/* RANT!

 If I ever got the alliance leadership bug again, which I most likely won't.. but if I did the alliance would have exactly six rules. Honestly I think six is too many but it was hard to boil it down any further. These are listed in order from most important to least important:

 1) We are nobody's bitch
 2) Don't  be a bitch to other alliance members
 3) Don't be stupid
 4) Don't shoot blues
 5) If you pirate someone and they agree to pay a ransom you HAVE to keep your side of the bargain.
 6) Everything else is just guidelines

 Now I really want to talk about rule number one... Why in goddamn hell would you play a computer game to be to be some other alliances little bitch? What do I mean by this? They tell you where to go and live, what you can and can't do, who your friends and enemies are, and who or what you are shooting.

 In the modern real word we all have to get along, and to do that we have to accept all sorts of things we hate. Bosses who treat you in a degrading manner, jerks who let their dog shit all over your yard, old ladies who think they are protected enough to yell at you from their front porch -and these are just the little things. In every one of these situations you have to take the high road and accept their poor behavior. In fact, they know they can get away with acting so bad exactly because most of us are socialized and decent enough to not walk over and snap their neck. When you think about it, these asshats are depending on the good will of others just so they can turn around and treat those same people like shit.

 In Eve you don't have to accept this bullshit. If someone acts like an asshole you can lay plans to kill them and take their stuff. Even if you don't have the time or inclination for a planned killing you can just tell them where to stick it and kill them if the opportune moment comes. This is part of what makes Eve fun. So why in the hell would anyone, let alone a whole damn alliance willingly subject themselves to degrading subservience? To get better rocks to mine? To make more isk? To build bigger ships? Perhaps they are thinking "Hey, maybe if we keep our head down and do what we're told we can become a big dawg like our masters!" This shit is pathetic.

 Just like in RL, if you want to play with the big boys you have to earn respect. And you do that through experience, skill, cunning, and diplomacy -not through being someone's lap dog. I'd take 100 competent pilots over 1000 scrubs who just want to mine any day and don't know shit about how to fight or survive in 0.0. Why? Because at the first sign of trouble the latter is going break down like a crack whore who can't hit the pipe.

 One final note. I have in the past been part of leadership which offered other alliances the ability to be "our bitch". Our offerings were of a small scale -pay us a few hundred million to move your freighters through space safely, be set blue for 1 week, etc. But make no mistake, as the deal was made and we collected I was laughing to myself and thinking "You sorry assed little bitches."


 RANT END! */

Risk Bad!!! Boring Good???

So good old Jester wrote his post on Dumbing Up. It always surprises me how him and I think about similar things. In any case, my response was long enough I posted it here:

 In his previous post he brought up the general reduction of stupidity in Low Sec/0.0 . While he has a point, I also think he is missing a factor which has been building up for a while and threatens to pose a serious problem to Eve. That is the PLEX.

 Players are highly risk averse because losing a ship, and now implants can easily cost 4 to 5 hundred million that not only hurts your wallet, but is posted for all to see. This is the equivalent of losing $20.

 Worse yet, looking at the amount of PLEX passing through Jita alone it is obvious the "have nots" of Eve are using this system for cash injections. Who wants to spend 20$ just to lose it in PvP? My guess is PLEX prices will continue to rise, item prices will follow, aversion to risk will become dangerously low. Why should I risk anything when I can just buy a PLEX to fit my CNR and grind out free isk all day?

 I didn't understand this until it struck me how many players take pride in simply accumulating virtual crap in a virtual world. They don't play the game to challenge themselves against others, or react to situations differently then social rules dictate you can in modern society. They play Eve to accumulate shit and feel good about themselves. Spending $20 just to lose it doesn't make you feel good about yourself. Especially if you're god awful at PvP and aren't really interested in getting better. To me this style of play is terribly boring, but to each their own pitiful existence.
 
 Also, on another note, Eve being a niche game is part of what has kept it alive so long. If CCP ever thinks they can or should compete with the likes of WoW, AoC,  or the other content based theme park MMOs it spells the beginning of the end. This is course has nothing to do with simplifying item names, which is a good thing. (Read the linked posts to see what this pertains to.)

 MJ