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In The Trenches

The Necessity of Espionage - Sins of a Solar Spymaster #4

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Posted March 23rd, 2009 by The Mittani

In 0.0 space, you must win at all costs.
When losing hurts in athletics and competitive events, the losers tend to either rationalize their defeat or give themselves little awards for showing "the best sportsmanship." In the Mittani's fourth Ten Ton Hammer commentary, he writes about how this concept has exploded into what he calls "space bushido" in EVE Online. While it may sound like a honorable notion, the Mittani shows that being underhanded - using espionage to get ahead - in EVE Online is an absolute necessity in the PvP space.

At its core, e-honor is a social construction that only benefits the loser. The winner has already won, through whatever means; the loser has lost substantial assets, and so is compelled to conceive of a number of face-saving rationalizations. What space bushido provides the loser is a way to cope with their loss: "Sure, I lost, but they ganked me/used a login trap/violated a 1v1, so they have no honor." Another oft-encountered saying is that a lost ship has no value, but a pilot's honor is priceless.


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