Victims of Piracy Support Group

[SeregDuin]

I have read the threads about piracy as a legitimate career choice and, for the most part, I have agreed with the philosophy that ED needs all types of players to create the atmosphere of a real living society in space with all the beauty, wonder, violence and horror of the real world.
I have played as a trader, an explorer, a bounty hunter and a soldier and have lost myself in these roles as my imagination feeds on the images created by the game.
Occasionally on my travels, I have come across other players in remote places and greeted them with a "g'day" and a "fly safe" and moved along feeling like it was a small universe after all.
On occasion I have been pulled out of a frameshift daydream by AI pirates and depending on what ship I am flying I would run or fight and be happy to escaped with cargo or bounty with no ill effect.
Being an Elite fan since the old BBC version in 1984 I decided I should make the pilgrimage to Lave at least once. Last stop on the way was Diso where I docked to refuel and picked up 4 tonnes (was flying my cobra) of rare goods for about 300 cr each. I jump to Lave and within 30 seconds of arriving I get interdicted. As per usual I throttle back for an easy exit and first thing I do on exit is 4 pips to engines and hit the booster to get a little space while I decide next course of action. I see that my attacker is a human pilot in an Imperial Clipper. First time but that's ok I have nothing of value. I'm about to open the chat window for the usual "g'day" then the demand comes " Drop 30t of cargo or I will destroy you" . HUH!? WHA!? I don't have any cargo of value what do I do. This has never happened to me before. I know I have easily destroy elite AI clippers but this is a human.
I must have thought about it too long (about 10 seconds by my reckoning) and suddenly he opened fire. At least give me long enough to get to the cargo window or type a reply for crying out loud.
At the first shot my shields collapsed ..there's no way I could take this guy. I hit the booster and started to charge up the FSD. My heat went through the roof and not only was this guy gaining on me and chewing away at my hull but the heat was eating away from the inside. I took forever for the FSD to charge up and by the time I jumped I was down to 58% hull.
"Whew" I thought " I got away" ...but no a few seconds later the alarms went off again and this time I fought like a marlin but he managed to pull me out of frameshift again. This time I knew I couldn't fight. I went straight to the cargo bay and dumped my 1200 cr worth of cargo.
My assailant quipped me with some rhetorical politeness that made my skin crawl and I sent back a resigned "Whatever".
I jumped away and docked in Lave and repaired about 12000cr worth of damage.
I sat there for ages and all I could think was "What a sad experience that was".
This cad had just attacked me.
I didn't feel the frustration that I feel when my son snipers me at the spawn point 20 times in a row in halo. I didn't feel the disappointment that I feel when I finally succumb to 7 better players in AOE. These feelings pass within seconds and I go back for another game.
I had come to Lave as a pilgrimage. I was feeling nostalgic, happy, cruising through the galaxy hurting nothing and nobody and I was snapped out of it by someone who thinks it is OK to take what others have, what others have worked for. I felt like I had been mugged ..not my character ..me ..violated.
I had thought before about whether pirating was something I should try but now I know that I never will. I don't want to make other players feel like this ..it is just wrong.
Yeah I know all the pirates are screaming "what I wuss. why don't you go to Mobius or solo" but as Nietzsche : "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger".

I will stay in open as I always have but I will not hesitate again, next time I WILL kill you. You will not get one scrap of my cargo even if I have to jettison and destroy it myself. My mission now is pirates, human pirates. I am coming for you.

 

[Steve50]

The return key is your friend

 

[figola]

Lave, bad. but fun (to be chased that is)
Open, good. glad to have you stay.
Chin up. Head high. see you out there.
Cheers
Cmdr TeTe

 

[Odan Brota]

For maximum laughs, acquire trader friends. Nothing attracts pirate scum better than a T9. And then you can swoop in and annihilate the pirates.

 

[SeregDuin]

The return key is your friend

Point

taken.

 

[Simi Kusoni]

So... you ran, he fired. You dropped cargo, he let you live?

And maybe refrain from the swearing/abuse of the guy in your post?

 

[SeregDuin]

So... you ran, he fired. You dropped cargo, he let you live?

And maybe refrain from the swearing/abuse of the guy in your post?

I didn't swear abuse at anyone mate. I wrote how I was feeling and what I was thinking.

