Greed Is Good (But Engagement Is Better)

I’ve been having a great time playing Eve recently, although much of it has been related to non-PvP activities, including setting up some new towers and operations to fund my PvP.

But with that over, boy, are there a lot of things to talk about!  The first of those is our new drones, the Gecko.  I’m really excited about these, as it fills a great niche that we desperately needed to fill.  For a long time, we’ve been lacking a faction heavy drone from the Caldari, who as we all know, are synonymous with drones.  Thank the Jove CCP got on this major issue!

I kid, I kid.  CCP is doing two things with this expansion I really like.  They’re revisiting an influential mechanic that stands in desperate need of a lot of love (industry) while still offering us a few baubles to add a little spice to the soup.

Ultimately, that’s what the Gecko is… spice.  I really can’t think of many PvP scenarios in which a Gecko is going to be particularly useful.  Sure, it’s nice that the damage is more than double another T2 heavy drone, but those drones are going to be expensive, and drones have to be – by their very definition – expendable.  Are you going to be willing to surrender those drones and warp off?  I admit I’d hesitate for an extra moment to see if that heavy drone could make its way back to my bay before warping off.

That said, I’m very pleased that CCP offered them.  It does add another option, and I’m sure more than a few pilots will see only 3 drones instead of 5 out in space and think they can tank the damage.  That’ll be amusing.

But what really strikes me about the launch of the Geckos is that when CCP gave us a chance to earn a few extra, we did.  Of course, what categories won them for us?  Mining and manufacturing.  Wow.  Pvp isk destroyed?  About 85% to the goal.  Even ratting didn’t earn us any extras.

Sure, there’s the inevitable ironic observations about that, and PvPers are definitely hanging their heads lower because of it.  But doesn’t that tell you something about your game?  Players couldn’t achieve the needed benchmarks in the two categories who would actually USE the Geckos.  Either that means those players simply didn’t care enough about them (meaning the perceived value was too low), those players aren’t heavily motivated by gaining something of minimal value, or the ask was disproportionate to the reward.

I suspect it’s the last one, despite my personal opinions to the first.  An active effort to contribute to the isk destroyed benchmark could involve significant losses – losses far outweighing the value of the Geckos themselves.  So, what you saw was PvPers doing pretty much what they do any given week.

PvP players tend to be motivated by selfish considerations.  But to encourage them to us that greed to contribute to something greater than themselves requires offering a carrot worth enduring the stick.