Shadow of Cerberus EVE Community Forum

COTW: What's changed?

Obviously, the comments have already started coming in on my two introductory posts about the culture of EVE Online. And trust me: there are more posts coming. But an anonymous commenter brought up a really good question that I want to address. I quote his comment in full (it's worth a read):

So... where'd this strange moralistic streak come from? Eve's always been this kind of game. Ganking, theft, and betrayal have been glorified ever since the early days, with Guiding Hand Social Club setting the pace. It's kind of notable that a new player can get killed and scammed out of hundreds or thousands of dollars in formerly-real-money assets. Even so, worse then that has been perpetrated and applauded for nearly a decade. There are many Eve players who got involved after hearing about GHSC, even years after the fact. You seem a little old to be just now realizing that there are sharks in these waters, but I haven't heard you complain like this before. What's changed?

What's changed? The intensity level, that's what's changed.

Bringing up the GHSC assassination/theft draws several really interesting parallels with recent events in EVE. That plot, which took place in 2005, was a year in the making. Over the course of its success, 20 billion ISK in items were stolen and 30 billion ISK in ships were destroyed. The plot was made public, but it was made quite clear that it was all business: it was a contract executed after GHSC had been paid to do so. There were no personal feelings in the matter and even though the plot was public knowledge and covered in the gaming press, the target was not made to feel humiliated.(1) And though thousands of people joined EVE after this plot hoping to execute something like this themselves one day, the majority of the actual EVE population at the time roundly condemned GHSC's actions, calling them "contemptible" and "disgusting." "I hope you rot in your own filth," one commenter declared.

Compare and contrast to the recent Raven Navy Issue ganking:

• The value lost and the value taken in the initial gank were both about the same.
• The amount of work needed was a laughable fraction of that needed by GHSC, a couple of days work at most.
• The victim was then personally targeted for even further loss and humiliation, more than doubling the size of the GHSC plot.
• The target was roundly and publicly humiliated.
• The majority of the EVE population who have heard about this have cheered the action.

While there are a few people out there using words like "contemptible" and "disgusting" to describe this more recent scam, I daresay they're not the majority.

So yeah. There have been a few changes in EVE's culture in the intervening nine years.

It used to be that a juicy target was suicide ganked, and that was enough.

Then it used to be that a juicy target was suicide ganked, a few sarcastic or insulting things were written in the kill board comments which almost nobody read, and that was enough.

Then it used to be that a juicy target was ganked, a few sarcastic or insulting comments were written in the kill board comments, a story was written about the gank somewhere, and that was enough.

Then it used to be that a target was ganked, sarcastic or insulting comments were written in the kill board comments, the victim was interviewed and made to feel embarrassed, a story was written about the gank somewhere, and that was enough.

Then it used to be that a target was ganked, many sarcastic or insulting comments were written in the kill board comments, the victim was interviewed and made to feel embarrassed, a story was written about the gank somewhere, other EVE players sent in-game mails or attempted to contact the victim and would try to get a rise out of him for their own personal jollies, and that was enough.

And now it's that a target is ganked, many insulting comments are written in the kill board comments, the victim is interviewed and publicly humiliated, a story is written about the gank on a website that gets tens of thousands of visitors, other EVE players send in-game mails or attempt to contact the victim and try to get a rise out of him for their own personal jollies, they look into his past losses looking for other embarrassing stories to tell, and they or others try to scam him into even more humiliating losses... and that isn't enough.

Seriously... you can ask me what's changed? Isn't it obvious? And where does it end?

Thanks for the comments, everyone! Keep 'em coming!


(1) Matter of fact, test yourself: without looking it up, who was the target of this plot?
Source: COTW: What's changed?