Originally by: Jimer Lins

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The thing that most "carebears" and "pirates" have in common is their disdain for one another. Not all think this way, but many do.

Most people called "carebears" don't consider themselves to be such, and most people called "griefers" similarly, don't give themselves that label. It's thrust on them by the other side. Nobody, but nobody, likes to be called names or given a pejorative label. So they act defensively, attack the other, give them more labels, etc.

The basic problem is that the terms being discussed are the ones given to the perceived opposition. Some exceptions, such as the OP who self-identifies as a carebear, exist. But most of the time people see these labels as being negative.

I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised at the civil tone of this discussion so far- kudos to everyone involved.

Me, I love pirates. Not because I want to lose my ship, but because they make me play this game even more carefully.

I gotta be honest with you, I don't PVP much, or not the "pewpew" kind of PVP. I spend a lot of time in lowsec and 0.0 in unarmed ships avoiding being shot. Pirates and hostile player characters are the stone I sharpen the knives of my wits on, if I can be allowed some poetic license. Without pirates and/or hostile players (not everyone who camps a gate is a "pirate"), this game would be unutterably boring.

I love the chess game of avoiding the superior force, doing my job (exploration mostly these days), and succeding at what I set out to do in spite of the fact that people try to stop me. It's fun to pit your wits against someone else and see who comes out on top. I don't go in and blast people, but what I do is still a kind of PVP in that I'm working versus another player to achieve mutually exclusive goals in some cases-

I gotta tell you, when you're being hunted, it's a hell of a rush.

Anyway, without pirates, this game wouldn't be much fun, there's better single-player space games around. Arguably the logistics and production side of things is fun and requires no direct conflict, and I do that too, but once again, without the player hostiles and pirates, there wouldn't be much demand.

We're all different sides of the same coin. I even have a PVP alt that I go out and get blown up with from time to time. :)

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