EVE-Mag.com

Column: The Other Side of EVE Online

Published on 25. Sep, 2008 ... written by Zerg Rushkeke, Tags: Columns

by Zerg Rushkeke … You can visit the EVE Online forums and within just seconds you can find something about Macro mining, piracy, ISK laundering and basically everything that you can imagine. While these do have negative side effects and are definitely problems EVE is supposed to be a giant sandbox, a universe, for you to play in and as with everything there is a dark side.

While CCP doesn’t have the usual futuristic science fiction crime types such as smuggling, slaving (the history of EVE is full of slavery especially the Amarr and Minmatar) and general black market activities why wouldn’t Macro mining, piracy, ISK laundering / selling and extortion be considered game mechanics? This may heavily offend someone but this is just a theory. If CCP really wanted to destroy the MM business they could since they invented the game and well they have the capability. No matter how many people bitch and complain they still won’t do anything major because it provides an antagonist. Everything needs a protagonist and in order to be a protagonist you need an antagonist.

EVE needs to have a dark side for many reasons. First to separate it from other MMO’s, two to provide an antagonist, and three to make it more interesting. With Ambulation on the horizon I can’t personally wait to open up a club full of exotic dancers that I have smuggled in and do business with shady people in corners of giant space stations. Maybe it won’t be as cool but it certainly won’t be dull. Another question dawned on me while flying down a hill on my Cervelo P3C TT bike in full Lampre kit at around 45 MPH. Why doesn’t CCP expand the black market and make it a viable game mechanic? Think about it. It’s the future. It’s in space. Concord can only do so much. In the modern world we have syndicates such as the Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta and more traditional organized crime families such as the perennial Cosa Nostra (never use La in front of Cosa), Yakuza, Triad and even the Drug Cartels doing dirty business. EVE should have a thriving black market like it says it has in the fiction. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Picture this: Ambulation has been out for sometime now and you enter the station.

You see thousands of other pod pilots walking around unaware of what you are doing. You have smuggled lets say…neural boosters or some high grade narcotics onboard and a “client” is waiting for you. You never know who they are. The client could be working for a powerful syndicate, he might be undercover, or heck he may even be a goon. You can make some serious ISK off of this deal and its better than mining for hours at a time. Even though sitting back with some Baglio di Pianetto (a great Sicilian wine for you non-Italians) and music passes the time it gets boring looking at the same asteroids over and over again. I would much rather be working the slave trade or selling undercut arms to corporations then collecting rocks for hours at time while drunkenly watching the pathetic lasers from a pirate frigate bounce off the hull of my giant sexy Badger II at 3:00 on a Monday morning. Some will argue about “ethics”. This is a game people. This is a way for you to live out your dark fantasies without having to worry about Officer Friendly getting extra friendly with you.

People have been fascinated with the darker side of life and it’s the same with games. Maybe if CCP implemented the black market and slavery mechanics then the whole MM and ISK Laundering business would falter? It certainly wouldn’t hurt the game it would make it more interesting and probably get more people to play it. For now though we have to settle for the old farming and griefing arguments but maybe in the future it will be different.