I made a really dumb post the other day. I expected half an effort by miners when I suggested miners make a stand to get a mechanic changed. I flew into 100's of systems chasing support and all I was met with is "it'll never work". And with some reflection I'm inclined to think that's true. Not because CCP won't change (they do and have), but because miners are (and I say this without malice) selfish and lazy.

With hindsight, the post and the idea was dumb.

I make this post in an attempt to counter the problem with some thought rather then belligerence.

Suicide ganking IS an issue. There have been countless posts on the topic, from haha posts to steps to mitigate the risk. All valid to some degree but none really address why it happens.

Many arguments stem from the fact that miners should not be risk free and nor should they be able to make isk risk free. It's said that it should be allowed for 'economic' reasons ad nauseum.

However, the same should also be said for mission runners but we know they can't be ganked without serious firepower and dedication. So the whole concept of preventing "risk free income" in highsec is void right there.

If we accept that this is the reasoning behind ganking, we must also ask why suicide ganking is actually neccessary. Why not war-dec and get the free kill? No Concord and no sec status hit. Why indeed?

It's because half the miners (an assumption) sit in NPC corps - many are bots. Even if they join a "real" corp they can simply hop corps on a war-dec. They have MADE mining a relatively risk free pasttime and suicide ganking is the ONLY way to counter it.

With this in mind why should we not seek changes to provide for greater PvP opportunities AND allow for both economic, strategic and tactical advantages by killing both miners AND missioners.

This can only be done with 2 changes imho

1) Remove the ability to stay in an NPC for greater than some arbitrary time. (eg: 90 days). Failure to join a corp involves seizure of assets until you do.

2) Once a war-dec has been declared, NO members can either leave or join during the declaration.

Ofc, the miners still need some kind of protection from mindless violence when there are now more ways to kill them, validly and legitimately. An inability to target unarmed vessels UNLESS war-decced is a potential option.

And ofc, there are those that say this makes for 'consensual PvP' and to some extent it does. But war-dec mechanics exist in highsec for a reason and we should be making these mechanics far more effective. At the moment they're as good as pointless.

The alternative is to invalidate the entire concept of highsec, remove the neccessity to war-dec, remove Concord and let players decide who lives or dies. A true sandbox.

To be frank, it won't make the slightest difference to miners whether highsec, Concord or any such measures exist. They're dying anyway. Let's get highsec missioners and all other risk free isk makers in on the killmails as well.

Discuss....

Double post.