Just a bit of a brief explanation, in case anyone cares.
In my fantasy land of EVE Online, pirates aren't just pilots who run around in frigates looking to gank ratters or miners in losec belts. They don't just sit on hot losec gates in instalock canes popping noobs who turned on "shortest" autopilot.
Don't get me wrong, they do these things. But they do (or they did) much more. Pirates hunted the losec systems of EVE for lucrative haulers (who used to exist), for hisec mission runners attempting to run the rare losec mission, or small fleets running LV Missions. Pirates felt like they owned certain constellations, or systems, and made it their mission to hunt down anyone who dared enter their territory.
They didn't just shoot each other, or the foolish random pilot. They hunted Faction Warriors (they didn't join FW). They might have even occasionally roamed into hisec for the terror of a mining fleet gank (not a random one, a full-blown operational gank).
To be fair, I haven't seen a lot of pirates in losec lately. I see solo hunters, I see groups who are more like the mafia than a pirate corp. Not that there is anything wrong with either of those things. But they aren't pirates. If you are calling yourself a pirate, take a look at the historical (and modern) pirate, and ask if that's what you are doing. Because if you aren't, you shouldn't bother calling yourself a pirate. Also, just because you live in losec, have a -5.0 or lower sec status, and you shoot people, that's not really piracy either. Just saying'....
I have always identified myself as an anarchist rather than pirate.
ReplyDeleteHaving followed you for some time as a secret stalker, that doesn't surprise me.
DeleteI think you are correct, but that is the nature of the sandbox... There is little to no incentive for the definition of piracy that you describe. Well, except for me, dumb luck lost me a hauler, but I was killed by Militia on a gate camp rather than honest pirates :-p
ReplyDeleteI think there *used* to be incentive to be a "pirate" in that way. But that's EVE of the past. You still see pirates who ransom ships and/or pods, so they are out there, but anymore the title is a catchall for PvPers living in losec with sec status issues.
DeleteI agree. I believe the concept of a Pirate, with almost a touch of RP and e-honor existed at one point... but the Eve Landscape has become so meta that I think that notion has all but been replaced by events like Hulkageddon and stuff like Zedrik Cayne's IEEE forum tales of preying upon the stupid.
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