I consider myself having a lot of moral flexibility. Some may say that means I don't have any morals, but what someone else perceives as my obligations to a situation may not be what I perceive my obligation to be.
Last night, I was hanging out in the public chat room that our corporation uses to chat and talk with our non-corp allies. We have a few friends to our corp that are NOT allies to our alliance, which can pose a multitude of conflicts, confusion, and potentially dangerous situations in the heat of battle.
Three members of our corp decided we were going to go gate camp with 3 members of this other corporation. We're blue to each other so we don't shoot each other, but our enemies are not the same. Our group of three arrive first at the gate and begin camping and let the other guys know where we are so they can come join us. While we're camping this gate and they are on the way an alliance Loki begins to camp with us. This Loki doesn't say hi, or mind if I join, or anything at all, just hangs out and starts camping with us. We relay over comms that there is now a "friendly" Loki sitting on gate with us.
Our buddies decide they want to kill this Loki since it's not blue to them, and we remind them that we can't help since we're blue, but we're not going to stop it either. First they send a Hawk to engage the Loki by himself, and the Hawk is handling the Loki just fine on his own, tanking the damage and pulling him from the gate farther and farther. As soon as the Loki is 10km away from the gate he warp scrams it, webs it, and his two buddies jump in with Sleipnir's. The Loki tries to disengage and burn back to the gate but he can't jump until his combat timer runs out, giving the three ships plenty of time to crush his tank and kill him. His pod jettisons and they lock it and pod him as well.
This entire time, I'm sitting there not doing a single thing to help either side. Just hanging out watching the fight. A moment later a neut Arbitrator jumped into system (which was neut for both of us) and we work together and make quick work of the lonely ship that happened to stumble on our camp.
Time goes by, and I'm waiting for an email or something from the Loki pilot asking why we weren't engaging, blah blah blah, but nothing ever comes. I'm not sure if he knew we weren't engaging or if he just assumed we were helping and the enemies just called him primary.
I thought the whole thing was hilarious, and didn't lose a bit of sleep over not helping the Loki. We are part of the renter alliance so we're not treated with the same respect as the rest of the alliance so I don't think I owe them anything. They take our ISK monthly, don't really provide us any protection, and so I don't care if one of them dies by gate camping in Strategic Cruiser.
I didn't know the pilot in the Loki, so I had no loyalty there. If I had known the pilot, I would have warned him or tried to prevent his ultimate demise in some other way.
Our friendly corp and us are working on how we end up blue to each other and have everyone else can have the same standing, but until then we will likely have many conflicts of interest when we decide to fleet up. I smell some sort of diplomatic incident coming soon. Hopefully we out our new rental situation by then.
Loyalty is done in layers. It is just feels strange when you admit that you do something that is socially unacceptable. That is different from wrong but the weight of it often. Feels the same.
ReplyDeleteTBH, I think you guys screwed up. Big time. Blue is blue, and by staying there and not helping the loki pilot, you, in effect, helped your non-blue buddies. The potential diplomatic issues are enormous.
ReplyDeleteRight up until you stayed to watch, you did everything above board (warning the loki pilot was key). But then, you should have warped off before combat started. The fact that the loki pilot was a member of your overlord's alliance increases the danger immeasurably. At best, I can see your corp being told to compensate the loki pilot. At worst, I can see you being kicked for being awoxers.
Of course, if you're leaving anyway, and soon, well, that changes things :)
Regardless, I think you and your corpmates need to give this kind of thing a bit more thought. Most renting alliance would not look kindly on such actions. Keep your private blues private. Think of it as another cost of renting - is it really worth risking your isk-making over?
Trust me I get your point but both were blue to me. I did nothing so I didn't betray either Blue. I know that's a very slippery slope, but if I warn the Loki, I betray one blue, if I help the Loki, I betray the other blue. If I do nothing it can be misinterpreted , but if that Loki had said "mind if I join you" or "let's camp this gate" I would warned him. But he just sat on the gate and said nothing. I didn't lead him on or trap him, I just did nothing.
DeleteI would prefer to not be in that situation ever again honestly
Yeah, they were both blue to you, but once you start renting, you're kinda beholden to err on the side of the overlords, at least if you want to keep renting. The inaction of the loki pilot is what saved your collective asses :) Also, I guess if the other corp was really blue and not just "blue", that'd save you too. After all, can't NBSI if the other guys were honest-to-goodness blue to you, right? :)
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