So the discussion has been raging for weeks now, and so far the scope of the discussion has almost entirely been "I'm being ripped off!"... And yeah, maybe you are, maybe you aren't... But this thread is about something else.

Let me begin with the seemingly innocent root cause: Players who die while using BPO gear still generate full end-of-match ISK payouts each time they die.

No big deal, right? Well let's look at some of the other pieces in play here, and let's see if you too will share in my fridge horror moment:

• Players in full proto gear have better stats than players in full BPO gear.
• Players in full BPO gear are not punished for dying, and so are more likely to take risks.

So let's review here: Proto-stompers find it relatively easy to kill BPO-users, and BPO-users don't mind dying. Each time a proto-stomper dies, the ISK that was spent on that suit is added to the end of match payout pool, redistributing the ISK that was spent. Each time a proto-stomper kills a BPO user, some free ISK is generated out of thin air, and injected into that same end of match payout pool.

And thus we discover the real evil of "proto-stomping": These players who are going 20-0 against players in Militia BPO gear are receiving enormous amounts of free ISK that came from nowhere, while those players who are getting stomped are getting paid relatively little for their troubles.

When the secondary market is introduced, these extremely rich proto-stompers are going to flood the market with their ready supply of ISK, causing prices to increase relative to their ability to spend. And what of the poor BPO-users? Well they're not making a whole lot of ISK to begin with, so all they'll see is a market full of things that are ridiculously over-priced and out of their reach...

While BPO users may indeed have a valid point about not getting what they paid for, they don't seem to realise that what they paid for is a permanent and ongoing disadvantage against the "1%" of Dust players, and that continued BPO use is only going to continue widening the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots".

Don't believe me? Go watch CEO Pyrex's latest video (here), and listen to how he talks about the value of ISK and proto gear. No, he's not the cause of the problem. It's not his fault that BPO users are continually throwing free ISK at him... But it does illustrate the point. This is already happening, and it's only going to get worse when the secondary market comes in.

The only thing BPOs hurt is CCPs pocket book. That is why they want us to sit idly by while they remove them from the game and only offer consumable items as a replacement. Anyone that thinks it is really damaging to the ingame economy is a CCP sympathizing parrot.

It made my mind up though, I will not be purchasing any more AUR from CCP and I am letting my EVE accounts finally lapse as well. F2P, no more dollars from me.

Did CCP care when they introduced and sold BPOs?

BPOs and the merc pack were the only items below -ú16 that had any real value to me and the vet and elite packs above -ú50.

As BPOs and the merc pack have been removed the value of Aurum has diminished greatly so removing BPOs I already own influences how I perceive CCP and whether I trust them with RL money I.e. I no longer do so no more money will be spent on Dust 514.

If one player does it then no big deal but if thousands do it then Dust will never be profitable and will need to draw assets away from CCPs successful games to keep on going. This would be a tough argument to present to their investors and directors when it comes to assigning resources to Dust.

we'll say 50% of the player still existing in the game have BPO's and there BPO's work in this fashion .Then I pose this question to you .....who will buy your stuff, and why would a potential new player buy your stuff that is militia equivalent when they have starter fits?