Crime & Punishment

Only thing Monk does that isn't like classical piracy is dishonoring ransoms.

Classical EVE pirates set traps to catch people with substandard lowsec/nullsec travel security, threaten to blow them up, and demand a ransom then on payment let them go.

Monk sets traps to catch people with substandard corporation opsec, threatens to blow them up, demands a ransom, then blows them up when they do pay.

In every other way, he's one of you.

No. Let's get one thing straight. What he does is nothing like what we do. When I say we, I mean pirates.

Players like Monk abuse a system that does not factor their in-game actions because the system does not acknowledge his actions as actual gameplay. That's all fine and dandy, CCP allows such actions with little repercussion. Unfortunately, that ezmode of gameplay (similar to World of Warcraft gameplay where there is also little repercussion for actions) is not what piracy is about. Therefore, until Monk actually does something that is consider traditional piracy where there is more repercussion for his actions as a pirate in a more balanced system, I will not vote for such a person who only wants to bring piracy to a new space that does not belong there.

I hope those who may run in the future actually try to help make low-sec and null-sec piracy worth something in the future. Not try to turn high-sec into a pirate driven environment that will never happen.

I have no idea what this means, but I am in favor of it anyway.

So by your estimation piracy has little to do with disregard for norms or rules and little to do with unexpected violence of peoples boats for profit and more to do with the area of space one does consensual pvp in?

I realize I'm putting some words in your mouth here, but this is an arguement I see a fair bit and it's the tradjectory you seem to be taking and if I'm correct and that's the arguement you're backing, I'd like to talk this out with you.

No, not necessarily. I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. This may be a bit over your head as you're not oldschool pirate, and as far as I can tell, there is very few pirates left that have been in the pirate game as long as me who have not either reformed or quit the game due to the lack of piracy love.

You and I have the same objectives. You're just taking a different path to get to that objective. That path you're taking is what I'm questioning because the path is not one that CCP would really like to develop going forward. The reasons I have for that is because the path you take is very hard to design game systems around. As this is EVE--just a video game based on many game systems--it's insanely hard to make what you want work for the entire ecosystem that is EVE. It's also strongly against the traditional definition of what piracy is all about in both the developers and the players eyes.

That in itself is not a bad thing. EVE is all about creating your own path and empowering that path for the future. That's also likely why CCP allows such actions in games, especially actions like yours that involves corp scamming among other grief-like activity to happen where in other games, you would become banned from the game.

Now, I don't want to turn this into how I personally dislike scamming, alt suicide ganking and etc. I just want to note that those game styles are insanely hard to balance in a game built on robust systems unlike other games out there. As a game developer, they can balance the act of one main player using his character to do criminal acts in security space via ship combat accordingly. It's not the best system, but it does impose repercussions on my pilot when I engage someone in criminal acts unless in null-sec space where the players govern themselves outside of some fabricated factions (i.e.: Concord, etc). In your way of playing, it's insanely hard to develop a robust system around because it can't be controlled. Therefore, it's not balanced as much as it could be in the long run.

To summarize, for me, it's more about the balance of keeping criminals in low-sec or null-sec space than encouraging more in high-sec space that could impact other game systems. As you should know by now, game systems all relate to each other in one way or another. It's better to focus on developing the traditional way of what piracy has always been defined rather than trying to develop a old in-game play style that's based on high-sec (heavily alt driven) criminal activity where you cannot punish those actions nor balance them for fair play all around.

Many pirate-like characters have not expressed this in the many years of my playing here, but I for one, support well balanced systems where both sides--pirate and victim--have equal opportunity against one another.

Low-sec is just one piece of the overall puzzle. It's a pretty critical piece too.

To humor your question, I would not endorse bringing what I do--piracy--to high-sec space. The main reason why is because EVE needs a place where pilots have a somewhat secure location to live and learn the game as well experience the game without the fear of people like me always on their heels. Although I can still get to them, it's much harder for me to make that happen with the systems in place to help protect them.

If that was to happen, I could see the current markets falling and having to rebuild. I could see a lot of players actually quitting the game because their current safe haven is not so safe anymore. That puts CCP at a huge risk to just please a minority of players. It could also cause developers to lose jobs on the extreme end or worse, cause the game to spiral into closure because of the HUGE loss CCP would take in sub numbers.

In addition, adding more support for your style gameplay (not mine: scammers, suicide gankers, corp thieves, etc) that is mostly alt driven, there would be little to no risk on your end. Not only would CCP lose money making that happen on top of possibly crashing a number of robust systems like the player driven market, you would be able to do what you do without a main character's reputation, assets and etc to risk.

From what I've read, you seem to ignore a lot of those consequences and it really shows you're not keeping both the game creators nor the players interest in mind, especially real pirates like myself. I would think a good representative would propose realistic changes that both sides could see themselves doing. Not just proposing things just to make you and a minority group happy without the consequences of what could happen.

Of course, that's just my theory and likely why you don't nor won't see much support from CCP or other players in your quest.

Somehow I never imagine "real pirates" whining.

Highsec piracy is as old as EVE, and is as much "traditional piracy" as lowsec piracy is. Piracy does not equal living in lowsec or being -10 and it never has. In today's EVE, unfortunately, both areas are hurting. Highsec pirates are suffering from a series of progressive nerfs, and lowsec pirates are suffering from a dearth of targets. We all have the same interest - murdering carebears and making off with their ****. It's a shame that we can't present some sort of a united voice to the developers about the subject. It's counterproductive to get hung up on all this "my kind of piracy is the only real piracy" bullshit.

I think Monk's ability and willingness to push the limits and find the weakpoints in the system make him potentially a very valuable member of the CSM when it comes time for CCP to bounce ideas off the group.

The only question you should be asking is whether or not you trust him to speak up, even if it isn't in his own personal interests. I think the transparency in his blog site and posts speaks well in his favor.

You might not agree with his playstyle or character's goals, but as a person I think he's got what it takes.

I voted for you Monk, and will do it again.

Why is there piracy in highsec?

That's where the challenge is. With so many constraints (and there are far more now than there were even a year ago) it's a real challenge to be a successful pirate in highsec and some find this to be a great challenge to rise to. It's as simple as that, and understandable as it's a game within a game. Though, it seems a lot of people here seem to think that piracy is defined by two things:

1) exists only in lowsec
2) pirates are not members of a 0.0 entity

and that's it. It's pretty simplistic, but a highly myopic understanding of the profession. Piracy isn't just blowing up ships on some lowsec gate, or running a frigate around some lowsec asteroid belt and having a sub -5.0 security status. It's far, far more than just that. Use your imagination.