Just a Girl and Her Thorax

So I Went and Got Myself Another Dommie…

2010-08-10T22:01:00.001-04:00

…only this time I’m not going to go getting it blown up on a mission my first time out. It was affordable enough, and now I just need to to come up with a good loadout. I’ve been searching, but not finding a lot of good options. Any ideas are most welcome.

The reason I bought the Dommie is because…well, why not? I can afford it and having a fully-fit Dominix handy can’t hurt. Plus, I’ll be able to use more drones and that’s always a good thing.

So, right now, that’s what I’m doing: Trying to come up with a Dommie setup I’m happy with. Once I do, it’ll be time to buy all the parts, put them together, and get back down to business.

Grrrrr…

2010-08-06T15:23:00.002-04:00

The last few days I feel like the fates are conspiring against me playing EVE. Every time I’ve sat down to play, the phone rings or there’s some other reason I have to stop and go deal with real life. Last night I had to give up on a radar site I’d just successfully tracked down when friends showed up unexpectedly. The night before, another friend needed an emergency pickup at the train. It’s always something.
So, this weekend I’ve made sure that I have a block of time on Saturday with nothing to do, and kitty co-pilot Jazz and I are going exploring.
More as I have it…

Busy, Busy, Busy…

2010-08-03T15:03:00.001-04:00

…and not a lot of time for EVE.

It’s been a busy week in RL, hence my lack of posts this past week or so. Last night I logged in for a while and checked out a few systems, but I was pretty exhausted so that didn’t last long. I’ll probably have some time tonight so I expect Jazzy (yes, the new kitty has a name now) and I will go exploring and make a little ISK.

In other, mostly unrelated news, I’ve found myself jumping into Need For Speed World for a quick race or high-speed chase with the cops. It’s something I can play and have fun with for ten minutes at a pop when I don’t have the time to play EVE. It’s not something I expect to invest a lot of time or money into but it is kinda fun in short bursts, like APB.

Anyway, more soon, fly safe.

A Short Semi-Respite

2010-07-29T19:19:00.001-04:00

We had a new and unexpected addition to the household yesterday, a little silver and black kitten I’ve named Jasmine, or Jazz for short. As you might imagine, the last twenty-four hours since she’s arrived have been a little busy, without much, if any, time for EVE. She’s becoming quite skilled at locating a comfortable spot on my lap and settling in while I’m at the computer, so I expect I’ll have a co-pilot on many of my upcoming explorations.

One interesting thing I did discover when I finished my last skill training and went looking for something useful to train was that I had one glaring omission from my curriculum from the last time around: Advanced Drone Interfacing.

Talk about a game-changer. Most of the damage I do to NPC’s is from my drones, but until the other day I could only field three Ogre II’s at a time despite being able to carry six in the Myrm’s drone bay. Eve-Mon tells me that Level 3 will finish training about 2pm tomorrow (eastern US time of course, says the Jersey girl), and once that happens I’ll be able to launch a full bay of Ogre II’s at my enemies. No doubt I’ll be having some serious fun with that ability.

Oh, and there is one other reason I haven’t spent any real time in EVE over the last couple of days. STO just got a major update so I’ve been spending a little time in there checking it out. Actually, I’ve probably spent more time with STO in the last day or so than in the last month or two before it, but that’s not an especially high hurdle. I will say that the solo mission I did was a lot of fun and I’m sure I’ll do more. At the same time, it’s a good thing that I have a lifetime sub to STO because now that I’m back in EVE I’m not sure I’d be willing to keep paying for STO over the long haul, at least not as the game has been since launch. There are supposedly big changes coming soon, so as a lifer I’m willing to see what’s just arrived and what’s coming soon before I make any final judgments. At this point, there’s really no reason not to.

In all honesty, I need a little break from EVE every now and then anyway. Both the skill training and STO’s update, not to my mention my new feline friend, are perfect excuses to take a day or two off. I want to keep it fresh and interesting and one good way to do that is to mix it up at least a little.

Til next time, fly safe.

A Bizarre Expedition and a Visit To Lagland

2010-07-25T23:20:00.003-04:00

Last night, a comment on my last post clued me in to why I couldn’t warp to the Gurista hideout I’d found. I had indeed been offered an expedition in my journal. By the time I saw it, though, there were only about seven hours left to get it done so I wasted no time moving both my ships along with all my exploration mods and ammo to the system my journal indicated.

When I got there, I went in with the Thorax and found plenty of enemies, and quickly realized I was overmatched. I warped out, went beck to my staging station, and came back with the Myrm, but when I did all of the enemies took off. Gone. Poof. All that time spent moving everything over and suddenly there was nothing to do there.

As luck would have it, though, I found myself with all my stuff in an area I hadn’t explored yet, so I’ve decided to make that system my new temporary base of operations while I check out the local systems. Those that I’ve checked out so far have yielded about a million ISK in cargo and salvage, but nothing especially great in terms of profits.

And maybe it’s because it’s a Sunday, but when I warped to many of the cosmic signatures I scanned down today I’d discovered that someone had beat me to it.

I also did something today that I probably haven’t done in about two and a half years, and for the very first time because I had an actual reason to do it, not just to go be a space tourist. Reviewing the loadout on my Myrm I realized that some of the drones I was using with it were really far beneath the level it was capable of handling. So, I unloaded a bunch of Hobgoblins and Hammerheads and realized I only had two Ogre II’s, which are my favorites to use with the Myrm.

I have to admit I laughed a little when I went to the Market screen to buy five more Ogre II’s and found that the best local price, by at least 50%, was in Jita. I’d been to Jita all of once in my EVE career, very early on when I’d just made a trek out there just to see what the heck was so special about the system that everyone seemed to talk about it constantly. As I remembered, it was entirely unremarkable, other than that there were well over a thousand people in Local and the lag getting in and out of the system was by far the worst I’ve ever experienced in this game. Since that was almost three years ago, I hoped that by now it would be better. I bought my Ogres and set off for Jita.

I didn’t really notice any problems until I got one jump outside of Jita. First, as soon as I arrived it was pretty obvious that just about every ship in the system was headed in the same direction, toward the gate to Jita. When I got to the gate, there was fortunately no waiting line to jump in like there was the last time I was there, but the lag was definitely noticeable.

Once in the system, I docked and picked up my Ogres without much trouble, scanned through the offers in Local just to see if there was anything interesting, and then headed back to the gate to get back where I was exploring. When I clicked the button to jump out though, I didn’t go anywhere for several seconds, and then the screen went black and stayed that way. After nearly a minute, the phone rang and I stepped out of the room for a few minutes. When I returned, I found myself on the other side of the gate and headed back toward my staging system.

Y’know, maybe it’s just me, but I seem to remember CCP swearing up and down a while back that they were going to do something about the lag in Jita. Certainly, I have to say it’s better than the last time I was there, but by no means is it what could be called good. A black screen for well over a minute at minimum just to exit the system doesn’t indicate to me that CCP has finally got a handle on this issue.

Now, to be honest, I haven’t really given a shit one way or the other since I’ve only been there twice and I’ll probably never go back unless I have a really good reason like I did today, but nevertheless it would be nice if CCP could figure out a way to deal with the issue and make the trip a nicer and faster one for everyone who has to go there.

Gettin’ Experienced…

2010-07-25T00:26:00.001-04:00

…but slowly, so very, very, slowly.

It may be just that it’s been a busy Saturday on TQ. Today it seemed especially hard to track down cosmic signatures, though I did run across and scan down my first magnometric signature. Big frakking deal. A few thousand worth of salvage for all the time it took to scan it down. Feh.

I’ve never been especially big on mining, so when I’ve scanned down a signature far enough to discover it’s gravimetric I give up on it and move on. At the same time, though, I know there’s a lot of ISK to be made at those sites so I’m reconsidering that. I dunno…I know there’s ISK to be made there, but boredom is also a factor.

Right now, I’m just playing “High-Sec Hit and Miss”, which is to say that basically I’m just picking a direction toward systems I’ve never been to or haven’t been to in a while and heading out to see what I can find. Most of the time this method seems to work pretty well and I find at least enough stuff to keep me interested and engaged, with a decent payout at the end. Today, not so much, but it’s really the first time since I came back to EVE and started exploring that I haven’t been happy with my daily take.

Another thing I ran into for the first time today was a signature that didn’t indicate a type once I’d scanned it down to 100%. Following this led me to an acceleration gate that sent me to a second room with a few enemies and another gate. I took out the enemies, gathered the few paltry items from the wrecks, then hit the next gate. This room had several more enemies, and during the battle I was notified that three Guristas had fled but my ship’s computer had determined their most likely hiding spot in case I wanted to go chase them. After I’d dealt with the room, I attempted to pursue, but was notified that natural phenomena prevented me from warping there. Interestingly, this did not prevent me from warping elsewhere. Quite bizarre, and not really worth the time and effort invested. Oh well.

So, I think I’m gonna go check out another system or two or three or…before bed.

Til next time, fly safe.

The Thorax Flies Again

2010-07-24T01:53:00.001-04:00

Sometimes, I think I’m too damned creative for my own good.

Tonight, I was scanning down a radar site that was a little tougher than than most so I thought it would help if I added a couple of extra probes to the five I already had out there. It helped a little at first, but the reality was that it made it a lot harder to keep the rest of the probes aligned. After a while, I got rid of the two extras and went back to a five-probe scan pattern. Once I did that I was able to scan it down in just a couple of tries. There are times when simpler really is better.

Before I found this little three million ISK treasure trove, though, I’d done another run through my assets and discovered that I own not one, but three Thoraxes. Since two of them are out in 0.0 where I’ll almost certainly never see them again, I decided to go get the one I had in high-sec, just a quick thirteen jumps from where I was.

I flew the Magnate out there, stripped it down, threw the parts in the Thorax’s cargo hold and headed back to where I’ve been exploring. Once back at my current staging station, I refitted one of the Thorax’s high slots with my Core Probe Launcher I, stuck a Codebreaker I in one of the mid slots, loaded up with ammo and probes, and off I went.

Once I’d successfully scanned down the radar site, I flew the Thorax in, took out the few guards there, and hacked and looted the containers and wrecks, all without having to go back and get the Myrm to finish the job. I like.

Hell of a way to make a living, but a lot easier than running missions, that’s for sure.

Explorations

2010-07-23T19:46:00.001-04:00

So today I went out and scanned down several more cosmic signatures, bookmarked some anomalies to go check out with the Myrm later, and found one radar site which brought me a few million in loot after I went in with the Myrm and took care of the NPCs. Not bad for an afternoon.

I’ve decided that I need to upgrade the ship I use to do my system-to-system exploring in. The Magnate I got for finishing the exploration course just ain’t cutting it and it’s not like I can’t afford it, so I think that’s going to be my next in-game project. Hmmm, I think I may just happen to have a spare Thorax lying around here somewhere…

Out of game, I realized the other day that I still haven’t read “The Burning Life” so I think I’m going to get that for my Kindle after I’m done with the Star Trek novel I’m reading now. Yes, when I jump back into this game, it’s generally with both feet.

And hey it’s nice to see CCP finally taking an interest in updating its fan site page. I like the idea of EVE Gate/Spacebook too. I used it to send a message to someone in-game the other night just to try it out and it seems to work pretty well. The one thing they’re going to have to be careful about is information control, who can see what, etc. I can see a real concern with EVE Gate being players wondering if their information is secure enough to have it in there and not have to worry if the right people are able to see it. Not everyone wants a site where anyone can go and see where they’re currently located and other vital information they may or may not want to share.

Oh yeah, and I when I went into that radar site, I found myself up against a pretty fair amount of Guristas but my Myrm handled them pretty easily. Damn, I love that thing.

It’s really amazing how easily it all comes back. I was a bit concerned that I’d forget to do something or massively screw up in some other way in combat and cost myself my battlecruiser, but no…at least, not yet. This site had by far the most enemies I’ve faced since coming back to the game, but I just fell into that rhythm you get into when you’re being attacked by NPCs. You know what I mean, that “…lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, approach, engage drones, orbit, engage, approach next target, lock new target, engage drones, orbit, engage, approach next target…” thing you get into when you don’t really have time to think or do anything other than keep up with the masses of incoming enemies.

The short version is I’m having a pretty good time with exploration so far, and its getting progressively better as I continue to train up the relevant skills. I don’t know how long I’ll be doing it for or how often in the future, but right now I’m having a blast so who knows?

Until next time, fly safe.

This Ain't So Bad

2010-07-21T19:22:00.000-04:00

I went out and did some more exploring today. Most of my attempts were pretty fruitless, except for one.

I managed to scan down a radar signature, but this time I remembered to bookmark it and then came back with my Myrm. I took out the couple of guards and then brought my Magnate back in to codebreak the containers and collect the loot. I scored about 15 million ISK for that little adventure, not too shabby.

I just can't escape it. I'm having a blast with EVE all over again. Earlier today I officially reactivated my account because I already know that whether I do it today or tomorrow, I'm gonna do it. One day, I'll learn.

In the meantime, I'm liking the income from exploration so far, and it's fun. I think I'm going to do a little more tonight. I'm enjoying it, but I clearly still need more practice before I can consider myself proficient.

See ya out there.

Space, The Final Frontier

2010-07-21T12:14:00.001-04:00

A couple of nights ago, I finished the exploration career intro missions with my newly-created alt, but instead of taking her out for a spin, I decided to log in as Bekka Jae and see how feasible it would be to have her do the training as well.

Of course the last place I played as Bekka was out in the wilds of 0.0, and I quickly discovered that the corp I used to belong to had moved on and I was in what is now a hostile station. It was a slightly expensive if not difficult decision to leave all the ships and other stuff I had in that station behind to clone jump out of there and back into high-sec.

Once back in high-sec, I called up my Assets window and took a quick inventory. Aside from the realization that I'll probably never want for a Velator as I seem to have dozens of them scattered all over known space, I also discovered a few interesting things I had just lying around and gathering dust, such as a Tech II tricked out, combat and mission-ready Myrmidon. In all honesty, it had been so long since I'd used it that I'd forgotten I had it. I'd been running missions with it before I moved to 0.0 and I'd left it there, ready to fly, as a "just in case I need it one day" thing. Apparently, a smart move on my part.

As nice as it is to find myself in possession of a fully-fit and combat-ready battlecruiser, it's even better because it happens to fit perfectly with another decision I made the other night. Over the last couple of days, I completed the exploration career path missions with Bekka Jae. For some reason, even though Bekka is Gallente I was directed to an Amarr agent out in Kor-Azor and ended up flying a Tormentor (or "The Cosmic Shrimp" as I like to call it) to complete the missions.

Once I was done with that, I got my first refresher lesson in why you can't just go out there and play EVE like you do other games. I started scanning down cosmic signatures in systems near where my Myrm is, knowing that if I ran into something I couldn't handle in my Magnate, which I'd been given after completing the exploration course, I could always come back with the Myrm and (theoretically) deal with it. I did scan down and check out a few wormholes, but aside from one that lead to a system in the far reaches of Amarr space, all of these led to unclaimable void areas of 0.0. Since there was nothing in those places really worth investigating as far as I could tell, I'd jump back through after just a short time and move on.

Mainly, it was practice for what I want to do in EVE for a while, explore. Late last night, on my last scanning attempt before bed, I scanned down my first actual radar site. When I went in, I found pirates there and instinctively warped out immediately, knowing I had nothing on the ship I was in to defend myself with, but I forgot to bookmark the location before I left, nor did I take the time to see what kind of ships I was dealing with. Also, I realized that I hadn't yet installed a codebreaker so there was pretty much no way I'd get anything useful out of that site other than location and enemy force information until I did.

When I got back to my staging station, I bought what I needed and realized that I needed to train a prerequisite skill before even installing the codebreaker. I took the half hour to do this, then I went out signal hunting again. After successfully scanning down another wormhole that led to the void, I decided to pack it in for the night.

Exploration is hard and often frustrating, but it's also a lot of fun. I'll be jumping in a little later to do a little more. Should be interesting...

Damn, That Was Fast

2010-07-20T12:26:00.000-04:00

It happens every time.

Whenever I've gotten bored with the games I've been playing, I eventually end up dropping by the EVE website just to catch up a bit on what's going on with the game. I've made it a point to never stay very long, knowing that if I did I'd find myself nostalgic for an experience which real life just wouldn't allow me to take the time to enjoy. Still, I couldn't help dropping by now and when, just to keep semi-updated.

After a few of these occasional visits, one of those "Come Back..." emails inevitably arrives and I end up taking the offer. It's just for a quick look to see how the game's changed since I left, I tell myself each time I click on the link and reactivate my account once again, thereby rationalizing to myself the start of what I already know is coming. I download the client once again, knowing that there's only one possible way this will end.

Within an hour, maybe two at most, it's like I never left. It all comes back pretty easily, and after a while I find myself as immersed in this game as I've ever been. I've tried blogging about other games, but none of them have ever fired my interest as a player or writer like EVE has.

This blog has been in existence since early 2007, soon after I began playing for the first time, and I've kept it current during the times I've been a player. For me, blogging has become an integral part of the EVE experience, almost as much as actually playing the game. It's not a coincidence that I've already got two new blog posts up and I haven't even converted the five-day trial back into a full subscription yet.

One day I'll learn. This is my game. When one way of playing it isn't working, there are plenty of alternatives. I've decided it's time to explore another one, and I'll talk about that in my next post.

So yeah, I'm back. More to come.

I'm Baaack...Sorta

2010-07-18T14:55:00.000-04:00

So I got one of those "Come Back For Five Days Free" emails about a few weeks ago. Usually I just hit the delete key and move on, but this time I paused.

I left EvE back in January because there was just too much going on in my life to devote enough time to the game to make it worthwhile. I'd made it to 0.0 and then discovered that there really wasn't a whole lot to do out there for someone who had trouble making appointment gameplay sessions. To exacerbate matters, a few of my non-gaming-related articles had been picked up by major media at the same time, requiring me to devote virtually every free moment to capitalizing on that for several weeks.

I didn't want to give up MMO gaming, but I did want a game that fit into my life better and I thought I'd found it in Star Trek Online. I bought a lifetime subscription and spent the first couple of months completely engrossed in the game when I had the time for it. Most of the early content was soloable and many missions could be completed in just an hour or two. For that period of time, STO was pretty close to perfect in terms of fitting into my life, as I'd expected it would be. Then, things changed.

