Ice Mining, Lurkers, CSM and no, Eve is not going to die...

I decided with this blog to I pick apart the things I see differently from not only from CCP but other bloggers and pod casters as well. Here are what I consider a few of this weeks highlights.

1. First we start off with the blog This is how Eve dies, with a whimper by Rixx Javix on Mar 4, 2013. He states the following:
   
   "People are arguing over consensual and non-consensual PvP in every area of Eve. Including high-sec for goodness sake. I've got news for those engaging in such mealy mouthed debates, you are not expressing a viable opinion - you are feeding the beast of apathy. There is NO debate between consensual and non-consensual PvP! You log into Eve and you are agreeing to participate. Simple. You want to avoid PvP? Don't play."
   
   My answer to this is is very simple. Eve has been this way since the very beginning of it. Nothing has changed at all. People don't log onto eve just to PvP. I have been playing since beta, I have multiple accounts and last I knew Eve was a sandbox.
   
   If you want to check the following websites for statistics here are a few:
   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Online
   
   http://eve-offline.net/
   
   Ten people explode every minute in Eve Online. 604 people explode every hour. 14,502 people explode every day. In total, more than 21 million people have exploded at the hands of NPCs and other players since CCP added the kill report system on December 5, 2007.
   
   A weekend of epic destruction in eve online Feel free to use Google to find more :-)
   
   Final thought on this blog? Stop creating another "is Eve dying" post and stop telling people how to play the game! I think this is the best time to EVER play Eve!
2. EVE Stratics has an interview from CSM8 candidates Malcanis, Marc Scaurus, Trebor Daehdoow, and Nathan Jameson.  If your into anything about the elections there is some information there. You decide if it is important to you.
3. Jester has a quote that I is worth posting about. It is a good blog if you have the time to read it. I quoted a few parts of it to comment on.
   
   "The most egregious problem with mining in general and ice-mining in particular is how unengaging it is.  Trust me, if I do get to Iceland it's something that's going to come up -- I don't care if CCP already knows"
   
   and one more quote from that post:
   
   "Having been in mining ops myself, I can tell you the only bearable way to do it is to make it a social activity, and that's what I recommend here"
   
   and
   
   "The simplest way to make yourself a hard target and deflect gankers onto the other guy is with cooperative tactics.  As long as you can find people you trust and can share the overall output of a mining op, there's no reason why you can't (and shouldn't) support your mining op with a few support ships.  The best first ship to add is a Scythe."
   and then later he talks about a Scorpion as well. Here are my thoughts and rants...
   
   First, some of us LIKE the fact that Ice Mining is unengaging. It allows us to play eve while AFK or even blogging. Here is a screen shot of with Eve on my left screen and blogging on the right screen.

CCP developed this type of game play because it also fits a needs of player base in the game. The "lurker" class in Eve. Not exclusively as you mentioned in your article. How do I know this? Well ALL of the people in my corporation play the game this way. MOST of the people in our Alliance that mine also play the game this way. We are not the largest Corp or Alliance by any means BUT we are also not just a few people here and there.

In other words Jester, there are just as many of us are there are as many of "you" and another difference is that the Lurkers stay quite and just play the game since that is what they are content with. They do not feel the game is broken in this aspect at all. I can go into greater detail in this if anyone wishes but that will be in a different blog.

ok, on to the next quote from Jester, he says that the only way to make mining bearable is to make it social. Here I have to disagree again. I can quote THIS website to show you a real world example of way his quote is off center. Go take a look at the website and when you return I'll be waiting. Click HERE if you want listening music :-)

WB (welcome back)

I think that this show, Gold Rush, helps illustrate my point fairly well. There is one 3 person team on that show that reminds me somewhat of my own corporation GetCo. The other "teams" in that show to me represent the other corporations that I also know that make up our alliance.

Starting to see MY viewpoint yet?

Even though there are a lot of people in this show, they all operate in their own little groups and work at how to obtain what they want, which in this case is Gold. In Eve, for us, and for this example, is Ice.

Now if you want to go back in history a little bit we can look at the California Gold Rush and see that it is the same then as it is now. It attracted the miners even though they knew it was not going to be easy and that they could even possibly die from. This is what changed their lives back then.

and this is what has done it for Eve Online now. All one has to do is look at "The Big Picture" to see the similarities. A good solo miner can make good ISK with multiple accounts. Get several people together to mine together and you don't increase those profits. You SPLIT them. So seeing hundreds of miners mining together is never going to happen. Seeing small groups like you do now is how it will always remain. Make sense?

4. Finally this week we finish up with what I would consider a very good article with insight over at Merchant Monarchy that tells everyone "Eve is not a PvP Game" and my favorite quote out of that blog is:

"The vast majority of Eve players who call themselves PvPers are really nothing more than risk averse gank farmers and bullies preying on the weak"

I have often thought along those lines about a good portion of the griefers and gankers that us miners have to deal with. It is good to see someone else at least putting in writing how they feel. Now what is going to be done about it?

Please add your comments below while I go get another beer...