Be sure to check out Rushlock's video covering Part One of this series.
Sometimes when I dock up and go AFK I return to find a conversation happening in local. Usually this is nothing more than the usual posturing and "your momma" jokes - but last night it was truly revealing. A few Faction Warfare players, just regular joes, were having a conversation about running away from fights inside FW Plex. The part that really stood out to me, especially in the context of today's post, was this - why fight someone who has no impact on factional warfare?
Why indeed. For years I've held the belief that us pirates impact Low Security space and by extension Factional Warfare space because we are the content providers. We are the danger. My bio in-game explains this position quite well as a matter of fact. And while this is all true, it remains painfully apparent that pirates remain outsiders to the processes within the game. Keep that in mind for later.
It is important to keep piracy itself in perspective. Piracy was not designed to be part of Eve Online. Our forefathers Lord Zap and the players of m0o Corporation literally invented piracy inside of Eve. It is not supported by game mechanics, or by fancy AIR windows or side quests, it isn't engineered into the game, or often recognized by official channels. We weren't handed piracy, we created piracy from nothing. This is a proud history and one I am proud to be a part of and to be actively expanding on every time I log into the game. Our heritage is outsiders, rebels, rule-breakers, and dark shadows. So no, we don't need anything from anyone to continue our game-play. But twenty years on and perhaps it is time to consider incorporating things a tiny bit more?
Piracy is an emergent play style. I took a decade of complaining to finally get someone to address the issue of Warp Core Stabilizers, so I have no misconceptions regarding this line of thinking. It very well may never happen, but I do believe that after twenty years it is time to embrace piracy into the sandbox as a viable criminal activity worthy of individual attention. Heck the pirate NPCs get more love and attention than we do as players.
We can argue and debate what that "attention" comes down to. But basing them off of negative security status seems like a viable starting point. There is literally no reason to be negative in Eve and this seems like a place that could use some improvements. Pirate ships that have bonuses for increasingly negative sec status? Or allowing negative players, who are already criminal, to side-step the restrictions on certain plex gates? Or teaming up with NPC pirate groups to counter factional warfare activity in those systems under pressure from one side or another? There are lots of ideas and concepts that could support this idea of bringing piracy into a more active role.
Right now FW and Piracy share something important - we are both operating under a ceiling that limits our progress. There is a cap to the type and class of ships that are viable inside this system. Players on both sides are being forced into making decisions on what to fly based on the limitations imposed on them by the system itself. This is critical to long-term development and viability of these systems. Natural ship progression is an important part of Eve's history and of each player's growth within the game. Half my hangar is useless right now. And FW pilots are going to get tired of flying T1 Frigates and Navy Destroyers after awhile.
I think these two things are related. I think giving pirates a more active role within this system will also help expand the choices that FW players are making and open up a more active progression. There is always a response to any changes and this would be a natural response to any increase in pirate activity.
I'm not asking for much here. Just throw us a few bones to help us bring more content to the game. We invented the entire concept of piracy from scratch, we can take whatever you give us and use it to make the game better. It is, after all, our entire thing.
Imagine these new pirate destroyers actually being better with actual pirates flying them?
See? That wasn't hard.