Once I maxed out my rank (level), it quickly became clear that most of the higher-end content was going to be a team-up affair. That wasn't necessarily a problem in and of itself, but when I tried grouping with players I didn't know to do missions in STO, I'd never manage to finish any of them because my teammates would always become bored or get a better offer and bail out on the mission long before the end, often leaving me alone to face fairly instantaneous death in the middle of an intense firefight I could not possibly win by myself.

When I wasn't being left alone to die it was because there weren't enough available players to form a team in the first place. During first several weeks of STO, the spaceways of Alpha Quadrant were pretty crowded and it was easy to find teammates, but those numbers seem to have decreased significantly in recent weeks and now when I go in there's rarely even half the apparent numbers of players on as there were during those first few heady weeks of the game.

Over the last couple of months, I've entered the game maybe a total of six or seven times, just to see what updates have brought or if there's any new soloable missions that might be worth trying. Each time, it's been same: Sparse numbers of players in the sectors and stations, often fruitlessly trying to create teams to take on multiplayer missions. After a few minutes of this, I get bored and start looking for something else to do.

And you know, that's really my core problem with Star Trek Online. I just don't care anymore, not in the way I did in those first few weeks. Even though I know that as a lifer I can play STO whenever I feel the urge as long as the game exists, I'm just not really all that motivated to play. And so, I've been looking for something new.

I've done single-player games. I finished Borderlands (but got screwed by D2D by ordering one of the DLC's which has faulty serial verification and can't be unlocked so no more of that) and I'm currently making my way through Far Cry 2.

I've tried other MMO's. I bought APB, which is a shitload of fun, but really just a glorified version of "Cops and Robbers". I'm sure I'll use up the 50 hours of game time that comes with the software purchase, but there's just not enough real meat there for me to see it as a long-term solution. I joined the beta of free-to-play LotRO, too. It's a decent enough game, but as I'm not a huge fan of the genre just in general there's really not a whole lot for me there long-term either. Add to that the annoying way these "free-to-play" games nickel-and-dime you to death in order to make money and I just don't see myself getting into LotRO enough to bother shelling out actual money or continue with it past the beta.

And then a few weeks ago, the "Come Back..." email from EvE showed up. I didn't do anything at the time, neither clicking on the link to reactivate my account nor deleting it. At that time, I still wasn't ready to consider returning to EvE, but I knew it would be smart to keep it open as an option so when a second email from CCP arrived about a week ago reminding me that it wasn't too late to reactivate for five days free, I saved that one too.

Last night, after I'd spent a few hours trying out LotRO and had come to the conclusion that it's just not what I'm looking for over the long haul, I remembered those CCP emails and dug out the most recent one. I didn't do anything right away, mind you, I just stared at it, wondering if I really wanted to insert myself back into a game that I'd already had to extract myself from twice because it proved to be too intense and time-consuming.

Things are different now, though. The wave of interest in my writing has ebbed for the moment, and while of course I hope that will change in time, that and the economy have conspired to provide me with substantially more free time now than I've had in a while. Much of that extra time is devoted to promoting my work and creating more of it, but I still find myself looking to fill some of that extra time with a game I can really sink my teeth into. For me, there's only one game that has really fit that bill in all of the time I've been an MMO player.

EvE is the only game that's managed to draw me in and keep me in over the long haul. Nothing else has even come close. It's the MMO I understand the best, even though there are aspects of the game which I really don't understand at all and probably never will. There's always something new for me in EvE, always something I've never tried or somewhere I've never been, and it matters to me in a way that other games never have. I'm willing to devote a level of time and attention to it that no other game has inspired me to.

In reference to the title above, whether I'm back to stay or just for a visit will depend on a lot of things, not the least of which is how my schedule plays out over the upcoming months. Also, I've decided that if I am going to re-enter EvE, I'm not going to make the same mistake I did last time. For me, war and battle is a lot of fun, but exploration is even more fun, and probably more consistent with my RL lifestyle. War is by it's nature a team event that must be coordinated and executed in concert with others, while many aspects of exploration can be done solo, even though in order to really profit from it will likely require a team effort to effectively plunder any riches you find if nothing else.

I've created a new alt and I've set her upon the exploration career path. This is really little more than an experiment at this point, just to see if I like it. So far I've yet to successfully scan down my first cosmic signature (though I have pegged a few anomalies), but I'll be jumping in later today to try again, after I do a little more research.

If I decide I do like exploration (and even if not), I'll then have some choices to make: Do I like it enough to resubscribe to EvE and try to get back into it long-term? Do I do this path with my newly-created character basically from scratch, or do I go retrieve my far more established and skilled Bekka Jae toon from 0.0 to take on this new venture?

On the one hand, I must admit I'm enjoying taking the beginner route again. I finished the tutorial last night, downloaded and set up EvEMon for the alt, and basically got her ready to go out there and take on New Eden (once she learns how to reliably scan down a cosmic signature, of course).

On the other hand, I'm also very much aware that I'd be giving up a lot by going with the new alt. I have literally over a year's worth of skill training invested in Bekka Jae as well as a fair amount of property and it seems a shame to willingly give all that up. It's also the toon name that's linked to this blog and I've enjoyed encountering people in-game who read and enjoy it and recognize me in-game. For me, that's part of the fun of blogging about EvE.

So, I guess we'll see. Obviously, I'm leaning toward returning but I think I'll take advantage of the full five days to think about it, and of course, to figure out how to position those damned probes correctly.

Until next time, fly safe.

My New STO Blog

2010-01-27T00:07:00.000-05:00

For those who are interested, I've started a new Star Trek Online Blog, which can be found here. It was an interesting open beta, and STO is a game with a lot of promise. Please join me there if you have an interest!

Life = Head + Brick Wall

2010-01-18T22:14:00.000-05:00

I tried, I really did, but it's just not gonna work.

As much as I love EvE, my life continues to get more, not less, busy. Another of my articles was picked up, this time by a media outlet that's outside of my usual circles and readership. As a writer, this is a pretty big deal for me and something I'm hoping will pay real dividends in the future if it continues. As a gamer, it means I'm going to have even less time to play than I have over the last month or so. It's not the game that's the problem, it's the time commitment and the fact that in order to do anything in EvE right now I need fellow corpmates to be around when I can play. Since my schedule is currently as fucked up as it is with not only no end currently in sight, but likely to get even busier as times goes on, I've made the decision to leave the game, again, this time probably for good or at least for the foreseeable future.

I feel like shit having to do this. I was just really starting to get back into it again when all this jumped off, cool new corp and corpies, new areas of 0.0, all that. I was excited to begin seeing all the parts of New Eden I hadn't gotten a chance to see before. Now, because as always the concerns of real life must trump gaming life (at least for most of us who are, in fact, stable and relatively sane), I find myself forced to leave EvE not because I don't love and enjoy playing it, but simply because it just doesn't comfortably fit into my life as it is right now.

I came to this realization a few days ago, when I'd come to understand that in the immediate future my RL workload will be such that I'm not going to be able to log in reliably on any sort of regular schedule that will likely allow me to be on when most or perhaps even any of my corpmates will be available. These days, most of my gaming takes place in the wee hours of the morning...that is, when I have a chance to play at all.

Given all this, it just doesn't make sense to keep paying for a subscription to a game that I can't find time to play 90% of the time, and it's not fair to my corpmates who are on far more often than I am and should be able to expect me to contribute on a regular basis as well.

Ok, now I'm gonna hit you with the second part of this decision: I'm leaving EvE, but I'm not leaving MMO's entirely. I'm going to be playing Star Trek Online, at least for now. The reason is that because STO is mission-based I can log in pretty much whenever I have time, go do a mission or two, and then log out. The teams form automatically so I don't have to worry about making sure corpies are in-game (it's amazing how many players are logged in and doing STO missions at 4am eastern time, even in beta...this game is gonna be frakking huge!).

And one thing I will admit as far as gameplay goes: I like the space combat in STO better than EvE. It has more of a hands-on, arcade-style feel to it, and that works for me. It definitely still needs some work (STO is still in beta, after all), but I just find it more engaging and easier to master.

Despite that, though, the key reason I'm leaving EvE is the time factor. If I had the time, I'd likely subscribe to and play both games, but I barely have time to play one game right now, much less two.

What really annoys me is that I've tried to log into EvE for the last two days but couldn't, even though my account indicates that my access will be suspended as of tomorrow. The reason it's important is because just before things got crazy my corp CEO gave me a pile of ISK to buy stuff, and I wanted to return that to him. It's not fair that I should just bail out and cost the corp money as a result. I tried twice to log in over the last couple of days with no success. The first time, the game just locked up on me and I could log in but it never actually started the game so I could access anything, it just hung endlessly right before that point. When I tried again today, my login credentials no longer work. That sux...another reason I feel like a jerk. Now there's no way I can give the ISK back unless I get one of those come back free for five days offers from CCP.

Crap.

Report From The Final Frontier:

Let's state the obvious right up front: Star Trek Online is a shitload of fun. There are still more than a few bugs to be squashed, but I'm having as much fun with this game as I've ever had in EvE. It's far from perfect, and nowhere near as polished as EvE, but as long as I keep telling myself "It's beta, it's beta.." I can deal with it because I haven't run into any truly game-breaking-level bugs as yet.

The combat targeting system desperately needs to be refined. Right now you can't target a ship that's not actually on-screen, even if it's right behind you and pelting you with torpedoes. The extra time it takes to swing your camera around so you can target the attacking ship can often spell the difference between success and failure in combat, especially when you're dealing with a battleship or something significant, but need to take out their much faster but less powerful escorts first.

While certainly classic and expected problems for any game in beta, server overload and lag are also major problems right now. There are times when simply being able to log into STO seems to require a level of luck akin to winning the lottery. Once logged in, it's common to find lag-related issues such as beaming down to a starbase as a ship instead of your human form or vice-versa and having to wait a little while until the server catches up and transforms you to your proper form. These issues really don't bother me all that much at this stage, though they certainly are annoying to deal with. It's only when we're paying for the right to play that I feel players have a right to complain about this kind of thing. Once I'm playing on my own dime, though, I expect I'll be far less forgiving on that score.

It's obvious that Cryptic took great care with the game lore to make it interesting and in synch with established Star Trek canon. The graphics are amazing and truly convey the feeling of being part of an episode of Star Trek. It makes me happy as a Star Trek fan and it makes me happy as a gamer. If Cryptic keeps the game at this level of quality and attractiveness to ST fans, I still believe that this game, more than just about any I've seen released or heard of in development, could actually rise to the level of WoW-killer or close to it.

Not that I think STO could put WoW out of business, mind you, but I do think we could easily see this game rise to a comparable number of subscribers. Speaking as one myself, I say do not underestimate the Trekkie factor. I expect that many people who have never played or cared about MMOs before will sign up for this game in droves just because it's Star Trek. That's the one thing that games like EvE and WoW, as good as they may be, will never be able to match STO in, a set of long-established lore presented in a variety of different media that's so beloved by so many that it actually has a life of its own and the game will gain many players who just love the Star Trek experience no matter what type of media it's presented in.

Is STO an EvE-killer? I doubt it, but I bet it puts a dent in their subscriber totals. Time will tell I suppose, but mark my words, STO is going to be a major player in MMO gaming.

And Now We Say...Goodbye?

Well, yes and no. Yes, I'm saying goodbye to EvE, at least for the foreseeable future, but that doesn't mean I'm saying goodbye to blogging (if you're interested in what I write away from the game, at least some of it, you can find many of my non-gaming articles here).

I'm considering a number of options:

1. Turning this blog into an STO blog.

2. Dropping this one and starting an entirely new STO blog.

3. Starting to post regularly on STO at MMORPG.com or a similar site.

4. Giving myself a break from blogging on gaming altogether until my life calms down a little.

At this point, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do, but suggestions are welcome. Post your thoughts in the comments, I'll see 'em.

This isn't a choice I've made easily or happily. It's a choice I've made because the responsibilities of my real life demand it, and there's no other way to make it work.

If you're in STO, you can look me up and maybe we can fly together sometime. I go by my original MMO name, the one I originally created when I first started playing EvE a few years ago, Bekka Jai (note the spelling). I like the name (it's a kind of "sci-fi-ification" of my real name), and so I'm reviving it in STO as a tribute to the first MMO I ever fell in love with. As far as the blog goes, I'll see what readers have to say on what they'd like to see and what my schedule will allow, and then I'll make a decision.

To all of you who have been reading this blog and sharing it with others, thank you. You have honored me with your readership and attention. I hope you'll share your thoughts on what path I should take on my future MMO/gaming blogging, and I hope you'll join me if and when I begin blogging about STO.

To all the friends I've made during my time in EvE, thanks for being there. I'll miss you as much as the game itself, so please let's look to find each other again in whatever universes we play in in the future. It's you folks that make EvE not just another video game, but a truly special and wonderful place to spend some time. Thank you so very much for that.

And now, for perhaps the last time ever, I'll say it just once more as I warp off into the sunset:

Fly Safe,

Bekka Jai

More From the Void

2010-01-09T16:48:00.001-05:00

No, I'm not dead, but my life is just insane right now.

Instead of calming down as I expected, things have heated up like never before. There's just been no way to think about anything else for the last few weeks. I haven't even had the time (or needed access) to change skills. Now, it looks like I may finally get a weekend to myself for the first time in a while.

Eve time, right? Um, well, no. Y'see, I have this Star Trek Online closed beta key I just got and, well, seems like kind of a shame to, um...oh who the fuck am I kidding? I can't wait to see what STO looks like! Eve can totally wait a while, this is new, it's exciting, and above all, it's Star Trek! I need to see what this is all about. I'm sure the gods of New Eden will forgive me.

Right now, I have the time to sit here and write because it's taking a while for STO to patch, going on a couple of hours of downloading and it's only about half-done. Oh well...I'm from a generation that's used to waiting on line. I waited six hours on line in the rain just to see my favorite band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and that was just a couple of years ago. Of course, that may not be the best example because there's a lot I'd put up with to be front row center for Joan Jett.

Compared to that, this is a cakewalk, sitting here in my comfy chair, waiting for STO to finish patching so I can log in. Is this what all those people who signed up for AION felt like?

Sad thing is, come Monday it may all start all over again, right now I have no clue. Tonight, though, we explore the Federation.

"Space, the Final Frontier..."

Greetings From The Void

2009-12-20T13:45:00.000-05:00

Um, hiya.

Yeah, I know it's been a few weeks, but RL is still kicking my butt right now. This is totally unanticipated, by the way. In fact, this is usually a slow time of year for me in RL. Now it's like I don't have time to do much more than pop in-game occasionally to chat with corpmates and change skills. I want to do more, a lot more, but I just don't have the time right now. I think I've written more in the last three weeks than I did in the six months previous. Un-frakkin'-believable. I thought this was going to be over by the middle of the week, but it just isn't. It's finally slowing though, so maybe I was just off by a few days. I hope so.

I also did something else. I preordered the Collector's Edition of Star Trek Online from Amazon with the Borg Officer bonus. I had to do it. I love Star Trek too much not to at least give it a shot. Because of my preorder purchase, I get to participate in open beta next month. I'm assuming that by then I'll be long since back to my normal, boring winter life with much more time to play MMO's, but if I do like STO I may eventually face a decision like I did with Fallen Earth. EvE won that one, but STO is still basically an unknown quantity. STO would have to be pretty damned amazing to tempt me away from EvE, and thus far I haven't seen enough of STO to convince me that would be the case. It does look interesting and engaging with is why I preordered, but I'm not yet convinced it's a long-term keeper. I liked Champions at first glance too, but the reality of playing it wasn't enough to keep me interested long-term. STO will have to prove itself to me. The Star Trek franchise is a great start but it's not enough.

Right now, I don't see myself leaving EvE for STO, but then I also didn't see myself leaving Fallen Earth to come back to EvE, so who knows?

Off The Grid For A Little While

2009-12-05T15:42:00.000-05:00

In my RL work, anytime there are certain kinds of major political issues and news stories surfacing in the news cycle my job instantly gets harder and much more time-consuming. It's one of those times right now, and so right now my EvE time will be limited, if not non-existent, for the next few days. I may get a chance to log in for a while later tonight, but right now I'm up to my ears in research, strategy planning, and taking advantage of media connections to get the info I need to be ready for an emergency meeting on Monday.

I really want to start getting into Dominion (not to mention my new corp and what they do) but RL just hasn't been cooperating this week. This will pass soon and life will return to normal, but right now, as much as I'd like nothing better right now than to say "Fuck it." and log into EvE for the afternoon, I can't. In a very real way, my work is my life, and it has to come first.

That said, if I can possibly squeeze out any time at all to log in and spend some time in-game over these next few days, I most certainly will be there. I love what I do, but I also love being able to leave it all behind for a while. If I can, I will. Right now, that's about all I can promise.

The PC Gods Are Smiling Upon Me...

2009-12-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

...or maybe I just got lucky, damn lucky.

Had work to do this morning so no time to deal with my PC issue until almost lunchtime. As a last resort, just to see what happens, I click the switch on the back on my power supply on and off and remove the power cord from the back of the PC. When I replace the power cord in its socket, I hear something internal go "ca-click". A quick press of the power button, and lights and fans spring to life. I tell Vista to start normally and begin to relax as it loads and life begins to return to normal.

Whew.

Yeah, something I probably should have checked immediately after the power went out, but to be honest this is the first computer I've owned that was built later than 2002, and it's the first time since I've owned it (May) that I've had this kind of problem. I hadn't tried what eventually worked previously because I didn't know to try it.

Well, so much for that crisis. Hopefully, I'll have some time to log in later this evening.

Return To PC Hell

2009-12-03T10:48:00.000-05:00

I don't freaking believe it.

Not 24 hours after Dominion is live, I pop in-game for a little while to check it out and take a look then I have to log out and deal with RL. I'm too busy to able to log in for the rest of the day. Yesterday, it's raining lightly here in Jersey, but then, the power flickers and comes back...except for my PC, which is now dead as a doornail..

Yeah, here we go again.

