I can understand why I was attacked, and really I should get to know how to engineer my ship for the occasional pvp encounters. I hate the word 'Ganker' btw I'd prefer to call these sort of pilots 'CCP's, Competitive Combat Pilots!
I personally can't understand why the Krait Cmdr would attack and destroy an unarmed ship, maybe just firing a warning shot or cause some slight damage, at least it would have given pilot 'a' the understanding that the outcome could have been worse, and THEN contact pilot 'a' to see if he was interested in learning how to survive such attacks etc.?
I wasn't the pilot in the Krait (as far as I know) so it's impossible for me to hypothesize on that CMDR's mental state or motivations. Sometimes "silent" pilots simply have a language barrier and have no idea what's being typed. Other times, they just want to do their thing in silence. Maybe they are a literal psychopath? Who knows.
I personally have taken a different approach - but that's just me. The other gankers have started calling me a carebear, LOL.
Most gankers just attack whatever targets appear. Expert in a Anaconda? Attack. Novice in an Asp Explorer? Attack. You get the idea. Target appears, you try to pull it. It's not much more complicated than that.
PVPers make a habit of checking out the target's build, and honestly, I need to start getting better about doing that. Many times I'm so focused on "the chase" - scanning for the target, accelerating to intercept, maneuvering into position on the stern quarter, trying not to overshoot, etc - that I don't do as good of a job of checking out the build. I rarely pay much attention to the pilot name or rank, either. If there's a choice between an Asp and an Anaconda, I go for the Anaconda every time. Same if it's a T-10 or Cutter.
Last night, we encountered a very experienced pilot flying a fully kitted out FDL. Novice CMDR rank - obviously an alt. They easily - I mean, without even breaking a sweat - fended off three of us. One of us was destroyed, the other ran of out of ammo, and I low waked when my shields went down. We all jumped in System chat afterwards and congratulated the pilot and their flying capabilities. They wound up joining our wing and going ganking with us, LOL!
I know some people will find the above casual references to attacking other players callous or worse. I understand that view, though I do not share it. I also do not tell people to "git gud" or otherwise; this is a game, and each player must engage with it how they wish.
A good deal of this thread
has been very instructional for me. As mentioned, I came to this game looking for PVP, and I've found it, both in terms of ganking and in terms of competitive / organized engagements. I love it. The community of gankers and PVPers has been warm and welcoming and extremely encouraging - I will always fondly remember the names of the two pilots who ganked me first, because they were also the first two to really make efforts to make me feel included and welcomed in the game.
Not because they ganked me, but because of what they did afterwards.
I am sincerely trying to take my own experience from when I was "new new" and translate it in my own way to my interactions with other players. I understand that not everyone will see it this way, and I do not expect or think I deserve any accolades for playing this way. It's just a personal choice that feels authentic to me, and it's within the rules of the game and the TOS, so I'm going to keep doing it.
So far, the majority of interactions I have with other players are
not salt-laden, and I think that's some small measure of the fact that many players in Open actually
are there for the spontaneous combat with other CMDRs, just like me. That's what many of them tell me, in fact. So I do what I can to help them. Not because I feel guilty, but because this is a fun game and "the more, the merrier."
