EVE New Citizens Q&A

This guide is extremely outdated, having been written in the era before Jump Freighter proliferation killed off lowsec ransoming. While there are nuggets of wisdom in there, the fundamental premise - that piracy is a lowsec trade - is just flat out wrong.

Remember - pirates are predators, and predators can only survive in the areas that prey is found in. And as someone that loves hunting people in lowsec, I can say that there simply is not enough prey there to serve even the existing pirates, much less new ones.

OP - I suggest you clarify whether you are interested more in mugging-style piracy (give me ISK or I'll pod you), extortion style piracy (Folks, this is *my* system. I will tolerate your presence if you pay me ISK. Otherwise, you'll end up like him *links killmail*), or deceptive piracy, where you act like you are the target's friend, shake their hand, sit them down, and stab them in the back.

"Piracy" in EVE Online is really a tricky concept. To really get into it, you have to delve into the meta game. By this I mean - there is no actual game mechanic by which you click a button and now you've magically become a pirate. You don't "join" pirate factions the way you join empires in Factional Warfare. It's a bit more... meta than that.

First, let's look at what a pirate is in conventional, RL terms, and then apply that to some things in EVE Online. Most people in EVE Online will tell you that a pirate is someone who PvPs in LowSec and has below -5.0 security status. But this is not actually true. -5.0 just means you are a criminal. IRL, all pirates are criminals, but not all criminals are pirates. In EVE Online, not all criminals are pirates and not all pirates are criminals.

Let's look at some actual definitions of "pirate" and apply those to EVE Online.

• 1. a person who robs or commits illegal violence at sea or on the shores of the sea.
• 2. any plunderer, predator, etc.: confidence men, slumlords, and other pirates.

And what is "plunder"?

• 3. to rob of goods or valuables by open force, as in war, hostile raids, brigandage
• 4. to take wrongfully, as by pillage, robbery, or fraud

So let's see here, based on these definitions

• 1. People who suicide gank miners and mission runners in HiSec are pirates. People who shoot other people in LowSec can also be considered pirates, but their piracy is incidental, not intentional, and they fall more along the lines of "thugs" than pirates. In many cases this PvP is consensual - "pirate" corps shooting other "pirate" corps - in which case they are more gang bangers than they are "pirates".
• 2. People who suicide gank freighters for their cargo in HiSec are very much so pirates. People who gank haulers in LowSec are also pirates, but again, this is incidental. Very few people in LowSec fashion their gameplay around finding haulers to kill for profit - a hauler in LowSec is a target of opportunity. A hauler in HiSec is a target for people who have chosen ganking them as a career path.
• 3. You can't say that anyone who operates in NullSec are pirates - Null pilots and Null entities are already operating in a PAZ (permanent autonomous zone) and are not beholden to any of the laws of Empire space (HiSec, LowSec). But they do rob each other of goods and valuables by open force and war. But again, they are sovereign entities, so they are no more "pirates" than two nations that go to war.
• 4. People who join corps to kill corp members and steal from the corporation are committing fraud and thus fall under the "pirate" umbrella, regardless of what security rating they do this in.

So if you want to be a "pirate" in EVE, you have to break the in-game laws - illegal aggression in HiSec, LowSec, you have to steal from people, scam them, and defraud them. These are options that are open to every player, and it is a legitimate playstyle. The caveat, however, is that while there are some in-game consequences (which are really minor inconveniences), there are serious social consequences to this playstyle, and once you have even a little bit of a history, you will find it very hard to get involved in corporations and groups that aren't pirates. It's easy to start the game and get into piracy right away. It's easy to play for years as a "nice guy" in HiSec, mining and running missions, and then get into piracy.

It's another thing entirely to go from a life of piracy and retire to a life of being a "nice guy" anywhere. The stigma of what you've done will follow you. It is for this reason that a lot of the more hardcore piracy (scamming, AWOXing, etcetc) is done on alts. Those who do piracy on their main often have alts for "playing nice" in other corporations, or simply never wish to engage in that playstyle.

I myself was a pirate for a number of years, and I've successfully retired and found myself a corporation to "play nice in". But it was very difficult for me to do so, and many of my old contacts consider me a "sell out".

If you want to go into piracy, then power to you, and good luck. Despite what people say, you can make money doing piracy - but the piracy that pays is the type of piracy that comes with the social consequences.

I hope you found this helpful.

Can't stress the importance of wingmen, and the social consequence of piracy. Do not assume you'll get into a carebear corporation on that character after a while. Your actions (killmails, wardecs) are all documented. That being said who gives a flying ****, you wouln't want to join such a corp anyway when your interests lie in PVP.

I kill, plunder, extort, all that nasty stuff... but I keep my word and most of all I don't go around insulting people. You can get away with a lot of you don't rub your activities in everyones face. Giggle at the failfit killmails with your wingmen only, don't go around burning people for making the very mistakes you cash in on.

Goad them into trying again instead. Kidding, respect your prey. It's the only thing seperating proper pirates from drunken highwaymen these days.

A very very good point, On assumption I thought that pretty obvious :D but yes in reality yesterdays friends all too often become tomorrows targets.

However If you can avoid becoming a target and u do find people you can trust enough / maintain enough of a threat level they leave u alone it makes things a lot easier =]