A different point of view, a different type of experience, so you will have to excuse some of my disagreement with the idea that pilots’ ships are not worth the emotional investment.
I find there is a bit of a logical fallacy in equating a ship to a screwdriver. While they both serve a function and they both are tools, I doubt you would feel as cavalier about your neighbor coming over and taking his precious screwdriver to your car’s paint job. There is also the relative cost involved in losing a ship. I’m rather cavalier about Tech 1 frigate losses by the dozens in large part because I can manufacture or buy them by the hundreds or even thousands. On the flip side, losing a command ship is quite a bit more painful.
In many ways the emotion that a player develops toward her ship is connected to the very fact that they might have built it from scratch. They put a lot of time, effort and energy in to make it. It’s closely akin to the way classic car collectors/builders feel about their machines. It has become more that just metal. It has become a representation of the energy put into the creation of the ship. It is the same devotion that many pilots have to shooting other ships. Couple this creative energy put into the ship with any subsequent scenarios of survival and there is further emotional connection as the pilot has succeeded in yet another endeavor in said ship.
I don’t expect you to understand or even agree, but do know this, that the rage a pilot feels after losing a good ship, that has carried her well, or been through many times together will alway, ALWAYS have some emotional attachment to it. I understand your point of view that many pilots are too connected to their ships, and for the most part would agree. But I also understand that EVE has as many aspects to its play style as it has systems, and we are all likely to approach it from different places.
The problem isn’t really emotional output, but emotional maturity. People aren’t reacting to grief over losing a ship; they’re referring to the senseless rage that follows as a result.
If you lose a loved one, grief is understandable and encouraged. If you decide to kick and scream and throw a tantrum over it, then you’re an immature fool.
Emotional maturity is being able to swallow the former without necessarily resulting in the latter.
By the same reasoning, the response from the aggressor to, “Just Get Over It” is equally immature, demonstrating a significant lack of understanding or empathy.
And people are reacting to the grief that pilots feel after losing a ship. Take for instance Alexia Morgan‘s recent post. I don’t think there’s much doubt that grief in any form is seen as weak and pathetic attraction to simple tools.
My point is that there is grief. It is proportional to the amount of emotion energy invested in the procurement and subsequent endeavors of the “tool”. Grief is a natural response. The lack of grief demonstrates either emotional disconnect similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, disassociation or schizophrenia and can result in even greater problems down the road if left unchecked.
I think emotional attachment to ship is a good thing – it makes the journey more engaging, and victory more thrilling -
and defeat more agonizing. heh. (Welcome to the Wide World of Sports!) I would rather view the ship as an extension of self rather than just a dumb screwdriver.
It would be like looking at the game and thinking your only seeing digital pixels and complex algorithms rather than planets, gates, ships and explosions. We invest emotionally in the pixels because it’s what we want to do, to escape RL methinks.