Crime & Punishment

So very true. The very satisfaction these carebears and industrialist get from gathering and building stuff directly flows from the fact that "content generators"' create demand by using and exploding goods in New Eden. If ships could never be lost without the permission of the owner or respawned or something, none of this work would have value. No one would buy your stuff removing any meaning of what to be honest, is mechanically uninteresting work.

Competitive PvP games only work if someone takes the initiative to attack. If everyone just sits around and builds all the time, nothing will happen and the game will stagnate and die.

So next time you see your friendly neighborhood highsec aggressor, give them a friendly wave and thank them for their service to keeping one of the most compelling elements to this game, the player-driven economy, moving. They are indeed in a sense, good guys.

There's no "good" or "bad" in HighSec. All are equally contributing to the stagnation of the game.

Here's another reason to be "The Good Guy" : bad guys can't undock anything larger than a destroyer in space they (supposedly) own , whereas good guys get to fly really cool ships and shiny mods

Well, they are. So...

https://zkillboard.com/detail/37258120/

Shiny mods you say?

If CCP lets them be safe in those NPC corps, then I'd argue that they had this in mind and consider it 'balanced', given that they brought out Crimewatch 2.0 for Hi-Sec and buffed mining ships.
And now with Daily Opportunities and the Serpentis Event coming up, WoW in Space will be even more present than ever before, all while being in their cuddly NPC corps.

The thing is if you are a "good guy" you wouldn't be doing it to seek a reward. So it shouldn't matter I would think .

It jumps to being about code because there are a few code cool aid drinkers that pretty much live on the forum. Folks like you that ignore them are literally (they get week and pass out) starving them of the role playing attention they crave. In many cases it isn't the boo hoo that makes it all about code - it's code role players that make it all about code. It's their attempt to maintain their imagined relevance - a lot of work to be sure.

Fear not though, code is on the way out. Their leadership has become bored of their role playing creation (OR can't be arsed to put in the effort it now takes to actually play the game - vice answering macherial pings) and have moved on. There are but a few folks trying to keep the rotting husk alive. They will eventually move on or leave the game.

If you're not killing anyone in Eve, you're technically a "good guy".

I find that avoiding PVP is very healthy for the wallet.

In a sandbox, those with the power to shape and mold the most sand have the most influence.... but to answer your question, what is a "good guy?" Against immortals who can neither die nor be rendered helpless as isk is always attainable.... moral grey area is the epitome of such an existence after all.

Let me assume here, good guy being kind, trustworthy, and more or less a pacifist or on a stretch (like star wars) an enforcer of the "weak" against aggressors. Not a good guy as in "hey i tell jokes in local", but a true hero kind of thing. Theorize that with me!

Is there value...?

There is indeed value in that!

But you will have a rough road. You will have to get wealth, numbers, and influence to compete with an extreme vast majority of the eve community who's thoughts consist of "muh frigate shud be op ur a carebear die gimme ur isk lol tears". There are multiple difficulties with this: this is a MAJORITY, meaning even ccp's doctrines and changes will be influenced towards them, the entire game is structured around them, a white knight standing up against such a tide would not only be tedious.... but damn near impossible (especially finding allies who would agree with you and abide by whatever your white knight requirements and regulations will be)

The more you succeed, the more enemies will come to kill your carebear ass.

Assume you start building up successfully, slaying rats, honest trading etc, and you get funds and friends who band together... you can start waging wars on the "assholes of eve" (You wouldn't have a choice, they'd come *to you*) ... you would become public enemy number one. The guy who talks like a prophet from code would circumvent his ban to come and call you a blasphemer/noob/carebeargod, pandemic legion would keep titans in every system your corp logged off in outside of hisec, goons would swarm frigates to everything you fly... it goes on, and you would have to fight. Period. For justice/bravery/whatever bloody moral compass you wish to enforce, or you would be destroyed, left with nothing.

Again, the option is to fight, or die. If you choose to let them kill you and your friends, that would be the end of it, you left broke and powerless and your friends gone or just sitting in station forever to chat with you. If you chose to fight, well you would have to contend with the "majority"... including ccp's changes that keep their power in place... their trillions of isk and hundreds of trillions of assets, and all of that within your moral compass realm.

IF you somehow succeed, you would be hired by every industrial group ingame to work with or protect them, you would bring a consequence for "gankers" who only fight one sided battles you would overthrow the bloodthirsty lords of nullsec and their endless droves of followers........... Then you would be the bad guy. Enforcing your own "meta" and killing those who disagree with you, thousands upon thousands would quit realizing they weren't able to invincibly play their way, markets would shift, sovereignty would expand.... That is a sandbox, and what it means to win.

Justice, right, wrong... good/bad guy? This doesn't apply in a sandbox. Play your way, and get enough power to justify doing so without your sand being taken or knocked down. To contend with the majority is to be stronger or smarter than the majority, limitless power and wealth would come if you were successful, you could shape the sand however you will..... just as the top already has.


Or.... on a smaller scale. Just carebear it up, be a total pacifist who trades stuff you build forever and there ya go, you're a "good guy", but that's far more boring than being the hero this game would never forget :P