Much to the dismay of miners everywhere, EVE Online's infamous Hulkageddon event made a return earlier this month. In this irregularly-scheduled fan-run event, ruthless pilots compete to kill as many mining barges as possible within a short period of time. While some kills are found in wormhole space and nullsec as part of a standard PvP roaming squad, most tend to be the result of suicide attacks carried out in high security space. As most miners stay in highsec, this is where most of the targets for the Hulkageddon are found.
Opponents of the event argue that it causes unnecessary hardship for ordinary EVE players who enjoy mining. The event's organiser, infamous pirate Helicity Boson, responds to critics with her belief that it's a perfectly valid way to play the game. In an exclusive interview with Massively before the event began, she suggested that any pilot paying attention could see the suicide attacks coming and would have plenty of time to escape. A significant portion of mining barge kills during the Hulkageddon are also believed to be macro-miners, adding another dimension to this already controversial issue.
The latest Hulkageddon ran from the 9th of July to the 18th, ending with an estimated 288 billion ISK worth of mining ships destroyed. To put that figure into perspective, it would cost you over $16,550 US Dollars to buy that much ISK legitimately by purchasing game time codes and selling them in-game for ISK. The prize-giving for the event was recently conducted, with a single ruthless player by the name of "Phil MacMannon" taking the vast majority of the prizes. With the event concluded, miners can finally breathe a sigh of relief and get back to eating every asteroid in sight.
Reader Comments (32)
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 10:20AM Arkanaloth said
space is cold, EVE Online makes it even colder. It's stories like this that simultaneously make EVE an amazing and terrifying place to game.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 11:00PM (Unverified) said
it is pretty amazing that people who have fun by purely ruining others' chance of having fun, and enjoy provoking emotional responses from others, are shamelessly claiming their way of playing is valid. I just hope they are obviously behaving like that in rl so I can keep distance from these people before having to be disgusted by them.
the system is not without flaw however. In highsec, even with insurance adjusted, suicide gankers still win the game of risk vs rewrad (isk wise), and it discourages new players from getting into mining.
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the system is not without flaw however. In highsec, even with insurance adjusted, suicide gankers still win the game of risk vs rewrad (isk wise), and it discourages new players from getting into mining.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 10:33AM (Unverified) said
Hulkageddon is a completely valid way to play the game. It griefs miners and makes people aware of who some of the most pathetic players in the game are. Anyone that really knows how to play the game would get bored with attacking defenseless ships as it is more fun to fight someone that is a challenge. So, most of the people that do this are incompetent players.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 10:46AM OmegaTwig said
On the contrary, many people who "really knows how to play the game" (Im going to assume you mean people who mostly PvP) view hulkageddon as a nice break from whatever Lo-Sec or Nullsec wars/struggles/etc... they are currently involved in...
Plus its also fun to get a bunch of friends together, consume too much of some liquids and try to find some hulk kills in HiSec or Jita even...
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Plus its also fun to get a bunch of friends together, consume too much of some liquids and try to find some hulk kills in HiSec or Jita even...
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 10:33AM Jade Effect said
Stories like these affirm my belief a large chunk of pvp players are the biggest carebears, who are only able to get their jollies ganking others who can't fight back.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 1:55PM (Unverified) said
Actually pvpers are players who will go for any target, fairly matched or otherwise.
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Posted: Jul 29th 2010 10:53AM Existentialist said
I get my jollies off of killing battleship priced ships in EVE.
You see EVE is about death, your death my death. "Fair Fights" or "Challenges" usually only happen on accident.
Killing someone's ship that cost 100 million is nice, collecting care bear tears is the real reward. Want to see why people grief? It is for a chance at quality carebear tears like this:
http://www.kugutsumen.com/content.php?47-Rorqual-Pilot-goes-mental
You see EVE is about death, your death my death. "Fair Fights" or "Challenges" usually only happen on accident.
Killing someone's ship that cost 100 million is nice, collecting care bear tears is the real reward. Want to see why people grief? It is for a chance at quality carebear tears like this:
http://www.kugutsumen.com/content.php?47-Rorqual-Pilot-goes-mental
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 11:10AM ScottishViking said
I would be pretty pissed if I lost a Rorqual too, but the pirate's responses make it all worthwhile:
[ 2010.01.31 12:44:02 ] Kelron Queldine > Maybe you should spend less time working out
[ 2010.01.31 12:44:07 ] Kelron Queldine > It's clearly damaged your brain
lololololol
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[ 2010.01.31 12:44:02 ] Kelron Queldine > Maybe you should spend less time working out
[ 2010.01.31 12:44:07 ] Kelron Queldine > It's clearly damaged your brain
lololololol
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 10:56AM Samael said
The reason why I stay away from that game.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 10:57AM (Unverified) said
I don't play EVE but any chance to mass-kill botters seems like a worthwhile goal to me -- even if a few "innocents" get caught in the crossfire.
In many PvE MMOs, for example, it considered "sport" to try to kill botters that you could normally not attack by luring them to their death or training large amounts of aggressive mobs onto them.
In many PvE MMOs, for example, it considered "sport" to try to kill botters that you could normally not attack by luring them to their death or training large amounts of aggressive mobs onto them.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 11:25AM Kalex716 said
Its a misconception to coin miners, industrialists, and mission runners as innocents. This is something people who cling to these notions try to propagate and i suspect you put it in quotations because you have this suspicion as well, nevertheless, its fun to consider this thought experiment....
