There needs to be a limit on how much Pirates can demand....

[cmfalconer]

You're right about the 25% of the value of your cargo thing... Impossible to do that on the fly. What was I thinking? Hey, maybe a /pirate FL hook that does it for you! ;-)

I've seen many arguments like this as well over the last year that I've been here. I'm sure that if every person who played on the server had a forum account there would be many more like it.

What is the significance of this? A subject that repeatedly comes up in arguments and complaints.

Could this mean there is a real problem that needs to be addressed?

Maybe one of the following popular explanations?

A) There's just a vocal minority who Q_Q like babies when they don't bother to hire scouts and then get owned by every pirate from Tau-23 to New Berlin.

B) Pirates are vastly over-powered and there is a balancing issue with transports.

C) There's an admin/pirate conspiracy in place which favors pirates and is reflected in the rules and sanction reports.

D) There is an issue with the server rules, with pirates being allowed to run rampant with no limits on how much they can demand.
I would personally say that it's a combination of A, B and D. Who knows, tough subject really. Again and again though, it comes back to rule 0.0... Don't be jerks basically. We're all here to have fun.

A very large A and a small b mainly for the second part about transports. C is just silly, everyone knows the admins are in cahoots with the nomads and the frogs. D is a non-issue either, as has been evidenced by about 6 pages here and about 600 pages elsewhere (seriously, do a search for Pirate Problem), so it's really A & B.

Mostly A. My favorite part about these discussions is most pirates, the real hardcore ones that pirate all the time w/o doing much else, always have these stories of f1-ing, running, no-english-speaking traders that "infest" the server. They are people who want to play here after all, just like everyone else who logs on, be they veterans or first-timers. How they are treated while starting out can have a large bearing on how they act later in their disco-life. Personally, I have thick skin and a general malaise about everything, so getting blown up doesn't bother me (after about 10 minutes of being infuriated that is). But if, as a new person, you're constantly assaulted by credit-hungry, rude, epeen-insecure pirates that are demanding gobs of hard-earned (and they are hard earned, whether miner or trader) credits constantly, that new person could probably think that it is the norm, and see how easy said person just made, in one short encounter, what the trader would make on his 20 minute trip. Gee, what would you do?

There are several pirates that I enjoy(ed) running into because no matter how it went, they did it "right". Phate was probably the best when it came to no-nonsense pirating with phenomenal RP. Mr. Sanguinetti comes in a close second for Hackers, and I believe was a protege of Phate. General Yar is someone I love to hate, but his RP is solid, even if it leaves a bad taste in my mouth (then again, I am Bretonian). The VR boys (and girls) in their hey-day were damn good pirates too. The one I miss most is Ivan, of OPG fame. Never once had a bad encounter with him. Sometimes I won, sometimes he won. Always creative (Great use of Dice and Coin), always talkative (imaging Corsairs and Bretonians having "spirited discussions" for lengthy periods), and an all around positive experience.

What do all of these pirates (and many more I know, I just haven't run into you enough) have in common? A general idea that it should be a positive experience for both parties, something that other pirates and people (spelled out earlier) seem to have forgotten.

So no, It's not a problem with the rules, it's not the seemingly all-encompassing Admin-Conspiracy (tin-foil hats optional), and it's not (completely) about overpowered pirates. It's really about the Q_Q, on BOTH sides of the argument, that keep bringing threads like this up. It is NOT a real problem, it's a problem of too many players having been coddled for most of their lives, and when a little adversity comes their way, the only way they know how to handle it is to whine to an authority figure. In this case, it's the admins, who seem to also be involved in the conspiracy.

Circular logic is circular.

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