There are a few downsides to the game. The biggest downside at this time would be that one of the most profitable pastimes in the game is tormenting and extorting other players.
While the game is divided into different 'Security Ratings', this doesn't really help you against player aggression. Low Sec, Null Sec, and Wormholes are pretty much the lawless lands where anything goes.
But most players are in Hi Sec. And most of the abuse, extortion and Cyber Bullying happens in Hi Sec.
Unfortunately there seems to be a relative lack of action on behalf of the developers to deal with this matter, saying simply that it is a sandbox game and people can do what they want.
There is a 'Council Of Stellar Management' that was born as a player run council to interact with the developers after a major scandal was uncovered proving the developers were favoring one player group above the others, Band Of Brothers. Thus was born the CSM.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the CSM is anything more than obvious and legitimate corruption. About 1.5% of the reported Eve accounts vote. And the vast majority of them are 'The Goons', one of the largest player abuse and extortion groups in the game. Many of the members of 'BOB' as they were called in short joined the Goons and thus the legacy of favoritism continues.
Perhaps the most disturbing factor about the game is that the extortion and abuse can be seen to directly profit the developers. Plex is a 'Pilot Lisence Extension'. This item you buy from the developers and can use in game to extend your subscription. You can also buy these in game with in game money, or sell them in game for in game money.
I've seen thousands of dollars spent by people that have been tormented and repeated extorted and killed in game buying these items with real world money. Why? Many of them don't play a great deal because they have lives other than sitting in front of the computer. And after they refuse to pay some punk to not kill them, they get their ship destroyed along with their capsule which is their life boat. To be able to continue playing at the same level, having just lost most of what they owned, and their main method of playing the game, they use their credit cards to buy Plex and then sell them for in game money. This happening of course, in Hi Security Space. Yes, the police 'Concord' do respond to such illegal attacks. After your extremely expensive Mining Barge is destroyed, plus your clone and implants with your pod, Concord arrives and destroys the attackers and their dirt cheap suicide ships.
Now the Goons, do live in Null Sec. But they ply their trade of extortion and 'Suicide Ganking' (blowing you up as described above) in High Security Space. Perhaps what makes matters worse is that the leader of the Goons was leader of the CSM for a few years in a row until at a live broadcast event, drunk as a skunk, he tried to inspire people to make a potentially suicidal player kill himself. For this disgusting act he was given a one month ban from the game, and he stepped down as leader of the CSM.
Please note, that if you are caught using a bot (a macro that runs your eve game for you) to mine so that you can make isk without really playing the game, you can get a life ban. Compare that to the statement above.
So far very little has been done regarding player abuse and extortion in High Security Space because Eve is a sandbox and people can pretty much do anything they want except use programs to play the game for them. And sadly, as long as player abuse profits the developers in real world money, its a sad state of affairs.
Of course, the other side to this is that I've seen hundreds upon hundreds of people quit the game because of this harassment and abuse. So it makes them cash, but costs them cash in people that quit and will never come back. Think about it... do you want to pay to play a game where a bunch of punks will extort, harass, and abuse you without any recourse?
Here is a link to the Goon website where you can see what the largest most powerful alliance in the game is all about: GoonFleet.com
There is also another group of note. These people are taking the ganking and abuse one step further. This site's propaganda is quite disgusting, and the leader of it all makes himself out to be some kind of messiah. Please note that while they make claims to be trying to reduce the use of macros and bots, you can find their allies and associates mining ice all day and night in the ice belts other players have been bullied out of. They talk one game, and they sure play another one. They even have the nerve to make a claim that the official EULA isn't adequate, so they will force players to follow a better one.
Check this sick crap out: www.minerbumping.com
Now if you put the two groups together, they may total 5000-6000 players of the supposed 500,000 (roughly) active accounts. 1% of the players... and they effectively bully people into spending a fortune of real world money to recoup their losses in game, and have managed control of the player council for at least a few years.
Clearly the time is coming... will the 1% be the only % that remains in game? Will consideration and balance ever come for the other 99%? Or will the abuse and push to make these players go to null sec and play that way win out? Is there a future, long term, on a larger scale, for an online game that openly allows wanton abuse of the players? How will a company fair in the long run when a large amount of their player base is abused, extorted, and worst of all, in their suffering, making money for the developers?
Eve Online is the most complex and massive game I have seen in my life. It has the potential for growth beyond reason. There is so much to do you could play for a decade and not see or do most of it... But the problems are perhaps as epic as its potential. And so far, the rotten components are thriving and killing the rest, potentially taking the games overall potential with it.
Until the next time, Fly Safe :)
Ps: Cyber Bullying is quickly become a very serious crime in many countries... makes you wonder how it can be one of the most profitable pastimes in an online game doesn't it?
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