Hot topics: is local an intelligence channel or chat channel?

Ahhh, greetings fellow citizens of this space! I am Lurm the Slurm and I am here to tell you that your communication windows should be sized to at least half your HUD space at a minimum. The real game is, after all, played in local chat!

Seriously, though, local chat and player run chat channels are in my mind the lifeblood of the game and one of the main reasons the game feels as live as it does. This includes the local chat box itself, and then the players in the chat and their names and portraits. It truly is at the heart of all things in EVE. The feeling of jumping into a system on your way to rob its ESS and seeing no one. The quickening of the pulse when you see a name pop up in wormhole space or Pochven. The pride and joy that comes from the 'gf' given to you by someone you've just managed to defeat in honorable, or dishonorable combat. The deal or deed you've been hunting for being requested or posted in Jita 4-4. That private communication or mail from an old friend inviting you to join them on their glorious adventure once more.

There's nothing else like it and there's no way anyone would be able to convince me it is merely a 'tool for gathering intelligence'. While I believe that is true, I also believe it is just so much more to so many people. I was SHOCKED to hear that some people have local chat minimized, or have portraits hidden, or have it so small that they can't even see a single sentence in it...

...I just cannot believe it.

The real game is played in local chat!

Local chat can be used as both an information-gathering tool and a social space. It's clear to anyone who plays that the local chat goes both ways all the time, depending on the player!

However, in my opinion, local chat was designed and is mostly used for interactions. Speaking for myself, I use the chat to talk to other players, make jokes and even pass on tips or information to newbies, while at the same time embracing them in guilds that will help their progress in the game!

It's always good to know which player is using chat: newbies tend to use it to ask for information, experienced players tend to vary between chatting and assessing the danger of certain activities in the system in question, as well as using it for conflict communications, where gathering information can be essential for defining a possible battle or psychological pressure through the local chat itself.

In addition to the player's style, the location they are in can greatly change the style of the local chat. High-sec is a place where local chat is used almost entirely for communication, while places like null-sec and low-sec are used for gathering information for survival (due to the dangers of these places).

It's clear to see how local chat is a simple system with a number of complexities involved that make it very much a part of the game!

I believe it serves as both, it mostly depends on each person's use case, for example, When you're out exploring in lowsec or nullsec Local chat can be used to know who's relatively close to you, if they are a criminal, and therefore if the could pose a threat to your character.

But in my personal use case Local chat serves as a way to ask for guidance and to make new friends around New Eden, The first Corp I joined over 5 years ago, people of the saiya, was a corp I met because there were recruiters in my local chat sending invitations and whatnot, and when I sent a message asking what a corp even was, I was met with very friendly fellows who helped me start my journey in EVE. I even joined their discord and chatted with them about career paths in EVE.

So in conclusion I believe it can function as both, mostly dependant on the region you're on and who's close to you

Local is a chat channel, but it is used as an intelligence tool.

It was never meant to be used in this way (pretty sure it was menat to be used to say hi to people and collab), however in this sandbox that we call eve, players use what tools they have to them, to enrichen their experience - if that is using locla as an intel tool, then crack on!

All that said, like it or not, it is used predominantly as an intel channel and tool.. regardless as to what people say and / or think, it is not really used as a chat channel per se - for those of you that play eve, you probably have your own personal corp and alliance channels established, and rarely talk in local, aside from GF, or o7

100% it is more of an intelligence tool than a place to talk.
With access to zkill, when I go into null-sec space I am scouting out what they are typically flying, what modules they have installed, and what they have destroyed recently. There have been too many times where we land an interceptor on what was supposed to be easy prey and it turns out to be a 'bait-ship'.

For my care bear friends in high-sec, they use it to 'scout' potential gankers or awoxers who might destroy their mining ships, haulers or mission runners. There are entire data bases that can be pulled by copy-pasting their names into an app or list to alert you of nefarious capsuleers.

This isn't to say that the local channel isn't a useful tool for making friends or for throwing shade, but its usefulness for determining if you are about to be two ships sailing past each other in the night or someone's next meal cannot be understated.