 

[Bertak]

I have read the threads about piracy as a legitimate career choice and, for the most part, I have agreed with the philosophy that ED needs all types of players to create the atmosphere of a real living society in space with all the beauty, wonder, violence and horror of the real world.
I have played as a trader, an explorer, a bounty hunter and a soldier and have lost myself in these roles as my imagination feeds on the images created by the game.
Occasionally on my travels, I have come across other players in remote places and greeted them with a "g'day" and a "fly safe" and moved along feeling like it was a small universe after all.
On occasion I have been pulled out of a frameshift daydream by AI pirates and depending on what ship I am flying I would run or fight and be happy to escaped with cargo or bounty with no ill effect.
Being an Elite fan since the old BBC version in 1984 I decided I should make the pilgrimage to Lave at least once. Last stop on the way was Diso where I docked to refuel and picked up 4 tonnes (was flying my cobra) of rare goods for about 300 cr each. I jump to Lave and within 30 seconds of arriving I get interdicted. As per usual I throttle back for an easy exit and first thing I do on exit is 4 pips to engines and hit the booster to get a little space while I decide next course of action. I see that my attacker is a human pilot in an Imperial Clipper. First time but that's ok I have nothing of value. I'm about to open the chat window for the usual "g'day" then the demand comes " Drop 30t of cargo or I will destroy you" . HUH!? WHA!? I don't have any cargo of value what do I do. This has never happened to me before. I know I have easily destroy elite AI clippers but this is a human.
I must have thought about it too long (about 10 seconds by my reckoning) and suddenly he opened fire. At least give me long enough to get to the cargo window or type a reply for crying out loud.
At the first shot my shields collapsed ..there's no way I could take this guy. I hit the booster and started to charge up the FSD. My heat went through the roof and not only was this guy gaining on me and chewing away at my hull but the heat was eating away from the inside. I took forever for the FSD to charge up and by the time I jumped I was down to 58% hull.
"Whew" I thought " I got away" ...but no a few seconds later the alarms went off again and this time I fought like a marlin but he managed to pull me out of frameshift again. This time I knew I couldn't fight. I went straight to the cargo bay and dumped my 1200 cr worth of cargo.
My assailant quipped me with some rhetorical politeness that made my skin crawl and I sent back a resigned "Whatever".
I jumped away and docked in Lave and repaired about 12000cr worth of damage.
I sat there for ages and all I could think was "What a sad experience that was".
This cad had just attacked me.
I didn't feel the frustration that I feel when my son snipers me at the spawn point 20 times in a row in halo. I didn't feel the disappointment that I feel when I finally succumb to 7 better players in AOE. These feelings pass within seconds and I go back for another game.
I had come to Lave as a pilgrimage. I was feeling nostalgic, happy, cruising through the galaxy hurting nothing and nobody and I was snapped out of it by someone who thinks it is OK to take what others have, what others have worked for. I felt like I had been mugged ..not my character ..me ..violated.
I had thought before about whether pirating was something I should try but now I know that I never will. I don't want to make other players feel like this ..it is just wrong.
Yeah I know all the pirates are screaming "what I wuss. why don't you go to Mobius or solo" but as Nietzsche : "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger".

I will stay in open as I always have but I will not hesitate again, next time I WILL kill you. You will not get one scrap of my cargo even if I have to jettison and destroy it myself. My mission now is pirates, human pirates. I am coming for you.

I understand your frustration with him opening fire so quickly but you need to look at it through the pirates eyes before you condemn them for it. Traders can jump way too quick after interdicition so for a pirate to make sure he can take your shields and drives down before you jump they must act quickly. Best thing to do when a pirate pulls you out of supercruise is to just stop. The worst thing to do is boost or charge fsd. After stopping chat with a bit of role playing. Most decent pirates I know pirate for the pvp interaction and role playing not to cause players grief. If you stop and give the pirate cargo most will let you go. If they don't they are not real pirates. Pirates need traders and the last thing a pirate wants to do is run off all the traders.

 

[Simi Kusoni]

I didn't swear abuse at anyone mate. I wrote how I was feeling and what I was thinking.

well halfway through you repeatedly try to circumvent the swear filter whilst explaining how scummy this internet villain who let you live is

 

[Pharoah]

Gotta be honest...I saw the title of the OP and just laughed.

 

[Exluna]

I can see the point you're trying to make. Pirates aren't just stealing a few in game virtual items from you, "Ha ha its just a game, no foul."

They're stealing what can't be replaced, they're stealing your time. Sorry the way piracy is implemented now, if it ever becomes popular it'll chase every single trader to solo. No one wants to allow ANYONE to steal their time. Its not a commodity that can be replaced. I'm fine with players wanting to live the fantasy of being a pirate but I don't think ANYONE is ok with someone stealing their time.

 

[SeregDuin]

Gotta be honest...I saw the title of the OP and just laughed.

