For those who don't know me I'm not a polished writer, I use to mercilessly troll CFC pilots, and from year to year I drop a Null Sec (0.0) focused blog poast so I'm cutting it close here. My poasts are usually a mixed bag of observations, questions, and discussion points designed mostly to help the English speaking 0.0 pilots (new and old) navigate the cesspool they "love" playing in. My poasts are usually a rough ride so you might need to re-read a few parts to piece my point together so I apologize in advance. All I ask is you leave your jaded in game 0.0 identity at the door and simply read this article as an EVE subscriber who spends your priceless free time "playing EVE", in one form or another, out in 0.0.
Historically EVE is known around the world for attracting smart, deceitful, aggressive, passionate, and creative people. I believe those players still exist in 0.0 but for "reasons", like salad dressing, has separated into its basic ingredients due to limited use.
With that said I'm going to set the table with a few common 0.0 quotes, along with their meaning, which could accurately describe todays 0.0 line pilots view of things:
• "EVE is more fun to talk about, than to play" (Because insert political reason here)
• "You win EVE by not logging in" (Aka fed up with the bull shit meta popularity pageant being more important than in game content)
• "Make playing EVE so miserable that they don't log in" (But that's just my in game roll-playing persona?)
• "We're not here to ruin the game, just your game" (You guys are dicks for not supporting a propaganda book about rubbing your face in shit)
• "I would cut of my nose to spite my face" (At this point I would rather let EVE die than let them take my stuff) took liberties with this one cuz it fits so well.
And my favorite - "The individual is smart but the mob is dumb"...., lazy, gullible, simple, and a heard of Kool-Aid drinking lemmings.........or are they???
For this game being known for attracting such smart players, why do the above statements seem to accurately describe many of todays 0.0 line pilots view of things and in many cases, CFC pilots? Why do so many CFC line pilots seem to accept these statements as the way 0.0 is and will be? Is it because TheMittani put limitless effort into jamming a "it's us against them" vitriolic narrative down their throats in order to create, and keep, a hate narrative running high among the line pilot player base yet does nothing to ever ease the tension and divide this creates. Instead the line pilot see their leader partying, twitching, and podcasting with the "enemies" while the line pilot is kept on a digi tight leash wondering what amount of in or out of game interactions with "our enemies" will cost them everything they've worked so hard to accomplish in game.
As much as none of us would want to admit it, the ties that bind us all is fear. Fear of crossing a arbitrary line and losing everything we have in, and possibly out, of this game.
• It's the fear that the socially awkward players have of losing the specific corp friends they've made around the world, who they may never meet in RL, but they have more of a connection on comms than many people they know out of game.
• It's the fear that the disabled (physically, mentally, etc.) players have of losing the support network that now resides within the walls of their own residence. Help is now a com click away where they get to laugh, joke, toast, enjoy movies, shows, and football games with their friends.
• It's the fear that the hard working "9to5" players have of losing pixel assets they've spent years of their free time behind a computer screen accruing, 9to5 money buying, or a combination of the two.
• It's the fear that the "EVE famous" players have of losing what makes them feel relevant in real life. For most of them they've reached the "cool kid" status we knew back in high school and this identity has become the soft foundation on which they have moved their RL self worth on to. These are the ones who fear TheMittani the most, need the status quo to remain, and will be the most aggressive to stop any change they don't control.
There are probably a few more categories but I think you get my point, can probably relate to one, and at the end of the day fear was at the root of the shit show which exploded across forums, podcasts, blogs, twitter, and websites this past week. The rage over someone monetizing players fears while holding them hostage has been building for years now but could not be clearly seen until the right combination of trolling unleash the beast.
This combination culminated with literally hundreds of EVE players fighting it out on Reddit in what I think ended up being a more important war than the Halloween or Fountain wars combined. First act was TheMittans propaganda book shitting its pants, next was Endies planned leak with Xander to get the ball rolling, then someone pushes Sion on stage to say something stupid, an internal PL fart goes off over money & coding, Mittanis long term extortion plan of the player base with Viceroys gets thrown on stage like a rubber chicken, and finally the show ends with the old TMC chief editor and new TMC chief editor having a purse fight between two threads. Meanwhile in game...... nothing of note for years now.
