I’ve already decided to switch back into Solo now. (I might just occasionally dip into Open when I’m docked at Jameson, just to enjoy looking at the ships coming and going, soak up the ambience.) Nevertheless, and at the risk of attracting further scorn, I’ve decided to add another 2 cents worth here, share some thoughts.
First let me address myself to our PvP brethren, ask them if they ever played Chess. Because in Chess, when you ‘resign’ the game, you concede victory to your opponent. I have been playing ED for roughly one year. In that time I have logged out to the menu whilst being attacked on 3 occasions. And on each of those occasions, I was conceding victory, just like Chess.
(As a teenager, I went through a phase of being fascinated by Chess. As usual with me it was the beauty of the thing, the awe-inspiring mathematical complexity, that turned me on, rather than the winning and losing, the crushing of opponents. One time I was playing with the college Math whiz, who was the typical callow young male. I made some mistake and quickly realized the game was lost, and so tendered my resignation. He was outraged, keenly desiring to inflict a crushing and decisive defeat in front of his buddies. Shades of that with you guys I think.)
Next I would like to briefly describe a few other encounters I have had with you guys. One time I was heading back to Jameson in my Vette like the cat that got the cream. Suddenly I am being interdicted… by a human! And it’s another Vette! I fought the interdiction… I would always do that then, I had so gotten used to escaping from NPC interdictions, it’s only now I know that when facing a human opponent, you’re nearly always gonna lose that ‘mini-game’, and in losing take considerable hull damage, and take much longer to get your sh*t together as well. But this was my first ever PvP encounter, and I fought as hard as I could. But the guy knew how to fight PvP, he was good. I was getting walloped hard with emissive munitions, as my shields finally crumbled I fled and low-waked, (that the right term?) I didn’t log off, but I conceded the fight, my ego bruised. A few minutes later my nemesis sends me a text message saying sorry, he just had a new loadout that he was keen to try out, and as I was flying a powerful ship he thought I would be up for it. A sweet boy really. I immediately sent him a friend request and we’re connected to this day, even if we don’t hang out.
Another time I’m sitting in dock at Jameson, and out of the blue I get a message from another Vette pilot asking me if I would care for ‘a little friendly fight’. I was flattered and tempted, but I’m afraid my native diffidence and shyness got the better of me, and I told him ‘maybe another time’. He was a perfect gentleman about it. I really regret it now, I guess I could have learned so much from him, maybe found a perfect wingmate.
And another time I was heading off somewhere and this time I actually notice a hollow square shadowing me, when I scan it I find out it’s another Vette. At the same moment I recall I forgot to sell off some Platinum I picked up somewhere and so I’m like uh-oh… But nothing to worry about, I get messaged and invited to joust! The guy asks me why my PvP rating is like… zero, and yet I’m flying a Vette, lol. I try and explain I’m pretty new to the ship, like the way it makes me feel safe, that I’ve just been too shy and unconfident to get gud at PvP. And again the guy is a perfect gentleman before he heads off into the black.
Anyway I suppose what I’m saying here is, notice a pattern here PvP boys? Notice a difference in the approaches of these guys to someone who just flies at you intent on doing harm, repeatedly interdicting, and whose whole style is like ‘Are you a victim or a victor?’ Maybe if your ‘community’ could adopt some guidelines, some procedures, some basic steps to follow in challenging other players (who are unfortunately real human beings and who thus appreciate being treated like human beings), you would not only gain more respect, but more of what you want, more fun in the game, more genuine satisfaction.
Which leads me onto my next point. Which is that you could make more friends by sharing your knowledge and skill set, and not just with other PvPers, Although I was left with a bad taste in my mouth by my most recent griefing attack, (which I was totally unprepared for, especially since my actual experience of PvP remains close to zero), what I did clearly see was the superlative combat skill of my attacker. Sure I could have done better if I had been more ready, and if I hadn’t desperately struggled against his interdictions, but there’s no getting round the fact that he’s in a f*ckin Viper, I’m in an engineered Corvette, and he is kicking my a**.
It took him almost no time to do away with most of my shielding, and his ship is running rings around me so I couldn’t even get a shot in. I think he must have almost immediately disabled all my turreted MCs, which I usually rely on to weaken and dispatch attacks from small agile ships. And to this day I am not even really sure what is an ‘impulse attack’? How can I be taking hull damage when I still have a solid ring of shielding? Wht the hell didn’t I install a Heat Sink so I don’t have to cook myself if I pop a Shield Cell Bank now? These were the kinds of thoughts flying through my head in the instants before I panicked and menu logged, thus conceding the fight in my mind. I was tired, had had a long day in the real world, and had thoughtlessly logged into open just to fly the Vette to Jameson and park it there for the night. Anyways, whatever. My point here is that you guys could gain considerable kudos by simply sharing your knowledge of how to fly and fight like that, which I will freely admit is currently beyond me.
OK enough from me. Just gonna finish up by offering my respect and support to my sisters here like Sylveria, Siobhan and rlsg who have been valiantly and eloquently fighting the good fight. You guys rock, and you inspire me. Thanks.