After once again being berated by a victim of mine in chat today, I thought it was time for some truth bombs some of you are not going to like to hear. I don't think twice about shooting young players. In fact, I don't even think once about it. If you are in space and in a situation, ship, and location in which I can engage you - I will engage you.
There is no way in-game for me to know ahead of time if you are a new player, a veteran player, or a veteran player's new alt they are using to generate income and who is strangely well-fitted and experienced for their age. I know I could sit around and look up everyone in locals "Show Info" screens, and then log that information onto a spreadsheet, look them up on zKill, coordinate the data, and then figure out who to attack. Oh wait, local changed in that ten minutes. I've even been told there are apps available that might help me do this. But I don't use them. Nor will I ever use them.
I don't own a magical Noob Detector device. And I wouldn't use one if I did. It doesn't matter to me. You are in space and in a ship, you are fair game. I might discover after our fight that you are a young player and I might reach out to you to suggest changes, encourage you, or even give you ISK to help replace the ship you lost. I do that quite often. Almost every day. But I won't do it if you are going to yell at me and try to make me feel bad about the victory I just scored. Because I don't feel bad. Ever.
Today's incident involved a Cormorant and I was in my trusty Comet. I've lost fights to Cormorants before. It's rare, but it happens. Earlier in the day I had a nasty tooth and nail fight with a younger player in a Tristan. Darn thing nearly killed me. And that rarely happens. I'm risking my ship when I engage. There was a couple of Cruisers on scan at the time, will those be coming along to help a friend? Maybe. Eve is complicated and the environment is always hostile, especially to me. I'm flashing, suspect, red, and often have a nasty skull blinking in local. I'm a -10 criminal, shoot-on-sight, without repercussions. You can shoot me on a Gate or Station and NOT get gate/station guns. I don't have time to make deep dives into every pilot's background, history, and inclination. I act.
It's not personal. But I'm not changing my play style for you. I see a ship. I attack. It really is that simple. And yes, you are often not a very good fight. But I only know that afterwards. Until then, what the heck do I know? Do you have any idea how often supposedly noob players are used as bait? Or how often they are the alts of a much, much older player? It happens all the time. All the time. Later in the day today I was in a system with two other players. One was a veteran 2011 player and one was a younger 2025 player. One was inside a Medium Advanced in a Catalyst Navy Issue, the other one was strangely not on scan. And yes, there being only two players I checked their Show Info. Obviously that veteran player was inside that Med Adv in a combat recon. That is what I have to deal with on a daily basis.
Eve is harsh. It is unforgiving. And it is insanely awesome. It is extremely difficult to be a young player in New Eden. I get it and I will help as much as I can, when I can. I write guides, I make Tutorials, and I will often give advice right on the spot. But I can't help once I have you locked and scrammed. At that moment you and I are locked in a deadly dance to see who will survive, and I want to survive. I want to win that fight. Especially against a much younger player.
I'm not out looking to fight younger players. And here is the harsh truth about this - young players get killed because they suck at Eve. A more veteran player would have gotten safe when they saw me enter local, or caught my Comet on their d-scan sitting outside their plex. They would have avoided the fight. You didn't. You make mistakes. You mine in Ouelletta. You run missions in Low Sec. You aren't checking your d-scan. You are afk. Whatever it happens to be, you aren't doing it right. And those mistakes are going to get you killed. Period. Hopefully, you will learn and get better. And I'm on your side here, I really do want you to get better. I want everyone to be good at Eve.
I didn't intend to write so much and I've probably said all of this before somewhere in these pages. But I really am getting tired of being yelled at. I'm a pirate. This is all I do. I warp around, shoot people in the face, and hopefully win more than I lose. And I am insanely good at it.
And that is your goal. Git gud. Or die trying.
Comments