Piracy Shouldn't Be So Easy

I've been running level 3 missions for the last several days, and I'm just loving the fit I'm using, even though I've still got a bit more than six days before I can install those Tech 2 Armor Hardeners.

One interesting difference I've noticed about the missions I'm doing now and the ones I was doing just before I left the game two years ago is that many level 3 agents now offer missions that take you into low-sec. On the one hand, I think it's a great idea for CCP to do more to encourage players to enter low and no sec areas, but on the other hand, it's also a great benefit to pirates who just sit at the gates in well-traveled low-sec systems like Egghelende and pick off noobs as they enter or leave.

As a player who's well-experienced in dealing with pirates (though not as much in actually winning those battles), I always check my star map to see how many recent ship kills there are in a low-sec system the agent wants to send me to before I accept a mission. If I find it too much of a risk (last time I was offered a mission going to Egghelende I checked and found that 15 ships had been destroyed there in the last hour), I just decline or delay the mission.

The problem is that it seems that the pirates really don't care, they're just always sitting there because they know that a significant number of noobs will not know to check the star map before entering a low-sec system. Even if experienced pilots like me who know better just avoid the system until we know (or at least have good reason to believe based on the evidence) that the pirates have left the system, there are more than enough players who will jump in anyway, either because they don't check the map first or because they may foolishly believe their uber-fit ship can take them on.

While I've always believed that if you let your ego overshadow your common sense in this game it's going to end up costing you bigtime in the long run, I also believe that piracy, while permitted within the game, shouldn't be this easy.

From a common sense perspective, it makes sense to me that CONCORD should be just as aggressive toward those flagged as criminals in low-sec as they are in high-sec. In real world terms, the way it is now makes about as much sense as the police showing up to deal with crime in affluent areas but ignoring crimes committed in poorer areas of the same jurisdiction. We have, of course, seen the real-world results of such policing and they are the same as in EvE: When the police are not a significant presence in those areas the crime rate goes up, as criminals come out of hiding and become more aggressive.

Please note that this is not an argument against piracy in EvE. I used to feel that way, but I've come to accept piracy as a valid part of the game. My problem here is that CONCORD does not confront and deal with piracy in a way that makes any sense for a truly competent police force, certainly not one charged with protecting as large a jurisdiction as empire space in EvE.

In my opinion, low-sec piracy should carry significantly more risk for pirates than it actually does. While I accept piracy as part of the game, I don't accept that the risk involved should be as one-sided as it currently is. A realistic police force would check those low-sec gates and systems regularly and confront those who appear to be in the area to commit crimes. A real police force would not simply ignore areas where muggers are known to wait for victims, and neither should CONCORD.

My suggestion here would be for CCP to institute a mechanic where a CONCORD fleet would appear in these systems at irregular intervals to engage and eliminate any criminally-flagged ships that happen to be there. My reasoning on this is that by making these appearances random pirates would be taking a real risk by simply hanging out near low-sec gates and waiting to pick off ships just to pad their kill-boards. There would still be a very real risk to players entering these systems because CONCORD would still not be a constant presence, but the fact that they might show up at any given time would help to discourage long-term pirate gate-camping and at least allow the possibility that missions and other reasons to travel into low-sec would be less likely to be discarded out of hand because a player doesn't want to risk her 70 million ISK mission-running battlecruiser in a low-sec system to gain a million ISK reward payout.

CCP has said that they want to encourage more players to get into low-sec and 0.0. That's something I strongly agree with, but I think if there's to be a hope of that actually happening, there has to be a lot more effort made by CCP in making low-sec and 0.0 more accessible to newer and less potent players. As it is now, the game discourages those interests because players know that pirates run wild and completely unchecked outside of high-sec. On the other side of the coin, pirates know that they have nothing to fear from CONCORD unless they attempt to go into high-sec and so that encourages more piracy because it's so lucrative and relatively low-risk. As long as the pirates field a fleet that is effective against most of the ships which venture into low-sec, it will continue to be a faucet of low-risk profits that will prove attractive to more and more players, and thus encourage more low-sec piracy.

In my opinion, if CCP does nothing to address this there will eventually come a point where almost no one wants to risk venturing outside of high-sec anymore because the risk is so great. New players and those who'd like to explore low-sec and 0.0 will find those areas of the game effectively inaccessible because every access to those areas is camped by pirates. That's when players will become disillusioned and bored with the game, and leave for greener pastures. At that point, EvE will become a game where low-sec and 0.0 are only really accessible to those able to travel with large enough fleets to discourage pirate attacks, those who are already members of large corps or those who have a lot of in-game friends who are willing to escort them.

To me, that would be the very worst possible outcome for this game. Wormholes are an inventive way of circumventing this reality for some, but for new, solo, or inadequately-equipped players they're really of little or no value in terms of circumventing piracy.

CCP needs to address this problem, and they need to do it now, before it gets worse than it already is. EvE is a game that has a lot of correlations to real life in terms of how things happen and the results. It's time CCP injected a little of that realism into the way CONCORD does its job and in the risks criminals take in committing crimes.

Unless CCP is comfortable with the idea of low-sec and 0.0 becoming the virtually exclusive domain of the most wealthy and powerful corps and pirates, it's high time they do what they have to in order to open up these areas to the rest of the player base. No doubt much bitching and moaning will ensue, but it's really the only way to ensure that EvE will be able to not only gain but also hold on to new players over the long term. Regardless of whether you're a pirate, a noob victim, or anything in-between, encouraging more new and middle-range players to participate in and stay with EvE should be a goal every player can get behind. It's good for the game, it's good for CCP, and it's good for the players.

To my way of thinking, it's just a no-brainer. First and foremost on every agenda, CCP's, the players, anyone who cares about this game, is to do everything possible to keep EvE fresh, interesting, and welcoming to everyone, especially to new players who wish to join us. Hopefully, this, if nothing else, is something we can all agree on.