I looked through all my manuals and stuff, but nothing there helps. I open up the side, look in, but I neither see nor smell any evidence that anything's actually burned out. I've now reached the limit of my expertise in dealing with PC electrical issues (assuming that this in fact is what this is).

It looks like there's another trip to the Geek Squad in my immediate future, and until this is fixed there's no EvE for me.

Any ideas for a possible fix or stuff to look for, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Preparing For The Future

2009-11-30T00:38:00.000-05:00

So, today I did a little more PvP training with our corp's FC. He's really good. I learned stuff about faction ammo I never knew (and didn't even know enough to know that I didn't know it), and a lot more. In addition, I was on for a while tonight chatting with our corp's CEO.

He asked me if I was ok on ships and ISK. I thought I was. I still have most of what I brought with me, though I did spend several million on outfitting the Tristans. He apparently felt differently and gave me two shiny new Thoraxes to fit, and 100 million ISK, just to have if I need it. Needless to say, fitting the Thoraxes won't be a problem financially. I only have to worry about whether I have the skills to fit what I want.

Of course I'll do what I have to. If I can't use the Tech 2 version of something I'll run the Tech 1. In the meantime, though, I think I'm going to be very busy as far as skill training goes over the next few weeks at least. I keep discovering skills I haven't trained which would suddenly be really useful to have.

It's interesting...I've just gotten back into EvE (it's only been just over a month now), and I'm already out in 0.0 with a new corp, and Dominion and all of the changes it will bring are less than 24 hours away now. It seems hard to believe that in terms of actual forward career progress in this game I've probably done more in the last couple of weeks than I did during the last four or five months I was in-game before I left in '07.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to getting some real PvP experience. In all of the time I've been playing EvE until now, I've participated in exactly one PvP kill in 0.0, which was during an Agony Unleashed basic PvP course.

Tomorrow I need to fit those Thoraxes, though. I want those babies up and running asap.

Thoughts on Betas

2009-11-28T15:29:00.000-05:00

I do occasionally spout off on non-EvE-related gaming topics, and when I do I usually do it here, on MMORPG.com.

There's been a lot of talk about the ethics of using betas as promotional tools, and I think I may have a way to make it a positive experience for everyone. I lay my idea out in this post and ask for comments, so please do. It's not really appropriate for this blog, but I thought (hope) some of you might have an interest.

Learning to Fly

2009-11-27T23:39:00.000-05:00

Tonight I spent the evening getting a tour of some of the local space around my new corp's home system. I needed to put together at least a couple of PvP-ready frigs so I bought a couple of Tristans and discovered much to my dismay that I hadn't trained a skill I suddenly found myself in need of, Small Blaster Specialization. I found this skill book available at the local trade hub a few jumps away. In addition, some of the parts I needed for my Tristans were available there as well, so I bought what I needed and then later one of the corp directors took me for a tour and I made a stop to pick up my purchases while we were passing through.

He had me bookmarking everything along the way and when we'd gotten out several jumps from our starting point, he said "Ok Bekka, now let's see if you can make it back home." I'll admit to surprising myself, I did make one warp to an incorrect stargate, but I realized it immediately, corrected my mistake, and successfully made it back to our home system without having to ask for help. I will say it's not easy. There's a hell of a lot to learn and remember about how to get around.

High-sec this definitely is not, but it's also (at least so far) nowhere near as scary as I used to think. Of course, I've still only seen a tiny fraction of 0.0, but so far it's a lot more empty than I expected it to be. There wasn't much of any sort of threat to deal with during the whole trip.

I am just having a freaking great time with this game right now. I love learning new stuff and it seems like I'm learning something new every time I undock. Hard to believe that it's going to get even better in a few days once Dominion is live.

Yes, this is it. This is what I was missing the last time I played. The adventure, the feeling like I'm really on the final frontier, where anything can happen. The high-sec game is a lot of fun, but this is...I'm not sure how to describe it...a different animal entirely. People have told me that consistently and now I see how right they are.

Suddenly, I get it. I understand why once you spend time in 0.0 and you begin to understand the way it works (and of course this is a process I've just barely begun), you either never want to go back to high-sec or you'd probably want to go back immediately. It truly is a completely different game in many ways.

Personally, I came out to 0.0 for a reason: I want PvP, and I want PvP that matters. I want to become good, no, great at it. I want to do my part to help my new corp accomplish its goals. The director who took me on the tour tonight said if I wanted to bring the stuff I have in high-sec into 0.0 they'd help. I think that would be an awesome idea as long as they think they'd be useful. I have two ships that I'd want to bring out, my Myrmidon and my Thorax. Both are currently fitted for PvE missions, so I'll probably have to invest a little in new mods, but I'm more than happy to offer up both of these ships in the service of my corp. It's the very least I can do considering all they're doing for me.

There's still so much to learn, so much to absorb. I'll get there though, especially with the kind of help I've been getting. I feel very lucky all the way around. I've now got exactly what I was looking for in this game, in pretty much every way I can think of.

0.0 is my home, and slowly but surely I'm making myself comfortable here. It can and is getting easier, in large part because of the great support system my corp offers. Y'know, if I had the same kind of luck with my real life choices as I do with choices I make in EvE I'd probably be a multi-millionaire by now.

A Quiet Night In New Eden

2009-11-27T01:52:00.000-05:00

I just popped in-game a little while ago. I'm not sure why I bothered. I'm dead tired after a day spent shoveling food in my face and chasing after children. It's times like these when I remember why even though I love kids I don't have any of my own. Saw my brother who plays EvE today along with everyone else and passed my copy of Empyrean Age on to him. I know he'll like it.

There's really not a whole lot for me to do in-game until tomorrow anyway. I want to get some ships set up and I think I'll probably need some advice on that. Pretty much anything I do now I'm going to need some advice on until I get more of a handle on the way things are done out here in 0.0. In some ways, I'm a seasoned vet, in others I'm a total noob.

I also have to think about what I want to set as my next skill training. I've finished Hull Upgrades V and soon Scout Drones V, and I have to figure out what to cue up next. By the time I get in front of the computer tomorrow I'll be well within the 24-hour range so I guess I can figure it out then.

Right now, I'm really just glad that the first major holiday of the season is out of the way. Family events like these are fun, but they can really take it out of me. At least I'll have more time for EvE in coming days...until things get crazy again.

I don't care. It's not an either/or proposition this time. I'm in this game for the long haul. I'll make it work.

It's funny. I didn't really miss EvE all that much over the couple of years I was engrossed in my RL job. I didn't really have time to miss it because I was so involved with other things. I'm not someone who spends a lot of time idle so I filled that time with stuff to do, including a lot of single-player games that I could play whenever I had time for them. Yet, when I started getting back into MMO's again, first with Fallen Earth, Champions, and Crimecraft, I kept comparing these games to EvE. By the time I decided to sign up for a trial account, I was looking for a reason to revisit the game, so I gave myself one, an article I was going to write about revisiting EvE two years after I left it.

Looking back, maybe in all honesty it was an excuse. Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind I'd decided that I wanted to get back into EvE and so I did the one thing I knew would almost certainly get me hooked again, and now I am. Big surprise. Maybe.

The real point is that I have a better, more satisfying experience playing EvE than I have in any other MMO I've ever played. That, more than any other single reason, is why I'm back and why I'm sticking around.

Ah well...the L-Tryptophan is kicking in bigtime and I think it's time for bed.

Until next time, fly safe.

The Pause Button

2009-11-25T20:43:00.000-05:00

I'm doing something right now that I bet a lot of MMO players have done, no matter what game they happen to be playing: I'm not playing EvE right now because I have a friend coming over who probably would not understand why I might not be able to just stop playing instantaneously. You know the kind of person I'm talking about, don't you? Yes, it's that techno-ignorant friend or family member who says "Can't you just put it on pause?". It's the kind of person who thinks they know all there is to know about video games because they've played video tennis with a friend on their Wii.

The truth is that it's just easier not to be playing when he arrives then it is to explain why I need to take a few minutes before shutting down. There's also the fact that if I'm able to log in later tonight I'll have a lot to do and probably not much time to do it. There's a lot to do for Thanksgiving, and that will definitely cut into or maybe even eliminate my in-game time tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend at least a little time in-game tonight and maybe tomorrow night late, but really at this point I don't know if I'll be able to. Hey, it's the holidays.

I find this kind of thing is still true even with instant messenger. Many people don't get that ending a chat is much the same as saying goodbye when hanging up the phone and don't understand why I can't just shut down the computer. I suspect that as time goes on and computers and cellphones continue to merge this will become less and less of an issue for most people, but right now there are still a lot of people who don't perceive online communication as real. That goes not only for instant messenger, but also for online games.

What sucks is that I'm anxious to get on with my new life in 0.0, but RL is just getting in the way right now. This will all be over Friday though, and then I'll really be able to start getting into it...maybe even late tomorrow night if I'm really lucky.

New Horizons

2009-11-25T02:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm finally here, not for a visit, but to stay. As of this moment, my little Caldari shuttle is parked in my new home station, out in the wilds of 0.0. It's interesting...the most difficult thing about the trip was remembering to bookmark all the spots accurately. I'm not quite sure I got all those system designations right. It really is much easier when they have actual names, even if they're weird names.

I met a few members of my new corp in a system near where I'd applied and together we headed into 0.0. During the trip we chatted on Teamspeak and it seems I've clearly lucked out yet again as far as picking a corp. These guys are cool.

I'm also a member of a pretty big alliance now, which is kind of new for me. I was a member of a pretty big alliance when I was with Eve University but really it wasn't much of an alliance, if I remember correctly, because the vast majority of the alliance members were in the same corp, E-Uni. The few who were not were in the Graduates (I think that's what they called themselves), a corp of former E-Uni students. For the most part, it was exactly the same people in corp and alliance chats and emails lists. This time, I think it's going to be a little different.

Already I know I'm going to be doing a lot of PvP. I also know I have a lot to learn about doing PvP well and about surviving in 0.0. Basically, I know that I pretty much have to change almost everything about the way I play this game now...and that's ok, in fact, that's exactly what I'm looking for.

All in all, I'm pretty damned excited about the whole thing. Good game, good people, good times. It's been a long time since I was this excited about EvE, or about any game really. It really feels like the final frontier.

One thing I intend on doing pretty much immediately now is ordering one of those New Eden map books. Now that's I'm out of high-sec it's suddenly a lot more important that I plan my travels carefully and being able to sit a map on my lap, make notes, and verify system names will be a big help.

Now it's finally time for me to get serious about playing this game. Pew-pew, here I come.

On The Edge Of A New Beginning

2009-11-22T02:13:00.000-05:00

I'm not yet at the point where I'm comfortable discussing all of the details, but there are significant changes in store for me in this game. The short version is that I'm about to join a player-run corp again and I'm very excited about it. It's the kind of situation I find very appealing and the all the people I've met are terrific. Beyond that, I need to have a discussion with my soon-to-be new corpmates before I say anything else. I need to know exactly what they're comfortable with before I go spouting off here.

The next step for me, as for all pre-Dominion corporate recruits, is to go to a system where the corporation has an office and formally apply. This will entail a rather long trip through high-sec, longer than I have time for tonight. Originally, I was thinking of selling off some stuff to help finance my new position's equipment, but then a generous reader, mlove, contacted me in-game tonight with some kind words about the blog and an absolutely impeccably-timed ISK donation that allows me to instead just keep my stuff for when and if I might need it down the road.

The truth is that I'm bursting to say more, but I won't until I've cleared it. One thing I can and will say right now, though, is that for the first time in a long time I can't really anticipate what's next for me in this game and I love that. In fact, maybe I hadn't realized just how much I missed that feeling in this game and why I eventually became so bored as a manufacturing corp director. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that horrible. In all honesty, the CEO did 90% of the real work. I spent a lot of time salvaging and doing other carebearey kinds of tasks. Thing was, I never really did get to see much of New Eden. I've always regretted that, and when I returned to the game I promised myself that this time it's going to be different.

And so here I am, on the cusp of a new chapter of my life in EvE. Tomorrow I will leave all of my stuff behind, get in a shuttle, and head off on a long trip toward a new life, in a new place, with new friends.

If only real life were so simple.

Of The Future

2009-11-19T16:20:00.000-05:00

As I run missions and wait for Hull Upgrades V to finish (a little less than two and half days left to go as I write this), I've been giving a lot of thought to what I want to do afterward. I do have some ideas in that regard and I'll begin exploring them in earnest.

I'm being intentionally obtuse about this for a few reasons. Right now I'm in what I call the "quiet research" phase. I google corps, I poke around on their websites, I see if I can find anything about them elsewhere about what they do and the kind of corp they are. Later, once I have a good idea of what I'm working with, I'll enter the "make a list" phase where I decide which of the corps I find most attractive really fit my style well. Then once I have that it's time to get serious about comparing pound for pound in terms of what's in my best interest in realizing my goals in the game.

It's definitely a tougher choice than I first imagined it would be. Since I went directly from an NPC corp to Eve University and then to Stonewall Interstellar, I don't really have much experience in changing corps or in looking for a new one. I totally lucked out on the first try with E-Uni, as well as with SI so this process isn't one I really have a lot of experience in.

I may do something completely unexpected...even by me. We'll see.

Piracy Shouldn't Be So Easy

2009-11-15T14:53:00.002-05:00

I've been running level 3 missions for the last several days, and I'm just loving the fit I'm using, even though I've still got a bit more than six days before I can install those Tech 2 Armor Hardeners.

One interesting difference I've noticed about the missions I'm doing now and the ones I was doing just before I left the game two years ago is that many level 3 agents now offer missions that take you into low-sec. On the one hand, I think it's a great idea for CCP to do more to encourage players to enter low and no sec areas, but on the other hand, it's also a great benefit to pirates who just sit at the gates in well-traveled low-sec systems like Egghelende and pick off noobs as they enter or leave.

As a player who's well-experienced in dealing with pirates (though not as much in actually winning those battles), I always check my star map to see how many recent ship kills there are in a low-sec system the agent wants to send me to before I accept a mission. If I find it too much of a risk (last time I was offered a mission going to Egghelende I checked and found that 15 ships had been destroyed there in the last hour), I just decline or delay the mission.

The problem is that it seems that the pirates really don't care, they're just always sitting there because they know that a significant number of noobs will not know to check the star map before entering a low-sec system. Even if experienced pilots like me who know better just avoid the system until we know (or at least have good reason to believe based on the evidence) that the pirates have left the system, there are more than enough players who will jump in anyway, either because they don't check the map first or because they may foolishly believe their uber-fit ship can take them on.

While I've always believed that if you let your ego overshadow your common sense in this game it's going to end up costing you bigtime in the long run, I also believe that piracy, while permitted within the game, shouldn't be this easy.

From a common sense perspective, it makes sense to me that CONCORD should be just as aggressive toward those flagged as criminals in low-sec as they are in high-sec. In real world terms, the way it is now makes about as much sense as the police showing up to deal with crime in affluent areas but ignoring crimes committed in poorer areas of the same jurisdiction. We have, of course, seen the real-world results of such policing and they are the same as in EvE: When the police are not a significant presence in those areas the crime rate goes up, as criminals come out of hiding and become more aggressive.

Please note that this is not an argument against piracy in EvE. I used to feel that way, but I've come to accept piracy as a valid part of the game. My problem here is that CONCORD does not confront and deal with piracy in a way that makes any sense for a truly competent police force, certainly not one charged with protecting as large a jurisdiction as empire space in EvE.

In my opinion, low-sec piracy should carry significantly more risk for pirates than it actually does. While I accept piracy as part of the game, I don't accept that the risk involved should be as one-sided as it currently is. A realistic police force would check those low-sec gates and systems regularly and confront those who appear to be in the area to commit crimes. A real police force would not simply ignore areas where muggers are known to wait for victims, and neither should CONCORD.

My suggestion here would be for CCP to institute a mechanic where a CONCORD fleet would appear in these systems at irregular intervals to engage and eliminate any criminally-flagged ships that happen to be there. My reasoning on this is that by making these appearances random pirates would be taking a real risk by simply hanging out near low-sec gates and waiting to pick off ships just to pad their kill-boards. There would still be a very real risk to players entering these systems because CONCORD would still not be a constant presence, but the fact that they might show up at any given time would help to discourage long-term pirate gate-camping and at least allow the possibility that missions and other reasons to travel into low-sec would be less likely to be discarded out of hand because a player doesn't want to risk her 70 million ISK mission-running battlecruiser in a low-sec system to gain a million ISK reward payout.

CCP has said that they want to encourage more players to get into low-sec and 0.0. That's something I strongly agree with, but I think if there's to be a hope of that actually happening, there has to be a lot more effort made by CCP in making low-sec and 0.0 more accessible to newer and less potent players. As it is now, the game discourages those interests because players know that pirates run wild and completely unchecked outside of high-sec. On the other side of the coin, pirates know that they have nothing to fear from CONCORD unless they attempt to go into high-sec and so that encourages more piracy because it's so lucrative and relatively low-risk. As long as the pirates field a fleet that is effective against most of the ships which venture into low-sec, it will continue to be a faucet of low-risk profits that will prove attractive to more and more players, and thus encourage more low-sec piracy.

In my opinion, if CCP does nothing to address this there will eventually come a point where almost no one wants to risk venturing outside of high-sec anymore because the risk is so great. New players and those who'd like to explore low-sec and 0.0 will find those areas of the game effectively inaccessible because every access to those areas is camped by pirates. That's when players will become disillusioned and bored with the game, and leave for greener pastures. At that point, EvE will become a game where low-sec and 0.0 are only really accessible to those able to travel with large enough fleets to discourage pirate attacks, those who are already members of large corps or those who have a lot of in-game friends who are willing to escort them.

To me, that would be the very worst possible outcome for this game. Wormholes are an inventive way of circumventing this reality for some, but for new, solo, or inadequately-equipped players they're really of little or no value in terms of circumventing piracy.

CCP needs to address this problem, and they need to do it now, before it gets worse than it already is. EvE is a game that has a lot of correlations to real life in terms of how things happen and the results. It's time CCP injected a little of that realism into the way CONCORD does its job and in the risks criminals take in committing crimes.

