BB37: A long answer and a short answer

Banter original post is here



The latest EVE Blog Banter's topic is, in effect, "at what point should in-game stuff going out-of-game stop?" (check the link above for a full summary).

My short answer: when the other guy starts getting upset in real life (beyond "oh damn, I lost a ship").

My long answer...well it's not an answer as such, more of a comment...might not even fit the topic that well.
...
RAMBLING OVER.

In EVE, shit happens. It's a cold harsh universe. Deal with it.

That's pretty much the official EVE tagline. It's true. Also true is that some people take it beyond that. They stop being borderline-psychopathic mass murderers in a fictional universe where that's an everyday thing, and start being raging douchebags among a horde of other raging douchebags, out to extract as many real tears (or complaints, etc.) from anyone who isn't a raging douchebag, as they can. And enjoy it.

That's crossing the line, in my opinion.

EVE has, many times, been represented (via its "sandbox" nature) as an actual sandbox. In this sandbox, kids (players) are free to do whatever they like with the sand. For the purposes of my version of this, normal EVE gameplay is some kids building sandcastles, and other kids with, let's say, toy tanks, laying siege to those castles, and maybe some kids stealing sand or toys off each other.

In this analogy, people crossing the line are the ones who, instead of knocking down the castles with their tanks ("normal" warfare, with an in-character objective such as resources, or factional warfare), just piss all over them and laugh when everyone else is disgusted and upset. Or maybe they steal a toy, knock down another kid with it, then teabag them.


But then, that's just my opinion.


As this is an EVE Online post, references to it should be credited to Jace Errata.