Crime & Punishment

Why don't we deal with something more meaningful like the general hate speech/slurs/harassment towards females, gays and every other minority in the game.

That this is considered harassment, this miner bumping, which I've witnessed a bit, cheapens the meaning of true harassment. This is a game. Have a problem? Face it, walk around it, ignore it or run away but please don't play Big Brother CCP and please fix the true problems in Eve.

It is nice to be able to accuse with kneejerk responses however, you know, calling people "exploiters" because you think something is unfair. But unfortunately, it is still ice miners who are griping the most (my original post you responded to) because ore miners aren't really getting bumped all that much. Atleast not enough to create such a concern. And why? Because, quite simply, they are at their computers. They are being active.

Is this against CCP's rules or a standard set by them? Don't know don't care. It is a standard set by the Code. And that is emergent gameplay yes. Very much player created. Which is what Eve is.

We can argue as much as we like, but again, my original stance is Freewill at the highest regard. And that means you are free to afk mine that ice, and I am free to bump you.

Unless CCP tells me I cannot.

I would agree with the "adapt" principle, but in this context it is ludicrous.
You seem to assume CCP will take action to nerf bumpers and that the bumpers will have to adapt. But you conveniently forget that this thread is a consequence of miners refusing to adapt. Examples abound (I won't list them here, they've been mentioned in this thread often enough) where miners prefered sticking to their max-yield fits and 'tactics', successfully relying on CCP to intervene on their behalf instead of adapting to the situation.

Hmm. Mining with no skills is a stupid waste of game time.
Skillful mining is not a waste of time.
The time invested in maxing out your mining skills for either the Orca or Hulk is substantial and the cost of the implants to top those skills off is in the billions at this time.
The return for the time and isk invested in Max mining skills and implants/ships is the ability for a single individual with two accounts to pay for both accounts using plex earned from mining, provided enough time is spent in game. Such players are generally not interested in pvp and CCP knows this. Else they would not have included mining as a profession in the game and just made Ore available on the market for manufactures to buy at fixed prices.

Mining ore is the base of the game economy. No ore or ice means no manufacturing etc . The economic ripples are game changing. (No pun intended)
The generally passive activity of mining is essential to the game. For most miners it is marginal in income until the much higher skill levels are reached.

So, YES, it is a fact of life miners unsub rates are higher than any other group or style of player in the game and if that rate climbs the game is negatively affected. CCP income is affected so they take action. Or had you not noticed the last "balancing"?

Honestly, stop with the hand wringing and panic about potentially losing your clever exploit of a game mechanic. Since this exploit of existing conditions of permitted play also has the potential to severely affect the entire game if left unchecked
then the liklihood of CCP addressing the situation is very high.

Mining in HiSec is a marginal profession at best for most players, or a major investment for others. Disrupt it sufficiently and lower skilled minerplayers will leave the profession and possibly the game. And higher skilled and heavily invested players will simply withdraw from the game entirely since their enjoyment is ruined.

HiSec was not created to be a totally safe sandbox. It was created to be a safer sandbox than low or null and even then has degrees of safety built in from 1.0 to 0.5.

HiSec was also created to allow even the passively inclined player have a place to learn about Eve and be persuaed to invest real dollars and personal time in the game. Is CCP ready to abandon that market share of the gamers on the net? Is CCP so socially naive as to be blind to the affect uncontrolled protection rackets can have on a society, especailly and artificial one Like EVE?

The disdain aggressive players have for "carebears" is foolish. They are an essential segment of the player base and the game economy depends on their predictable and steady production.

So enjoy this kind of extortion while you may. But please, stop with all the self justifications. They aren't necessary. What bumpers are doing is perfectly permissible currently. However if not corrected by CCP eventually more and more players will get involved in bumping and fewer and fewer players will be involved in mining. It is a social inevitablility. And, as in real life it will ulitmately cause a huge economic disruption, both in the game and of the games viablity in the pc gamer marketplace.

It might be interesting to start a pool betting on how long it will take CCP to make some kind of adjustment. Or alternatively, how long will it take for the application of this exploit to cause visible effects on the games economy. Maybe use the benchmark of Trit hitting 10 isk?

This thread will run for one week, until 17:00 on Wednesday, December 5th, after which I will close it. I will then gather responses, opinions, questions and feedback from it, before forwarding it on to the Senior GMs for review, who will then provide a response.

Bear in mind that this is an issue we would like to consider from all angles, and is also being dealt with over the holiday season. As such, a response may take some time to be issued, and may end up arriving just after the New Year.