Charlie McCaig
Gallente
Astrum Contract Services Group
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Posted - 2006.11.24 15:16:00 -
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Firstly, apologies if this has been gone over but I haven't seen any posts about this particular idea.
Currently low sec is rife with pirate activity and is, in many areas, for more dangerous than most 0.0. Before everyone starts flaming, I don't think low sec should be "safe", on the contrary, pirates will always occupy areas like these as there is so much money to be made and fun to be had but I've long felt there should be more come-upance for people who chose a criminal path. There are an increasing number of anit-pirate groups these days but the problem these folks suffer from is that currently they too operate outside the law and as such can end up looking like that which they wish to destroy.
Low Sec space is IMO akin to the American "Wild West". Low Sec systems are "owned" by their respective races and the laws still apply, it's just there is nobody around to enforce it short of a few groups of vigilantees. I feel that low sec, at least in a RP sense, would be a thorn in the side of the 4 races and they would be keen to do something to help clear the "bad guys" out.
The solution in the Wild West was Sheriffs. They got a badge, a gun and carte blanche to go after the out-laws. This didn't solve the problem as there were simply too many out-laws but it made things difficult for them which is what I think needs to be done in Eve. Not to elimine low sec pirates, just make life harder for them.
So the idea is along these lines:
Why not introduce a sheriff-like system whereby a pilot can be granted a license to take down criminals without fear of sentry guns or security status drops. There could be two licenses, one issued by Concord (allowing anti-pirate activity in any low sec system) and the other by a particular race (allowing anti-pirate activity in only that race's low sec systems). To give the "sheriffs" a helping hand they could have access to special non-tradeable modules that would self destuct if lost to stop pirates getting their hands on them. Becoming a sheriff would require good faction standings and a positive sec status. The collection of Concord issued bounty (NOT player issued, leave that part alone) would then only be allowed by someone with the correct license.
In my mind this idea fits with the expansion of the careers and factional warfare aspects of Eve, could be integrated into the new contract system and would not change things too drastically other than pirates losing their ships a little more (no bad thing ).
I think the main problem comes in the implementation though. For example, how do you resolve the current problem of anti-pirates having a low security status without them ratting for a month. If a high security status is needed to get the license then initially most anti-pirates would be inelligable.
Please add comments and suggestions, especially on the implementation.
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