rat n. (rat)
1. Any of various long-tailed rodents resembling mice but larger, especially one of the genus Rattus.
2. Any of various animals similar to one of these long-tailed rodents.
Slang
3. A despicable person, especially one who betrays or informs upon associates.
4. A scab laborer.
Eve Online
5. The name given to NPC pirates who roam the asteroid belts of the Eve Online world, placed there by game developers entirely to keep the game lively enough so asteroid miners will not slip into a coma.
One of the more irritating (or exciting I guess depending on your viewpoint) game mechanics in Eve Online is the Corporate War. When one corporation (read “guild” for all you World of Warcraft players out there) declares “war” on another then players from both sides are open season – and no where in the game is safe from PvP (even the normally secure 1.0 space). Upon my return to the Eve Online Universe, I soon found myself in a corporation which was part of a much larger alliance; and that alliance now finds itself in a corporate war.
In this particular case its a corporation of griefers who declare war on a random corporations they feel they can win against, and move on at the end of the week. Oh yes, I am sure they all told themselves that a primarily industrial alliance (ok, ok, I admit it, we have a pvp arm) would be an easy target. There is, however, one factor they did not count on…
Patience.
If there is one thing a group of miners have that is patience. Patience is what we do. As one member of the corporation put it, “all miners do is sit in astroid belts, shuffle ore from one place to the next and hope the rats show up soon.” It appears that the organization of griefers are hoping to sit outside space stations in Eve hoping to either a.) out wait us all, or b.) hope those players with jump clones are too stupid to use them. The whole event reminds me of the moment in the recent movie League of Extraordinary Gentleman where Sean Connery, as Allan Quartermain, exclaims “And that makes you sweat?…This is Africa, sweating is what we do!”
So, message to corp that war dec’d us: Try not to grow too old trying to out wait us.
And with that, I present you with a recent, and very funny exchange, between corporate members as one explains to us all how to “insta-undock” over chat, and suddenly encounters NPC pirates mid-conversation. It is a little something we call “shit - rats”.
Julie > Is there any way I am not aware of to undock while cloaked?
Al> Can’t. Best bet is make a fast undoc spot from your station.
Julie> whats that?
Dawn > explain that, that is good lesson
Al > just a sec
Dawn > in fact we should practice it
Julie > too long…no more secs
Al> Ok. Leave your station, touch nothing…don’t steer. Let ship get out about 200k and make a bookmark called fast undock.
Julie> 
Al> To use, undock, and as soon as…shit, rats
Dawn > lol
Starky > ok, wait, I undock, then I shit rats?
Julie> then shit rats?
Dawn > roflmao
Dawn > nice one Al
Starky > and that keeps me from getting podded?
Julie > a brick I can see but rats?
Starky > so, the rats fly out through space and confuse the missle guidance?
Dawn > it does because the hunter thinks your a nut job
Starky> like chaff?