Originally by: Vathar

---

Wow, 6 pages about a non-existent gf, I guess I can say what I think from it.

Most fights in Eve don't deserve a GF, ganking or get ganked doesn't necessarily show fighting skills.

Let's take an example of a recent kill (ain't playing much at the moment, so I can remember every fight I take part in)

Was camping a gate in a sabre, buddy on the other side in a jaguar, warns me of incoming enyo, I bubble the gate, enyo jumps, get bubbled, webbed and dies to a jaguar and a sabre. He tried to fight back, couldn't escape it, died and got podded ...

Did the enyo pilot show exceptional bravery? no
Did he act poorly during his fight? no
Did we show exceptional skill? no
Did we hide behind numbers ? no, we were waiting for bigger preys than a single AF, galaxy's a harsh place, I don't take 10 steps and turn around before engaging.

He only made the mistake of jumping alone in an hostile system in a relatively slow ship. Doesn't deserve smacking, doesn't deserve praise either. He fought and died with honor, but this was not a "good fight" in the sense that it wasn't thrilling for any of us, the fight was mostly decided before it started. Nothing innovative on our side either, he uncloaked, tried to escape, got tackled and died ...

I didn't send any GF, would have been it utter hypocrisy. Does it mean that I have no respect for the pilot, or even worse, for the player behind?

Now a few minutes later, I got a mail from this player, don't have it here, but it said something like "nicely done, enjoy the loot, shame on me for being careless" ... My answer was something like "better luck next time" and I mean it. This mail exchange was strictly OOC between two players.

the mistake about respect comes from the fact that people refuse to acknowledge a "neutral" level of respect, to which any pilot is entitled. A respectful silence after a fight is a good example of this respect.

I remember a few pilots that earned respect by fighting me ... A young Goon running away from my rupture in his thorax who, after a few jumps away, decides that he'd rather die fighting than running, says in local "ok, let's do this" and engages. He lost his ship (mostly due to huge sp difference, I'll blatantly admit that I flew overconfidently) but earned a lot of respect. An enyo pilot (another one) who instead of running, decides to go toe to toe versus 2 ceptors and a kestrel (rascal nearly got my inty) ...

I also respect a couple of pilots who got my ship, including pilots like Heikki, solocamping in a blasterthron and not afraid to engage against bad odds (odds weren't so bad, cost me a tempest)

My point in this somewhat pompous post, was that fight deserving a GF are fights I remember. silence does not mean disrespect ...

---