I’m pretty well known for my loud mouth and brashness, but man oh man, the way people play EVE sometimes makes it oh so difficult to keep things PG.
For example, look at the Hulkageddon leaderboard right now, go on, look. Did you see that?
That right there is 2100+ people that are (in the context of the game) quite literally too stupid to live. Hulkageddon is not new, it is in fact quite old. 4 years we’ve been doing this, months we spend broadcasting our intent on every medium that will give me the time of day.
And still there is 2100+ idiots that get their socks blown off. How does this even happen?
The answer must lie in the nature of these players. There are various possible reasons I can think of but it boils down to one of these:
- They are non- or antisocial players that do not participate in the community at all.
- They live by the rule of “I’m sure it’ll only happen to the other guy”.
- They are social but oblivious to the news.
The former two of that list qualify, in my book, in the category of “really fucking stupid” in a sandbox pvp MMO. The latter is more peculiar; EVE has a very lively blogging community a very active news site and forums that cover everything from current events to bad jokes.
You basically need to be purposefully attempting not to be up to date in order to be a victim of Hulkageddon.
This somewhat mirrors the real world of course; sticking your head in the sand is in no way new behaviour. It remains a pretty dumb thing to do however, just like in the real world , events do not care if you know they are occuring to affect you.
EVE is a game where knowledge and social behaviour trumps personal skill and in-game assets in most cases. He who has good friends has people to back him up in a fight, has people that alerts him to potential profit or danger.
Those who read the news make profits off current events, and most importantly, don’t get blown up by goonswarm in Jita like a toolbag.
Those who put in effort to learn about the game they are playing do not fit their phoenix and raven like this (though I suspect some shady isk dealings are behind this guy’s fortune).
Take myself as an example: I am not a masterful player like Garmon or Will Adama, nor am I likely to ever be able to match their vast raw talent. But because I put forth the effort to find like-minded players, and because I read and try to learn about the virtual world around me, even a TERRIBLE pilot like myself can achieve a very decent ranking and a 30:1 kill/death ratio. EVE is a game that is played foremost with the mind, and as a distant second with your fingers.
In nature, mankind rose to prominence by developing tools, but even more so by developing it’s social nature. Having a culture, having a pack, meant being alerted to dangerous predators and to unite the strength of the individual members of the tribe. Being a solitary human meant death.
Humans have this odd habit of thinking themselves above all these natural principals, it’s a bad habit, because in EVE the wolves are always at your heels, and they don’t care if you’re in the dark woods or the middle your peasant town.
In New Eden, I am the predator. And the non-social and uninformed are my prey, I will devour them; Flesh, skin and tasty bones.
