Yesterday evening (while getting Heather to search the forums for pirate corporation recruitment threads), I posted my own recruitment info thread so as to get corporations coming to me as well as me finding them. Around 40 minutes later, I got a reply saying;
I was going to reply but then i read
“Can fly a Covetor Mining Barge and an Iteron Mk V ideal for hauling large amounts of minerals, ore, loot (), etc. (as mentioned above).”
If you want to pirate u can sell that barge and come join us, never to speak of the M word again.
And this was from someone called Miner Taur.
After reading this reply, it got me thinking. Pirates seem to generally be split over the issue of taking part in certain ‘carebear’ activities. There are some pirates (solo or corporations) that believe that to be successful and earn a substantial amount of money as a pirate, it would be foolish to have pirating as your one and only profession. There are other pirates that believe that if you want to be a true pirate, all of your EVE time should be spent focused on pirating and nothing else. These are also the kinds of people that you’ll see in the forums calling ‘carebears’ (or pirates that mine, build, run missons etc.) weak.
Personally, I’m in the first camp. While I’m not entirely sure that pirating (as a profession) needs a boost, everyone needs a back up plan. I also think that this applies to all other professions too. If your main source of income dries up you need to have another, reliable profession to fall back on.
This is especially important if you have something that you spend your ISK on regularly, such as time codes, POS fuel, etc.
While this is my opinion, I’d love to know what your opinions are on this subject. Even if you’re not a pirate, I’d still like to know your opinion in regards having back up plans to other professions.
In other news, I’ve started to get urges to fly Caldari. I have no idea why but I’m starting to love the blocky, shinyness of the ships. So, to help me make a decision, I’ve put up a new poll on the right. You know the drill, point those eyes to the right and engage that clicking finger.
Update:
I’ve put the poll below as it’s no longer in the sidebar.
February 5th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I'm a dedicated pirate and you'll never catch me mining or missioning (even on my carebear alt!). However, I enjoy exploration very much and work a lot of Radar sites and Unknown plexes. The rewards can be pretty decent for what amounts to very easy work. And it's fun. Of course, I don't mind scanning out a hidden site and just waiting in it cloaked in my Cheetah of Doom (fit for speed, with three points!) while my mates are on call to provide backup should someone else pop into the site.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
It's all about having fun. If you enjoy relaxing while mining on occasion, there is no reason not to. You've got to have a secondary career or income source a lot of times.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I agree leumas too just have fun at it…if you enojy it who cares what others think?
February 6th, 2009 at 8:05 am
On the average day, I would be a dedicated pirate but the back up is mainly only for times when money (and targets) become scarce.
Although, I can see why you'd want to be a dedicated pirate 100% of the time. While I'm sitting mining in an asteroid belt, you'd be using your time with no targets to find other targets.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Yeah, even if not for income reasons, it helps to have a secondary profession as some people can get bored doing the same thing over and over again.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I agree. As long as you're having fun, it shouldn't matter what other people are telling you to do or what is right or wrong.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Ha! And now I have to eat my words, because I decided my prober alt needs some Virtue implants and so I went and had a talk with Sisters of Eve about some work. I had to keep scraping the glaze off my eyes, but managed to get a couple of missions in before my brain went numb
That said, I agree…people pay to play and have every right to do what they enjoy. Doesn't bother me what people choose to do in the game; my opinions on the various professions and playstyles are obviously centered around my personal preferences.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I agree with you about having a backup plan. Although pirating is awesomely fun, it can be expensive if you run into the wrong people. And how are you going to get your lovely new ship back up and running? Find one?
February 9th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Exactly my reasoning. Even though the general rule of pirating is not to fly something that you can't afford to replace, sometimes I just can't resist!
February 9th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Haha that's one of the things that I love about EVE, people's playstyles can change within seconds