Mike sat in the bar and listened to the promoter try to sell the investment scheme to a bunch of the local business men.
“Look, all them pilots are always complaining about there being no ‘fair’ pvp. They scream about blobs and hotdrop o’clock and a few try to find quiet corners where they duel privately. What I am saying is that IF we could find a way to make this possible we could make a fortune. Whichever constellation managed to get the franchise would become the new Jita.”
“New Jita?” One of the clients asked skeptically.
“Replacement ships, replacement parts? Border it on lowsec/nullsec and every pilot will be able to get to it if we can get a Concord variance. This concept would revitalize ANY system in New Eden! An instant trade hub to rival all the others!” The enthusiasm of the promoter was infectious.
“That is to say nothing af the media possibilities. Betting and the concept of gladiatorial combat for the common masses? The potential is phenomenal.”
“What is the catch?” A cold eyed woman asked.
“Currently? Technology. We need to find a way to lock off arenas so that the blobs can NOT happen and the combatants are truly alone. We need Concord approval to make isolated pockets of Nullsec so that ‘what happens in the arena, stays in the arena’.” The promoter sighed. “But the possibilities . . . ”
“What is to keep incidents like the finals of the Alliance tournament from happeneing again?”
Laughing the promoter crowed. “Not a damn thing! A league might form and there would still be the metagaming, backstabbing, spying and bribes we have all come to know and love. The danger would still be there. It would be real charges, real missiles.”
“Real lives of real crews.” Another added, laconically.
“EXACTLY! Death at every corner and You have a chance to get in on the ground floor. There is a lot of need for up front funds to promote THIS constellation as the place to be and the one to get the franchise, if it happens. Now what do you say?”
**********************************************************************
Lessons
Quick and casual gaming in MY Eve?
1) It would bring another class of gamer to our table, one that would want to be an active part of our economy to fund his quick and dirty games
2) The tech of it IS what is holding us back. We cheat, it is why we play Eve, because we can. This one has to be tough enough to NOT be a new way to gank the dummies.
3) I know of lots of players who are frustrated by roams that produce nothing or a swift end for themselves.
4) I also know that there are LOTS of pilots who don’t want a ‘fair fight’. They want to trick, surprise, metagame.
5) IF it could be implemented properly? This would be in the category of a ‘good thing’
fly it like you won the pinks
(if you do not get that reference . . . tough)
m
A Missioneer in Eve 
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Personally, I believe it would quickly devolve into the same kind of game play seen on Sisi or even the can baiters in highsec. What I mean by that is heavy use of alts as fleet boosters, expensive implants, and combat boosters will always turn what looks like a fair 1 v 1 into a rigged match. It doesn’t matter how many precautions are taken in the way of enforced rules. Eventually people will find loopholes to exploit for a combat advantage and murder hundreds of the unexpecting for killboard statistics. There is no such thing as a free lunch, or a fair fight. Remember the Velator of Doom?
There is no such thing as a fair fight because one player always has more to bring to the table in terms of skill, if nothing else. That being said you CAN try to bulldoze some of the bigger hills of difference.
m
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The real danger though is that the more directly enforced rules there are the more pigeons there will be. People will always tend toward thoughts of “I just suck.”, “I should have done X”, or maybe even “I’ll get him next time with Y”. The last thing they will expect is an unprovable exploitation of the rules. Even if fights were somehow fair, the very fact that gambling is involved would cause matches to be thrown. Can you force people to turn on guns when bribed? Call me jaded, but will probably make Billions on any way betting could easily be implemented. Would I participate as a pilot or patron? Yes, but then I am a gambling man.