Wormhole Life Culture Part 1: Corp Ship Name Tags

Hello everyone,

I'm back at it, sharing my opinions on things I'm no way qualified to give an opinion on.

I thought I would start a multi part blog series called Wormhole Life Culture. Living in a wormhole is a culture after all. I figure anything that a group of players/people could self identify as being one way or another collectively could be referred to as a 'culture'.

At this very second in my EVE game play, I'm not in a corp with other people. Its not from lack of trying mind you, I just haven't found a corp that offers me what I'm looking for. What that is, well I'm not exactly sure, I just know the corps I've talk to thus far, don't completely do it for me, so to speak. Not sure any ever will, but till I find one, I'll keep looking and keep blogging.

Today, I want to share one of the reason why I said no to to the culture of my last corp offering.

Wormhole Corp Ship Name Tags. 

Example : " ☜∰☞ " Insert name here

I've commented on them in the past at different points, one of them specifically was during my EVE Vegas scouting presentation


I had no idea that, this relic ideal system was still so prevalent with wormholers who say they take themselves seriously now.

Here are the pro's and cons as I see them. 

Pros: 

• When Hitting D scan in whatever system you instantly know which ship is 'on your side'. 
• You can stay totally silent in coms with the knowledge all ships on D are accounted for one way or another.  
• Pilots can be lazy and not be forced to be aware of whats and who are on scan at all times. 
• You at a glance can see who's on your side and who isn't.

Cons: 

• With as much Dscan ship information that you can gain in the Pro's, it can be just as easily lost if the 'other guys' choose to copy your ship name tag.  
• Any information that you think you have, is instantly lost when the other guys choose not use your culture of self identifying with a special squiggle 
• Pilots can be lazy and not be forced to be aware of whats and who are on scan at all times.  
• You at a glance can see who's on your side and who isn't.  This is in both places because for as much intel advantage as you seem to think you gain, you give up that advantage right back to the people outside your corp.

When you list the pros and the cons to using a Corp wide ship naming convention it results in a zero sum game (no bonus for either group) if one thing didn't exist. Then it turns into a near total value lost for the people who use corp ship names.

1. D Scan

2. Select Ship on D Scan

3. Ctr (your keyboard button under shift) and C

4. Open your own ship rename (right click on your hull, select "Rename")

5. Ctr (your keyboard button under shift) and V

Just like that, all bonus's the people who are using a ship naming convention are now GONE! In fact, they're not just gone, but they're now suddenly working against the very popular goal, which is to not have your stuff exploded from being an idiot.

In all seriousness, I thought such an obvious intelligence flaw in an activity should be overwhelmingly obvious to anyone with half a brain. The trick was simply telling them,

"Hey you know that thing you've been doing, yea its dumb, stop it" and they could then respond with "uhh yea you're right, its fucking dumb, maybe I should stop"

NOPE, not having it. We'll not have any of that thin stuff goin on around these parts.

Its not that simple.This activity is so ingrained in their heads that simply telling them, won't work.

This is very much like smoking cigarettes, why anyone ever thought this was a good idea, we may never know. People still do it, people have been told it will shorten their lives, make their teeth yellow, give them social leprosy and pigeon hole them with a classification of folk who simply can't be bothered to give a shit.  

Corp ship tag naming conventions are on this same level.

Just like smoking I think they were invented back when people simply didn't know how to copy and past. In the long history of EVE perhaps it wasn't always an ability to copy and paste your Dscan results, but since they are now.. we know better as a culture and we should be smart enough to stop it.

I'm making my solemn vow at this point going forward. Any corp that asks me to use a ship naming convention as part of their normal day to day is filled with lazy idiots who probably chain smoke cigarettes and can't predict the consequences of informed idiocy.

If you are reading this, feel that I'm wrong, thats fine! People who know better will exploit your own failings in the future, hell Marlbro is still a multi billion dollar company filled with lots and lots people who all need jobs. But for the rest of us, well we enjoy the explosions and cheaper healthcare.

God damn it, I need a smoke! (quit 14 years ago)