[Bashar]

I detest fake nicking, and I always have (yes, I know, hypocritical considering I am one of those who has enforced it in the past). I do feel it has a place in the game, but not in the way it is currently used.

Under some circumstances, fake nicking becomes necessary, but only when you are part of an alliance that faces a major persistent threat for the round. By "major persistent threat" I mean where other alliances are not just considering targetting you, but where they actively pursuing your downfall. Examples of this would include Fury R8, 1up in its third round on the back of a double win, 1up when it tagged up late after a no defence policy and, to a lesser extent, exilition in the rounds it has played (it's still always managed to find 'friends'). In these situations, the only way for your memberbase to stand a chance is if you pursue a strict stealth policy.

On the flip side however, there are obvious downfalls to fakenicking: trust and new member integration. Nobody can deny that these are powerful drawbacks to fake nicking from both a tactical and community-orientated viewpoint. I think these show that there are times when you should avoid fake nicking, times when alienating the community is probably not the best route to follow.

Overall, I think the current fashion of fake-nicking is completely unnecessary, and I think stems from people needing to feel that they are important enough to have people targetting them. I think they get comfort from that. I think this past round there was some argument maybe for certain individuals to fake nick, maybe within exilition, but I can't see what anyone else would have gained from it. In the end, the way fake nicking is utilised nowadays, it is purely a token gesture that serves to frustrate and alienate galaxy mates rather than have any real strategic benefit. If you want fake nicking to work, you've got to go a long way beyond that and defence channels. You have to fully compartmentalise defence into a 'cell' setup where people only defend within small groups, that way anyone getting compromised doesn't compromise everyone else (this was a tactic employed in R8 by Fury, but only on a known compromised/non-compromised basis). If you don't compartmentalise your defence, there is only 1 way in which fake nicking will do you any good beyond 2 weeks into the round, and that is if you have 100% faith (justified) in every single one of your members ability to not screw up and give their alliance away to ANYONE and you have 100% of your members outside buddypacks with other alliances. If you don't have this, simply from fleet movements near enough your entire alliance will be known within 2 weeks by anyone who cares enough to look for the coords (if they don't care enough to actively look, then you clearly have no need to fake nick anyway).

Basically, fake nicking has a purpose, but people are now doing it (very badly) out of habit and a need for self-importance (as individuals or groups) when really, nobody gives a shit who they are anyway.