As of late spectrum has been alight with the tired old debate of PvE vs PvP. This does Star Citizen a disservice as the language and ideas used in that time-worn argument do not properly facilitate an effective discussion of THIS game. First lets talk about some of the mechanics and systems of SC that make the PvE vs PvP debate pointless. (1) The game, as it stands already, is BIG and will only keep growing. Even as of today, if you are a miner and want to mine in peace and quiet without being attacked all you have to do is fly to Daymar (or any other moon with resources), pick a random location (or fly 5 minutes at full burn away from the marked PoIs) and mine away to your heart's content. Of course if you mine very close to a PoI you increase the chance of being found/attacked so, common sense must prevail here but the point is that even right now it is very easy to disappear and never meet another player. This will only increase as we get more planets and systems in the future. (2) Ships will 100% have components and the game will soon abandon the "canned death" mechanic. In the very near future, as stated numerous times by the devs, it will be fairly difficult and time consuming (as well as pointless) to "blow up" a ship. In a vast majority of fights, ships will be disabled long before they go "boom" (and only if the reactor is breached or explosives are purposefully used) It will therefore be a time consuming and futile exercise to waste time on trying to "blow up" other players. (3) The repeatedly stated ratio of 9:1 NPCs to Players and the efforts by CIG to make it easy for players to "pass" as NPCs. This is actually much easier that making NPCs play like real players. Anyone who played AC: Revelations knows that with a little planning one can easily mimic patterns of NPCs or at least minimize the obvious outward signs that they are a player, if they so choose. (4) Ship cargo will be primarily destroyed IF a ship does actually explode or if self-destruct is successfully completed. Next, it would be useful to define a few key terms and distinctions to better facilitate the discussion of Player v All (PvA) in SC. (a) Griefer is strictly limited to a player who prevents another player from playing the game AT ALL. One common example of this is spawn or pad camping; however, it seems that CIG plans to put systems in place to prevent this (e.g. automated landing pad turrets, NPC response teams, bounty contracts) Additionally, it will almost certainly be likely that players themselves will have tools to avoid and/or thwart this behavior. If a group of these players try to lock down a player and stop them from leaving a spawn point then the player could hire passage aboard a transport, if those griefers attempt to blow up all ships coming in or out of the station then a UEE fleet will arrive and destroy them with overwhelming force (or at the very least give players time to escape) It is important to note that this title ONLY belongs to those who prevent other players from playing the game at all (trapping a player in a confined space where the player has no means to escape) it does NOT describe a player who simply kills another. This is a small minority of players and will be made even small due to the harshness and difficulty they will face from players and game systems. CIG may ultimately ban people who engage in this kind of repeated malicious behavior. (b) Reaver describes a player who's primary motivation is bloodlust. These players care little for profit and enjoy causing fear and suffering. They may hunt for sport rather than to make money. However, in order for them to be effective (ships, weapons and components) they will need some source of funding (legal or illegal) otherwise they will be flying around in stock auroras. The game mechanics (NPC response, bounty system etc) will also be set against such players. This will not be a very sustainable gameplay style and, unless they have another method of earning income, they will ultimately end up broke and alone. Again, this will be a small minority of players. (c) Pirate describes a player who is motivated by profit. They will use any method to get more money be it extortion, robbery or theft. This will be the majority of unlawful players. A good/successful pirate will be one who minimizes losses, does not kill and often finds the path of least resistance. A trigger happy pirate will be a poor pirate an will fall quickly fall into the category of "reaver" which will bring about burdensome consequences. Most pirates will attempt to minimize risk and maximize profit. They will not spend time/effort blowing up ships (see point #2 above) as that would result in a sub-optimal result (much more expensive in terms of time and resources than its worth) Now on to the positives (and options) of PvA: First, due to the ever-present risk factor of a shared open universe where anyone can be attacked, new types of gameplay become relevant and valuable for all players. Take data running for example. A player who has found a remote location with valuable minerals can sell this info for a high price to miners who prefer not to be disturbed. The very fact that danger exists elsewhere makes this info all the more valuable and now you have 2 non-combat related activities (mining and data running) which benefit from open universe combat mechanic. If there were artificial safe zones or PvE only servers then this data would be far less important and the data runner's info would essentially just be a slight time saver (as miners could safely and easily travel around and find minerals themselves causing inflation) In the shared PvA universe, everyone benefits (data runners info is more valuable and miner is minimizing risk and maximizing profit) therefore everyone's gameplay experience is enhanced. The same principle applies to player bounty hunting systems, trade/jump route security, escort roles, player run transportation. ALL of these things are improved and enriched by a PvA approach rather than the archaic PvE/PvP split mentality. SC is a revoluationary attempt to bring all gameplay styles under one roof as a complete whole, rather than having fragmented separate pieces which are just a shadow of the greater whole. Second, players who want to avoid conflict (from NPCs or other players) will have many viable means to do so. Stealth tech, freedom to plot our own QT jumps, sentry/early warning beacons and emergency QT jumps are just some of the means for players to avoid conflict if they just want to mine in peace. It does mean that players have to plan accordingly and be aware of their surroundings; however, their preferred gameplay style will still be effective and viable EVEN in low security (dangerous and unprotected) space (exponentially so in high-security space for those that want less stressful short-term gaming bursts) Additionally, this creates a valuable skill set which crew members can offer to ship owners (good QT jumper/navigator, beacon monitor, stealth/power manager) Third, players are human and the vast majority of humans are cooperative and friendly by default, particularly if a system encourages such behavior with incentives. Players will find countless options available to them in the form of contracts, diplomacy and intra-organizations help. You will not be alone, there is safety in numbers and the mechanics of SC will encourage group work and play. If you want to solo then, as stated above, you will have plenty of options (stealth, QT jumping, sentry beacons etc) however, if you want help and assistance, you WILL find it. As I mentioned in a previous response, CIG has industry veterans, like Tony Zurovec, who are intimately familiar with the challenges such a massive and revolutionary attempt will face. They are not spring chickens wading into something blindly for the first time. They are industry veterans who have deep knowledge of the types of issues many players are concerned about. We are still in an early alpha stage and as such, many of the above systems are either not implemented yet or are still at tier 0. Give it time and an honest chance and you will be pleasantly surprised at what the talented people at CIG can accomplish. Finally, I want to address the pernicious idea that seems to be a staple among the rapid PvE-only types, namely, that PvP players are all wolves merely looking for weak sheep to prey upon. This is patently false on multiple levels, primarily because a vast majority of SC backers play and enjoy both styles of play at various times. Also, as can be seen above, PvA means that the distinction is blurred and no longer relevant. Third, even hardcore traditional PvP focused players actually want more challenge than NPCs can provide, they are not looking to constantly take your lunch money and make you suffer, they are looking for challenge and unpredictability that (currently) only a human mind can offer. They are looking for emergent gameplay (boarding a ship and negotiating a cut/extortion price while potentially being doublecrossed and having the ship be self-destructed by a hidden crew member) The strawman argument that PvP-only focused players (a small minority in reality) are all "griefers" can no longer be accepted and should be put to bed for good. The sky is not falling, PvA IS the future of SC and we will all benefit from it (even if you cannot or do not want to see it yet)