Wormholes

Ok, lets get this straight.

K-Space exploration - random loot is random. However, if you are running anomalies in nullsec, you can accurately predict that you are going to get X isk per hour. The reason why random loot is random though, is because there are things like faction and complex loot drops, which are random and varied enough that no average can be gained from them. Guess what WH space doesn't have?

So, what does WH space have that is random? Nano-ribbons. Guess what WH space that isn't random? Anomalies!
Guess what K-space has that isn't random in "exploration"? Anomalies!

OMG do we have here a correlation? Are we saying that C1-C6 anomalies are similar to K-Space anomalies? YES! And guess what - people measure isk/hour from K-space anomalies all the time. Amazing isn't it? And we already know that every battleship/cruiser/frigate already drops "blue loot" that is worth Y amount of isk, because there are NPC buy orders up for them at that price. This is just like bounties from k-space anomalies. And since the blue loot is always the same, we can go ahead and set sites as having a "minimum value".

Wait, if sites have a minimum value, how is it random again? Nano-ribbons. Those special things that only drop in WH space, and are worth lots of isk. But because every site has between 0 and infinite nano-ribbons, but are always worth about the same value (cause 1 nano-ribbon is exactly the same as another), we actually CAN calculate the average number. And since the randomness is just in the number of a particular item that is dropped, but not really in the value of that item, that average number is actually useful.

"But what is the purpose" you ask. After all, every site isn't going to be worth the same amount. Simple - if you are putting together a "corp buyback program", and the corp is taking (ex. 10% cut) then the corp can go ahead and put a value on each site, and pay members according to the average value of the site. By placing this value on the site, the corp then doesn't need to worry about silly **** like getting everything out to K-space to sell before giving out isk. This makes it a lot easier if you are doing something like living in a WH with some characters, while keeping others outside of the WH. Or trying to prevent daily trips out to sell loot. Or you just want numbers so that way you can flout them to all the nullsec bears and invite them to come to "real space", (so you can kill them naturally).

Conclusion: STFU about random being random. It isn't "completely random" and there are rather easy to achieve averages.

-Arazel

It's random enough that people think sacrificing shuttles and high salvaging skills and salvaging with a Proteus helps nano-ribbon drops ;)