Thank you for your interest in my campaign to be part of CSM 6. It is my intention to work diligently, effectively, and tirelessly to bring the concerns of the player base to the CSM, to CCP, and back to the players.
The following is a user submitted request for my stand on a topic important to them. I have given thought to the topic and formulated my opinion, but it’s just that; my opinion. Nothing more. There is no guarantee the opinion expressed herein will ever see the light of day.
My platform isn’t one of issues, but rather one of integrity, tenacity, and the willingness to hold the CSM and CCP accountable to the players that support everything we do. I will not push my own agenda, unless it coincides with what the majority of the player base wants for a given topic.
Never start a fight you can win. #RocTheVote
QUESTION: Hot topic – Jump Bridges. Keep them or remove them?
Ok, we’re finally getting to the meaty topics. I like that.
Preamble
Skill Training Time = Real Life Time
This is one of the things about the structure of EVE Online I enjoy most. I’ve played games where you have to grind incessantly to level your character. Most of your time spent in game is trying to get to the next level. A lot of the time once you’ve reached the maximum level, you really don’t know what to do, as you just spent the last x months of your life grinding.
EVE Online engages you right from the very beginning. CCP understands that you want to spend your time playing with content, not grinding skills. I applaud that thinking.
At the same time, however, there are many other grinds (by that I mean unnecessary repetitive actions) within our universe: mining/missioning for ISK, having to repackage items in order to sell them every damn time, clicking & dragging to optimize your Harvester Control Units, the list goes on.
Some of these may be necessary. Others might not. I’m not debating that right now. I’m trying to get to my point, albeit slowly.
To me, static unchanging content is a grind. There are what, 5000 solar systems in EVE now?
The point is that when travelling around New Eden, it feels very much the same. Oh look, red space background. Green space background. Blue space background. Lovely.
Oh look, gate camp. Warp bubble. War target blob. I’m in a pod. WTF.
Courier mission? I’m a capsuleer. How many times do I have to save this damn damsel? I’m going to have a long nap while my mining drones do their thing. Ok, I’ve got all agro, you guys go kill them.
Ok, ok, Roc, I get it; get to your point already.
TL;DR
Eve needs to feel alive.
Two views, but one really
Jump Bridges. If you don’t have a good Jump Bridge Network (JBN), you want bridges nerfed/removed. If you do have them, you don’t want them touched. It’s really the same point of view when you think about it.
One party says “We don’t have that advantage; take it away.” The other party says “We have that advantage; don’t take it away.” What both are really saying is “We want to have the advantage.”
Fine, let’s create a solution together.
Life in Nullsec (see what I did there Mynxee?)
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m not an expert at life in nullsec, but I do know what it feels like to be stuck in a grind. Jump Bridges fall into that category for me. I didn’t know the intricacies of this particular topic. So what did I do? I asked, and I researched.
I asked my own alliance, Ushra’Khan, to explain it to me. We spoke about logistical advantages for fleet activity, how easy JBN make it to trap an enemy fleet, or escape from one. Low upkeep costs, they don’t appear on the overview, etc, etc. There are a lot of reasons why nullsec alliances love jump bridges, that’s for sure.
I also spoke with three other alliances. I received pretty much the same information, leading me to believe that the information my own alliance provided was relatively unbiased. That’s the key for me, really. There are always two sides to a story, and in the middle is the truth. I want to work with the CSM to provide a solution that is best for everyone.
I researched at eve-search, reading numerous posts and opinions on the subject matter. Everyone has an opinion. That made me happy. Opinionated players are caring players.
Making nullsec scary(er?)
Imagine if you would, a dynamic landscape in nullsec. Imagine jump bridges being anchored to rare planet types, types only found in nullsec. These planets have a random distribution, meaning some systems may have a few, some may have one, most will have none. There would need to be rules around having at least one per constellation.
Now imagine jump bridges appearing on overviews at all times. Nothing hidden. Imagine them more vulnerable and more expensive to maintain. Imagine them tied into Planetary Interaction, where one of the rare planet resources is actually routed directly to the jump bridge. That would mean it only has so much use before that resource is depleted, or the controlling alliance needs to buy from the market in order to increase the mass capacity of the bridge. Wormhole physics anyone?
Imagine tying that into DUST 514, where Dusters could actually disrupt JBN simply by virtue of destroying the connecting offplanet routes.
We’ve now created a new market for PI and for DUST, as well as new challenges for nullsec alliances. That’s a good thing, right?
I would like to say all of these are original ideas. Some of them are. Some of them aren’t. I think the point here is that players are thinking. Thinking of themselves mostly, and what works best for them, but like I said, at the end of the day, it’s the same point of view.
My point of view is to create a system that makes nullsec more engaging. Each system feeling more unique. Main corridors changing as the larger alliances fight for sovereignty, but at the same time, smaller alliances are still able to setup and maintain their own JBN. You would know the hot spots to avoid, much like most of avoid Jita at all costs.
I think nullsec needs to cater to change. It shouldn’t be easy to control a vast amount of space. It should be very, very hard in my opinion.
Tie this in with my Factional Warfare idea for dynamic landscapes, extending that same AI idea across nullsec, and you now have a very dangerous, very dynamic environment in which to play.
Food for thought. Now I’m hungry.