Carebear

Carebear is a pejorative term used against those that prefer Player vs Environment servers (PVE servers allow players to turn on/off PVP flags when they choose to unless they are in an opposing faction's city or base, whereas PVP servers do not allow players to turn off the PVP flag). Carebears prefer completing in-game tasks without outside interference or interaction (violent or otherwise) with opposing factions. This is in contrast to "PKs" who will often attempt to "Gank", or "PK", players of the opposing faction on servers that allow PvP combat while performing in-game tasks, or just the thrill of random open world combat.

There are a number of reasons why players might choose to stick with PvE:


 * They are more used to other MMOs that are mainly PvE.
 * They are lore buffs that will want to complete quests to learn the game's back story.
 * They do not like the behavior that some main PvP players exhibit.
 * They wish to learn the game before adding the PvP element into their experience.
 * They do not feel as if they have sufficient knowledge and/or gear available to play a PvP battle effectively.
 * They have "Real ID" friends that also play mainly PvE (or play on the same PvE server), or have established a
 * They just see PvE elements to be a more fulfilling experience for them.

Note that playing mainly as PvE is not considered to be a detriment to the player, as everyone has a particular preference, though players are encouraged to participate in some PvP experiences as a way to "get their feet wet" in the mechanics. Being on a PvE server doesn't disqualify a character from participating in PvP play or events such as a Battleground.

Also note that on the "carebear" servers, when a player turns their PvP flag off, there is a 5 minute wait period before the flag disappears, similar to a debuff. This is to prevent a player from circumvent the system in any way.