Obsession with Lowsec

Welcome to the twenty-first installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month topic comes to us from @ZoneGhost who a few month ago asked "Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?" Is it? I'd like us to explore this even further. Is Low Sec being treated differently by CCP Games than Null Sec (Zero-Zero) or Empire space is? Can one successfully make a living in these unsecured systems where neither Alliance nor Concord roam to enforce their laws? What's needed? Or is everything fine as it is?
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We'll start this discussion off with the needed assumptions. First, I don't live in lowsec. I never have and right now I don't see any reason that will change. Second, I've done some 0.0 and right now I'm a missioning "carebear" in highsec attempting to make some money while my corp shakes itself out of summer slumber.

Let's look at lowsec from the view of those who do NOT live there. As we say in the military..."Perception IS reality." The perception of lowsec, fostered in may ways by the people that live and blog there, is a lawless section of space where gankers live for scanning you down to blast you, laugh at your fit, and enlarge their e-peen.

I'm not saying that is the majority of what happens in lowsec, but it certainly is the picture painted by the vocal minority...who happen to be pirates with blogs. I'm quite positive that there are many people who perform mission, own POS', research and other industrial focused tasks in lowsec, however, we don't hear from them at all. The only voice heard from lowsec is the pirate, the ganker, the player who wants more targets for them. Now, I understand that Myxnee is looking for all types of player in her lowsec initiative, but if you look at the board she assembled there are a total of three player out of twelve who are not self-proclaimed pirates. Therefore, any "storyline" or proposal will have a pirate based flavor to it.

Perception, it rules the internet and the mob on any forum...which is always a vocal minority for any MMO. To those outside lowsec every complaint and every suggestion is geared toward allowing a player LESS penalties for killing people than they have now. Let's face it, the ONLY penalties of killing any on lowsec are 1) a -10 flashy and you can go into highsec anymore, 2) guns on the gate shoot at you and 3) you have a 15 minute Global Criminal Cooldown. Really, what other penalties exist? None, and most of these penalties are easily avoided...either through another account to move stuff or a guns that are too weak to kill anything larger than a cruiser.

Does CCP ignore lowsec. No, they do ignore a pirate focused lowsec. Lowsec boasts high mineral yields, better ore, faster routes through space and higher agents. The problem is that they are in many cases worse than highsec options. Asteroids are a perfect example. Under today's market it is twice as profitable to mine Scordite or plag as it is to mine Hedbergite, a lowsec asteroid. Why would anyone mine in lowsec when its MORE profitable to mine in the safety of highsec. Everything a pirate really wants, more targets and more loot, will come if lowsec offers more profit than highsec...at least for certain items.

I have several ideas, like moving higher level agents into lowsec, lowering the mineral output of highsec asteroids and increasing the lowsec.

There are two major obstacles that lowsec is facing. The first is security status. Right now an anti-pirate corp suffers the same penalty as a pirate corp and all members will eventually end up at -10. If a player with a positive security status kills someone with a negative security status, they shouldn't loose security, they should GAIN some. Imagine a +10 security status, and the possible CONCORD faction ships that could be used as incentive to reach that level, and the rewards from the Angel Cartel that could be added with a high Angel faction score and a -10 security status....that alone would provide more small gang warfare as people would like ships of both types.

The second obstacle is wormholes. Right now, WHs offer everything lowsec offers...only BETTER. No local as an intel channel, no CONCORD, better industrial area. Why in CCPs name would ANYONE setup in lowsec when EVERYTHING is better in a wormhole? Wormholes really are the lowsec killer (and some 0.0 killer for small corps), because the reward from wormholes makes the risk acceptable...and lowsec just can't complete with that.

CCP hasn't ignored lowsec, they just made wormholes too good.

Additional banter participants:


CrazyKinux's Musing: The Lure of the Wild
Banter 15: Arr, Yer be talkin’ bout me lowsec TheElitist
Banter 21: Low-sec- Chocolate Heaven
Subs' suds: Forever a noob in Eve: Low-Sec - the forgotten part of EVE Online
Blog Banter XXI - Lo-sec = Low Priority? I am Keith Neilson
In the Ghetto A Mule in EvE
where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 21: What's good for the goose...
Blog Banter #21: Change? Sarnel Binora's Blog
More coming shortly...