Walling up the Bullies

In the North of England there was a massive wall known as “Hadrian’s Wall.” It was begun in 122 A.D. during the rule of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Built as a defense of the Northern Boarders of the Roman Empire, it spanned much of the border lands between Scotland and England. History said it was meant as a defense against the Scottish.  But Scots, like my great grandparents know better. It wasn’t meant to keep us out. Oh no…

It was meant to keep us in

(O.K. my ancestors not me)

And so it is with the border in Eve Online between high security and low security space.  If you come upon a gate that enters on to low security space and attempt to use it, you will get a pop up window warning you of the danger and asking you if you want to proceed.

For me, the answer was not always “NO.”

Yesterday Tobold wrote an entry on his site entitled Bullies in the Sandbox. As always, he is entertaining whether or not you agree with him. Here is a quote:

“Much is being made of EVE being a sandbox game, but in reality the new players are just playing in the dirt on the outskirts of the playground. The sandbox with the fine sand and the nice toys is occupied by bullies, and if you even get close they are going to beat you up and kick you out.” – Tobold

The reason this touched a never for me is that it is an issue that is, at this moment, being debated in the corporation (read guild for all you World of Warcraft  players out there) of which I am a part.  As our regular readers know, the alliance of which our corporation is a part was recently “War Dec’d” by a small mercenary corporation.  Basically means is this brings all the problems the lawless 0.0 security space to every place in the game for both corporations. I am happy to report that the “war” is over.  How did we do it? We bored them into submission.  As I have said before, never try and outwait a miner – waiting is what we do.

Now, however, the same alliance that so kindly got us involved in a war has decided to move their operations out to same, said lawless environs with the intent of dragging the rest of the member industrial corps with them. To put it in terms related to Tobold’s article, the alliance wants to go out and try to bully the bullies.  Now that may not be their initial intent, but as the old adage goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. After all, It’s hard (and hideously expensive) to try and create a foothold in the lawless lands of low security space when player corporation already there, in numbers closely resembling the armies of Genghis Khan, can roll over you without much of a thought.  And so the stage is set

Climbing the Wall

Watch one of the Eve Online trailers some time.  A quick viewing will often show players in vast fleets screaming at each other across the reaches of virtual space in titanic battles.  What the beginning player doesn’t realize before they get involved is just how difficult it is to grab a piece of that particular action. Oh, you can fly one of the small frigates that hurl themselves at the enemy. Such players, known as tacklers (they keep the enemy from warping away) usually have the life expectancy measured in seconds. But what about all those big ships you see in the trailer blazing away at each other? It will be months before you can even fly those, let alone be able to survive in one.  Yes, if the learning curve in Eve Online is steep, trying to scale the wall into fleet battles will take a jet propelled grappling hook.

But that’s the way it is in all established mmos.

Any mmo that has been around awhile will have its veteran players.  Any new players in those games always face some sort of a barrier to entry, even if it is just the leveling time necessary to reach a competitive level – Eve Online is no different.  This does not mean, however, that you have to have infinite patience and vast sums of money to enjoy the game.  Not all the “fine sand and nice toys” are taken by the bullies.  What many new players don’t realize is just how easy all those toys belonging to all those bullies break –and break they do.  Life in the lawless regions of low security space, especially for those who are involved in those big fleet battles, is hideously expensive.  Ask any veteran of such corps; it’s like a full time job.

 And what about those high security space toys? One of those toys is a freighter. These are the behemoths you see plying the space lanes. Expensive? You bet. Got a few extra bucks? You can trade dollars for isk as along as you follow CCP’s rules.  And there is a reason that you can’t train to fly one on a trial account…because it take about that long to learn to fly one.

So while there may be some game mechanics, like corporate wars, that occasionally allow the bullies back into high security space, by and large the wall between high security space and low security space is there for the same reason that the Roman’s build Hadrian’s Wall…

To keep the bullies in.