Wednesday, July 26, 2017

"Inside The Weird World Of EVE Online's Corpse Collectors"

Kotaku:
There exists a small fraction of the EVE player base that chooses to take part in the trade of virtual human bodies. The frozen remains left behind in the wake of massive space battles is useless in the game, but can still fetch a pretty penny on the open market—depending on whose body it is.

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Most corpse connoisseurs I spoke to weren’t particularly introspective about their choice of hobby, saying they pack their ships with human cargo for “sport” or “the lulz.” But some offered more compelling explanations.

“Well, besides collecting ‘for fun’, I grew up playing Diablo 2, with the ear system,” said one. “Where when you killed a player in PVP, their named ear would drop, and I used to PVP all the time, so the ears would be my trophies in my stash.” When this player picked up EVE, he carried that habit over. “Call it a reminder to myself to stay somewhat humble and calm in PVP, and to remind myself that everybody dies,” he said.

Some players keep a few corpses around as reminders of major victories. Some just hoard all the bodies they can find.

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His collecting habits would also cause other sorts of trouble for the fleet. “I have had situations where after a long fleet I might have 20+ corpses in cargo, and then for whatever reason I lose my ship in a fight, the corpses pop out of the wreck as individual items in space,” he said.

This sudden flooding of the battlefield with dozens of corpses causes other player’s overviews to be suddenly flooded with bodies