War! What is it good for?

Nothing... say it again! *killing the music*

Here’s the problem with Empire war declarations in Eve Online in 6 words. Most players do not like it. That is really my only gripe about them. If you have a game that you want to grow then you should be somewhat responsive to what most of your players want; in particular, your subscription paying customers.

I know Eve is full of PvP style players. So what about them? They can PvP *anytime* they want in Low Security or Nullsec with other players who know the risks and want to PvP.

Players who never leave Empire do so because they don’t like PvP. I never have understood why it has been so important for CCP to “prove those carebears wrong” by forcing them in to PvP through the Empire war declaration system. It seems that the developers of Eve are of the opinion that the only way to *fully* appreciate Eve Online is to be dragged in to player combat willing or not.

My contention is that every player in Eve that stays long enough will eventually find their way to player combat in their own time. There is no need to make it a requirement of all players.

Alternatively, re-work the wardec system so that corps can better control if they can be targeted or perhaps let them buy their way out of it officially through Concord rather than by direct extortion.

More often than not, pirate wardecs are fabricated by a small handful of PvP experienced pilots so that they can pick off other players with little or no PvP experience. Nobody enjoys this style of game play, but CCP seems view it as sacrosanct. The rights of bullying player *must* be preserved at the cost of the majority of other players who just want to play the game peacefully with their friends.

My characters live out in 0.0 space. I am prepared to deal with combat. I choose it and have learned to live with the impacts. But if I were CEO of CCP, I’d still create truly PvP-free area for pilots somewhere in Eve. People pay $15 USD a month to play the game they want to play. It just makes business sense to try to give everybody somewhere to play what they want. Hardcore PvP players would not be impacted by being unable to attack purely Empire based corps.

Now consider that very long term players can probably survive in Eve on ISK and thus avoid paying some (or all) monthly fees. So really, the only folks giving you money are the newer players. Even more reason to provide an experience compelling to new players.