Well at least that part got the intended reaction from someone.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

well halfway through you repeatedly try to circumvent the swear filter whilst explaining how scummy this internet villain who let you live is

I sat there for ages and all I could think was... - describing what I was thinking and feeling at the time!!

 

[Kaeldian]

When you play cops and robbers, somebody has to play the robbers or you don't have a game.

I swear the way some of these guys carry on when they get held up, you wonder if they were "that kid" that always had to play the cops.

 

[SeregDuin]

When you play cops and robbers, somebody has to play the robbers or you don't have a game.

I swear the way some of these guys carry on when they get held up, you wonder if they were "that kid" that always had to play the cops.

That would be a fair statement if I was playing cops and robbers but I wasn't. There are many games within this game and it is only the pirates who want to force everyone else to play their game(and really I am not totally against it) but that was not really the point of my post. It really was meant as just a story of what happened and what I thought and felt at the time and if you thought to read to the end you would see that it has all moved me on to a new type of game which is probably exactly the type of game the pirates want.

 

[Exluna]

When you play cops and robbers, somebody has to play the robbers or you don't have a game.

I swear the way some of these guys carry on when they get held up, you wonder if they were "that kid" that always had to play the cops.

Which is why as I mentioned, it will chase the traders to solo. Not everyone wants to play cops and robbers. Some people want to play solitaire. If you're playing cops and robbers in front of someone playing solitaire, running all over his cards... He's just going to go do it in the other room.

The way piracy is now, there's no incentive for anyone to play in open except the odd greeting from a passing player. Give pirates equal opportunity targets in NPCs AND other players. Right now pirates have no reason at all to go after NPCs because frankly the NPCs are all carrying garbage. Traders don't like playing on open because no one likes their time being stolen from them. For some its not a trivial amount of time either. The trader/pirate dynamic needs looking in to. I don't want there to be no pirates left, but not many people would be willing to GIVE you their cargo because "That's my playstyle, please try to understand." When the mechanics make you force your playstyle on to an unwilling player, they aren't going to like it. If there's an option to opt out you can bet they'll take it. That leaves us with the situation we have now...

FD needs to seriously look at how piracy is implemented. I don't really have an suggestions... I'm not a game designer I'm afraid. Even so, I can see when an intended game mechanic has gone wrong.

 

[Simi Kusoni]

That would be a fair statement if I was playing cops and robbers but I wasn't. There are many games within this game and it is only the pirates who want to force everyone else to play their game(and really I am not totally against it) but that was not really the point of my post. It really was meant as just a story of what happened and what I thought and felt at the time and if you thought to read to the end you would see that it has all moved me on to a new type of game which is probably exactly the type of game the pirates want.

Perhaps true, but either way this thread will soon be filled with angry, bitter young gentlemen such as this:

I can see the point you're trying to make. Pirates aren't just stealing a few in game virtual items from you, "Ha ha its just a game, no foul."

They're stealing what can't be replaced, they're stealing your time. Sorry the way piracy is implemented now, if it ever becomes popular it'll chase every single trader to solo. No one wants to allow ANYONE to steal their time. Its not a commodity that can be replaced. I'm fine with players wanting to live the fantasy of being a pirate but I don't think ANYONE is ok with someone stealing their time.

The title, the content... I assumed you were trying to start a flame baiting thread, my apologies if that was not your intent but it is probably how this will end.

 

[Kaeldian]

That would be a fair statement if I was playing cops and robbers but I wasn't. There are many games within this game and it is only the pirates who want to force everyone else to play their game(and really I am not totally against it) but that was not really the point of my post. It really was meant as just a story of what happened and what I thought and felt at the time and if you thought to read to the end you would see that it has all moved me on to a new type of game which is probably exactly the type of game the pirates want.

I did read the whole thing, and you handled it better than most people.

But honestly, any death in this game costs you time. To me, a player is no different in the game system than an NPC - the player is there as a hurdle I must overtake. Now, the player is probably more sinister in his intent and better at it, but it's still the same to me. So it seems pointless and silly for me to get upset at a player who is playing the game as it's intended anymore than it's silly for me to be upset at an NPC. Now, if that player is sitting inside the Starbase walls in a place he can't be touched and killing people that way, that's a whole new kettle of fish that is worthy of being upset about.

But time is a commodity that all games take away from you when you reach the failure state. I fail to see how it's pertinent if the adversary is a player.

Which is why as I mentioned, it will chase the traders to solo. Not everyone wants to play cops and robbers. Some people want to play solitaire. If you're playing cops and robbers in front of someone playing solitaire, running all over his cards... He's just going to go do it in the other room.

