[ Gooder Eve is a series of on-going articles that examine ways in which Eve can be made Gooder. Some are serious, some are not, but all are intended to create debate, dialogue, and discussion. So enjoy! ]
[EDIT: This post has been updated, please note new content below.]
Last week we had two 1v1 incidents involving pilots of Lucifer's Hammer. Any incidents involving 1v1 fights are unusual since our policy, and my personal mandate, is extremely clear. We honor 1v1s no matter what. I always have and always will.
The incidents, one of which I wrote about previously and the other which I won't be writing about (it was an internal matter and has been resolved), were different from each other - but they both shared a common problem that made me think of a possible solution. What is that problem you ask? Simply put, what exactly constitutes an official 1v1?
In many cases you have chat logs that can clearly show intention and the resulting agreement to meet and spar. In others however, the answers are not as clearly defined. Which can lead to some serious consequences. This has happened to me personally in the past when accepting a 1v1 only to learn that the other pilot isn't as morally upstanding as I am. This happened over two years ago, but for awhile there it made me think twice about accepting any challenge.
As you all know I am a huge supporter of good fights. And while they are becoming more and more difficult to find in the universe, I think we should be doing everything we can to encourage them. One way might just be the establishment of a new Fleet Type - The Fight Club.
Here's how it might work. Two pilots in the same system (and in different Corp/Alliances) agree to fight each other, they click on each other's name in local chat and one of the menu options is Fight Club. They both select that option and each gets a confirmation YES or REJECT. Once YES is selected they are in fleet together. Only two pilots can be in a Fight Club fleet, so no one else can enter the fleet. The Fight Club fleet, once accepted, has a FIVE minute timer. During that five minutes no one else can lock the Fight Club ships, and they wouldn't be able to lock anyone out of Fleet either! So no worries about being ganked by that bastards buddies, or being hotdropped by several suddenly appearing Carriers.
Once one of the Fight Club ships is destroyed the timer automatically reverts to 30 seconds, time enough to warp off or get your pod to safety. This would allow for other pilots to watch the combat if they'd like and the combatants wouldn't have to worry about being ganked after the fight.
Indeed, the Fight Club fleet could also come with options. Much like Loot options in a regular fleet. For example, is pod killing allowed or not? Is it to the "death" or can someone surrender? I'm not sure about that last one, but I'm just throwing out ideas here.
The point is that such a Fleet options seems straight forward and easy enough to implement, the structure is already in place. Perhaps such fights would be like the old "twelve paces and turn" gentleman's duels of old and wouldn't count against Sec Status since they'd be officially sanctioned by Concord?
What do you think? I'm hard pressed to come up with a single negative here. I'm sure my readers can help me with that.
GOODER EVE: ThunderDome!
The feedback from the above post got me brain working. Obviously the concern is exploits and we all know that'll happen. Can't trust any of you people.
So why not this then?
When a Fight Club brawl is finally accepted by both pilots a THUNDERDOME is activated in system. The TD is a POS Shield 200k in diameter that only the two Fight Club ships can enter. Once they both warp to the beacon, only one can exit. Depending on the agreed upon options, such as pods and whatnot.
The TD isn't moveable, it eliminates the need for locking or not locking, and generates no benefit to anyone that wants to exploit it, since the TD only lasts for a short duration.
Only combat ships can be in Fight Club fleets, and anyone with GCC or aggro also cannot be in fleet.
Two go in, only one comes out.
Last week we had two 1v1 incidents involving pilots of Lucifer's Hammer. Any incidents involving 1v1 fights are unusual since our policy, and my personal mandate, is extremely clear. We honor 1v1s no matter what. I always have and always will.
The incidents, one of which I wrote about previously and the other which I won't be writing about (it was an internal matter and has been resolved), were different from each other - but they both shared a common problem that made me think of a possible solution. What is that problem you ask? Simply put, what exactly constitutes an official 1v1?
In many cases you have chat logs that can clearly show intention and the resulting agreement to meet and spar. In others however, the answers are not as clearly defined. Which can lead to some serious consequences. This has happened to me personally in the past when accepting a 1v1 only to learn that the other pilot isn't as morally upstanding as I am. This happened over two years ago, but for awhile there it made me think twice about accepting any challenge.
As you all know I am a huge supporter of good fights. And while they are becoming more and more difficult to find in the universe, I think we should be doing everything we can to encourage them. One way might just be the establishment of a new Fleet Type - The Fight Club.
Here's how it might work. Two pilots in the same system (and in different Corp/Alliances) agree to fight each other, they click on each other's name in local chat and one of the menu options is Fight Club. They both select that option and each gets a confirmation YES or REJECT. Once YES is selected they are in fleet together. Only two pilots can be in a Fight Club fleet, so no one else can enter the fleet. The Fight Club fleet, once accepted, has a FIVE minute timer. During that five minutes no one else can lock the Fight Club ships, and they wouldn't be able to lock anyone out of Fleet either! So no worries about being ganked by that bastards buddies, or being hotdropped by several suddenly appearing Carriers.
Once one of the Fight Club ships is destroyed the timer automatically reverts to 30 seconds, time enough to warp off or get your pod to safety. This would allow for other pilots to watch the combat if they'd like and the combatants wouldn't have to worry about being ganked after the fight.
Indeed, the Fight Club fleet could also come with options. Much like Loot options in a regular fleet. For example, is pod killing allowed or not? Is it to the "death" or can someone surrender? I'm not sure about that last one, but I'm just throwing out ideas here.
The point is that such a Fleet options seems straight forward and easy enough to implement, the structure is already in place. Perhaps such fights would be like the old "twelve paces and turn" gentleman's duels of old and wouldn't count against Sec Status since they'd be officially sanctioned by Concord?
What do you think? I'm hard pressed to come up with a single negative here. I'm sure my readers can help me with that.
GOODER EVE: ThunderDome!
The feedback from the above post got me brain working. Obviously the concern is exploits and we all know that'll happen. Can't trust any of you people.
So why not this then?
When a Fight Club brawl is finally accepted by both pilots a THUNDERDOME is activated in system. The TD is a POS Shield 200k in diameter that only the two Fight Club ships can enter. Once they both warp to the beacon, only one can exit. Depending on the agreed upon options, such as pods and whatnot.
The TD isn't moveable, it eliminates the need for locking or not locking, and generates no benefit to anyone that wants to exploit it, since the TD only lasts for a short duration.
Only combat ships can be in Fight Club fleets, and anyone with GCC or aggro also cannot be in fleet.
Two go in, only one comes out.