The Echoes Of War

Many players of video games hate the idea of the discussion of politics in their chat channels. But sometimes real world politics reaches into games. We are experiences one of those times now, with the heightened tensions in Ukraine bringing up the possibility of the fighting spreading.

In EVE Online, we've seen the situation play out before. During the Halloween War, the CFC/RUS forces won a decisive victory at the Battle of B-R5RB over Pandemic Legion and the N3 coalition. Yet, in a matter of weeks, the N3/Pandemic Legion forces emerged victorious. The Wikipedia article about the battle alludes to the reason why.

Following the Battle of B-R5RB, Pandemic Legion withdrew from the Southeast theater and formed an agreement with the CFC which allowed them to evacuate billions of assets from the B-R5RB system. Other N3 forces retreated in from the south, and in the following few days CFC alliances managed to capture a total of 23 systems in the regions Immensea, Catch, Tenerifis, and Feythabolis from N3/Pandemic Legion alliances. The CFC then withdrew from the southeast theater. In the weeks after, the Russian bloc suffered internal troubles, allowing N3 to regain all of the territory lost after B-R5RB and conquer most of the Russian bloc's territory. In the longer term, B-R5RB established CFC, later re-branded as The Imperium, as the predominant superpower in EVE Online, with little serious resistance challenging the coalition for the next two years. [emphasis mine]

The issues were not limited to the Russian alliances involved in the Halloween War. In April 2014, an article appeared on TheMittani.com highlighting the collapse of Russian alliances throughout New Eden, in particular Against ALL Authorities in Catch. The article concluded:

The factions of the RUS block are scattered for a variety of reasons, both internal and otherwise. Unable and unwilling to defend their home region, -A- might be wise to either sell or drop their sov before HERO moves in. Despite the most expensive losses in the history of New Eden, things appear to have worked out solidly in N3PL's favor.

What were the internal troubles affecting the Russian alliances following the Battle of B-R5RB on 31 January 2014? One of them was the invasion and subsequent annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, which began on 20 February 2014. While not an expert, I know the "Russian" alliances were not comprised entirely of ethnic Russians. Many of the members were Ukrainian. People are tribal, and when one tribe attacks another, the conflict isn't confined to the battlefield. 

Also, while EVE players are pretty serious about their game, when a hostile army is attacking their town, I don't know of any who wouldn't move to safer ground. For those able to log in, how many would risk engaging in PvP with a questionable internet connection? 

The reverberations of real world conflicts into our virtual worlds aren't new. Any game where citizens of the involved countries share servers will experience some sort of effects. But in single shard games like EVE, the echoes of war will affect all the players.