You are a seasoned miner, who regularly puts your wares up on a local market for cash in hand profit. You sell your minerals at smart prices in this market, and you've been doing it for a long time. You log in, mine, and sell in the same spot. Now, another industrialist gets breaking news that a hulkageddon is going to start soon. For whatever reason, this industrialist scouts out your particular market as a reasonable place to set up shop, so he takes his brutix and magnetic field stabilizer, and ammo (typical ganker gear) blueprints to the hub and begins buying up minerals. He just so happens to start buying out your orders, and is giving you cash for your minerals, and starts to build out brutix' and mag stabs and ammo at huge rates to capitalize. Now weeks later, hulkageddon starts, and a seasoned combat pilot docks up, buys a brutix and a full set of mag stab, and ammo from the industrialist that your minerals essentially built. He goes out and finds your hulk in a belt and blows you up. If you openly knew that your minerals ended up in the hands of your own killer, how does it make you feel?
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You are a seasoned miner, who regularly puts your wares up on a local market for cash in hand profit. You sell your minerals at smart prices in this market, and you've been doing it for a long time. You log in, mine, and sell in the same spot. Now, another industrialist gets breaking news that a hulkageddon is going to start soon. For whatever reason, this industrialist scouts out your particular market as a reasonable place to set up shop, so he takes his brutix and magnetic field stabilizer, and ammo (typical ganker gear) blueprints to the hub and begins buying up minerals. He just so happens to start buying out your orders, and is giving you cash for your minerals, and starts to build out brutix' and mag stabs and ammo at huge rates to capitalize. Now weeks later, hulkageddon starts, and a seasoned combat pilot docks up, buys a brutix and a full set of mag stab, and ammo from the industrialist that your minerals essentially built. He goes out and finds your hulk in a belt and blows you up. If you openly knew that your minerals ended up in the hands of your own killer, how does it make you feel?
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 11:51AM WonderPenguin said
People who find this fun probably also enjoy kicking puppies and serial murder.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 12:12PM (Unverified) said
Yes, of course! Everyday after blowing up my favorite brand of space pixels, I abuse animals and have some crunchy babies for dinner!
More on topic, people act like this is breaking into miner's homes while their sleeping and murdering them. Its more like this: People are outside with megaphones yelling that if you go outside with a purple shirt they will kill you. Now, purple is your favorite color, so you have a few options! You can just not wear the purple shirt for a while, or you could only wear it when they're not around, and quickly hide when you see them coming! Walking outside in your purple shirt then flipping out when you die is pure hilarity for everyone else.
Helicity actually does a pretty good job of explaining why this is Puppy Murder 5000: http://www.machine9.net/blog/?p=336
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More on topic, people act like this is breaking into miner's homes while their sleeping and murdering them. Its more like this: People are outside with megaphones yelling that if you go outside with a purple shirt they will kill you. Now, purple is your favorite color, so you have a few options! You can just not wear the purple shirt for a while, or you could only wear it when they're not around, and quickly hide when you see them coming! Walking outside in your purple shirt then flipping out when you die is pure hilarity for everyone else.
Helicity actually does a pretty good job of explaining why this is Puppy Murder 5000: http://www.machine9.net/blog/?p=336
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 12:21PM WonderPenguin said
Now, granted, my comment was tongue in cheek...but you do realize killing people for wearing purple shirts would constitute a classic serial killing right...
If I'm being serious, I agree that the only ones griefed by this are the ones allowing themselves to be. And frankly, if that's something that gets to you EVE isn't the game for you to begin with.
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If I'm being serious, I agree that the only ones griefed by this are the ones allowing themselves to be. And frankly, if that's something that gets to you EVE isn't the game for you to begin with.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 12:45PM HereticalPenguin said
I certainly wouldn't want to participate in a game that persecutes me just for wearing my fancy purple shirt.
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Posted: Jul 29th 2010 2:31PM Monkey D Luffy said
What's so bad about serial murder?
Kicking puppies is bad though.
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Kicking puppies is bad though.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 12:58PM (Unverified) said
Well its an analogy, it doesn't hold up once you start looking at it closely.
But really, alot of people get a false sense of entitlement, that they deserve to afk mine and be completely safe. I agree that the insurance system needs work, and many of the Hulkageddoners would likely agree with that as well. But even if the insurance system was fixed, you'd still be able to suicide gank, and doing that doesn't make you a horrible person in the same way that me contract scamming people doesn't mean I steal peoples identities (note i don't actually contract scam, though i'm trying.)
And yeah, if you can't stand preventable losses, then Eve ain't for you.
But really, alot of people get a false sense of entitlement, that they deserve to afk mine and be completely safe. I agree that the insurance system needs work, and many of the Hulkageddoners would likely agree with that as well. But even if the insurance system was fixed, you'd still be able to suicide gank, and doing that doesn't make you a horrible person in the same way that me contract scamming people doesn't mean I steal peoples identities (note i don't actually contract scam, though i'm trying.)
And yeah, if you can't stand preventable losses, then Eve ain't for you.
Posted: Jul 29th 2010 1:22PM Grizz said
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