Unless CCP is comfortable with the idea of low-sec and 0.0 becoming the virtually exclusive domain of the most wealthy and powerful corps and pirates, it's high time they do what they have to in order to open up these areas to the rest of the player base. No doubt much bitching and moaning will ensue, but it's really the only way to ensure that EvE will be able to not only gain but also hold on to new players over the long term. Regardless of whether you're a pirate, a noob victim, or anything in-between, encouraging more new and middle-range players to participate in and stay with EvE should be a goal every player can get behind. It's good for the game, it's good for CCP, and it's good for the players.

To my way of thinking, it's just a no-brainer. First and foremost on every agenda, CCP's, the players, anyone who cares about this game, is to do everything possible to keep EvE fresh, interesting, and welcoming to everyone, especially to new players who wish to join us. Hopefully, this, if nothing else, is something we can all agree on.

Burning and Earning

2009-11-11T20:03:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a lot of level 3 missions with the Myrmidon, generating a pretty decent income. Mainly right now I'm waiting until my second major skill training, Hull Upgrades V, finishes in a little more than ten days and I can then install Tech 2 Armor Hardeners. I've already bought the hardeners, but I have to finish training the skill before I can install them.

I'm also still in that warm, cozy, newly-returned-player mode, just enjoying being back in the game and still rediscovering things I love about it.

One thing I've been avoiding doing since coming back is becoming as active a participant on the official EO forums as I used to be. I've put up a post promoting this blog and I've jumped in on a few conversations here and there, but after such a negative experience with those forums a couple of years ago, I've decided that I'm going to be a lot more cautious about posting there this time around. The nutshell version is that I'm back in EvE to relax and have fun, and I've found that that's not always possible when I involve myself too much over there.

I'm now in a place in-game where I'm almost back to where I was before I left, except in terms of actual stuff owned and ISK in my wallet. I'm doing the same kinds of missions I was doing then, with the same kind of ship, but with a much better fit than I was using back then.

I know it's getting close to the time where I'm going to have to start making some decisions about what direction I want to go in this game. I'm giving myself the ten days plus it'll take for that skill to finish training to think about it before making any decisions, maybe even a little longer if I decide I need it.

That said, I also know I don't just want to endlessly run missions as a solo player. In order to really enjoy this game to its fullest (in my opinion, at least), it must be played with other people. I will join a player-run corp again soon. I already have several good options, and I'm open to more.

Yet, despite all that, I'm still having a pretty good time right now just roaming the spaceways in search of fun and profit. It's not a long-term career plan, but it'll work well enough for a couple more weeks. Then, it'll become time to seriously start finding myself a new career in this game.

Movin' On Up

2009-11-09T00:14:00.000-05:00

Last night, the same player who gave me the 50 million ISK donation met me in-game and gave me me not only the best Myrmidon fit I've ever used, but all the parts I needed for it.

My Myrmidon is now literally unstoppable, at least when doing Level 3 missions. The fit is perma-run and the cap never sinks much below 1/2 charge even when I have everything running. My biggest problem is making sure I have enough ammo to get the mission done. After one of the first missions I did with the Myrm there were a lot of ships to kill and I took them all out in one go-round, just barely. I left that deadspace area with exactly 11 rounds of ammo left.

It's unquestionably the most effective fit I've ever tried on any ship I've flown as far as tanking goes. Probably also close to the most destructive (though I did fly a Dommie for a bit a couple of years ago).

I'm not done yet, either. I'm in the process of training up a few relevant skills and then I'll be able to upgrade the fit with some spiffy t2. So now all of a sudden I'm actually starting to make a little ISK. This, of course, is a very good thing.

So now, what I've been doing is going to Level 3 agents at corps I have high standings in, doing a few missions and then moving on to another one with a somewhat higher ranking. So far, I've had no problems at all other than the loss of a few cheap drones. I have a busy RL day tomorrow, so I got my ship to the next agent I plan to do missions for and then logged out. This one is middle-ranked and if I do well with him tomorrow night 'll try one a little higher.

Damn, I'm having a shitload of fun with this game right now. I can't wait to try the next round.

Myrmidon FTW!

Cruisin'

2009-11-06T16:20:00.000-05:00

So, I'm doing Level 2 missions now. I'm still tweaking the Thorax's fit, but so far it's been very effective. I've got five Hammerhead I's in the bay which usually take out most of the ships I come up against, and my four active 200mm Scout Cannons easily take out whatever might get through.

One thing I do plan to do is to start seeking out certain corps I have really high standing with to make the best mission rewards. I'd actually forgotten about taking standings into account when looking for missions until I started looking through my LP point totals. I discovered that I still have a lot of unused LP, but I also saw that there are certain corps I earned a heck of a lot of LP from. That reminded me of why I used to seek out certain agents and corps to run missions for in the first place.

I guess I relearn something "new" almost every time I log in these days. The more stuff I do that I haven't done in a couple of years, the more I remember about how I did it in the past. The more "new" things I try, the better I become as a player.

The last few days have been tough, though. Because of what I do in RL, every time there's a major election, especially one in New Jersey, I end up disappearing from the online world for a few days. This last election was no different (though I certainly wished for a different victor), and so I've been in-game maybe a grand total of two hours since the day before the election (Tuesday).

I'm hoping to put in more time in-game now that the election is over...frankly, a little break from reality would be kinda nice right about now...

Now I'm Really Back

2009-11-03T13:26:00.001-05:00

Why? Because you know you're not truly an EvE pilot until you've had a ship blown out from under you at least once.

I guess I got cocky. I'd been having no trouble with the level 3 mission I was doing other than having to warp out and run my reppers for a few minutes every so often as the damage I was taking became too much. I was holding my own as far as tanking goes, and then I think (I'm not certain, it's been a while) I was warp scrambled, which I was totally unprepared for. I had no idea how or if I could break free and went down pretty quickly after that.

Fortunately, I'd already earned enough with the 'Rax that along with the insurance payout it was a simple matter to put another one in space, but this time I went back to the blaster-rax configuration, and I'm going to stick with Level 2 missions for a while to build up some ISK. Once I have that, I'll start the process of fitting and insuring the Mrym.

While most of the basics of how to play EvE have come back to me quickly, I'm finding that I'm remembering and rediscovering combat strategies as they become useful. Sometimes, it's dumb stuff like remembering to load my weapons or buy ammo before I head into a combat zone, other times it's realizing during or after the fact that I should have played a certain scenario a different way or that there were relevant factors that I'd forgotten to take into account before engaging because it's been so long.

One thing's for sure, once I'm ready to join a player-run corp again, maybe even before that, I'm going to want to refresh my combat skills a bit. There's a number of ways I could go with this.

I did take an Agony Unleashed PvP course a couple of years ago, and I know that their policy at the time was that any course taken which was paid for once can be retaken for free. If that's still their policy I think I'll be retaking that course and maybe even one or two more if I can afford them. I may not remember everything I learned after not using it for a couple of years, but I do remember it was a great experience and one I'm certainly interested in repeating.

There's also EvE University, my old alma mater. They offer some great classes including the basic basics, and the teachers and the students are awesome. I'll be proud to fly with them anytime, anywhere. Yet, at the same time, if my intent is to eventually head into 0.0 (and it is) that may not be the best way to go.

There are also many other corps which offer PvP and other training to their members. I'd expect that some are competent and reliable in doing so and some are not. The truth is I don't know. What I do know is my positive experience with the two corps above. One entails joining a corp perhaps earlier than I'd intended, and the other entails coming up with the needed ships and equipment (some of which I may still have from the last time I did the course), and possibly tuition in order to take the course.

I really don't know what I'm going to do just yet, but before I make that decision I want to be in better financial shape than I am now. I know I'll probably become antsy later, but right now I'm mainly just enjoying being back in EvE, reestablishing myself, and going through the process of fully getting back to where I was in this game in terms of understanding the finer points and how to use them to my advantage. Two years is a long time, and there's been some changes I have to get used to.

The way I'm doing that is by flying these missions, remembering and rediscovering exactly what I can and can't do in combat, what solution applies to what problem. Relearning how to fit my ships has been an adventure as well, but I'm quickly becoming better at it as time goes on. I recognize my mistakes quickly, and I'm rapidly relearning how to correct them. BattleClinic has been a help with this, but I've come to understand that it's caveat emptor with BC loadouts. Some are awesome, but others don't quite meet that standard. I got burned like that for a few thousand ISK by trying out a loadout that looked great in theory but didn't really cut it in actual combat.

I'm also finding where the holes are in my skill training and I've set about plugging them. There aren't a lot of places where I haven't already trained the skills to what I need for what I'm doing right now, but there are a few and more pop up on occasion as I experiment with different loadouts. Now that I'm able to log in again, my skill que is kept full at all times. Currently I'm training Propulsion Jamming IV, which I need in order to run a Tech II Stasis Webifier. This is something I need to do a lot more research on as far as figuring out what skills I should be training now over the long term. As I get more of these holes filled, more and more of the most useful still-trainable skills I have will require major lengths of time to train them to the next level.

Before that becomes a major issue, I want to have a plan, an outline at least, of what skills I want/need to invest time in training. There's still a little while to go before that will become critical, but if I keep that skill que filled 24/7 I don't think it'll be all that long.

And so, here we go again. I pick myself up, dust myself off, and head right back out there, hopefully with a better plan this time. This, in a nutshell, is EvE, and perhaps a big reason why so many of us can't help but keep on coming back for more.

Riding The Rails

2009-11-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

So I've installed five 200mm Scout I Accelerator Cannons on the Thorax but I can only keep four online at once unless I want to unfit or turn off components I don't want to do without. I've got a fit I'm not entirely thrilled with but that I think will allow me to do far more damage from a distance than I have been. The blasters are lethal from short range but virtually useless from a distance. Closing to a useful blaster range on a mission like this one just isn't a really great idea, especially not when I'm using drones.

Of course, right now, this is all theory, albeit theory based on experience (and a hell of a lot of destroyed ships a couple of years ago). Last night it was late so I bought the guns, went to get them, installed them, flew back to the system where the mission I'm working on is, docked, and logged out. The rails will get their first test a little later today when I log in. I strongly suspect that four railguns will do in this mission and others like it what five blasters can't.

Settling Back In

2009-11-02T01:28:00.000-05:00

It didn't take long. Today I did a few missions and I think I've found my "sweet spot" as far as mission level goes, Level 3, at least for now. I'm doing one right now that requires me to go in, launch my drones, take out a few ships, and then call back my drones and beat it out of there before I take too much damage. It's one of those missions that's just tough enough to be challenging without being ridiculous. I've already blown the time bonus so I'm taking my time with it. It's worth the time because it's about half a mil as a mission reward, a lot more than I've been making on lower level missions.

I've got Electronics IV training right now, soon followed by Drone Interfacing V, which I just discovered I only have about a day and a half of training left on. Apparently I started training this a long time ago and never finished for some reason. I also discovered a million and a half ISK in my corporate wallet.

One thing I'm seriously considering is refitting the 'Rax with railguns. The blasters were great in the early levels, but now I think I need something with a bit more range. Plus, in reviewing my skills, I realized that I have a Level IV Medium Railgun Specialization.

Anyway, I think I'm done with EvE today. I put in a good 4-5 hours, more than I usually play in one day. I'm sure I'll spend some time in-game tomorrow as well. It's amazing how easily and how quickly I've reinserted EvE into my life. Two years, my ass....feels more like two weeks. If it wasn't for all the changes you can actually see, I'd swear I'm just pretty much picking up from where I left off (minus a hell of a lot of stuff I gave away).

On the other hand, I may just go in-game for a bit and see how much a set of medium rails will run me.

The Thorax Rides Again

2009-10-31T21:58:00.002-04:00

Yep I did it. Made myself a Blaster-rax this time. I haven't really given it a good workout yet, but I've done one easy mission so quickly I barely had to turn on my weapons. Next I go up a level and see how that goes, and I'll keep nudging my way upward until things start getting dangerous. I'm still tweaking the fit a bit but so far it's pretty rockin'.

When I logged in earlier, I checked and discovered that it would have taken me more ISK than I had left to insure the Myrm at Platinum level. My choice, therefore, really wasn't a choice at all. There's no frakking way I'm taking a Mrym out on missions without insuring it first, no matter how well-armed it is. And of course even if I did have enough for the insurance I had nothing to outfit it with.

I was able to buy, fit, and insure the Thorax for less than half what it would have cost just to insure the Myrm. Sure, it'll take me a little longer to get the Myrm in space by doing it this way, but that's ok. When I'm done I'll have two well-armed ships, not just one.

Oh yeah, and I went to visit Caldari Prime tonight since it's the closest Empyrean Age-relevant system to where I'm doing missions. Definitely the planet is different, and I think the station is different from the last time I saw it as well. I'll hit some others in my travels as time goes on. Interesting...

It's good to be back. :)

Almost Back To Normal

2009-10-31T17:06:00.000-04:00

My PC is back home at last, and I'm deep into the process of re-tweaking it to my taste, downloading and installing essential software, the usual routine. EvE is already installed and ready to go, and now that my AV is finishing its scanning and updating process, I'm just about ready to reboot and reenter EvE for the first time in about nine days.

Should be interesting...I'll let ya know.

A Fine and Lovely Morning...

2009-10-31T12:22:00.000-04:00

I finished Empyrean Age this morning over coffee. I enjoyed it a lot and now that I'm done with it, I'll be reading those news stories I haven't read yet and probably going to check out some of the results. I must admit that I find this really interesting, perhaps even a completely new way of telling a story. It's fascinating to me that the results of what I just read in a novel can be actually traveled to and seen for oneself in the game.

A novel, a self-contained sci-fi story, that actually happens in "reality" in an MMO, with events you can actually witness for yourself as they happen and which carry lasting changes for that world. This, my fellow capsuleers, is truly the cutting edge of fiction storytelling and of sci-fi in particular (where readers/players/viewers are generally much more receptive overall to such innovations than the average media consumer).

This might not seem like such a big deal to some, but consider this: Until now, virtually all fictional media has been, generally speaking, originally presented in one format or another, with almost all of the crossover coming between print and film or television. In sci-fi, and particularly in media based on well-established franchises such as Star Trek, there is always the issue of which stories are considered "canon", part of the established "official" history of the franchise. These are generally arguments for the fanboy faithful, but the rule until now seems to have always been that if the story was told on television or in film then it's considered canon, but if the story appears solely in print or in a videogame, it's generally not.

What makes EvE: Empyrean Age so innovative and groundbreaking is that it actually eliminates the fourth wall and brings EvE players actually into the story itself. The events of the book are indeed canon and the results of those events are physically manifest within the game. In this way, even players who were not playing at the time these events occurred within the game (like me) are drawn into the scenario as well as they must deal with the repercussions of the events in the book just as every player must.

More than just breaking down the fourth wall, though, CCP goes even further here and gives the events and results of the novel a 3-D existence within the game that players can visit and interact with. I know of no other sci-fi franchise that's ever done this (and no, I'm not counting Lord of the Rings, which has been done and redone to death, to the point of torturous boredom).

From a player/media consumer perspective, this is the first sci-fi novel I've ever read that "matters" in a significant way to the universe it presents beyond its own pages. It changes the way I perceive the book, and it might even influence how I play the game in the future in some way.

I think a big part of why this could be done with EvE but not with a media monolith like Star Trek is that there's just too much Star Trek media already out there in every format to keep it all coordinated to start adding additional canon in more than just dribs and drabs.

EvE, first and foremost, is the game. Other media comes from and is based on the game, not the other way around as with LotRO. In addition, there's a lot less canon established in EvE than in a 44-year-old franchise like Star Trek, and so there's a lot more they can do in terms of shaking things up and taking risks with the overall story arc.

What I'm now most interested in seeing is not only the physical results of Empyrean Age, but also how/if the next novel (now apparently due out in March) will play out within the game. One thing is for certain, I won't miss this one.

Oh and hey, in another hour or so I'll be heading to Best Buy to pick up my PC. As you might imagine, I'm very much looking forward to that. Hmmm, I've been writing this post for so long that it's not even morning any more.

Soon, soon...online life will return to normal. Eight days without my PC (and without EvE) is just too freaking long.

The Diagnosis Is In

2009-10-30T21:13:00.000-04:00

Oh, this one's just fucking brilliant.

It turns out that the problem with my PC was a rather simple one. I have a RAID array on my machine. It works great with Vista, but there's no software for it that works with Windows 7 yet. That's why it recognized my drives as removable apparently. There's no one to get mad at or blame, not even Microsoft really. Even they can't provide me with software that hasn't been written yet.

So, looks like until there's a Win7-compatible driver for my RAID array available, I'll be stuck with Vista. It's hardly the end of the world. I know there have been a lot of complaints about it, but Vista Home Premium has worked fine for me since I've had it, in fact, I like it better than XP. I should have probably saved my money and just left things as they were.

So, tomorrow I'll go pick up my PC from Best Buy and my copy of Windows 7 will go sit on a shelf for a while until I can actually use it.

At least I'll finally be able to get back to playing EvE again. It's been a week now, and there's just so much a woman can do to distract herself. I'm almost done with Empyrean Age. I think I'll have to make it point to finish that tonight.

Tick, Tick, Tick...

2009-10-30T13:46:00.000-04:00

I just spoke to my guy at Geek Squad. If all goes as expected, I'll be picking my PC up tonight. I hope so...I'm almost finished with Empyrean Age and it feels like I've watched every video and listened to every podcast.

It turns out my instincts were right to have him fix it rather than try to do it myself. I'll get more details later I'm sure, but I already know that the problem was waaay out of my league as far the technical skill required to fix it. Once again it is proven: No one, and I mean no one, can fuck up a PC like Microsoft.

I've passed on Fallen Earth Bloggers to the one other blogger who was writing for it. He's the sole blogger there at the moment but I hope others will join him there soon. It's a good game, created by a good company, and played by good people. They deserve success and I hope it comes for them.

I'm still thinking a lot about what I want to do as far as a ship goes once I can log in again. I'm leaning toward the Thorax idea, but I want to take some time checking out the market and the cost of insurance to see exactly what I'm dealing with before I make any decisions.

Until it's time for me to call James in around six hours I'm pretty much just marking time as far as EvE goes. Hopefully, later tonight that'll all be over.

