The veterans are quitting Eve

You know, I've been seeing all this whinging and whining from all these Eve bloggers who are quitting because they don't like how Incarna seems to be turning out.

You know what? They're just the same as those whinging, crying carebears who don't like game mechanics being used against them and they want the game to be changed to suit them.

This is a game created by a company called CCP. It's their baby. How it turns out is, at the end of the day, entirely up to them.  The fact that they try to please the players (always a good thing), and even include a player-filled organisation to help them understand the needs of the players is an excellent thing.  It helps them improve their product so that they can get more people using it.

But ultimately, the business can do what the hell it likes with its product, that we pay for the privilege of using.

Regardless of what it does or doesn't have, or what is delivered or not delivered, it's still Eve Online.  These players who decide to quit because it's not turning out how THEY wanted it to turn out, all they do is remind me of spoiled little rich brats who throw a tantrum because they're not getting what they want.

Harden the fuck up.

Actually, no... stay soft. And stay gone. The rest of us who love this game don't need you hanging around in it, whinging about how it's not becoming the game you want it to be. This game is better without you, because there'll be less whinging in it.

Here we go again

A few months ago I wrote about carebears:

It's a game, and yet there are a lot of people who take it far too seriously. They treat this game as if what happens in it is so very, very important to their personal wellbeing and their life. They take in-game actions personally, as if people are threatening their very existence outside the game by what they do in the game.

and:

My belief is that people who rage in-game are people who rage out-of-game. If someone threatens to kill you as a result of what you do in-game, it really shows how stable they are in real life. That's right - they're unstable, to the point that they actually want to physically kill someone for doing something in a game.

and:

So we should do everything we can to bring that carebear rage out in these people, and point out to them that there are other things they could be doing with their time than spitting with rage at their computer screen. They could be sitting under a tree with their loved ones, having a picnic and watching their children playing in the park. That would be much better for them than playing a game that enrages them.

Well, someone is doing that, trying to bring that carebear rage out in people: How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways

I think he's doing an admirable job of bringing out that carebear rage in people, and I applaud his efforts.

But I do have one thing to talk about....

When you take the actions of the carebears so seriously that it causes you to rage as much as, if not more than, the carebears themselves, then all that happens is that you become a carebear too. You 'care too much' about them, to the point that it affects your own life, and your own game.

Helicity's gameplay has been influenced by anger and rage. And I don't think that's healthy.

Helicity says:

And now that I know I can piss you off with everything I do, and that you seethe in anger every time someone says “Hey man, cool event”. Now, I have an even better game. It’s making you miserable, it’s making you HAVE to be responsible for at least something in you miserable shitty life.

But Helicity, don't you think YOU have been pissed off with everything they do? Don't you think that YOU seethe in anger every time someone shows they're a carebear?

Helicity also says:

I don’t like people very much. This is not the reason I am a pirate in EVE however.

Really? I'm sorry, but I just don't believe you.

There's this really interesting thing about human nature - our true nature will become apparent when we are not held accountable for our actions, and what we do in the game is often a reflection of our out-of-game personalities. Helicity even said it himself:

...the carebear is repeating the motions of his mundane life...

He also said:

It’s not an optional thing, I will sit through fucking horrible movies JUST BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW. I will play terrible video games to see the ending. I voluntarily read the fucking Illiad.

And it is with this same interest, the same motivation of the child pulling the wings off the fly, that I pick at the psychology of the carebear.

It's fascinating to observe the choice of words being used, which, if you look just a little bit deeper than the surface, are signposts to truth.

Helicity has the same motivation as the child pulling wings off flies. I imagine it's because he wants to cause pain. Is it because he enjoys causing pain? Well, he says he's interested in it ("...it is with this same interest..."), so I guess so.

He also says:

Of course what I’m doing is not really evil or immoral, from where I sit, it’s still pixels on a screen. They have no value past the value people assign to it.

But he knows the result his actions has on people, and he even describes it as:

So I do horrible, immoral, evil shit to them just to hear the sound of their squeeling. I do comparative analysis of what kind of mocking or activity makes them the maddest, I want to see what name to call their mother in reply to their hatemail to get the best rage-filled rant in my mailbox.

He contradicts himself... He says what he's doing is not evil, but then describes what he does as evil and immoral. And since he knows the real-life effect he has on people in the game, he chooses to act in such ways for the real-life results he gets.

So after reading Helicity's rant, I have to say I'm in agreement with him. Carebears need to stop raging about the game going against them. It's just a game after all.

But in the same rant I can see exactly what kind of person Helicity is. And I can understand why he says:

...I socialize with various “scumbags” in EVE on a daily basis...

Which leads me to ask, who else but 'scumbags' would happily fly or associate with Helicity?

Helicity, you've been Punished. :)