I had been thinking how a cat, the greatest hunter in the animal kingdom, releases their prey nine times and catches it again on the tenth. There doesn't seem to be that in EVE combat. Combat is either freeze or fry. The lack of dialogue between target and adversary, although strategically sound, makes combat deadly dull. I really do prefer it when someone says 'Death to Amarr!' or asks me for a ransom. Those instances are quite rare though.
In lowsec, at least, I'd say this is largely a product of the increasing connectivity and density of players, other affects of which include the death of classic piracy and the introduction of the FW blob.
It used to be you could afford to pin down your target and hold them for a while - EVE was fairly sparsely populated, and so having a couple of minutes of conversation was a reasonably safe bet.
As time went on, though, three things changed:
- Players became more interconnected; regional intel channels and larger alliances/coalitions became a thing, meaning your victims were probably screaming for help from their buddies while you held them down.
- Things like FW both shoved large groups of players together and encouraged them to fight to the death - FW was supposed to be WAR!!! not honorable gladiatorial combat. This made the dominant groups in many areas groups who wanted to kill, not talk.
- Finally, the sheer player density increased, making it more likely another, deadlier group would happen on you if you stayed in place.
All of these combined removed the personal nature of many fights, making chatting with your opponents much less appropriate.