Now I'm Seriously Jonesing

2009-10-29T00:40:00.000-04:00

Hopefully, my PC will be ready tomorrow, Friday at the latest. In the meantime, I've been getting a lot of Empyrean Age read. I'm about 3/4 through it now, and it's still a great read. After getting into it a bit I decided not to read any of the news items posted at the site until I finish it as many seem to be relevant to the events in the book. What I'm curious about, and I haven't yet seen talked about anywhere (but could easily have missed it) is whether this novel is considered EvE canon, and what about the one due out next month? Not that I really expect it would change anything in-game much either way, but it would be useful to know.

I did a little research today and read everything I could find on the disbanding of BoB. Not surprising, but oh so typical in this game. Can't say I'm unhappy to see it happen, either, just kinda sorry I missed being around for it. I like the idea that things are at least a little more balanced in terms of political power in this game than they used to be.

I've also been thinking about which corp I may want to join once I've done my solo time. I really don't know yet, though I'm considering re-applying to EvE University. It never hurts to brush up on one's PvP skills when you haven't been playing a couple of years (and I didn't do a whole lot of PvP while I was playing in any case), and on top of that, they're some of the best people I've ever gamed with. I haven't made any hard and fast decisions, but that's definitely one thing I'm thinking about.

Sigh....what I really want is my frakking PC back...

Two Years Is A Long Time...Or Not

2009-10-27T14:46:00.003-04:00

In real life, a lot can change in two years. In gaming life, life-milestone-level changes usually occur much more frequently than in real life. In gaming, two years can be a lifetime.

When I first returned to EvE, I was surprised that more hadn't noticeably changed in-game during the time I was gone. Sure the graphics were better and the game played smoother, but I also had a fast new gaming PC. Aside from the ability to overheat systems and epic mission arcs, there didn't seem to be much in regards to gameplay that I hadn't seen before (though obviously there are many areas of the game where I would not be in a position to notice if changes had been made).

What I learned after I'd fully come back to EvE and began doing "catch-up" research was that there are major developments planned for the very near future, some of which I fully expect will change the way a lot of people play this game in fundamental ways. Imagine, for example, a Fleet Commander who directs the defense of an outpost from his cell phone while waiting to board a flight in RL, or a corp CEO who can approve requests and allocate resources for his corp on his lunch break.

The truth is that this ability probably won't change the way I play EvE all that much. I have no intention of going the same route as before, and I don't use my own cell phone for much other than making and taking actual phone calls. I've never tried to text anyone, though I think I have gotten a couple. It's hysterical. I'm a total PC power user, but I'm a complete and utter incompetent when it comes to doing things with my cell phone other than handling phone calls.

Nevertheless, the ability to be able to interact with EvE and not actually be in-game would be a very useful tool in other ways. Wouldn't it be great to be able to update your skill que from outside the game? I'd be loving that ability right about now. I have no idea if players will gain this ability with New Eden, but considering how much time I spend online but out of EvE it's definitely on my personal wish list.

Also, Walking In Stations/Ambulation/Incarna. This was being talked about before I left. In fact, it was the feature story of one of the issues of EON I bought during my time in-game, #7 I think it was. It's now clearly just on the horizon and that's very exciting to me. I've always thought of EvE as a game where the social aspects needed a lot more love than they've historically gotten from CCP, and I'm excited to see that being addressed with this and New Eden.

So, I guess I've picked a good time to get back into EvE. It's a little more than a month before the next major expansion, and more major improvements are planned for soon thereafter. Best of all, thanks to both fortunate happenstance and the generosity of a reader, getting back into the game is proving less difficult than I'd anticipated. Of course, one thing that will help immensely in reaching that goal is getting my PC back from the Geek Squad (I expect it tomorrow or Fri. the latest). It's just a little bit difficult to make any progress unless you can actually log into the game.

In the meantime, I'm just checking out whatever looks interesting and EvE-related. There are some nice fittings for Myrmidons on the BattleClinic EvE site. Most of them are so expensive I could never afford them, but I can already see where some judicious cost-cutting could be employed to tweak a few of these loadouts into affordability range.

I also have another idea that I'm toying with for when I'm able to log in again. Right now, all I've done is purchased and assembled my new Myrmidon. I haven't fit or insured it yet, and as a result I still have about 20 million left. I'm strongly considering taking that 20 mil, buying a Thorax for around 5, insuring and fitting it out sweetly with most of the rest.

Then, once I have my tricked-out Thorax ready to go, I spend some time doing missions with it to fund fitting the Myrm with some really nice stuff. I'm not saying that's my definite plan yet, but I am giving it serious consideration. Hey, at least it would finally justify the title of this blog again.

The reason I'm considering this is because A) I need a well-fit battlecruiser if I'm to progress and get back to where I was in this game before I left, and B) if I take what I have and insure and fit the Myrm with it, I won't be able to fit it as well as I'd like. If I go with the Thorax, not only can I really trick it out because the insurance and fitting costs are substantially lower, but after I'd used it to earn what I need to fit the Myrm I'll still have that ship in case I need it. My previous adventures in EvE have proved to me that a well-armed Thorax can prove very convenient to have around sometimes.

I don't know what I'm going to do yet, and I probably have at least 24 hours still to think about it.

More EvE Media

2009-10-26T17:17:00.002-04:00

I'm listening to podcasts now. I just got an email from the Geek Squad telling me that they're working on my PC. I know who'll be working on my machine because I went directly to him. I know who the best techs are there because I used to work with these folks. It takes an extra day or two because I don't want just anyone working on my PC, I want the guy who I know knows what he's doing. For that, I can live with an extra day or two wait.

I'm halfway through Empyrean Age now. It's still a good read.

I want my PC back. I want to get back to doing what I do, the way I want to do it.

Grrrr...

Gettin' Itchy

2009-10-25T13:09:00.002-04:00

Now it's been about four days since my PC stopped working properly, and I'm really starting to miss it. There's so much I've come to take for granted since I've had it, such as being able to run basically any software currently on the market, virtually instantaneous websurfing, and a lot more that I just feel out of synch when I use this old Dell. Normally, I'd never touch this machine except to keep it updated. Now I'm on it for long periods every day until I get my own rig back and it just feels "off".

In order to get my EvE fix and to try to catch up on some of what's been going on in the game while I was gone, I've been watching some of the 2009 Fanfest videos. Some are very interesting, others are...less so. I'll no doubt be watching at least a few more of these today. Playing video is one thing this PC does pretty well, even though I have to play 'em on lo-res or they take too long to download. Another advantage my PC has that this one doesn't is that it's directly connected to the cable modem via the wireless box. This PC is connected wirelessly and gets roughly half the upload and download speed mine does. Even if this PC could run EvE, I'm not sure it could maintain a stable and strong enough connection to play, or play well.

Y'know it's funny. Since I've been back in EvE, I'm tending to focus on it more and more. Two weeks ago, EvE rarely crossed my mind and hadn't in quite some time other than the occasional gaming media article about bank collapses, etc. I completely missed the whole BoB thing. Now that I find myself without the ability to log into EvE for a few days, I'm spending more and more time searching out EvE-relevant media.

The truth is that I'm a media whore. I love it, especially when it's about something I care about. I'm not just a media consumer though, I'm also a media-maker. In fact, I'm making EvE-relevant media right now. It's because I'm a media-maker as well as a media consumer that I understand how important it is that there's both "official" and "unofficial" media being created around a game like EvE, or really around any product, cause, or idea you're seeking to promote if you're hoping to market it effectively in modern mainstream culture. EvE is a game that succeeds at both, though it's arguable which is the more potent.

CCP has released a plethora of videos through its YouTube Channel and there's a pretty regular trickle of dev blogs. Yet at the same time, there's also a buffer between CCP and the bulk of the player base, the Council of Stellar Management. Ideas flow from the player base to the CSM, and then those which get support are passed upwards to CCP. From what I've seen and read, the system works pretty well as far as getting good ideas passed upwards to the devs, but it's nonetheless a filter between the average EvE player and the game's creators. We've heard that COSMOS/New Eden/Spacebook will enable new levels of communication between players and CCP but we've heard precious little detail on what this actually means in the practical sense as yet.

On the other side of the coin, there's the unofficial EvE media, the underground, if you will. It's blogs like this one. It's gaming forums where EvE comes up regularly in conversation or even has its own separate discussion forum. It's everywhere EvE is being talking about and CCP isn't starting or participating in the conversation themselves...and that's a lot of places.

The fact is that there's enough media out there about EvE that I could fill my day with nothing but EvE media if I wanted to (and that's not counting the EvE novel I'm reading right now). That's a great thing as far as I'm concerned. The more of it is out there, the more people read, watch, enjoy and participate, in the media and in EvE. It's a winner all the way around, and especially for the game we all love and are seeking to promote.

In addition, underground and unofficial media serve another, equally important purpose. It fosters a sense of community among EvE players beyond the confines of the game itself and the official website. The reality is that very often players will feel freer to speak their minds outside of official media sources where participants are often identified as they are in-game. That's not to say that many official forums, including EvE's, don't have plenty of trash-talking and negativity already, but there are no doubt many players who either ignore the official forums entirely unless they no choice (such as an official CCP announcement) because of the tone often seen in these places. Those players who still wish to read about and discuss EvE will look for other places, places with interests and social interactions more in keeping with what they're comfortable with.

Personally, I think the prevalence of unofficial community media that springs up around an MMO is a great gauge of the overall level of interest in and commitment to the game in its player base. People who don't really care much or who aren't really interested in playing a game over the long haul don't (usually) create blogs and other media promoting and talking about it. Only the players who are in deep and looking long-term do things like that. Of course, I should also note that I'm talking about real fan media here, not commercial enterprises. MMORPG.com and Ten Ton Hammer have some great stuff quite often, but their content is written by paid professional writers, and that's just not the same thing.

As someone who has worked professionally as a magazine and newspaper columnist as well as someone who has maintained a personal blog for six years on and off, is a contributor to a popular group political blog site, and has created, written, and moderated three different gaming blogs (so far), I think I'm pretty well-qualified to address this issue.

First, the commercial gaming media does not enjoy the same kind of popular deference as mainstream newsmedia like the New York Times, NBC News, or even Fox News (assuming we're still calling what appears on Fox actual news). Unlike the knotty social and political issues of our time, there's usually no one right answer that even people on the same side of the issue can agree on. Games, unlike real life, are entirely subjective. Except in the more extreme cases, video games are not good or bad by definition, that can only be determined by those who participate, and only by and for themselves. One player's alliance collapse is another's reopening of valuable null-sec territory.

In my experience, the commercial gaming media doesn't really get any more credibility from the gaming community than the more well-read unofficial media, even though the folks in the marketing departments apparently think they do. They'd do well to learn from the punk movement of the early 80's where the record reviews that really mattered to the hardcore punks didn't appear in the big glossy magazines, but rather in mimeographed 'zines, usually created by a single person or a small group and sold at local clubs, concert venues, and on the street. The people creating non-commercial 'zines were seen as doing it for the love of the music and the band, while the commercial media was seen as doing it for money. Thus, the reviews were seens as far more honest and credible and carried far more weight with the hardcore faithful.

I believe that's what we're seeing now. The blogs and online fan media are, in fact, the next evolutionary step of the 'zine, and I believe they're being perceived by the truly hardcore much as they were thirty years ago.

Companies like CCP could do more to support us. For example, have you taken a look at CCP's fan sites page? I don't think it's changed much in the two years I was gone, and that's really sad. Crazy Kinuk's on there, but he's the only EvE-relevant blogger who is. Frankly, that sucks! There are literally dozens of great EvE blogs that should be on that list. This is something that would require just a small amount of effort on CCP's part, and considering how much effort we put into our blogs and media in promoting their product you'd hope that CCP would do whatever it could to make it easier for us.

Methinks I might pose this issue to the CSM. Any other EvE bloggers and blog readers think this is a good idea?

Cutting Strings

2009-10-24T13:58:00.003-04:00

I wrote and posted my goodbye post at Fallen Earth Bloggers this morning. I hope I can find someone good who cares about the game to take over for me there. Those folks are good people and deserve the best. That's the biggest reason why it can't be me. I'm too focused on EvE now to be a good moderator or reporter for Fallen Earth. It's the very same reason why one of the first things I did when I came back to EvE was restart this blog. Every writer knows that they'll be at their best when they're writing their passion. That's why I'm at my best writing about EvE and why I want someone who's as passionate about Fallen Earth to succeed me over there. If you know of a good candidate for the job, please send them my way. Thanks!

Now, getting back to EvE and to this blog, I do hope that if you like what you read here you'll let others know about it. I'm always up for link exchanges with other EvE-relevant sites as well.

Since I haven't been able to log into EvE in about two and half days, I've been spending some time reading EvE: Empyrean Age. I'm about a third of the way through it, and I must say it's a great read so far. Like most good tie-ins it's a novel that succeeds on its own merits, but also offers a little something extra to those who know and understand the universe it portrays.

I'm not going to go into detail about the story here, but suffice it to say that if you play and enjoy EvE-Online, you'll find plenty to enjoy in this book. It's set in the EvE universe and the attention to detail is obvious. In addition, it's exactly the kind of story you'd expect to find in New Eden, synchs in perfectly (as far as I can tell) with the established canon, and most importantly is engaging and keeps you on the edge of your seat wanted to find out what happens next. Very good stuff, a very fitting tribute to and a window into EvE.

*****

Have you ever tried to explain EvE to someone who doesn't get it at all, someone who all they know of videogames is boxy-looking plumbers in red overalls saving blonde princesses? This happened to me a few months ago. At the time I hadn't been playing EvE for about a year and a half, but I was wearing an EvE t-shirt and someone asked me what EvE was.

When I told her it was a video game I used to play on my PC over the Internet I could see she was clueless. Her next question confirmed my theory. "So, you play this on the computer? Is this about...sex?". Alright, no big deal, not exactly the first time the name "Eve" has been associated with X-rated media. "Um, no." I replied, "It's actually a game involving spaceships and combat." "So you fight with other people in spaceships over the Internet?" "Well, yes, sometimes, a lot of times, but there's also a lot more to it than that." "So you fly around in these Internet spaceships and shoot at each other?" "Well, yes, but..." "Ooooook. Oh, look at the time...".

Sometimes it's hard being a geek.

Holding Patterns

2009-10-23T19:39:00.003-04:00

So, the PC is now at the Geek Squad. $213 later and a few days in shop from now, I'll have a PC again that can play games more sophisticated than those found on Pogo.It's kinda funny actually. My PC has 16 times the RAM than the one I'm on right now (512mb vs 8gig), and is a lot faster (2.4 single-core vs 3.0 quad), yet this PC has never had the slightest problem in all the time we've had it. The old Dell may not be much in terms of performance, but it's pretty damned reliable. When all else fails, I can still get online, check my email, and post to my blogs.

Rather unexpectedly, my Fallen Earth account seems to have been erased or blocked. I know there was supposed to be a payment made yesterday and I thought I'd set it up to make that payment automatically. Since all of my login info is on my main PC and the bank is closed (and I never got around to checking on this when it was open) I'm guessing the payment didn't go through for some unforeseen reason. Right now, I'm trying to decide if I'd actually be upset if that proves to be the case, and if so, how much.

The fact is that as much as I've been dancing around it and trying to be fair and even-handed about the whole thing, I've made my choice. I'm having more fun with EvE and that's what I'm most looking forward to getting back to when I get my PC back. Fallen Earth is a great game but when push comes to shove and I have to choose one or the other (and I think I do), EvE is the game I'm going to stick with. If I were really smart, I would have come back to EvE before getting involved with something like Fallen Earth. I had plenty of fun in FE to be sure, but If I'd come back to EvE first I'd have saved myself a lot of time and money.

In between bouts of ripping my hair out over having to shell out a couple hundred and do without my main PC for several days to pay for the mistake of wanting to upgrade my Microsoft OS, I'd been thinking a lot about what I was going to do about my one too many MMOs problem. At one point, I asked myself "If the PC magically sprang back to life right now, which game would you play first?"

I knew the answer immediately. EvE, of course, I need to update my skill que. Plus, I just bought a Myrmidon and was going to start fitting it...right after I installed Windows 7. Fuckity-fuck-fuck.

The point being that I do really enjoy playing Fallen Earth, I just like EvE more. It's where I want to be. That's what it really boils down to. I don't have to be fair about this, it's about what's the most fun for me.

Interestingly, my EvE account at the website (which I reactivated several days ago) works without a hitch, smooth as silk. Somebody's telling me something, I think...and I'm listening.

I Am In Microsoft Hell

2009-10-23T11:47:00.004-04:00

Fuck fucking Microsoft and their fucking shitty-ass software!

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system, here's why: I tried to install Windows 7 but the installer recognizes my internal RAID array as removable drives and won't install to them. As a result, I'm now stuck between Vista and Win7. Neither will run properly. After an hour on the phone with Microsoft and another 20 minutes with the Geek Squad, it seems my only way out of this is a $200 Geek Squad repair job. Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper right now.

And of course, among the many things I'm unable to do right now is play EvE. The old spare PC I'm on right now can't handle it. I am getting some Empyeran Age reading done in-between phone calls, so I guess I'm not really going cold turkey. Besides I survived two years with no EvE, I'll manage another day or two.

Rassa frassa...

Ok How Weird Is This?

2009-10-22T13:34:00.003-04:00

Or is it weird at all?

According to Amazon's website, my copy of EvE: Empyrian Age should be arriving today, the same day as my copy of...wait for it...Windows 7.

Yes, I took the plunge back in June and got the discounted upgrade. I don't know if I'd have been willing to pay full price for it, but for fifty bucks the promised improved gaming performance is worth it. Not that my PC isn't a pretty damned great gaming machine right now, especially compared to what it replaced, but anything that lets me squeeze out a little more performance from this new PC and especially anything that gets the kind of rave reviews Windows 7 has been getting is worth at least a moderate investment.

So I'm sitting at home waiting for these things to arrive. It's actually great timing, or at least I hope it will be. I'm told this will be a long install so at least I'll have fresh reading material handy. It also means I should probably go into EvE and update my skill que before I start the upgrade.

What I'm really most interested to see is if there's any noticeable difference in EvE after the upgrade. I'll let ya know.

