Imagine thousands of miles of flatlands slowly rising in elevation across a wide and open country. Now imagine a wall of mountains thousands of miles long that bisect those flatlands. At the base of that wall, sits the city of Denver.
There is no river, or lake, or obvious natural reason for Denver to exist at the exact spot in which it sits. It could easily be a hundred miles, or hundred feet, somewhere else. And it struck me, riding into the city, exactly how this happened.
Denver was settled by lazy people.
No insult intended to those living there now. But your ancestors, having trudged across disease and native american infested flatlands for months and months, took one look at the Rocky Mountains and said - Fuck that. And pitched a tent.
There are 5,000 systems in New Eden. And all the lazy people have settled into one of them. We call this place Jita. "Jita" means Wal-Mart in the native tongue. Y'know, if you had to get thru hundreds of thieves, pickpockets, and scum in order to get inside to actually shop.
I try never to go there because it depresses me. It sucks the life out of my experience, my game, and any enjoyment or hope I have stored up inside me for the future of New Eden. Unlike Denver, I fully intend any insults that residents of Jita may feel towards what I am about to say.
But, despite my intentions, every so often I am forced to waste an entire day of gaming to trudge my alt up to Jita to buy supplies. And that's what I did yesterday. I was in a good mood, until I landed in system and docked up for four hours.
Everything about Jita flies in the face of everything I enjoy about Eve. It is artificial. It is obvious. It is vulgar, but not in a fun way. It breaks the barrier. And above all it is horribly, disgustingly lazy. It is lazy because it is the ONE true trade center in all of New Eden. It is lazy because of the swarm of lazy ass opportunists sitting outside just waiting around for some idiot to undock. It is lazy, because it is infused with the spirit of quit. Give up. Far enough. Can't. Why bother?
For those of us pounding away in the hinter-lands, Jita represents the worst of shiny, boring, settled, "civilized" opulence. It was even worse this week because I had just spent two days in Null Sec space, reporting on "one in local", or "plus 2" in local. It amplifies the effect of constant 12, 24, 7, 18, 36, 2, empty, empty, empty - when suddenly there are 2,000 in local.
My blood boils and I just want to yell at everyone, "For goodness sake!! Split up!! There is a huge universe out there!!" and bash some heads in until someone agrees with me. But I don't of course, cause for all its faults, Jita sure is convenient.
I feel the same way about Wal-Mart. I try to avoid it, it makes me feel terrible, it sucks the life right out of me, but sometimes I really can't justify paying 20% more for something I really need across town. And I pinch my nose and plunge into it. All in the name of savings.
I don't feel good about myself when that happens. I need a shower afterwards. I'm left with a vague feeling that Wal-Mart is destroying the universe. And that there is nothing I can do to stop it.
And then I go home and tell myself that I probably, most likely, won't ever have to do that again.
Maybe I can stretch these supplies out further this time?
I kind of like Jita. I mean, the scammers annoy me, as they do everyone. But the scrums out in front of Jita (and around its more trafficked gates) are among the few very places in highsec where I actually feel a little bit of fear. Not that I have ever been ganked there, but ganking does happen. There's almost always people killing and being killed.
ReplyDeletePut another way, Jita is alive, and everywhere else in highsec is basically dead. The deadness of nullsec is one thing -- it's the deadness of the wilderness. But a dead system with 20 people in it is another thing.
So, why don't you use Dodixie, Hek, Rens, or Amarr?
ReplyDeleteOr Sugar's hub (Bosena, I think it is) if you don't want to see population?
Could it be... laziness?
Maybe a decade ago, I decided I wanted a new Norelco electric razor . . . not a minor purchase, but not huge. I went to Wal-Mart to save a few bucks. Went to the appropriate area, where the razors, of course, were sealed behind glass to prevent pilferage. I asked someone working there for some help, and he said he would call someone. I heard the page go out over the intercom. I waited 20 minutes, asked again for help. Another page went out. I waited another half hour and then left Wal-Mart never to return.
ReplyDeleteI only have one weapon to punish a retailer, and I have implemented it.
Jita, or a system like it, is necessary to achieve a true market. Without the critical mass of items on the market, your altennative would be to buy Module X in Amarr, Module Y in Rens, and so on. Unless you're really into the freighter business, that wouldn't be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI never enjoyed Jita because I lag there a lot and the scammers are terribly annoying. I always wondered why Jita became the main trade hub from all 5 000 systems. Does anyone know?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand is literally a crossroads for several major trade routes. On top of which it connects to 3 different regions (The Forge, Lonetrek, and The Citadel) and is only a few jumps from another (Sinq Laison). With the way Eve online has the market set up to only affect your current region this type of accessibility allowed one to jump regions and check pricing with relative ease and as such save time. Once it started trading in high volumes it just snowballed from there. While for the other 3 major hubs Amarr, Hek, Dodixie were also formed for similar reasons.
