyone stops mining and moves to Peru, now ore becomes so valuable that pilots are replaced by statues of ore, next ore becomes so worthless that already built ships start to implode spontaneously due to the speed at which their value drops, etc. Either you believe that negative feedback will happen, and things will settle down eventually like they always do--or you believe that it will continue to oscillate forever in increasing bouts of insanity. To believe that one will happen, then switch to the other model at a point convenient for your argument, appears to be dishonest.

p.s. I am a miner, and the New Order has benefited me greatly.