How the New Order Will Achieve Final Victory, Part 1

The New Order has a bold mission: We will control all systems with a security status of 0.5+ and impose the New Halaima Code of Conduct on every man, woman, and child in highsec. At length, order will emerge from chaos, and everyone who resides in highsec will benefit--to a ridiculous degree. The carebear ethos of a risk-free highsec theme park will be replaced by an understanding of the proper way to play EVE.

Ever since the New Order began in June 2012, I have made my intentions perfectly clear. Even when the entire New Order consisted of one guy bumping miners out of the Halaima ice field, I proclaimed my vision of a grand future for highsec.

It seemed unrealistic back then. Few would have predicted that a year and a half later, the New Order would become the most prominent organization in the most populated area of EVE Online. Or that a blog called "MinerBumping" would be one of the top two or three most widely-read EVE blogs, that its IPO would attract nearly 700 investors (more than any other EVE IPO), that hundreds of Agents would flock to the banner of the Code, causing multiple trillions of isk worth of carebear equipment to be vaporized, and that the New Order would be identified by the GMs as the most common cause of petitions. It would have seemed unlikely that pledges of loyalty to the New Order would become the most pervasive "stamp" in an EVE player's bio--aside from the traditional bio fodder of damage types for rats and translations of AU's to kilometers, of course.

The perspective of the EVE community has shifted radically. Before, very few EVE players gave much thought to the carebearization of highsec, or what it could mean for EVE. Almost no one cared one way or the other about the existence of AFK miners, or carebears who failed to tank their ships. Highsec ice fields with infinite ice were not considered a problem. If someone suggested EVE should be more welcoming for new players so CCP could make some extra cash, not many would find reason to question the idea.

All that has changed. The advocates of carebearism and a risk-free highsec theme park no longer steamroll across the EVE community without resistance. CCP was forced to "solicit community feedback" on the subject of miner bumping, and to make a special ruling on its legality. Incredibly, they were even made to see the wisdom of removing infinite ice from EVE.

And as for the Father of the New Order himself?

...Let's just say few things provoke a more intense emotional reaction from EVE players than hearing the name James 315. (Try it.)

When I began the New Order, I knew it would take a long time to complete my mission. I estimated that it would take eight years to bring about total victory in highsec. My estimate hasn't changed: By June 2020, we can expect 100% Code-compliance from everyone in highsec. Cheerful compliance.

That's not to say there haven't been surprises along the way. I was fully prepared to spend the first year bumping miners on my own until I recruited my first Agent. The New Order developed much more rapidly than that, to say the least. I'm constantly amazed by the enthusiasm EVE players show for the New Order and its Code. I am often contacted by players who tell me that they joined EVE specifically because they heard about the New Order, and I'm even more frequently told by players that the New Order is the only reason they didn't allow their subscription to lapse.

The emotional warmth felt by our supporters is matched only by the frosty bitterness of our enemies. They, too, have been baffled by our success thus far. In the beginning, they dismissed the New Order. But over time, they have grown enraged. They can't understand why they see mention of the New Order everywhere they look. They were confused and increasingly maddened by hearing the names "James 315" and "New Order" and "Miner Bumping" over and over again. The New Order wasn't supposed to succeed. It was supposed to go away and be forgotten. Even today, when miners first hear about the New Order, they'll often say something like, "Someone will put a stop to you."

The enemies of the Order imagined an elaborate conspiracy in which the New Order doesn't really exist, it's just promoted by an army of alts. (Fun fact: I have one account.) As the New Order grew in numbers and influence, the tin foil became ever more wild-eyed, and the Goons were inevitably blamed. Indeed, some of our Agents came from GoonSwarm. They also came from everywhere else.

As our enemies made the painful transition from denial toward acceptance, a mystery remained: Why has the New Order been so successful? How did it grow from its humble beginnings in the Halaima ice field? And since no one has proven capable of opposing the New Order, could it really take over highsec?

I've occasionally touched on these subjects before, both in MinerBumping posts as well as in informal chats with our Agents. In the next post, I will provide the answers in some depth.

To be continued...