When I first started playing EvE, I was on a single-core 2.0ghz PC with a lower-range video card which barely met the minimum specs for the game. Now I'm on a quad-core 3.0ghz PC that exceeds all of EvE's recommended specs by a pretty good margin. In some ways, it literally makes all the difference in the world, but they're often the kind of differences that you don't notice unless you have something better to compare it to.

For me the game is now smooth as silk, in a way that I never experienced when I played two years ago. While I haven't yet gone anywhere with an overload of ships in the same place like Jita since I've been back, I also haven't yet experienced anything more than the slightest hint of lag anywhere in the game since I've been back. How much is my machine, how much is server-side improvements by CCP, I have no idea. All I know is that the game looks and plays better for me than ever before and that's definitely part of what drew me back in.

And so here I sit, waiting for my new toys.

Hmm, I just realized...I haven't been in Fallen Earth in three days. I've been spending all of my available gaming time in EvE.

Funny that.

Does EvE Have A Soul?

2009-10-21T22:16:00.003-04:00

Oh I don't mean it in the way you're probably thinking. It is, after all, a piece of software. It's also a lot more though, because without the community of people who play it, EvE as we know it could not exist. Even if it could exist, it would not the same. I tend to think that there is a community spirit in EvE that's like in no other game I've ever played.

I mean that's not to say that there isn't plenty of help and community available in other games, it's just that I've never seen it expressed so generously by so many people as frequently as I have in this game. I was reminded of this earlier tonight when I logged into EvE and discovered that an amazingly generous reader had apparently read of my financial woes and donated 50 million ISK to my wallet. Wow. That's the kind of thing you just don't see in most games. With that, I'll be able to put something decent in space and start making some real ISK. I'm not sure what I'm going to buy just yet, but I'll be giving that some serious thought tomorrow.

By the way, I've always made it a policy that unless I get an OK first or I already know it's not an issue I don't usually mention people who make those kind of donations by name in the blog. Not that I don't want to, but because I know that not everyone wants to be acknowledged publicly, so I like to always get an ok before I mention someone by name here.

It reminds me of EvE University, a massive corporation set up with the purpose of training noobs to play EvE. Pilots good enough at the game that they probably could be leading frontier battles in 0.0 are instead teaching noobs how to PvP. Think about it: In what other games do you see this much generosity and willingness to help others just because a need is noticed? Of course, I haven't played everything, but I've never seen anything else like it.

So yeah, I think EvE does have a soul, and it's a soul that can be as warm and soft as the environment it encompasses can be cold and hard. It's an interesting juxtaposition, but not an entirely surprising one when you think about it.

No matter who you are, what you do in-game, or how long you've been playing, everyone can agree on one thing: EvE is a tough game.

EvE has probably the steepest learning curve of any MMO out there. In addition, it also has probably the steepest cost of death as well. You fuck up in this game, you remember it, and you pay for it, maybe for a while.

In addition, this game has legitimized griefing and given it an in-game role as piracy. This sets EvE apart from pretty much any other game I've ever heard of. I used to have a big problem with this, but over time I've come to accept it as part of the game.

Given all this, with so much stacked against a new or returning player getting ahead, I guess it's not so surprising that a force has emerged in response to even things out a little. Just as there are those who enjoy preying upon and taking advantage of noobs, there are also those who enjoy helping others out. There are the folks who hear about someone like me who could use some ISK and just donate it. I don't know what to call it, "spontaneous generosity" maybe? Maybe but E-Uni's been around so long you could hardly call it spontaneous. No, I just think it's a natural outgrowth of the kind of players this game attracts, and a testament to the diversity of the playerbase. Not everyone wants to be a pirate, and in fact, while they may not be as interesting as the pirates and thieves and we may not hear about them as often, there's still a place for heroes in EvE.

I don't know what it is, but I do know that in my experience it's unique to EvE and part of what makes it special. Yes, EvE's rough edges are very sharp and dangerous but there's also a lot of comfortable places to be found within it.

Kind of feels like coming home.

A Sudden Change In Plans...

2009-10-21T15:14:00.003-04:00

...but a good one.

In the comments to my previous post, Escoce suggested I forget about my trial toon and reactivate my old one. This got me thinking. I knew there'd be at least something of a tradeoff to be made here. When I gave away all my stuff to my brother, that included all of my ISK. I knew I'd be flat broke and to be honest I just wasn't sure that there would be a way to get back on track in this game with that toon after all this time.

After careful consideration and weighing the pros and cons, I decided to go for it. I reactivated my Bekka Jae toon (note old spelling) this morning, and logged in.

It was kind of like waking up from a bender the night before, having no idea where you are, how you got there, or what you were doing before you got there. I check my wallet. As expected, my ISK balance is 0.00. What is completely unexpected, however, is when I check my personal assets and discover I still have stuff all over Gallente and Caldari space. An ammo cache here, a shuttle there, an Imicus I didn't know I had, all kinds of leftovers from previous missions and lootings. Most of it is bits and pieces, far too strewn out in terms of distance to make it worth tracking it down, but some of it's loot from Level 3 and 4 missions I was running before I left the game. I begin to realize that while it will take a bit of effort to really get back in the swing of this game financially and in terms of ship capabilities, it's not by any means impossible.

The first thing I did was run a few missions with the Velator I fortuitously discovered waiting for me in the hanger of the station I found myself at. Then I took a ten-jump trip through high-sec to get to my Imicus. This is where I first noticed how nice it is to have all those skills trained up to 4 or 5 which would have taken me a long time to accomplish if I'd stayed with the trial toon.

Basically what I did for the next few hours is go from system to system, docking in each station I had stuff worth bothering with, and selling or reprocessing it to generate some extra ISK. There were also a few items I reclaimed for my own use, such as an extraordinarily conveniently unsold Small 125" Compressed Coil Gun, perfect for my little Immie, and allowing me to install a pair of them and not break my still-tiny bank.

As I did this, I also kept checking the market and buying new items, an afterburner, an overdrive injector, and a shield booster. As I traveled to pick up each of these items, I'd stop at the stations along the way, do my business to build up my ISK a little. Then I'd pick up and install the item, order another item I need with the ISK I'd generated one the way over, and repeated the process until I had my Immie fully outfitted well enough for now.

I flew back to where I was running missions with Velator. Yes they're the simplest of the simple missions but that's ok. Because of all my experience and agent loyalties I can write my own ticket on the lower levels as far as agent missions go and I want to be very careful about the missions I accept until I'm more secure financially and shipwise. I'll start at the bottom and work upwards depending on what my ship of the moment can handle.

Here's the really funny part. I'm having a blast. I don't think I've ever had so much fun in EvE (well ok maybe I have, but you know what I mean). I'm in a corp with four other members who haven't been seen in-game in a month or more. I'm literally my own corp, not even in an NPC corp. I have no corporate responsibilities (what, I'm going to tax myself?), nothing to concern myself with other than my own in-game interests.

I do want to join a real player-run corp again soon, but perhaps not right away. I think I want to take at least a week or two and just be a pilot again before I start thinking about who I want to fly with.

Y'know what's even funnier? The way I fall into a kind of abbreviated EvE-speak when I write for this blog, using words like "corp", "Immie", and "E-Uni". I haven't written in this style for over two years and somehow it flows as naturally as if it were yesterday. It's almost...not quite but almost...scary.

So I made the tradeoff, and now I've got a major advantage in skills but at the cost of a moderate disadvantage in ISK and ships. All in all, seems like a pretty good deal to me. The ships and ISK will take me a lot less time to recover (and surpass) than the skills would have.

Yes, I think this is going to get interesting.

Hello, Old Friend

2009-10-20T20:20:00.003-04:00

It's been a little over two years since last I posted anything in this blog, or since I was a regular player of EvE. Those who were reading at that time saw me just vanish without a word. There were reasons, but at the time I just wasn't able or willing to take the time to talk about them. I will now.

Why I Left

When first began playing EvE, I was a solo player for several weeks before I joined a corporation, EvE University. During those first days, and during the time I was with E-Uni, I played essentially on my own schedule whenever I had time for the game. The problem came in when I'd left E-Uni and formed a new corp with a friend. I found the style of play required to be a director of a manufacturing corp not really that much to my liking, and I began to become bored with it.

Then the responsibilities at my RL job increased dramatically, as did its demands on my time. It eventually got to the point where personal free time became a precious commodity. I was having to rearrange my real life to suit my duties in EvE a little too often, and I decided that I had no choice but to leave the game.

The problem was that I really didn't want to leave EvE, but I felt I had no choice. I didn't know what to do and I guess I still held out half a hope that somehow I'd figure out a way to keep playing EvE and still maintain my insane work schedule, so I just stopped. Stopped logging in, stopped blogging, I just stopped.

For the next two years, I was solely a single-player gamer. I just didn't have time for anything that wasn't completely centered around my own schedule. I played when I had time to play and that wasn't all that often.

Why I'm Back

In all honesty, I had no intention of getting back into EvE. I'd started playing Fallen Earth when it was in closed beta and I was (and am) enjoying it very much. I'm also the moderator of a group blog site called Fallen Earth Bloggers, which I'm sure is self-explanatory. In addition, I recently started a blog on MMORPG.com. I've got plenty already on my plate and I had no intention of getting involved with EvE again.

I'd had the idea that it would make for a great MMORPG.com blog post if I revisited EvE almost exactly two years after I'd left, and wrote about it from my perspective now, as an MMO gamer with a bit more experience under her belt. Basically, the plan was to go in, take a look around, maybe run a few missions and try a few things, log out, write my piece, and then move on, back to Fallen Earth.

I knew the graphics had gotten a major upgrade as well as a few other new things like overheating systems because I'd kept up with the major news from EvE. Even though I wasn't playing, reading stories about banks failing, player reps using embargoed insider info to their in-game advantage, and the destruction (disintegration?) of the vast monolithic force that was BoB (this one I'd actually like to know more about...I heard that it happened, but I've heard nothing about how) helped keep me kind of in the loop.

I also decided that in order to get a good idea of how the game is now, I wasn't going to attempt to reactivate my old toon with a year's skill training but instead I signed up for the two week free trial and started from scratch as a new player.

All in all, it was a good plan, a well-thought-out plan, a sensible plan. Thing is, it just didn't work.

After going through character creation and basically recreating what I looked like the first time around (though I did add a cute tattoo on my cheek this time) as well as a slight variant on the name I used last time (my in-game name is now Bekka Jaie, note the new spelling), I stepped back into EvE for the first time in 2 years. My plan was to spend a couple of hours in-game, but I ended up losing myself in the game for hours as I remembered why I fell in love with the game in the first place. It's the same as when I played, only better.

Yep, I think I've been sucked back into the EvE wormhole.

The interesting part of this is that unlike last time when I didn't start blogging about my adventures in the game until I'd been playing for a while, this is only my fifth day on the trial account. I've been wrestling with the question of whether or not I should subscribe again once the trial is over (last time I signed up like two days after the trial started, but the system doesn't give you credit for the unused days, so since I have no immediate need to learn the Contracting skill, it seems silly not to wait until the trial is just about to end before I convert to a paid account).

Right now, I'm mainly just flying around in a Tristan running missions. I'm in no big rush to figure out my next move. It's just a girl and her Tristan (I'll get a Thorax and re-justify the title of this blog when I can afford one...soon).

If you're a returning reader, thank you for coming back. If you're a new reader, thanks for coming by and I hope you'll enjoy what you'll read here.

And as for what you'll read here, you may very well read a lot of stuff that's similar to what I've written in the past in some ways, but I can promise you this: I won't be going the manufacturing corporation director route this time. What that actually means remains to be seen.

Stick around, I have a feeling this is going to get interesting.

Easy Come, Easy Go...

2007-10-07T22:08:00.001-04:00

...yep, you guessed it, blastified again.

This time, it lasted longer. The first Level 4 mission I drew (yes, I did go in right after I posted last night) was "Worlds Collide". Figures, right? I'd never gotten this one on Level 3, so I really had no idea what to expect, other than I knew it was a big one.

In the first room I nearly lost it immediately, but got out, with about a third structure left, minus my drones. After repping and replenishing my drones, I went back in, a bit more cautiously. After managing to finish the first room, I had two gates to choose from and went to the Guristas gate. Apparently, that was a major mistake. I was immediately aggroed and in a pod before I even took out a single ship. Oy...

Now, having done a little reading on the topic, I know that the Serpentis route is probably best to take here and that's what I'll do next time, which will hopefully be soon...though I suspect that if I draw this mission again first time out, I'll take the standing hit and get more experience on others first.

Sigh...

Ready...Set...

2007-10-06T23:51:00.000-04:00

...GO!

I spent the day getting my Dommie ready to hit space, and now, after hours of zipping around in one of my Tristans collecting mods and ammo, it's finally mission-ready. It's currently sitting at a station where there's a Level 4 +13 agent ready to send me on my first actual Level 4 mission.

Funny thing is, after all that time and ISK I spent waiting and getting it ready, you'd think I'd immediately want to get right out there and start running missions. While I guess that's true on the intellectual level, when I finally had everything ready to go, I logged. I really don't know why exactly, except that I guess I felt I needed to jump out and take a breather, and also one other thing...fear.

For those who came in late, I put my first Dommie in space several weeks ago, only to lose it to the lagmonster on the very first mission I took it out on. It wasn't even a Level 4, it was a Level 3 that I'd gotten my last Myrmidon vaporized on previously. This time, as last time, I've basically bankrupted myself getting this thing ready and if it happens again, I'm back down to frigs with almost zero ISK. Yet, if I'm to make any sort of headway here, I need to start making ISK again and running frigs just isn't going to do that for me. I know I'm going to do it because I have to, but I just felt compelled to wait, at least a little while.

It's just after midnight as I write this. I really not sure I want to go back in tonight and and yet, at the same time, I really want to. Since I'm busy most of tomorrow and probably won't get a chance to go in-game until at least late tomorrow night, the thought of waiting that long isn't really what I want, but still, there's that fear...

Shit, who am I kidding? I know perfectly well that as soon as I finish writing this, I'll probably find myself heading off on my first Level 4. I've been waiting too long. You, however, will probably have to wait until tomorrow night to find out how it went, though.

Alright, here we go...ready...set...I dunno...maybe...

Finally...

2007-10-06T02:29:00.000-04:00

...tomorrow, my EvE life restarts.

The Dommie is in my hangar, so tomorrow will be spent fitting it, and beginning my return to regular play in EvE. Of course, I'm very excited and I've sworn to myself that I'm not letting this fucker get blown up anytime soon.

Now, you might be wondering where I've been all this time. Mainly, three things have been taking up my time. First, the RL stuff...my radio show is returning and I'm getting ready for that, but more importantly, I've been doing my bit for the US civil rights movement. Since I really don't want to spend any time talking about that here, if you really want to know what's going on (and if you're a US citizen, I especially hope you do because your support would really help the cause here), check my other blog and here, where I'm one of the newly-appointed Associate Editors. Also, please sign this petition. Thanks, and I'll shut up about this now.

The second thing that's been taking up my time (what little I've had of it anyway), has been a video game, but obviously not EvE. Since I was waiting for the Dommie, I decided to play something else in the meantime. Since I started playing EvE back in February, I haven't really been playing anything else. I thought a lot about what I wanted to play, and decided that I wanted it to be as completely unlike EvE as possible. What I ended up choosing was Max Payne 2. Like it's predecessor, it's got a film noir theme...guns, drugs, booze, rain, the city, cops, mobsters...kind of like a Sam Spade novel you can play.

Needless to say, it's about as completely unlike EvE as you can get, and it was a nice change. Ironically, I finished it tonight, just before I popped into EvE and found out that my Dommie was ready. Since it has tougher modes available, I'm going to hang onto it and probably play it when I need a break from EvE for whatever reason. I've also decided to get the original game and replay that at some point as well, perhaps as a continuous, two-part thing.

If you're into this kind of game I highly recommend it. The story is good, the gameplay is unique and fun, and it's engaging enough that they're actually making a movie based on the game. Good stuff.

Anyway, that's about it for now. You'll start seeing more posts here now, but I am still very busy in RL so, you probably won't see me posting with my usual frequency for at least a few weeks yet. Some things just gotta take precedence, and right now, I've got a list of them. Still, I'm back, and that means I'll be writing so keep checking...

Til next time, fly safe.

Holding Patterns...

2007-09-23T01:04:00.000-04:00

...yep, still waiting for that ore, but it seems that's going to take care of itself one way or the other very soon. We've working on it and I expect I'll be back in space very soon.

In the meantime, while I'm waiting, I decided to check out the first free episode of EvE TV this morning. Very well done...it seems this show gets better and smoother all the time. If it stays free, I doubt I'd ever miss an episode. As it is, Jalipo is just an unjustifiable expense for me right now. No it's really isn't all that much, but right now, it's one of those luxuries that I'm doing without to save money...it's gotta come from somewhere, and the food and gas budget ain't it. Once again, I quietly thank myself for paying for EvE for a full year in advance.

I have no doubt that if EvE TV becomes a free show its viewership will skyrocket. I heard SpiralJunkie say during the show that the Alliance Tournament got about 17 million downloads...not too shabby and more than enough to justify a profitable rate for commercial ad sponsorship. This week's free episode was described as a test, and what I really hope they're testing is if there's really enough people who will watch the show for free to make it worth trying to fund the show through sponsored ads, or perhaps for CCP to fully finance this great big ad for their product themselves.

If I had my choice, I'd much rather it were CCP paying the bills. Not only could players be confident that CCP would take as hands-off an approach to the show as they do with the game itself, but viewers wouldn't have to deal with the ads, making it a much more attractive media offering in general over the long haul. The other reality, as Spiral alluded to on the show, is that a lot of EvE's players and potential viewers of the show are college students who have very little disposable income. It's my guess that many players aren't watching EvE TV, not because they don't want to but because, like me, they just don't have the extra money to shell out for it. I'll be interested to see what happens here. I'm smelling the possibility of something big.

Oh and you may not see a lot of posts here over the next several days. Yeah, it's busy time again. My radio talk show is about to return from hiatus (October 4th, 7pm eastern check my other blog for details...fair warning though: It's not really about EvE, though I do occasionally talk about it on the air.), so I've been focusing a lot of my time on getting ready for that.

Til next time, fly safe.

