Davis TetrisKing wrote:Interesting argument. In the original claim OP suggests that PvE combat is a resource sink. In order for this to be true PvE combat would have to use more resources than it gains. There is a hidden assumption there that resources and isk are not connected. I would suggest that isk is a resource. In an artificial world like New Eden, each resource just comes down to a number and how it can be used. Put in minerals, out comes a ship. Cool. Minerals are a resource, they generate something. Simple.
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That gets to my real contention with OPs argument. It seems to be suggesting, without directly saying, that resource sinks are a good thing. Cool, I kind of agree with that, but I don't think PvE resource sinks are a good thing. The driving force behind most PvE in eve is resource creation. The alternative motivator is accomplishment.
ISK, like all currency is NOT a resource. ISK is a facilitator of trade and has little to no intrinsic value...it is what is known as fiat money. Fiat money has value because we have been told it has value (by CCP) and we believe it. Given this ISK is not a resource if you think of resources as being productive or having intrinsic value (e.g., ore, moon goo, etc.).
As such your claim that PvE generates a resource, that is ISK, is not really accurate. ISK is not a resource. You cannot use ISK, by itself, to make anything in the Eve economy. In fact, more ISK entering the economy means that inflation goes up.
As for resource sinks, my view is that the resource sinks (i.e. stuff blowing up) is what allows the Eve economy to function with such a high growth rate of money. That is, the destruction of actual in game goods (ships, mods, etc.) allows the economy to support a very high rate of growth in the money supply. To the extent that the OP points to the importance of resource sinks the OP is correct. The claim that PvE sinks more resources is almost surely false.
I got the feeling that the OP assumed that resources were used to create the rat ships and loot drops and the loot that was destroyed. However, I do no think this was the case. My guess is rats spawn out of "thin air" and CCP does not stop to think about how much a rat BS should use in terms of minerals and remove them, somehow, from the market. All that PvE is left with in terms of a resource sink is ammo...which in the end is pretty small potatoes. Hence the biggest ISK sink is PvP losses where everything that is lost has likely been made by another player in game--i.e. the resource sink is much, much larger.
The bottom line, IMO, is that the PvP destruction in this game is what allows the in game economy to function with such a high growth rate of money. Doing anything to change the amount of destruction might very well result in CCP having to curtail the growth rate of ISK. Such changes could be reduction in rat bounties, reduction in the frequency of anomalies, etc.