As if to highlight my post yesterday, I had an interesting run-in with a young player. This person was not happy about being exploded by me, which is understandable. And, it turns out, he was an extremely new player - possibly even a day one or two player. Which is unfortunate. And I want to be as clear as I can be here - I 100% agree that it is unfortunate that I encountered this player. And of course he had zero chance of doing anything positive in a fight with me.
"If killing a new guy makes you feel accomplished, I feel sorry for you, 10 yr veteran."
That is a very common mistake that players make. And I understand they can be angry about losing their ships, especially when that experience is still new. It can be shocking and upsetting. But I can assure you that I take no pleasure or sense of accomplishment from killing new players. However, someone is going to kill you and it might as well be me.
The truth of the matter is that I have no idea who or what you are before we fight. No idea. Back in the olden days of Eve a character's age meant something and you could "Show Info" reliably and generally avoid engagements with newbs. That hasn't been the case in a very long time. New player accounts, alpha accounts, alts, and other forms of disinformation abound inside of Eve. This young player could have easily have been a bait account, a cyno account, or harboring a recon trap or much worse. I have no way of knowing this ahead of time. Zip.
So, let me set the stage for you. Deven has been a very busy system this week, abuzz with faction warfare ships of all shapes and sizes. Local is full of about 15-20 players and in constant motion. There are at least three gangs around that I know about at this moment. And the gate to Heyd is being camped just a single jump away over in Fliet. This is the situation I am operating within. There are a half-dozen plex open and one of them is full of about 10 ships all working together. I am solo in my Comet. I quickly notice that one of the other Comets on scan (there are three in total) has broken off from the main group and slid into a plex. I slide in behind him and engage. Sadly it turns out that he is also relatively young and, while I win the fight, it is not much of a fight. That is a bummer to me. I let his pod go.
Almost immediately afterwards I notice the Punisher on scan. A Punisher in a busy system is like a flashing warning beacon. Most often Punishers are used as tanky bait to buy time for the rest of the party to arrive. Remember there is still a significant gang operating in a nearby plex. These are all members of the same militia. The previous day I had lost my Comet to a very similar situation involving a Tristan. These things happen all the time. Even with all of that knowledge I still made the decision to engage. And I made quick work of the Punisher. Bummer. But unlike the Comet fight earlier, the Punisher did not warp his pod out and just sat there. So I pointed it and waited.
The "Wow fuck you man" opening of the convo decided his fate.
Earlier that day I had spent a good ten minutes in another convo with another younger player giving advice. I do this all the time. And in this case I also tried to do so, even though he wasn't having it.
Like I said yesterday, I don't know what to tell you. You are in a ship in my space and that makes you a target. The environment is actively trying to kill both of us. There is no legit way for me to know if you are truly a new player or just a shield for some other game being played. These days even young players can be skill injected into higher skills. That is the reality of where I play my game. And where you have to play as well. It's harsh, unfair, and challenging. It is Eve Online.
There are no free passes. Someone was going to kill you. It just happened to be me.
And that's 15 year veteran, thank you.