E-Uni Blogger Coolness

2007-09-18T03:17:00.000-04:00

As a former member of Eve University, I enjoy keeping up with what's going on with them, and it seems that two of their higher-ups, Director Dee Carson and Fleet Commander Silentbrick have started blogs of their own. I know Dee is a reader of this blog, and I'm enjoying the entries I've been reading on his. Silentbrick is also an interesting read as well. I highly recommend both, especially if you're an E-Uni member perhaps looking for a better picture of who these sometimes enigmatic corporation leader-types really are. I've also added links for both in the list.

Hmm, funny to see myself writing that, considering I'm now a corporate leader-type too, even if we currently don't have even 1/5oth the membership E-Uni does. We all start somewhere. I suppose even Goonswarm was a tiny corp once.

Can Ya Believe It?

2007-09-18T02:39:00.001-04:00

I lost the Dessie too. I'm down to frigs now. I'm sitting on enough ISK to put a Dominix in space right now, and I think I've reached the point where I want to do it, even if I have to pay full price. One thing I did was go to the E-O website and copy the amounts of minerals I'd need to have one built. If I buy the minerals on the open market, it'll still cost me substantially less than if I buy the ship itself at full price. I'm going to have to think about this.

Basically, I'm now at a point where if I want to continue doing something significant in this game I have to buy another ship of some sort. I've got some salvage I can sell to the corp, but at most that's a few million. Once I've done that, anything I buy will be cutting into what I have, so I'm thinking that as long as I have to buy something, it might as well be a ship I actually want to fly. Of course, sooner or later I'm going to have to replace all the ships I've lost recently, but for the immediate future I want the most efficient moneymaker I can afford, and that means a battleship. More specifically, since I can't realistically put a Megathron in space, it means a Dominix.

Right now, I've got other stuff to worry about. It's a big day in RL tomorrow...at least, I think it might be. Hopefully, I'll be able to pop in for a while tomorrow evening. I need to start directing my efforts in this game outward again rather than just remaining in this holding pattern I've been in for the last several days. The only way that's realistically going to happen is if I get myself a Dommie.

I have a feeling that my next several days in this game will prove more interesting than my last several....just call it a hunch.

I Am The Goddess Of Drones...

2007-09-16T16:55:00.000-04:00

...or, at least, I'm going to try to be.

I'm currently training up Drone Interfacing V, to be followed by training Advanced Drone Interfacing all the way as well. By the time I'm done with those, sometime around the beginning of November assuming I don't stop and train other stuff in-between, I'll be able to put ten drones in space at the same time.

I decided to make this a project because the bonuses are so good for doing it. When I finish Drone Interfacing V, on or about October 10th, not only will I be able to begin training to control more drones, but I'll have also raised the damage my drones deal out by 100%. Considering that my next ship is going to be a Dominix, basically a drone boat, it's well worth the time spent in my opinion.

I'm already able to use Tech II Heavy Attack Drones, so I'm thinking that by the time I get all of this trained I'll hopefully be a pretty formidable mission runner and, with some more help and experience, an equally useful asset in PvP combat.

Once again, I find myself marveling at the craftmanship and finesse that has clearly gone into so many aspects of creating EvE. Just as it should, the farther along I find myself in this game, the more complex an undertaking it becomes to make it to the next logical step. The bigger and more valuable the prize, the more risky, expensive, and time-consuming it is to make it yours.

In this case, I know exactly how to get what I want. It's just a matter of time, money, and effort to make it happen. There's still the possibility of an unforeseen disaster, and it's going to take plenty of time to have this project fulfill it's true potential. The potential payoff is big, but so are the risks. Yeah, not too much like RL, huh?

Right now, I feel like I'm kind of on the cusp of something, though I'm really not quite certain exactly what. Of course, the new corp, Stonewall Interstellar, is a big part of it, but it's also as an individual character and even perhaps as a player. It just feels like my own role in the game is in kind of in flux right now, that many things are changing and will continue to change for me in this game.

It also may be stuff from RL spilling over as well. It's been a busy time for me and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. I jump into EvE when and as I can and that hasn't been much over the last several days. Most often, I've been popping in to do a mission or two before bed while I listen to my favorite radio talk show (besides my own ;)). It's really an interesting juxtaposition to be blowing away a squadron of Amarr ships while listening to a lesbian sex talk show. I've actually carried on on-air conversations as a guest or as a caller to various shows while in combat or salvaging. Weird perhaps, but it's a marriage that works well, for me anyway.

Chances are, if you see me in-game during the hours of 10pm to 1am eastern on a weekday, I'm listening to Diana Cage. From 2pm to 6pm eastern weekdays, it's Michelangelo Signorile. Other times, probably a CD or my mp3 collection. On very rare occasions, I'll even turn on the game sound.

Ok, that's enough for now. I think it's time to actually jump in-game for a while.

Catch ya out there, and fly safe.

Gettin' Itchy...

2007-09-16T02:16:00.000-04:00

...just so much longer I'm going to be able to wait.

I flew my first mission in my Catalyst tonight in probably three months or more, just for fun. It was the first part of a four-part storyline, "Whispers In the Dark" I've done it a million times before, but it'll be a good distraction until I decide what I'm doing in terms of my next ship.

It's getting to be about that time...all in all, I'm pretty damn tired of flying Level 2 missions. At least I'm collecting a little salvage out of the deal...not much but enough, for now.

For now.

That Was Quick...

2007-09-15T01:14:00.000-04:00

...and if this isn't a classic case of pilot stupidity, I don't know what is.

I was doing another Level 2 mission in the Thorax tonight, and I learned a valuable lesson I'd expect every EvE player who occasionally has drink or three now and then probably does sooner or later.

It was one of those missions where you just fly in and kill NPC's until you get to a big. powerful fleet and then fly away. I was a bit slow on the uptake and didn't fly away fast enough.

Whoops.

Yeah I think it took about five missiles, maybe six. How utterly stupid...I literally walked right into it and didn't realize what I was doing until it was too late. Bye Bye Thorax...for now.

I will replace it eventually...just not right now. I have bigger concerns. We're waiting for an ore delivery, one that will contain what Nealla and I need to build some stuff to sell and ourselves a couple of Dominixes to fly. It's late, no word, and we need it. Hard to believe it was only a few weeks ago that all I really had to worry about was my own character's issues. Being a Director, even of as small a corp as we still are, is different, very different.

And yes, I was flying while intoxicated. Totally my own fault, of course. I knew I was wasted and I did a mission anyway. Funny thing is, I kicked major ass through all of the ships I was actually supposed to kill, it was only when I got to close to the ships I was supposed to run away from that I was blastified. If I'd just stopped when I was supposed to I'd have been fine.

The insurance payment put me back over 100 million for the first time since I bought my first Dommie. I don't care. I'd rather have the ship back, and not just because it was worth more than the insurance payoff. For more on that, read the previous post.

I've still got my Destroyer, but that's the last thing bigger than a frig I own right now. I've been intentionally waiting to do something here because if that ore comes through I want to put more of my resources into fitting the Dommie I'll get from that rather than having to pay full retail. If it doesn't happen in a reasonable period of time, though, I'm going to have to do some thinking about whether I want to just say "Fuck it!" and buy the minerals on the open market, even though it'll cost more that way.

Now, though, I have to answer the question: What exactly is a reasonable period of time to continue waiting?

This is one of the ways that business in EvE is very different than business in the real world. In the real world, your business partners don't suddenly disappear for extended periods without notice...at least, not usually anyway. So many lower-level suppliers small corps depend on seem to be little more than single-person operations, that when that one person doesn't log on for a while it can throw the plans of those who depend on them out of synch for while. On the other hand, the price is right and how much aggravation is that worth? While the economy of EvE may share many characteristics with reality, actually doing business in EvE can obviously be an entirely different animal in some ways.

Tonight, I am a pod and I will stay a pod.

Tomorrow, I've got some thinking to do.

The Thorax: It Ain't Just Any Old Ship

2007-09-11T13:39:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, you never know how good it can be until you actually see it for yourself.

A couple of days ago, a friend upgraded my computer for me. In doing so, I went from a 1 gigabyte processor to a 2.5 gig and substantially more RAM. Last night, I took EvE for a test run with it for the first time. When I upgraded from a 660 mhz to a 1 gig about a year ago, I thought it was a major improvement. I had no idea.

Not only is flying through space an altogether smoother, less jittery experience overall now, but things like making choices from right-click menus and, most importantly, targeting are now lightning-fast. It might seem like a minor thing in theory, but in practice it can make all the difference in the world, and, as I discovered last night, quite literally the difference between life and death.

I was doing a few Level 2 missions in the Thorax just to test out the new processor. I drew one of those missions where you fly toward a target and at some point as you approach it NPCs pop out of nowhere and start pounding on you. Usually, I get to the point where the NPCs appear, warp out, and then warp back in at a range that enables me to take them out from a longer range than I usually find myself at when they appear. This time, with my enhanced targeting ability and responsiveness, I felt I could stay and take them out on the first try, so I targeted some ships, released my drones and went after them.

After the first few ships were gone, I decided that I was taking too much damage and it was time to warp out and regroup. I didn't think I'd have enough time to call back my Hammerheads and I knew I had a decent supply of them back at my staging station, so I tried to warp out immediately, but found myself with an unanticipated problem.

I was too close to the ruined starbase that had been my original fly-to target and the Thorax was swinging back and forth, trying to align itself to warp out as I continued to get tagged by nearby ships. It quickly became apparent that I was going nowhere fast. My shield was just about gone, but my drones were still popping ships at a fairly decent rate. At this point, I concluded that this was going to probably be the last flight of my Thorax no matter what I did, so I figured I might as well take out as many NPCs as I could, that if I were going to go down anyway, I was going to go down fighting.

I turned on my hardeners, targeted some more ships, and then my armor repper and cap recharger as the damage level started to get into my armor. By this time, the Thorax had somehow shimmied its way into the body of the starbase itself, and I was certain I was a goner. Yet, I was managing to keep my armor up enough that I felt it was worth trying to manually maneuver the ship toward the one area around me where open space was still visible, assuming I had nothing to lose by trying.

The Thorax began to realign and slowly made its way toward the opening as I continued targeting, my guns and drones continuing to take out NPCs. My armor was now almost gone, but I was still doing plenty of damage, and for the first time since I'd gotten into trouble, I had the slightest glimmer of hope that I might actually survive this. Then, just as my armor was no more and I was beginning to take hull damage, I suddenly broke free and found myself in open space.

A check of my overview told me that I'd taken out all of the NPC ships and only a few stationary guns remained, but they were still hitting, taking small chunks out of my hull each time. While getting myself to a safe distance away from the starbase in order to ensure that I wouldn't get entrapped in it again, I called back my drones. A few seconds later, my drones safely aboard, I again tried warping out. Just as my hull integrity fell below a third, the warp drive kicked in and I found myself streaking out of the area, ship and drones intact.

Whew. A narrow escape to be sure, but my adventure wasn't over just yet.

I arrived at my staging station with smoke and fire streaming, docked, fit a hull repper, and undocked again. Just after I finished repairing my armor and was still orbiting the station, waiting for the hull repper to finish, I noticed that the hull repair seemed to be taking an unusually long time to do its job. I was sitting there trying to figure out what the problem might be when all of a sudden, my screen went black.

At first, I thought it might just be that some other program on my computer which might have caused it, as has happened many times in the past, but this was different. The screen stayed black for far longer than usual when this kind of thing happens, and when it came back to my desktop, the icon for the client wasn't there. It had been a while since I'd had EvE completely crash to desktop on me, but even before the client automatically rebooted itself I knew that was what had happened. When I took a look at the client, though, I saw something I'd never seen before.

The server status message said "PROXY NOT CONNECTED". I'd never seen this before, so I tried to log in anyway. When I did, a message popup window appeared, saying "Proxy not connected to sol server.". I had no idea what this meant, other than that I was unable to log back in, so I immediately went to the E-O forums and found a thread already going, in which players who seem to have far more experience in this particular variety of server issue had written that we'd been the victims of a node crash.

Of course, I was not happy. My Thorax was still circling a starbase with a fiery trail behind it with its hull repper going. Anyone who came upon it before the repper had almost finished would instantly know that it would be easy pickings. As we waited for the server to be restarted, several of us who'd been in-game at that very late (or very early) hour continued posting in the thread, really doing little more than keeping each other entertained while we waited to get back in-game. Finally, at about a quarter after three AM eastern, the server came back up, and I logged back in to discover that my fears hadn't been entirely unfounded.

When I got back in-game, the first thing I noticed was that the Thorax wasn't orbiting the station where I left it, but was simply floating in space, about 45 AU from where I'd last seen it. The second thing I noticed was that a chunk of my armor, which I'd already finished repping before the node crash, was gone. While I didn't see it and chances are I'll never know for sure, the evidence seems to indicate that the Thorax was, in fact, attacked while I was unable to log in and had automatically warped itself out of the area to avoid being destroyed.

In all honesty, I wasn't really all that worried about losing the Thorax in monetary terms. Chances are, I'd have about broken even with the insurance payment. It was really more of an emotional thing. I'd just successfully piloted that ship through one of the narrowest escapes I've ever had in this game and losing it because of a node crash would have felt like an especially cheap and unfair end for a ship I've been through so much with. Of all the ships I've flown in EvE thus far, it's the one that's survived the longest by far, has the most battle scars, and been the one I've flown during some of my most memorable in-game moments.

So many firsts for me in this game have come while flying the Thorax, it would probably be impossible to try to list or even remember them all, but I think of that ship with the same kind of fondness you might have for a favorite car or pair of jeans. It's certainly not the most powerful ship I've ever flown, nor has it made me anywhere near the amount of ISK I made flying all those Myrmidons, but it's still a viable, useful ship, and I have such an intimate familiarity with it and its capabilities that sometimes it seems that if that Thorax is capable of doing something, I'm able to squeeze every erg of potential power out of it to get the job done. There's a reason why I went back to using the name of that ship in the title of this blog and kept it even though I've had several other ships since, and it's not just because I like the way it sounds.

For those wondering when I'll get back into a Dommie again and what's taking so long, the answer is "soon". There's a good reason, but it's not one I really feel comfortable talking about here just yet. In the meantime, I'm happy taking the Thorax out on some Level 2 missions, getting more familiar with how the game runs with this new, much faster processor, and training up some skills I've needed to get done for a while now.

One thing that was especially nice to see in the Alliance Tournament was being able to watch Star Fraction defeat the formerly undefeatable BoB...with ten Thoraxes! From my perspective, seeing BoB suffer its very first-ever Alliance Tournament loss at the hands of an underdog team of SF pilots was truly great to see. Seeing it happen at the hands of a fleet of Thoraxes...well, after that I can believe that just about anything's possible when you're flying one of these babies.

Til next time, fly safe.

Piss. Me. Off.

2007-09-04T01:11:00.000-04:00

Oh, I am SO not a happy camper right now.

Usually, when I lose a ship I blame myself because generally I'm responsible. This time, some extraordinarily badly-timed lag slowed my frame-rate down to virtually non-existent, just enough to watch my Dommie's armor and structure disappear in about four or five frames over about twenty seconds or so. Not damn thing I could do but just sit there and watch about eighty million worth of ship and fittings go boom.

I hadn't even taken it on a Level 4 mission yet. I was finishing up the Level 3 mission I'd lost my Myrmidon on before I went on to Level 4's. Sure, I got the insurance payoff, but it doesn't even begin to cover what I had invested here. The worst part is that I'd only had the thing a day, and I'd spent most of yesterday figuring out a fitting for it with the Eve Fitting Tool. Ah well, at least I still have the fitting I worked out for it.

One of the biggest pains in the butt about losing a ship for me has always been trying to recreate my setup from memory because inevitably I'll have been too lazy to actually write it down. EFT keeps track of it for me, has an interface that's much easier to understand and work with than QuickFit, and does pretty much everything I need and want it to do for me when I'm trying to figure out how to fit or refit a ship.

If I'm lucky, I'll basically wipe myself out financially in order to replace the Dommie, but I'm going to do it because I'm sick and tired of flying Level 3's. If it ends up that I need more ISK than I currently have (a very likely possibility) I'll fly the Thorax until I get what I need that way or get some help. It would cost far too much to set up a Myrmidon and use that and I already have the Thorax fully insured and fit. Yeah, it would probably take a while, but it's better than setting myself back probably 2/3 of the way by buying a new Myrm and putting it in space.

Ah well...such is EvE.

Damn.

The Difference Between Flying Big And Flying Smart...

2007-09-03T18:51:00.000-04:00

...can be pretty huge sometimes.

I was all excited about buying a Megathron, but I didn't really completely think through how I was going to put it in space. Once I had it, I quickly discovered that there was just no way I was going to be able to afford to fit and insure it. I went back to doing Level 2 missions in the Thorax for a day, but then I decided that the best thing to do was to just fix my mistake and get realistic.

I repackaged and sold the Megathron, and used the proceeds to buy, insure, and fit a Dominix instead. After selling the Mega I had about 108 million ISK, and by the time I was done making it spaceworthy I found myself at around 13 million so I can only imagine how long it would have taken to actually put that Megathron in space by running missions with the Thorax.

Really, it's a classic case of having eyes bigger than my wallet. Yes, I was able to afford the actual purchase price of a Megathron, but it would have cost me another 31 million just to insure it and probably at least that much again to fit it properly. On the other hand, I've already got the Dommie in space, just about fully fit and ready to start taking on Level 4 missions instead of having to probably wait weeks before being able to put a Megathron in space. Yes, a very big difference indeed.

*****

It seems my post about "gay" and "lesbian" being censored on the the E-O forums has drawn some attention and support from CCP and hopefully some positive action as well. I hesitate to go into too much detail here as yet, but I will say that I'm very happy to see attention being paid to this issue and I have every reason to expect to be able to report positive developments in the future. As always, more when I have it.

*****

Ok, that's it for now. Til next time, fly safe.

Bad News, Good News, and...

2007-08-30T02:38:00.000-04:00

...I'm not quite sure what kind of news. Hopefully, interesting news at least.

I lost another Myrmidon two nights ago. Once again it was my own stupid fault, I kept myself in the kill zone just a little too long. That's the bad news, as you might have guessed.

The good news was when I got my insurance payment for 40 million, and I ended up with about 120 million total...so I bought myself a Megathron. Yeah, a fucking battleship, my first one, great except for just a few things.

