EVE General Discussion

So it's not racketeering if the victim can just flee?

All govs in IRL are unique, variform and myriad.

RL is unrestricted, except by the physical properties of our universe (unknown to an unknowable extent).

EVE is restricted by human intelligent design and effort.
All orgs in EVE are limited by the mechanics of its artificial virtual environment.

Govs are a complex system of compromise/conflict of constituents interests.

Taxation can be construed as racketeering, but since taxation also funds institutions such as impartial courts, policing, military and civil infrastructure, as well as a paycheck for elected representatives, there is equity in paying tax, atleast in democratic systems. You pay tax so the gov can administer the state, rather than you having to do it personally. You are po,itically empowered by voting in a democratic system, but commensurately required to invest tax payment into its operation. Basically, you must contribute according ro your means, inorder to have representation in the system.

In a monarchy, taxation also is not technically racketeering, since in those systems, the crown owns everything anyways, so taxation is essentially paying the crown for access its assets/services.

Maybe cause they dont like competitors?

Racketeering and taxation dont mean what you might think they do.

CODE, for example, is a racketeer. They provide a service at cost, the only purpose of which is to protect you from them.
If CODE did not exist, the need for their "service" would not exist.
If you dont pay, CODE will illegally aggress your assets (as against CONCORD jurisdiction).
This is the quintessential racket.

Renting player owned sov space is not technically a racket, even on threat of eviction if you fail to pay.
Renters are paying for use of an asset someone else owns. If renters fail to pay, eviction is the right of the owner.

Demanding payments from corps in non-owned NS space, so as to not to attack them, can be be construed as "tribute" or compensations. This is not racketeering, because there is no legal jurisdiction operating there which can judge it as such, as a criminal act, which racketeering is. No CONCORD. Instead it defaults as "tribute" between two player entities. NPC-sov itself is owned by an un-usurpable and indifferent AI entity whom dont give a damn, oneway or another.

In WH space, this differentiation is even more pronounced. There is no sov mechanic there, except taking and holding what you can. In the absence of any sov/NPC mechanics, players have complete autonomy.

LS is a gray zone, where aggression is tabulated as security status, and enforced on gates. NPC entities technically own the space, or rather, player ownership is not systemically possible, Wardecs are key, and CONCORD has limited jurisdiction/enforcement, especially in regards to FW militias. Citadels too have muddied this up quite a bit. Frankly, LS is fascinating as a juncture of so many hinged compromises.

All of these above are fine in EVE, where different rules/laws apply ingame, than without.
Racketeering is not illegal, per se, nor is insane taxation, nor is demanding tribute.

In taxation you pay for equity in services you cannot otherwise independently afford. Social/civic infrastructure administered by a state to which you are a member (and hence beneficiary (atleast nominally)). Taxation is the outsourcing and pooling of the collected input of constituent members as both the cost of doing business/existing within it, and receiving benefit from them.

Tax can be boiled down to a "membership" cost and cost of doing business within the jurisdiction of that gov/state entity.

Taxation, however, may not be "fair" or equitable, depending on on ones individual needs/means.
Nonetheless, it does not constitute racketeering. Just a bad deal.
You fan then either move your operations, revolt and violently usurp the means of production, or politically/diplomatically influence a more equitable rate of taxation.

In EVE interestingly, aside from CODE etc, there is systemic NPC based racketeering.
Sov costs are a NPC racket. No ingame NPC entity specifically owns non-NPC Null, but you must pay inorder to control them, nonetheless. This is arguably necessary as an isk sink on profits earned from said ownership, as well as due to the very one dimensional, non-dynamic nature of NPC entities in EVE.

GL, o7

And this one 2nd Theme Song

I know claiming I can beat code is a big statement, what I meant is that I have some tactics that should keep them off our backs.

Imo, actually beating CODE would involve exploiting the same rules they do. They are protected from being fired upon because they operate in hi sec, the moment they gank a miner or freighter they are concorded. We also have this luxury, what if lots of us got into the cheapest possible frigate known to mankind and suicided against codes destroyers while they are waiting to gank a freighter?

Yes, I understand that a ganking a destroyer isn't worth much, its real value is that it can be used to gank a freighter so that the CODE guys can earn from loot drops. One could even go as far as to gank the CODE loot ship or scoop the loot before they get a chance. A valid way of attacking them would be to disrupt their methods of extorting isk.

I guess I can see where Dietrich is going with all this government stuff, perhaps if something like what I suggested above was paid for with tax money and we had the numbers then it could work.

If you go by the data, they don't look to be protected much at all.

The last 1000 ship ganks by CODE. involved 99 characters of the Alliance.

73% of those characters are outlaws and can be shot by anyone, anytime.

Those 73% of outlaws appear almost 5x more often on ganks than the non-outlaws (4.7x for more precision).

Based on the data, most CODE. activity appears to be carried out by characters that gain none of the protections offered by highsec.

Except for the free docking in NPC stations in the same system they gank, the Bumpers they employ, the Freighters and DST's they employ using a rookie ship alt going suspect passing through the Fleet hanger, the Bowhead alts they use dropping the gank ships off for them at deep safes, the scouting alts they use to scan everyone.

Lets not pretend to be dumb and believe that the characters actually executing the ganks are anything but the top of a very large iceberg of characters who are protected by High Sec mechanics and doing anything to them would require organising just as many ganks as Code do.

Not that this is even remotely on topic, or that the topic is remotely feasible, but hey.