Don't Nerf Lowsec

Yesterday I was reading my Twitter feed and came across Marc Scaurus' blog, Malefactor.  On it he has a survey for CSM 7 candidates to answer about their stances on lowsec issues.  One question really caught my eye.

"What are your thoughts on the notion that increased protection for PVE players in lowsec will result in a better lowsec?"

I was glad to see that, except for Two Step, all of the candidates who had answered so far thought it was a bad idea and would not support it in any measure.  Those who have read my blog for anytime might think this is unusual because I am one of those carebears who have never run a combat mission in lowsec.  In fact, I am one of those people who Trebor Daehdoow doesn't understand as the recent POCO changes for planetary interaction killed the idea of setting up PI colonies in lowsec for me.  That one move removed the biggest incentive I had to trying to set up shop, or at least take a lot of daytrips, in lowsec.

So why wouldn't I support protecting mission runners in lowsec?  Wouldn't that lead me to actually run missions in lowsec?  No.  Actually that would remove the last major reason I might want to go into lowsec.  Right now, lowsec is a very scary place for me, so mission running in lowsec is a very big deal.  If I start running missions in lowsec, that would mean I had gotten over the risk aversion hump, which is a far greater accomplishment than any loot that may drop or bounties that appear into my wallet.  If CCP nerfs the content like Blizzard does with every raid they create in World of Warcraft, that sense of accomplishment would disappear.  At that point, why even bother going into lowsec?

So one of these days I'll eventually head into lowsec.  Actually, if not for the implementation of POCOs, I probably would have already tried my hand at setting up PI colonies in lowsec.  To tell the truth, having that goal snatched away from me by CCP made me very receptive to playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.  But now I'm back and making up a list of things to do in Eve.  Maybe I better put lowsec missioning on the list since CCP apparently is thinking about screwing that up too.  I need to get in before the nerf.