Delete(Amarr has close access to Kor-Azor, Kador, Tash-Murkon, and The Bleak Lands)
(Hek connects to Heimatar and Sinqu Laison and is right next to low-sec making it more easily accessible for low-sec denziens.)
(Dodixie connects to Everyshore and is close to Essence and Genesis, travel the Genesis connection and you have a wider range of access to the other regions while also enabling access to Verge Vendor.)
That's how I see it.
The City of Denver wasn't founded because people ".....took one look at the Rocky Mountains and said - Fuck that. And pitched a tent.
Delete..." , it was founded at the confluence of the South Platte river and Cherry Creek where gold was discovered. Ya low down Durned know-nothing flatlander!
I like JIta local...it gives me the same feeling I get when the camera pans over a busy trading pit in a stock market movie. It's full of life and activity.
DeleteDralv is essentially correct about "Why Jita?" As I understand it the history is a bit more involved than that as CCP tried game changes to spread out the trading from various hubs (and lessen the load on that part of the server cluster), but people just found new ways to cooperate. Which is, after all, what non-fraudulent trading is.
But I'm not sure you will understand me...yoiur posting show little interest is letting others play eve the way they want to.
Bleah...responded to wrong post. above is intended to respond to Rixx.
DeleteIt's called "humor" gentlemen. Lighten up a bit, life is much more enjoyable that way.
DeleteI know exactly why Denver was settled, but that doesn't mean you can't see the humor in thinking it was settled by lazy people. If we are all going to start treating the world seriously we should probably call all the comedians now and tell them they are out of a job.
I personally can't stand Jita. Obviously that doesn't mean I don't see the value in having it, I go there myself once a month for that very reason. And yes, I do also sometimes use the other markets.
And I am certainly the biggest advocate for everyone doing exactly what they want in Eve. Sheesh.
In the wayback days, Yulai was the Jita of the universe as there was a highway system connecting the universe together to allow for faster-ish travel. (Pre warp to 0 days)
DeleteJita was originally where you would get sent at the end of the old-style new player experience. Along with a large number of manufacture and lab slots in system, it was a manufacturing wheelhouse even during the Yulai days. When the highways were removed, Jita was pretty well the 'center of mass' of manufacturing and therefore a good place to setup shop to sell.
Add into that the majority of players (at the time) were Caldari, running Caldari Navy missions...reducing tax at the navy stations. All sort of added up as Jita 4-4 being a good place to trade at for a large percentage of players. Currently it is the main trade hub because...it is the main trade hub. (That and CCP has lavished big machine power on it to be able to keep up the large trade volume there so it isn't a lag-fest of slothness)
Other trade hubs have sort of fallen to the wayside in recent years. Oursulaert used to be the Major Gallente trade hub, but it is now Dodixie that heads that spot up.
But Jita is mostly the main trade hub now-a-days 'Because it is so.'
Thanks for the reply that makes sense
ReplyDeleteI rarely go to Jita and when I am there I quite like it, like others have said its active and alive, but in reality im a lot in Dodixie and sometimes Amarr, I like them. "For goodness sake!! Split up!! There is a huge universe out there!!", I assume you went there on your alt? Most of them are alts who don't even live there lol
ReplyDeleteIt's a rant, intended as a mostly humorous reflection on life in Eve. Certainly it appears that I rather suck as a writer since no one seems to have appreciated it for its intended purpose. I shall strive to improve.
DeleteHey no problem, maybe its not your writing but my understanding, enjoyed your last overheating post which has helped me so no worries, I simply voiced my opinion just like you did, no one is wrong here. :-)
DeleteIn fact I enjoy most of your posts! I just like to join in on the discussion
DeleteNo worries m8.
DeleteRixx it was funny -- I did actually laugh. I think most readers understood exactly what you were doing.
Deleteumzug wien umzug Entrümpelung Wohnungsräumung
ReplyDeleteI spend a lot of time in Jita on my alt because that's where the money is. I practice safe dock/undock procedures and I've never had a problem. When Burn Jita is going on, I just move to Dodixie or Amarr and wait it out.
ReplyDeleteDid they change the PC rules on me again?
ReplyDeleteGive a shopping list to someone and have them deliver to your front door/entry system :)
ReplyDeleteDont go to J-Mart, send someone else to shop, say you don't care where it comes from as long as they deliver in time and no more as j-mart +10%
I use Amarr, except that one time a few days ago when I sold my gold pod implant for 9 bisk =P
ReplyDeleteSure, pay less, get ganked, all wonderful things that happen in Jita.
ReplyDelete