A conversation, led by the literary pugilist Poetic Stanziel and fiction champion Rhavas, has been rumbling in the bowels of the blogosphere for a few days now. Due to popular demand, for posterity and for the attentions of CCP Sisyphus of Team Player Experience, I have been asked to envelop this discussion into a Blog Banter. The community has spoken and so Drackarn has provided the following question:
"The local chat channel provides EVE players with an instant source of intel of who is in the system. With a quick glance you can tell who is in system and what your standings are to them. War targets, hated enemies, friends and corp mates all stand out clearly. Is this right? Should we have access to this intel for free with no work or effort? Should the Local chat channel even exist? Should normal space be more like wormhole space where the Local channel appears empty until someone speaks?"
So there you have it. Banter On.
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I love how conversations keep going around the blogosphere in cycles and every new blogger thinks they are the first to have the conversation, ignoring those of us who covered all this before. ;-) OK, OK, grumpy old blogger aside, its nice to have fresh views on things and get more mechanic ideas. But I'm in favour of simply delayed local in null sec like what we have in wormholes.
Specifically, February 16, 2012: Delayed Local In Null Sec - Its Time:
[...]
So a pilot in Eve knows when someone has entered system with him without ever putting eyes on him. This is an equal tool for sure, available to all and sundry, but the issue is that provides an extremely easy and effective warning system and thus limits opportunities for PvP. However, the funny part of it all is that it also acts as an effective hunting tool for PvPers looking for targets that are not as vigilant of the local channel.
The end result is that small groups/individuals who can't watch all the nearby local channels like a hawk are more easily hunted while larger groups and bot software that can observe local 24/7 are more easily protected.
In other words, Local chat channel intelligence is a tool that helps the people that need it / deserve it the least. This is a contributing factor why low sec is a barren wasteland filled mostly with people simply shooting each other and industry a mostly forgotten playstyle, and its a contributing factor to why small alliances can't make headway into null sec (i.e. there is no way to hide). It also, in my ever so humble opinion, makes warfare in Eve less exciting as surprising your opponents is very difficult since any alt can peek into the nearby systems and look at local to see hostile fleets, thus leading to the cyno hot drop as the most effective surprise attack weapon.
The Solution
Its time to put delayed local into play in null sec. For those not aware, delayed mode in a chat channel is the state where you don't appear in the list as soon as you join the channel. Instead, you only appear once you say something in that channel. This is the mode used by various channels you can join and is the mode used by local channel in wormhole space.
[...]Go read the whole thing for my position on the matter.
Posts
It's a tricky one this, Kirith. I know what you mean about seeing conversations go round and round, I suppose it's a hazard of being part of the furniture. But as you say, despite the fact that any one blogger may feel they've said it all before, fresh eyes, new developments and different ideas mean that we'll always end up kicking around familiar topics sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteOn this occasion, I didn't really plan to make it a Blog Banter, it kind of got thrust upon me be a gang of bigger bloggers. They stole my lunch money, pulled my trousers down and told me I had to. ;)
Heh, in truth, I got tweeted at (by Drackarn and Rhavas) that this was a bit of a hot topic worth adding to the BB annals. Given that the BBs are essentially grassroots community property, it seemed logical and reasonable.
It's an interesting development really, the community are starting to see the Blog Banters as a kind of archive where they want key conversations recorded for posterity. I like this, but it does basically make me some kind of unpaid librarian/archivist/secretary to the community.
Anyway, with regard to your old-man-in-the-corner grumbling, I'd be happy to wipe the drool from your chin and add this post to the current list just as soon as you've taken your pills. Yes, I know you can remember when this was all fields and the bloggers of today don't know how good they've got it. How about a nice cup of tea?
;)
I'd rather not get rid of instant knowledge all together. Delayed local with skills, module, POS module, Ihub upgrade or something to make people more visible to what they are now. Personally I'd weigh in on POS upgrade or Ihub upgrade because I'd rather it be a strategic resource than a tactical one. But, that's personal preference.
ReplyDeleteI just ate two peanut M&Ms that were fused together, how do you like that? Maybe instant local could be a pos module or something. I don't think delayed or no local should be allowed if static points still exist. I don't think its fair that one person, cloaked, could just go down a list of the belts or other places looking for people undetected. The belts should require a scanner probe, or better yet, have the belts actually go around the system and you can just pick any point you want to warp to.
ReplyDelete