Originally by: Face Lifter

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I think a very common problem with PvP is that newbish players try to solo it. Of course they want to fight at fair odds, someone small like themselves, 1 on 1. But they quickly learn that the only 1 on 1 fight they get is against a high skill battleship pilot or high skill tech 2 ship pilot. The odds are never fair against a lone noob.

They also discover the effectiveness of team work, the bad way - they get ganked. They start thinking of teamwork as a bad lame tactic, because they associate it with ganking.

For a new player, it can be hard to find a decent PvP corp. EVE is a relatively slow game, it can take hours to get people ready for action, that's why only most dedicated players achieve good teamwork. Despite that, in EVE any player can have positive PvP experience if they just team up with the right people at the right time. You can be a 2 day old character and still have some use in combat, just not solo.

People often complain about gate campers in low security empire or 0.0. Usually these gate campers are just 1-2 ships. It's mostly the 0.0 entrance choke points that get large scale camping, and even then itÆs not 23/7 as some believe. So if people were more willing to try work together, they could overcome most gate camps with relative ease - if not kill the campers, then make them run, or simply pass thru the system without getting killed.

EVE is kinda funny in a way it both encourages and discourages people from working together. There's a natural tendency for people to form corps and alliances. Yet there's also a natural tendency to carry on one's own business solo. Most of the people you see are doing something solo, without help from anyone. I think ôtrustö issues in EVE also act as discouraging factor in team work, be that in combat or economy.

It's totally understandable that those people would be most disappointed with PvP and 0.0. Because, while they try to be part of a corp and all, they just can't seem to fly together to make a real difference. They may often think "I need uber skills and uber ship just to be competitive!" rather than "boy I should really try to team up with some people so our combined strength can be competitive".

In my original post I didnÆt distinguish between PvP for fun and PvP in money making activities. Both are forms of competition but with key differences. I can relate to both. I like PvP and when I do it for fun, I become a hunter.. tho not a very good one, as, I lose more money than I make. So to balance things out, I have to mine, trade, NPC hunt. When I make money I deal with risks of other players attacking me while IÆm not in my optimal PvP setup.. I become potential prey. This is where ôrisk vs rewardö comes in, what I was mostly talking about in my original post. So I guess itÆs possible to classify PvP as offensive and defensive. Offensive PvP is what you do for fun, but this fun is someone elseÆs defensive struggle to make some money.

When 2 offensive parties meet and one of them dies, they donÆt complain of ôsenseless killingö, because they both did it for fun. But when offensive party kills defensive party, their views of PvP come from different perspectives. The dead defensive party will be upset over this senseless killing, not realizing that there is nothing wrong with killing from the offensive partyÆs point of view, as that is what they want from the game.

I see a natural conflict between PvP for fun and PvP for money/goals/items. The later will never think of the former as acceptable. The later will only accept PvP from similar groups, as competition for money, goals, items. Those people should be conditioned to adjust their views. There is never ôsenseless violence from 12 year old immature retarded gate campersö. They are just people who do it for fun, unlike others, who try to achieve something in game.

About those people who PvP for fun, donÆt think of them as immature stupid gankers, one should think of them as natural ôtrapsö û dangerous elements of the environment, for you to try avoid and deal with. They are the real danger behind dangerous space, they are more dangerous than NPCs could ever be, and more interactive than NPC could ever be, too. They are there to increase the game difficulty levels, progressively on each security zone. So other players can compete against each other in challenging environments and feel like they are utilizing their full potential, that the ôend gameö is not a boring walk in the park.

Try look at things from this point of view and you may not get as upset when you die

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