BB57: My EYES!!!!

So, here is my first stab at these monthly blog banters.

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“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein

Drackarn pointed this killmail to me recently and proposed the following for a blog banter:

Obviously that is a not just a bad fit, its horrific. But the guy might not know any better. We get these all the time circulating social media and corp/alliance chat. How do we educate players on fitting? This guy has been playing four months and can fly a BC, but has no idea how to fit one. What could be done to help bro's like this?

Furthermore, what (if any) responsibility do veterans players have in finding these players and instructing them on the finer arts of ship fitting? If it exists, does it extend beyond them into teaching PvP skills, ISK making skills, market skills, social skills, life skills...

And another question you can think about is this: do purposely wrong fits, aka comedy fits or experimental fits or off-meta fits, offend you or your corp? Would you, like Rixx Javix when he was in Tuskers, face expulsion for fitting your ships differently than the accepted standard?

"Its the difference between streaking and getting caught with your pants down." - Kirith Kodach

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How can we educate our new bros coming to EVE...  When I look at this killmail it tells me quite a few things.  I'm trying to remember what it was like to be new but remember... its been a LONG time since I've been totally green behind the ears when it comes to EVE.  Lets run through my thoughts on this killmail, shall we?

* He's obviously not short on cash.
* He might not know WHAT he can put in the rig or low slots.
* He might not be in the know with HOW effective each of his modules are.
* He is blatantly ignoring the fact that even without skills, he could be putting WAY more on this ship (see EFT screenshot below).

So, back in the day of my newbness, I do remember very vividly spending A LOT of time on the market and on the forums familiarizing myself with what was available AND where I could put it.  We also didn't have a compare tool back then so understanding what was different from each of the various rat droppings versions  (meta levels) of the modules was difficult.  I spent HOURS upon HOURS fitting, buying, refitting, etc trying to build my first Thorax for combat until finally I built an awesome armor tanking cruiser to take down my local static anomaly in Udianoor.  This process also had a lot of fit, fight, refit, fight iterations so I'm starting to remember what it was like.  I'm also remembering the frustration I had with the lack of search functionality and fitting information.

Let me start to address each of my thoughts on this killmail specifically:

* He's obviously not short on cash or he valued his effectiveness in that hull to high.  He could have sold that hull, bought a regular drake and fitted it properly.

* He might not know WHAT to put in the rig or low slots.  As I said previously, I spent HOURS finding modules to put into slots back in the day and I don't recall any kind of search function on the market to 'show me low slot modules'.  I'm noticing that our younger generation is having some serious patience issue's where as us older folk take our time and learn.  I guess we just have to accept that and give them the tools they need to find what they need to find.

* Not knowing HOW effective each of the modules are could potentially be the issue with him fitting a 1mn vs a 10mn Afterburner.  Hell, maybe this is something like the low slots issue above where he didn't even know that there was a 10mn afterburner... I don't know.  This also applies to the other modules in his mids.

* Blatantly ignoring the fact that you haven't maxed your ship out really has no excuse.  There are clearly two meters in the fitting window that show you how full your CPU and powergrid are and if they aren't nearly maxed out and you're not out of slots then you are clearly doing something wrong.  I wouldn't think that this would be something that we HAVE to teach people.  Also, there is this thing called google...  I hear its nice this time of year...

Now, to answer the questions set forth, I have to say that yes, we more veteran players (I don't really consider myself a vet, but I'm not new) have a responsibility to our new bros.  I do what I can to offer up fits if I have some to anyone that asks and I also try to help give anyone the skills they need to dissect WHAT is good about a fit.  I don't necessarily think we should go out of our way to help, but when asked we should at least point our newbros in the right direction.

As far as WHAT could be done to help bros like this, I'm kind of at a loss.  I don't know why others play EVE, but I play EVE because there are other people and if I don't know something, I ask.  Maybe there is something wrong with some peoples communication skills.  Maybe they're just too shy to ask due to the fear of their question being scoffed at and them being ridiculed for even asking.  The list goes on as to WHAT the problem could be so I don't think there is a single answer to this question.

Maybe we should all go grab a new bro out of the help channel or some rookie corp and talk to them, bring them on a mission run with us or go whelp with them in lowsec.

That's me and my thoughts, what are yours?