Yesterday I was teamed up with a new Stay Frosty pilot named Sam Record. Sam had just joined us and had never really PvP'd before, so I was showing him the ropes and we were having a blast. There was a Retribution in Asakai that kept showing up on d-scan and eventually landed in a plex. I had Sam align as I warped in to tackle. Sam was in a T1 fitted Executioner and I was in my Comet. I caught the Retri and began working on it and then called Sam to come in and assist. The Retribution would have exploded with or without his help, but again, I was trying to show him the ropes and encourage his first day of PvP in Eve. Retribution exploded and we let the pod go. Immediately local exploded in anger and nasty words. Based on the vitriol, I must have had a Falcon.
And then I got this sweet tear filled email:
"From: MaryJane Andersen
To: Rixx Javix
Rixx shitting himself on comms: " help help i need help i cant do solo pvp" hahahahahhahahaahah XD
Kill: Numitor Eto (Dramiel)
whats ure best solo kill today? an atron? hahahaha scrub"
And shocker, I'm blocked from replying. Now this person obviously has no idea who I am or that I have over 4k more kills than they do. Or that I could have brought a bunch of other people to that fight and blobbed her properly. Or that I don't use links. Or anything else about me. Which is fine. This is why we encourage our pilots to give "gf" in local win or lose. Nothing is more pathetic than a sore loser.
And believe me, I explode in a lot of ships. I know. I am not an elite PvPer by any stretch of the imagination. I do not aim to be one. What I am is a workhorse, the content provider for my Corporation and those that fly with me, and an unstoppable force that PvPs every day. I don't care about losing ships. I have no fear. That is who I am. And I have become extremely good at that specific game-style. (Just the other day someone pulled a Recon trap on me solo in my Comet. I killed the bait ship and then started killing the Rook. He was in deep structure when I exploded. That is how I play Eve in a nutshell.)
So what kind of people do I encounter on a daily basis? Let's make a list. And yes, I have names for them all.
Trophy Hunters
These people want to fight me so they can have my name on their killboard. Which is fine, I enjoy these fights. The only issue, and something I have to always be aware of, is just how much they want it. They might have links in system, they may be using Slaves, or have back-up, or ECM. Any potential loss is a future link in local, so I have to be careful of Trophy Hunters. But most of the time I take the fight anyway.
Gophers
When I enter a system with people in local and then suddenly they are all in a safe spot or docked up, these are what I call Gophers. They pop their heads up to see if local is clear and then go back into their holes when it isn't. You can't blame them, and I don't. I can always come back later when things have calmed down, or warp somewhere and wait. I'm very patient like that.
Perchers
So there is usually a T1 Frigate in a plex they shouldn't normally be in, like a Kestrel in a Medium. This can be a Recon trap, but it can also be a Percher trap. You an easily tell when there are about 5-6 other people in local all holed up in a safe spot. I attack the bait and then they all warp in to blob me. This one is easily avoided. Or sprung. Sometimes its fun just to let traps happen.
Pirates Helper
This also happened to me yesterday. An Ishkur was approaching me from about 80k away. I was in my Comet and waiting patiently. I figured he would attack, people in Ishkurs are usually very confident people. At about the 40k mark however he stopped, aligned out and warped to a safe. No spike in local. Nothing changed. This is a perfect example of a moment when someone looks up your killboard, or uses Pirates Helper. And then suddenly decides that they better not engage.
Apologist
They warp off but then they feel bad about it and want to explain that normally they would stay and fight, but y'know, not right now. The excuses can be rather hilarious, from my wife is coming home, the tea is ready, the dog needs a walk, my low slots are empty, I need reps, I already killed you a gazillion times and another one would be silly - those are all real ones by the way. I get it dude. You don't have to fight me, it isn't called non-consensual for no reason. I'll catch you later.
Hang On A Sec
These are the "gimme a minutes", the people who want to fight me... eventually. Y'know, once I give them time to get links up in local and call for back-up. Believe it or not, if I'm otherwise bored, I often do wait and take the fight anyway. Beggars can't be choosers. It is always a bad idea though to give the enemy time and nine times out of ten I lose these fights. But again, you take what you can get. And I don't care about losing.
Provers
We currently have a lot of these around the neighborhood. These are different than Trophy Hunters, these are people trying to prove their own self-worth. The difference is obvious because Provers never travel alone, always have links up and running, and always bring more to a fight than they need. I bring a T1 Frigate, they bring an AF, etc. These are among the most annoying people in all of Eve. All you can do is keep exploding their ships and hope they change their ways. Or failscade, which is usually what happens.
The Angry Avoider
The other day in Ishomilken one of these showed up. They are rare, but it still happens from time-to-time. The Angry Avoider talks forever in local about how awesome they are, they will link kills that might even have your name on them, and they won't shut up. But they will never actually fight you. And nor will I fight them. It is always a bad idea. What I will do is wait for them in another system and then catch them and explode their ship later on. Funny, they don't talk much in local after that.
This list doesn't include Blobbers, Gate Campers, Recon Trappers, or that huge Goonswarm gang that caught me fighting a Slicer on the gate the other day. Those are just the kind of normal things you find in low sec these days.
Thing is, all of these people are awesome and they make Eve a fascinating, weird, funny and constantly challenging place to play. I wouldn't change a thing. Keep doing what you are doing, even when it makes no sense at all. Please don't stop.
What would I write about if you did?