Traders and Fair Play

[Eppy]

The last time I made a thread like this, it was in Flood. It was a joke, and I thought it was pretty funny (my suspicions are confirmed! I'M NOT CRAZY! I'M NOT CRAZY! AAAAAAAAAAAA-)

Not anymore. Now I'm not joking.

Why is it that it's considered in such horrible taste to mount a pair of missiles on a Gunboat and rip lone bombers a new one?

Why is it that it's considered in such horrible taste to bring a Liberty Battlecruiser upon a lone Rogue Gunboat or Bomber camping a tradelane?

Why, then, is it that it's not considered in such horrible taste to pirate a trader twice in the same system, demand more than his run makes, and, his entire hold, and barely speak to him in the process except to tell him to shut up and pay, and then camp the tradelanes on his or her way back, pirate him again, thus teaching him that he's going to have to fly across a 120K system and do so by flying a good 20 or 30 klicks above the plane, thus slowing him down enormously and make it long and exasperating for him to do what he's supposed to do?*

In all of these situations one player is basically being denied his ability to play. The bomber has been ganked; especially if it's a character native to a core system he can't really play his character for four hours. The trader, on the other hand, is also, in his own way, been placed in a situation where it is difficult to expediently accomplish his objectives and just been taken out of a large sum of money. He can't trade at anything near max efficiency because he can't use the trade lanes, which add something awful onto his flight time. Traders exist to make money. When a trader isn't making any money and he's trying quite hard to do so, he is, in all likelihood, not enjoying this game. Just like the pirate doesn't enjoy getting ganked by the missileboat and the Battlecruiser, the trader does not enjoy getting ganked repeatedly and denied the ability to make a significant profit.

So, what am I saying?

Fair Play Goes Both Ways.

Quite frankly, I am sick and tired of being labeled some kind of cattle. I did not choose to RP a cattle. I as a trader do not exist to make money for other people, I as a trader exist to make money for myself and the corporation I'm working for (which, in most cases, happens to be oneself). I understand that the pirates need to make money too, but you know what? It doesn't cost two million to repair and load CMs/regens on a Battleship, much less a Gunboat or Bomber (unless your SNAC gets flakked off or something, which isn't particularly likely), and you don't need to dip your damn hand in the cookie jar every time it passes you by, because you're eating cookies faster than Momma can bake them. Maybe a Zoner Guard Whale can make those kinds of cookies, enough to still make some profit, but you know what? I'm not a Zoner Guard whale. I'm sticking to my RP, and you know what it feels like? I'm being punished for it, by being denied much of all of the profit I've worked for. If I can't engage your bomber in a missileboat or my Outcast Dreadnought, you know what? You can do me a similar favor and not eat Momma out of house and home. I respect pirates. Can you return my favor and respect traders?

[/rant]

*Yes, that situation I described has happened to me multiple times.

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Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen

Which Dreadnought was that?

One of your nine.