The way piracy is now, there's no incentive for anyone to play in open except the odd greeting from a passing player. Give pirates equal opportunity targets in NPCs AND other players. Right now pirates have no reason at all to go after NPCs because frankly the NPCs are all carrying garbage. Traders don't like playing on open because no one likes their time being stolen from them. For some its not a trivial amount of time either. The trader/pirate dynamic needs looking in to. I don't want there to be no pirates left, but not many people would be willing to GIVE you their cargo because "That's my playstyle, please try to understand." When the mechanics make you force your playstyle on to an unwilling player, they aren't going to like it. If there's an option to opt out you can bet they'll take it. That leaves us with the situation we have now...

FD needs to seriously look at how piracy is implemented. I don't really have an suggestions... I'm not a game designer I'm afraid. Even so, I can see when an intended game mechanic has gone wrong.

Yes, the crime and piracy end of the game needs a lot of work - I think pretty much everybody is in agreement on this.

Well, even if it's fixed, I think most people are going to either go Solo or go to Mobius. Most people would rather not deal with surprise PvP when given the choice. I'm just remarking how people will go into the game mode then get upset at the people who play the robbers. I say such remarks because if you read through these threads - many of them are filled with their victims who didn't deal with it well and their comments are just dripping with anger and nastiness - going so far as to question the morality of said pirates because they can't accept the responsibility that they ultimately are the ones who made the choice to take the risk.

 

[SeregDuin]

Perhaps true, but either way this thread will soon be filled with angry, bitter young gentlemen such as this:



The title, the content... I assumed you were trying to start a flame baiting thread, my apologies if that was not your intent but it is probably how this will end.

Yeah actually starting to regret posting now.

 

[Zeeman]

If you are a pirate, and don't have a cargo scanner, you're doing it wrong.

I also laughed quite hard at the title. I assumed there was some tongue in cheek involved...
Z...

 

[Exluna]

I did read the whole thing, and you handled it better than most people.

But honestly, any death in this game costs you time. To me, a player is no different in the game system than an NPC - the player is there as a hurdle I must overtake. Now, the player is probably more sinister in his intent and better at it, but it's still the same to me. So it seems pointless and silly for me to get upset at a player who is playing the game as it's intended anymore than it's silly for me to be upset at an NPC. Now, if that player is sitting inside the Starbase walls in a place he can't be touched and killing people that way, that's a whole new kettle of fish that is worthy of being upset about.

Its upsetting to people because to them, its no longer a game system/AI that they're playing against. Its a person that's cognizant of the fact that they are having their fun at the expense of yours. You can say that it makes no difference, but once a player is aware that someone else is trying to ruin their experience and forcing something they don't want on them - You're going to get a negative response. Against AI, they have no one to blame but their own play. They didn't manage to "beat the game" as it were. Against a person - Its different. They're going to lay all the blame on the pirate, because well... You're accountable and the game's AI isn't. It has no personality to speak of, so it can't be a target for frustration. When there's another person on the other side, it becomes personal.

Given the choice for a player who is interested in trading and a player who is interested in piracy... The pirate has no choice. He has to play in open currently to even think about continuing his career path. The trader has 2 choices - Open or Solo, with solo being vastly more attractive. I feel sorry for anyone who tries to play a pirate, because you literally don't have a choice right now. If you go in to solo - Might as well ditch the eyepatch and fold up that Jolly Roger because you'll be a starving pilot if you only go after NPCs. Pirates need a form of progression that works in Open AND Solo. I understand that not everyone wants this, some want more PvP action ect... I'm not even going to go there. Give pirates a sustainable way to play in solo as well. It would go a long way. Its so comically imbalanced right now with the benefits going towards the traders... Pirates have to resort to pirating in a "civilized" way. No no... Don't kill him if he drops cargo! It'll chase him to solo... Its laughable. There should not be ANY noble pirates at all. If I decided to be a pirate, and steal your goods and I decide that you should die afterward... They why should I stop? Pirates are supposed to be savage, pirates are supposed to be brutal. They aren't allowed to be now. Being noble as a pirate shouldn't be a necessity, it should be a choice.

If pirates had a way to sustain themselves without needing to resort to going after other players, would they take it?

I'm not bitter or angry. These are just my observations of the situation. No one likes their time forcibly taken away from them by another person, and if they will take any means to ensure that it doesn't happen. Making the choice to play in open should mean something, for pirates AND traders. Traders willingly open themselves to piracy by playing in open. Pirates willingly open themselves to bounties. The choice to go to solo is lacking for the pirates.