So troll or no troll what are EVE subscribers so bull shit about? Being led into another RMT circle jerk? Maybe some but I couldn't help but think their rage was about something else, something they were having a hard time articulating. For me the pieces of the forum rage wreckage weren't in the right order until I stepped back a bit and looked at it from another angle.......that of fear....and it started to take shape.
It starts with a head on collision with the fact that TheMittani makes a living in real life off the EVE player base in general. Whiplash occurs about the time you realize that the continued monetization of the entire 0.0 player base relies on the political status quo remaining stable and unchanged. As you recover you're then blindsided by the fact that the growth and continued success of this approach requires there be little to no risk ever taken, a overwhelming military response to negative change always at the ready, and a fabricated tribal vision of a "us against them" threat always said to be looming. Add one of the fears listed above and, again, the thing that's pissing the EVE community off is the tie TheMittani uses to bind us is our fear and he's been monetizing our fears for many years now. It's not "just a game"...it's an out of game business for TheMittani.
To elaborate on a legitimate fear of some EVE subscribers with characters in the CFC I would like to say to anyone who hasn't been evicted from null sec, its a fuck show you never to want to repeat. Lost assets, wasted time, as it takes a toll on your real life trying to hit alarm clock evac windows so you can get your shit out. In short its what historically killed Alliances, dissolved Corps, caused FCs to leave the game, and many pilots to never log in again. With that said many of the Alliance/Corp leaders who make up the CFC coalition have experienced this and the current status quo (because of this fear) ends up being the safest place for them to hole up in. Any who show signs of dissent know what will be coming.....
"Purge Dissent Quietly: Alliances are essentially dictatorial military organizations; those that are not tend to get crushed and eliminated by those who are. Organizations which allow completely open dissent invite disaster, as EVE is a game with a vibrant espionage metagame and sowing agent provocateurs to agitate against alliance leadership is a common tactic. Perhaps more dangerous than a hostile agent is the risk of former players who have become disenchanted with the game itself actively proselytizing about how your active players should quit EVE. In either case, dissent must be handled carefully; overt censorship or oppression invites further and louder opposition. It is wiser to simply eliminate the source of dissent - a ban or a kick - without any overt public demonstration or acknowledgement. Disappear them" - http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/spymaster/88
For those not in the CFC coalition you have at one time probably been tossed out of 0.0, don't want to deal with the cock sucking it takes these days to hold 0.0 SOV, but are now presented with a seemingly impenetrable wall over which "big content" now hides beyond reach. This is a frustrating position to be in when you're logging into a video game in which wars are the very foundation of which its been advertised, written about, and promoted for over 10 years now. It's bazar to think that the majority of the English speaking 0.0 player base you use to fight epic battles against are now saying they are "content" to simply not fight and make fun of you for wanting to.
So with all that said - If TheMittani was to be "disappeared" by the EVE 0.0 community what would change for the better? What would get worse?
This game use to be known for its player base being the most ruthless community of bastards ever to play an MMO but as we gained more friends and wealth we became more fearful of losing what we had inside and out of the game. This fear has been monetized and will continue to print money as long as you let it. CCP is giving 0.0 an enema with all new game changing features such as Citadel "Asset Safety Mechanics" so they're doing their job to adjust the fear factor of the game so why don't you folks do yours? Take this opportunity to reclaim your game, be the ruthless bastards, spy masters, or politicians you subscribed to this game to be.
Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness. - Wikipedia
Anywhoo.....I've always thought the situation in 0.0 was strange until this past week so it was nice to finally put an accurate description to it. Thanks to all you Reddit poasters down there and here's me sending all of you a tiny spark of hope and love on angels wings :))
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