Crime & Punishment

Morality in Eve is a lot more subjective than it is in the real world.

The difference between hero and villain is as well.

You don't have to be a ganker, scammer, or corp thief to be a bad person in game. Nor do you those things make you a bad person, necessarily.

What makes Eve great though is that the play style is available to those who wish it. And while you're right, the game mechanics themselves do not reward you for good behaviour, you're missing the fact that the social aspect of the game does.

Chribba is living proof that being honest and reliable can be more profitable than being crooked, he's made a career in Eve out of his honesty and reliability.

The difference though, is that in order for your 'goodness' to become beneficial, you have to be REALLY good. You need to be doing something so honest, and so dependably, that you become famous for it. I know plenty of honest people in this game who I would trust with various things, and I can tell you a good few of them are 'bad guys'. But they aren't famous for being trustworthy or honest, so they do not profit from it.

Also I agree with some of the previous posts that being crooked doesn't pay nearly as well as you make it sound like it does. I make ISK through legitimate, illegitimate, and grey-area means, and I can honestly say most of my isk has been made legitimately. The illegitimate is done more for the entertainment value it provides.

Another thing to keep in mind is that many of us criminals work for a particular allegiance. That might be an alliance, a coalition, an ideal, or something else. For many of us, anyone outside that allegiance is a fair target for whatever nefarious deeds we desire, but anyone sharing our allegiance is off limits. If I join a corp with the intent of awoxing them or stealing from them, they were my enemies (for whatever reason catches my eye) before they even knew I was interested in joining. They were never my friends, never my allies, and so I haven't betrayed anyone from my perspective, I've attacked my enemies.

People I consider to be my allies on the other hand, have nothing to fear from me (except maybe the occasional friendly podding when I know they aren't flying expensive implants). I've extorted a corp for 300 mill isk, I've blown my cover and awoxed a Myrmidon (god was a bored that day). On the other side, I've helped a friend evac his assets from null by piloting his rorqual for him and jumping billions and billions of his assets safely out without stealing a dime.

One mans villain is another mans hero.

TL;DR You absolutely CAN get rich by being honest and trustworthy, but it's just as hard and takes just as much time and effort as getting rich by being dishonest and villainous.
You are correct, the mechanics of the game do not reward you for being honest. Which is what makes it so special when someone IS honest. Being a hero in a game that makes it easier to be a villain, is in itself a great accomplishment.

Let me just drop a warning, being the "good" guy can be very draining. Most of the time it's a lonely, thankless task. And just to use CODE as an example, there are maybe 30ish dudes with any kind of activity level over the course of a month. That's 30ish guys to beat back the darkness that is the your typical isk-grubbing highsec resident. Thankfully, our fire burns bright!

Space paladin best paladin

They say EVE is a "sandbox". So, let's play with the sandbox analogy.

You're sitting in a sandbox, with a bunch of teens with raging inferiority complexes, all hopped up on Mt Dew.

When you opt to be the "good guy", you're basically deciding to stay away from the pack of a-holes running around kicking over other peoples' sand castles. It's lonely at first. But, every once in a blue moon, you see another kid walk away from the a-holes and hang out over in the section of the sandbox where you are.

Slowly, over time, you end up building a very small (albeit trustworthy, altruistic, and friendly) group of friends who play together for everyone's mutual benefit.

I'm personally not interested in scams, deception, cruelty, or even violence (I try to avoid combat whenever possible). And I can tell you from experience that, while the community of "good guys" is extraordinarily small compared to the a-holes, the people I play with are some of the most fantastic people I've met in-game.

Smiles, laughter, excitement, adventure... and all without ripping someone off, or killing someone who wandered into the area where we happen to be.

They say EVE is a sandbox. If that's the case, then I guess the reward for being a "good guy" is finding a group of like-minded individuals who will enhance the gameplay for you and everyone around you.

i would add that, from a philosophical point of view, you should not search for any direct reward for being "a good guy", since this would imply that your motivation is selfish (and not good).

Do you help an old woman in the street to carry heavy things because you are waiting for a 1 euro/dollar coin? or do you help her because it is a good thing that should be done?

Do we act honestly because we think it's a good thing per se? or because we are afraid to be caught and punished (parents/police depending on your age) if we don't?

Do you think we should act honestly and cooperate with corpmates because we can earn more isks doing that? or because that's the way we should behave, as human beings?

Would you do heroic things in real life because you would want to get respect and love from other people for that (if you survuve...) or would you do the same thing even if nobody is there to see you doing that and dying.

From my point of view, cooperation/trust/etc... in a mmo allows me to develop solid relations with some other players, whom i will early talk on teamspeak/mumble about real life, work problems, love affairs, sport, politics etc... And we help each other without expecting to get any isk for that... And i feel fine acting like that, even if there is no reward (isk) from eve for that

Wyk

If you think getting rich is the reason why you should do the right thing then honestly you should probably lock yourself in a shack in the middle of the desert and never talk to another human being or interact with society in any way ever again.

You'll be doing us all a favor.

That's fine so long as I get to be Jamelia.

im a pirate and will shoot and pod anything not blue to me and basically be a **** in local and will quite happily jump into highsec and gank something just for a laugh, however people still trust me with isk when it comes to doing my job, even people i dont even know and its pretty satisfying to know you are a pretty trusted person within a game where nobody trusts anyone.

I seen a venture autopiloting through lowsec by a newbie the other day, i shoot it and i pod him back home, ill sent him some isk with a note "dont autopilot thx".

Ill honor my word whatever the situation, does that make me a good guy?

<3 <3 <3

Didn't I say that was only the foreplay. Now you're all hot n bothered.




Jokes aside: How many corporations has Code paid Merc's to wardec?! At least the Hypocrisies you indignant Codies mouth are consistent.

you always have a home in fetid poppet