Cannibal Kane wrote:The issue is time...
Sitting in the middle of space deciding if I need to blow up or pay is a second decision.
Putting anything in place will be counter productive. Unless there is a system in place where I can put default values on ships (100mil ransom for a Rokh for example) and the target that is scrammed (if he is flying a Rokh) selects pay where the 100mil isk is stored in escrow to be paid when the limited engagement timer between the 2 or party ends.
If a killmail is generated in that time isk goes back from escrow to target. If there is no killmail isk goes to the predator.
This guarantees a target gets paid. but you will prolly have people giving pirates a bad name another reason to cry.
On the trolling side though. Have you seen your reply to threads recently?
Ok, by popular demand, I will give the economics a go. As far as "trolling," I absolutely honestly believe the things I right. The Grrr Veers you see is because people detest a PvE player proudly advocating for safer and more humane highsec. I know things didn't work out in the BU channel, but that was due to Solstice Project obsessing over me, and heavy handed moderation like Arden. The real trolls here are CODE, Marmite, Goons, etc... not me. Pay more attention and you will see that. I'm the victim, I'm getting wardecced and threatened, and I'm winning every time, ok?
As far as your value point...remember the pirate is the one who decided if there will be a ransom offered, and how much. You are free to use whatever system you would like...scan, no scan, whatever. Just throw out a number, give him 15 seconds, and if he doesn't pay, incinerate him. And let's be clear, if he knows there is a 100% chance of living if he pays, he will be more likely to pay.
As far as the economics....let's set it up as a standard 4 node game. Let's use, for example, a 1.5 bil freighter, with no cargo, and a pirate who demands a 500 million ransom.
The 4 nodes-
Ransom Paid / Ship Spared = pirate gets 500 mil, victim loses 0.
Ransom Paid / Ship destroyed = pirate gets 500 mil + fun, victim loses 1.5 bil.
Ransom Not Paid / Ship Destroyed = pirate gets 0 + fun, victim loses 1.5 bil.
Ranson Not Paid / Ship Spared = not possible.
Because there are only 3 possible nodes, it's easy to solve the game. The pirate is better off always destroying the ship. Given that, the victim is better off not paying. Result, pirate gets some lols (worth less than the 500 mil ransom), and victim loses his ship. Total social utility = -1.5 billion. Now imagine we set up a mechanism to achieve the Ransom Paid / Ship Spares node, which has a total social utility of +500 mil. Everyone is better off - the pirate gets a nice payday and only loses a bit of fun, and the victim gets to keep his expensive ship.
But wait...how do we get there? We have a major collective action problem. The individual pirate, upon receiving a ransom, has no reason to spare the ship, because his personal reputation is irrelevant...no one really knows who he is anyway. Result - victims won't pay. The only way to get people to pay ransoms is to create some credibly mechanism where they know there is a high probability of payment. In the instant case, it becomes +EV to pay when the chance of survival exceeds 33%.
The way to create that assurance of survival is to make some kind of pirate guild, where members promise to honor ransoms. Will it always work? No. But it will work enough of the time to make it +EV for victims to pay...just like they know if they pay Cannibal Kane...they will live. So too they should know when they pay someone from the "honorable pirates guild" that there is a high chance of survival. That will revitalize lowsec piracy and make it profitable again.
One of the things I loved about Eve was honorable pirates who abide by ransoms...and I would love to see that make a return. We all collectively can make it happen.