Effectively, the local chat system has been set up to operate much as it will in Wormhole area: EVE Echoes ISK players can opt in to be observed in local chat. Previously once you enter a system you are added to the neighborhood chat window. You have the ability to see who exactly is in space together with you and whether they are friend or foe.

Via consumer Wingspantt on Reddit, the issues several capsuleers in Nullsec have this are laid quite bare. Neighborhood chat, the consumer states,”for years has been utilized as an instrument of war, reconnaissance and intelligence more than it’s used for social purposes.”

By allowing players to opt into local chat while in Nullsec, it takes much of the first intelligence gathering away from gamers. This greatly benefits cloaked players specifically, because they may essentially become entirely invisible as a result. The blackout will basically make Nullsec incredibly risky for the players that call it home.

On one hand most will point out that Nullsec is assumed to be unsafe – it’s player versus player gameplay that acts as the wild west in several respects. Kill or be killed. Something even as apparently innocuous as this to the external viewer can totally change the dynamic of Nullsec gameplay and be incredibly disruptive.

Because of this, many EVE Echoes ISK For Sale players have threatened to quit EVE Online altogether, while others are rejoicing the movement as a tool that is required to shake up the dynamic in Nullsec. Even though the blackout is coming shortly, CCP will soon be providing players 48 hours notice to get ready for the dynamic change to Nullsec. With this, in addition to the Drifter invasions hitting the Nullsec alliances, it is going to be interesting to understand how EVE’s sandbox adjusts and overcomes the challenges.