Author's Note: This initially started as a reply on Helicity Boson's blog. It kinda grew, and finally I said "screw it" and started writing it here. Also, the blog has been updated to use IntenseDebate for comments. You can sign in using an IntenseDebate, OpenID, or Twitter account.
I have a love-hate relationship with mining and manufacturing. I'm too cheap to run a second account, and the idea of starting over from scratch, skill-wise, with my main pilot (who can't even fly BBs yet, fer cryin' out loud!) is laughable. Plus, even as an adult, my attention span isn't high enough to sit and stare at a rock for hours on end. I'd go crazy and start trying to aggro belt rats with my mining lasers or something.
And then, as I scrolled down Google Reader and read the latest blog posts, I came across this little gem by Helicity Boson of Hulkageddon fame.
Now, don't get me wrong. I really wasn't worked up about Hulkageddon - if some folks want to go up into high-sec and try and blow up ships in the few seconds they have between aggression and CONCORDokken, that's their perogative. (Personally, I think being killed by CONCORD should cause a forefiture of CONCORD-issued insurance, but that's another post.)
But I do find one logical hole in Helicity's post. Yeah, industrialism isn't for everyone. Sure, you may find missioning boring. Hell, the only reason I run complexes and missions is simply for the cash - and I still have been losing money lately, forcing me to sell ETCs in-game (via conversion to PLEX, CCP - don't ban me, bro) to stay solvent.
But the industrial side of EVE is at least half of what makes this game awesome. Name me one other game whose economy is as player-driven and lassiez-faire as EVE is. And that's thanks to the miners and manufacturers sitting in front of their computers, running Excel spreadsheets and calculator programs and God knows what else to give us our ships and our guns and our missiles and our drones to go out and kill each other. Napoleon said that an army moves on its stomach - and this is no less true for internet spaceships.
Now, I'm not advocating removing all risk from Empire space - I'm sure the devs fully intended to allow suicide ganking as a valid tactic. Wether or not they intended it to be profitable, well... that's beyond me. (Seriously, if any CCP devs are reading this and want to sound off on that, please, do so!) Taking a miner out into a high-sec system to mine should be like driving onto a freeway - you can be reasonably sure of your own safety, if you do everything right. AFK mining is implicitly accepting the risk that someone's going to come along with intent to do harm unto you. Yeah, there are ways around it - if you're in a good corp, you should at least find someone to sit out there with you, either filling their own hold up, hauling, or - best of all - pulling security. Plus, you should at least be watching frickin' local, and if someone with a low security status comes in-system, or someone you don't know warps into the belt, you should have a plan - even if it's just "cut and run." I mean, these are just simple survival skills in any MMO; know your environment, know when you're overmatched, and running is better than death. Don't rely on anyone outside of your own corp - or nobody, unless you know them personally, if you're in an NPC corp.
I'm probably preaching to the choir a bit...
Anyway, call me crazy, call me a carebear, whatever. (Just don't call me late for dinner.) I guess I just think that carebears get a bit of a bad rap sometimes - if they didn't mine and manufacture their fuzzy butts off, we, the Followers of the Almighty Pew-Pew, would have to do it all ourselves. And we all know how that'd work out. If they want to AFK mine, let 'em. Ganking them then feeding their nerd-rage won't accomplish anything, in my semi-unhumble opinion.
As I said before, though, macro-miners are a sin in the eyes of the devs and deserve no mercy. In fact, Hel, if you're reading this, any chance of calling a standing jihad on macro-miners? You know, for the lulz?
On a complete bonus and side note, while browsing earlier today I found an awesome idea for the next DC crossover comic: The World's Greatest Detective versus the World's Greatest Criminal Mastermind. Link points at the image's DeviantArt page - credit where credit is due. (Yes, I have a DeviantArt account, but mostly it's photos of my ugly mug and some stories I've scribbled. Stick figures are about my level insofar as graphics are concerned.)
