Crime & Punishment

I am a highsec miner. This is my main source of income in the EvE game. As a miner I make profits and during these activities I incur expenses. This is business at its most basic. I believe that there are a huge percentage of EvE pilots who are able to constantly increase their profit margins by progression in skills, equipment and knowledge. I’d like to think that I’m one of them.

I have never (as yet) been killed and/or podded by members of this Order. I have been ‘bumped’ on odd occasions (if that’s what getting out of harm’s way means). With this in mind, I’d like to give a little bit of advice to my fellow miners.

1. Above all else remember that EvE is a game. Never, ever expect to be treated fairly. I am constantly amazed at the anger and abuse that is heaped on James 315 and his/her associates (we must remember that in- game characters may be operated by different sex players) by other pilots that have been dealt with by the Order (and others that have not) as they forget this most basic tenet.

2. Glean intelligence. Regularly check the killboards for your local mining area for recent activity. Learn who your local ganker/bumpers are. Put them in your contact watch lists. It is up to you if you wish to widely make this information known. I would recommend not, since you do not wish to antagonize these pilots as they go about their business as it is hard enough for them as it is. When they are online, you take an obvious risk. Find out if they are online at regular periods and if so, mine when they are asleep. No, don’t mine when you’re asleep as it can have a deliberating in game effect. This brings me to my next point.

3. Go and do something else. Surely you do more than mining? No? Then you deserved to be ganked. Now may be the time to explore, mission, buy, sell, communicate. Can’t think of anything? Well, get off-line and do some gardening then.

4. Unfortunately, my local mining colleagues are an un-communicative bunch at best. I don’t know if this is a trend. I hope not. If James 315 can organize what seems to me, to be an impressive business attracting investor funds and notoriety, then surely a few miners couldn’t put their heads together to figure out a few ways of at least making life a little more difficult for the activities of this Order? I do not mine afk and I like to increase my mining output by the simple expedient of fleeting and to this end I have concentrated part of my skills to give myself and fellow miners boosts. Since my corporation currently consists of me and my combat missioning buddy we don’t have much chance to fleet mine. I often ask my local fellow miners if they’d like to fleet. It’s a friendly gesture, since we both make more ISK and I’ve always paid the communication fee for new contacts. Generally I’m met with suspicion, stony silence or a few lame excuses. Sure, I understand that my fellow miner may not understand English, or that they may only be online a little while longer ….but Jeez…no wonder we’re a hunted bunch.

5. If you really must mine because maybe you are a little crazy after all, then dust off that old mining frigate and create another pilot that really couldn’t care less if he got his head blown off, go to where the big boys are mining and maybe you’ll see what an exploding Hulk looks like from the gallery.

6. “As a miner I make profits and during these activities I incur expenses”. Now where have I heard that before? If you wish to mine and make great wads of ISK whilst The New Order is operating in your area then you could pay James 315 his ‘indulgence’ fee of 10 million ISK per annum. Let’s put this in perspective. If you mine in a barge or exhumer with T2 crystals and good skills, you’d have to be earning around that in an hour at the very least. This means that one hour of your mining life per year is dedicated to support Mr James 315 and his associates. I guess the jury is out on that one, and I hope that he hasn’t read down this far and decided to up the ante.

7. When you communicate with The New Order put your tongue firmly in your cheek, do not put your foot in your mouth, never be armed to the teeth, be civil and learn how to use a spellchecker or you’ll end up providing amusing entertainment as Mr Spark2Universe no doubt has.

8. You may have your own opinion on the activities of the New Order and the sheer gall of Mr James 315, but he seems an intelligent, articulate and dedicated sort of a guy wanting to make a profit in this world of New Eden. After all, don’t we all? And I may yet pay him his indulgence.

Well, I read his entire post, and nowhere does he begrudge being bumped. Ever. He actually makes a lot of excellent points that miners would be wise to listen to. Everything about this post was respectful and constructive.

Hmm...

The Goonswarm comments here either show an inability to read, or an inability to troll, neither of which I had assumed to be true of the great and glorious GSF.

+1 at least to the OP. Not only does he recommend the purchase of official Mining Permits, he is giving proper and sensible advice to those who continue to show extremely low standards in their chosen profession.

1 Universal demerit for you.

To be fair the OP did start his post with "I am a hi-sec miner..." Generally this indicates that an uninformed, irrational and tear-soaked post is about to follow. Can't really blame texas for playing the odds on this one.

I feel quite ill now, the amount of brown nosing for James and obsessive focus on people's skills in English grammar is staggering.

I am actually very happily surprised the OP is able to clearly communicate his thoughts, some of which I agree with. I've found most miners are not nearly this intelligent.

I propose that instead of suggesting miners band together to oppose the New Order, the OP should instead buy a large block of shares. There is far more good that he can achieve by voting with his wallet in important shareholder matters than he can by posting ideas in the forum.

I would not be one of the largest shareholders in the New Order if James 315 and his knights were not of the strongest moral character.

Did you just say that you like being the target of extortion rackets in a forum filled with pirates?

I read the first five words of the first post and started laughing.

I wish there were more miners like you. Ever would be a better place.