First, I didn't realize until after I bought it that I need to have Gallente Battleship trained up
to Level 2 in order to just fit it, much less fly the thing in the first place. That'll be done by the time you see this post. Of course, another little problem is that I haven't been able to make it my active ship yet, so I'm not sure exactly how much I'll have to pay to insure the thing. The estimate is about 30 million. I've got 27 million and I haven't even started fitting it yet. Oi.

I clone jumped to Korsiki and flew the Thorax back to Gallente space last night. I expect I'll be running some missions with it for a while to build the wallet back up to the point where I'll be able to put the Megathron in space. A pain to be sure, but worth it in the long run, I think.

I'm also thinking about retaking the Agony Unleashed Basic PvP class and then moving on to some of their other classes. Now that I'm not in E-Uni anymore, I've been thinking it would be a very smart idea to get a refresher because I haven't really had much of a chance to use these skills at all since I first took the class. Retaking the Basic class won't cost me anything, so it's something I can do without slowing down the process of getting the Megathron ready to go. I've set up a jump clone at the AU staging station and I still have the frigs and mods I originally put together for the class, making it very easy to do without taking a lot of extra prep time in the process.

More soon...til then, fly safe.

What's New?

2007-08-26T18:09:00.000-04:00

Actually, right now pretty much everything.

Yesterday, Nealla made me a Director in our corp, with the same authority level as he has. Pretty cool, though I really need to become more familiar my new abilities and how to use them. Nealla's also begun helping me learn the finer points of research and manufacturing. I really started out with pretty much zero experience in these, aside from one basic instructional mission I did a while back. We're also working together to decide the direction of the corp, and plenty of other related issues.

Of course, this is all totally new to me. The only actual grantable role I've ever held in this game before now was being approved in E-Uni for Freshman hangar access. Now, like Nealla, I've got controlling authority in every single aspect of our corp which can be had. I have a feeling this is going to be a hell of a lot of fun as we grow and really develop into something worthwhile.

I've also begun adjusting my own gameplay in light of my new role. I'm training skills I probably wouldn't have bothered with for a while otherwise, and I'm saving certain types of salvage and loot that will be useful in our manufacturing. I'm still running missions, of course. Right now, it's still the most effective way for me to make ISK and help the corp get off the ground.

As you might imagine, I'm having a blast doing it. As much as I liked being a member of E-Uni and interacting with the people there, I'd gotten into a bit of a rut in terms of just doing the same things over and over most of the time. One of the problems was that my standings are best with the Gallente Federation Navy, and when I tried to start operating from Korsiki I frequently found myself returning to Gallente space to run missions because I was able to make so much more ISK there that it just didn't make sense with the limited available playtime I've had in recent weeks to build my standings up in Caldari space to a similar level. I just didn't have the time to put into doing it in any sort of a timely manner. I've been looking for new things to do in this game, and in making this move, I've now got that in abundance.

In addition, it's the chance to put my RL values into practice in EvE that makes this adventure especially exciting to me. It's not very often such an opportunity presents itself. And again, it's also the newness of it all. In some ways, I'm now playing EvE in a completely new way, a way that makes it more interesting and involving and less monotonous than before. Not that I didn't enjoy it before, but it had been a while since I'd really explored something completely new and different about this game.

I'm trying to be careful because I don't want to imply any sort of real preference here, it's really far more about personality than sexuality, but it can sometimes be a lot more comfortable to interact with people who get it, who get you, those who you don't need to explain stuff to or watch what you say around for fear of possibly offending or of being offended. After having to be so careful in that way in so many aspects of our lives, it can really be nice to be able to just let your guard down and just speak from the heart sometimes without having to worry about how others might take it. That's something I find in GLBTA chat and nowhere else in-game right now. I'm hoping that when Stonewall Interstellar really finds its wings, we'll be able to boast a second place where that's true as well.

Anyway, I spent the better part of the day in-game yesterday, but I've got just too much stuff to do in order to do so today. Frankly, I'm amazed I managed to squeeze in the time to write this post. I'm hoping to be able to jump in for a while later tonight, though. Fingers crossed.

Ok, that's about all I've got time for right now...til next time, fly safe.

I'm A Big Girl Now...

2007-08-25T00:51:00.000-04:00

...well, in EvE, anyway.

Earlier tonight, I officially left EvE University and joined a new corp created by a friend, Nealla Fraer, Stonewall Interstellar. It's a corp that's welcoming and supportive of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and allied pilots. We're a pretty small group right now, but I think we'll grow as time goes on and as more players find out about us.

As excited as I am to be taking this new step in my EvE career, it's also a little sad. I've truly enjoyed my time with E-Uni. It's without question the best group/guild/corp/bunch of folks I've ever had the chance to game with. I've met several folks who I'm quite fond of, learned a hell of a lot from, and just had a great time playing with in general. I leave E-Uni knowing that should I have the opportunity to assist during an attack or just be in a position to help them out in some way in the future, it'll be my pleasure and honor to do so. It's the very least I can do for all I've gotten from them. I can truly say I don't think I could possibly have been more fortunate than to have spent most of my first seven months in this game with such a great group of people.

Even so, I've been casting my sights outward for a while now, and when Nealla asked me if I wanted to join I felt it was the perfect opportunity to take that step and explore aspects of the game I haven't as yet. Add to that the fact that I'm able to do it with someone who's already a friend and help create a safe and welcoming corp for GLBTA pilots in this game (not that E-Uni isn't absolutely wonderful in that regard...one of the many things I love about it), and I knew this was the chance I'd been waiting for.

I will admit it's kinda weird not having a corp chat with lots of people in it at any given time, but that's ok. We're just a few days out of the gate right now. It's a new experience, and one I'm looking forward to with great anticipation. Needless to say, you'll be reading a lot about it here as time goes on.

If you're interested, we're recruiting. While I'm sure most of you right now have jokes formulating in your heads about gays recruiting, we are looking for pilots of all specialties, and no, you don't need to be any one of those first four letters in order to qualify, all you have to be is cool with people who are and talk about it sometimes, along with everything else. We're doing a lot of research and manufacturing, so if these interest you, we're especially interested in talking to you. Just get in touch with me or Nealla in-game and introduce yourself.

*****

By the way, if you've got an EvE blog or other game-related site and would like to do a link trade, please get in touch with me. I've been thinking about creating a decent-size link list for this blog, and I'd like to do it in a way that helps promote this blog as well. You can post here, or get in touch in-game. EvE-related sites only please.

*****

Ok that's it for now. I'm beat. Til next time, fly safe.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

2007-08-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

Wow. I'll admit, I'm pretty stunned.

When I wrote ""Gay" Is NOT A Dirty Word!" several days ago, it was my hope that maybe it could inspire some policy changes or something along those lines, but nothing prepared me for what I discovered when I checked out the E-O forums yesterday.

What I found was a DevBlog by Kieron saying that both ISD and the Aurora events team were basically being disbanded and would be replaced with a new system for handling their duties once their policies and procedures have been reviewed by CCP. Of course, I'm nowhere near arrogant enough to believe for even a minute that my post alone brought down the ISD, especially given the fact that the events team, which I never mentioned, also got the axe. At the same time, I suppose it is possible that what I wrote here might have added to the issues CCP felt needed to be addressed with a revamp of the system and guidelines under which the forums are moderated.

In all honesty, I didn't expect this when I wrote my post. I felt strongly about the issue I addressed and my hope was (and is) that I'd be heard, agreed with, and changes would be made as a result. That, in my opinion, is both the best and the most someone like myself, someone who's both a regular player and a commentator of EvE, can hope for. As activists of any stripe know well, you can't realistically expect to be able change the entire world as an activist...the best you can really hope for and effectively work toward is changing your own little corner of it for the better, or, at least, doing what you can to help that change occur. While again I certainly can't rationalize taking any sort of credit for the changes in this case, it nonetheless does feel like a victory anyway.

There's a lot of overlap between what I do in RL and in this situation. Many, in fact probably all, of the community organizations I interact with in the course of being an activist and community commentator rely chiefly on volunteers for many, if not most, of the non-leadership positions within their organizations. As CCP has no doubt learned, there's a very big difference between what you can expect in terms of work performance between paid employees and volunteers.

Paid employees usually (if they're good) take a certain proprietary view of their jobs. When what you're doing is putting food on your table and paying your rent, it's hardly surprising you'll tend to take it more seriously than when you're doing something without pay, solely for personal fulfillment or enjoyment. It's also not unexpected that unpaid volunteers who are volunteering essentially to become more involved with something they do for enjoyment will be more likely to want to do things their own way, and try to bring their own attitudes and desires into the process more aggressively and more often, and take more liberties in their jobs than those who have the added concern of protecting a paycheck.

That isn't in any way an indictment of any ISD volunteers specifically or of volunteerism in general, it's simply a reflection of human nature. When push comes to shove, protecting one's paying job just takes a greater priority in most cases than volunteer work, especially when it comes to playing by the rules. Not every volunteer does so for altruistic reasons. For many, it can be an "insider" status that's the draw. For others, it may be the opportunity to insert one's own agenda into the mix in a more impactful way than can be done as a mere participant.

Not everyone wants to be a leader, and fewer still are really capable of actually being one, but certainly more than enough want to be that companies and organizations which rely in whole or in part on a staff of volunteers to handle certain jobs can find themselves with a situation where too many people are going "I, I, I..." instead of "we, we, we...". When that happens, the entity employing these volunteers may have to periodically take a step back, look honestly and critically at the overall situation, and ask the question "Is what we have here what best serves the interests of our organization and what we do?". If the answer is "No", then changes will likely have to be made, and I suspect that's what happened here.

Another reality of working with volunteers versus paid employees is that when you're offering some form of authority or power over others as a aspect of the job, volunteers are more likely to see that power as a perk and a status symbol than as a responsibility. Some volunteers will likely be much more enthusiastic and possibly even overbearing in finding ways to wield that power. After all, what good is being given power over others unless you use it, right?

On the other hand, paid employees are more likely to simply see authority over others as a means to an end in getting their jobs done, and will use it in that way, instead of going out of their way to use their given authority just because they have it. In addition, the larger the group of those in authority, the more likely it is that someone, or several someones, are going to choose to put their own agenda and interests before those of the entity which gave them that power in the first place.

I've had a lot of time over the last several days to think about these issues. I've been a forum moderator on several different boards and email lists, and I've dealt with these issues from the top of the authority food chain as well as from the bottom. With all the experience I've had as not only a moderator but also one who's been subject to moderation myself, I've got a pretty clear idea of the kind of changes I'd like to see here.

I don't know if CCP is looking to hire people to take on that job, but if they were to offer it to me, I'd take it in a second (I am, as a matter of fact, looking for work right now), and I think I'd be damn good at it. I've been through best of it and through the worst of it, and I think I've got an insight into this kind of public discussion forum and how they function which would allow me to recreate the moderation system for the E-O forums in a way that would be more welcoming, more inclusive, more worthwhile, more enjoyable, and more in concert with the actual game itself than what we've had until now.

Among the first things I'd do is get rid of the word filters, or more specifically, the way in which they've been being used. Personally, I think it's kind of silly to ban cursing in a game intended for teens and older, but even if CCP wanted that I'd try to avoid having to ban any words which can be used in polite conversation. Words that are exclusively used as slurs are another issue, and there's no reason not to exclude words that are only used as slurs to express hate. Curses, on the other hand, are used in common (if not polite) discussion a lot, and if they're not being used to attack others there's really no reason to ban them. In fact, banning these words and replacing them with asterisks actually makes forum readers think about them more as the mind automatically tries to fill in the sentence with correct word.

Basically, I'd try to use the game itself as the best model of what CCP wants EvE and the official media around it to be, and use that as guideline. Key to this goal would be taking an issue on the forums, examining how it's handled or dealt with in the game (if at all) and then using that as a guide to formulate policy.

For example, if I were charged with dealing with the word filter issue, I'd ban words like the N-word and other racial, ethnic, religious, etc. slurs, but only those words which have one, clearly offensive meaning. Words that have common, acceptable usages wouldn't be subject to this. I'd then deal with bigotry, bias, and other offensive posting on a case by case basis. In other words, I'd make the guidelines for moderation of the E-O forums based more on what people actually do rather than the specific words they use.

A good example of what I'm talking about is the use of the N-word. You can hear it said on hip-hop songs all the time by black performers and no one bats an eye. Yet, let it come out of the mouth of a white person in a public forum and it will often be seen as bigotry and a reason to fight. It's not as much the word itself that causes the problem as the context in which it is used and by whom it is used. The words "faggot", "queer", or even "girl" (when used by men) can elicit much the same kind of context-based responses which can vary greatly depending on how they are used and who's using them. Again, it's not so much what's actually said that's the issue as it's the meaning behind the use of the words in the first place.

Another thing I'd do if I were recreating this forum for the better is to allow more personality and localism in the topics and discussion groups. Have a bunch of people who are gay and want a gay-relevant forum for EvE players on the E-O forums? Submit an application, go through a screening process to ensure that you're not trying to create a hate group or other such negatively-based discussion group and that such a forum would have enough interest and participation to make it worthwhile, and let the players have at it.

All kinds of shared interests besides the game itself could be served and promoted like this, just as they are in-game. Not only sexuality, but nationality, ethnicity, lifestyle (i.e. popular culture interests outside of the game itself such as music style, profession, political views, etc.), and more could be valid EvE-related interest groups that could be given a place on the forums to be discussed by like-minded players.

With more freedom of expression, there would have to also have to be a certain additional amount of accountability as well. If you're allowed to create a new forum and there are problems and complaints regarding it, you're going to be asked why and what you plan to do about it. If you don't have a good answer or can show you're actively working on finding one, your forum is either going to go away or you're going to be replaced by someone who's better able to administer it.

One of the most basic overriding ideas I'd impose is that having the status of a moderator, paid or unpaid, or any other type of authority not offered to the average player is a privilege, not a right, and one that can and will be taken away if you abuse it or fail to demonstrate that you can and will use it wisely and in the best interests of both CCP and the EvE player community. Founders of these kinds of discussion groups and volunteers in general would be held to a high standard, with a hard and fast set of rules and guidelines to be followed. You break the rules, you pay for it in a significant and memorable way, just as a player posting there would. Break the rules too often or in ways that clearly indicate that you're looking to impose your own agenda and rulebook as the norm rather than CCP's, and you're gone, no matter who you are, how many friends you have, how long you've been doing the job, or how powerful or popular you are in-game.

I'd also create a zero-tolerance policy for any sort of real bigotry or other infraction that harms or negatively impacts the game or its playerbase in a serious way and makes EvE or the forums seem less friendly and welcoming. Yes, you'd be able to type the word "gay" and have it appear in print, but if you used it as a slur against another player you'd quickly find yourself whacked upside the head with the banning stick, plus probably lose the ability to apply to create or administer your own group forum, maybe even be banned from the game itself if it's serious enough. Do it repeatedly and you'll end up being banned in perpetuity or at least long enough that you're going to remember your mistake.

I'd also want to make sure that there would be a way to appeal a decision or action against a player that was both fair and effective. In-game, players with such an issue can petition to have it addressed, and if they're not happy with the result they can appeal it to a higher authority. I'd want to set up a similar system that was in concert with how CCP wants it done. If a moderator takes action against you in some way and you believe you're in the right, you'd have the right to petition and state your case, and you'd know that your petition would be carefully reviewed and investigated by those vested with the power to change the result if they feel it warranted. You'd also be informed, within the limits of what's considered appropriate for public consumption, of any decision made on your petition, what action will be taken as a result, and why that decision was made.

That may seem like a lot of rules (and this is hardly a complete list), but in reality there's a lot of space for individuality, personality, and just plain old fun in there, just as in the case of the game itself. EvE has plenty of rules, regulations, guidelines, and such things which impact the gameplay in significant ways, but the game is designed in a way that these things only come into play as necessary to keep the game balanced and fair, while still allowing the main purpose, fun and entertainment, to be the real goal, one that any player can seek and find within it, or even make it for themselves. In this way, I see no reason why the E-O forums should be any different from the game universe they focus on.

Anyone who's played a while knows it works. CCP hasn't made such things issues in-game except when they absolutely have no choice but to step in, and there's no reason why the same policies couldn't be incorporated into the forums with the same level of success. While there will always be those who create problems and require an authoritative response in the interest of the game and the players and a whole, the vast majority of EvE players participate in both the game and the forums because they want to play the game and talk about it. When the real troublemakers are dealt with quickly and effectively, the rest are them left to enjoy themselves, and most will do it in a way that doesn't mistreat or disparage others in ways that aren't acceptable within the EvE universe. When you get right down to it, the forums should be a positive and accurate reflection of what players find in-game, not the seemingly almost entirely separate entity unto itself with its own completely different set of rules of conduct it has been.

Yeah, I'd love that job, and I think I'd be good at it, in large part because I've given these issues as much thought as I have. I've been a forum warrior for a long time and I've learned a lot from it. I've also been a manager of both paid employees and volunteers that I know that experience would serve me in good stead in something like this as well. And hey, not for nothing, but when I'm motivated I can write up a storm when I set my mind to it, another skill that can be exceptionally useful in this kind of work.

Regardless of what CCP actually chooses to do here or how they decide to do it, I do hope they'll do it in a way that makes the forums and the way they're run reflect the values the designers have made a part of the game itself. To my way of thinking, it's taking one of the very best parts of EvE, the players and the in-game social interaction between us all, and making it publicly accessible outside of the game. If done correctly, the E-O forums can not only be a place where people already playing EvE can come and interact with each other outside of the game, but also where someone who's never played can go and quickly come to understand the biggest reason why EvE is so special, unique, and so very worth playing: the people, the community of New Eden...often rowdy, sometimes raunchy, rarely (if ever) afraid to voice an honestly held opinion, but most of all, just a pretty great bunch people having some fun together playing and talking about a game we all share a great love for. When you get right down to it, there's really nothing more or less to it than that.

EvE TV: Third Take

2007-08-19T23:13:00.000-04:00

I had the chance to watch episodes 7 and 8 today. I bet after my last post on this topic, you're probably expecting me to trash it again. Surprise...not happening. I try to make it a policy to commend as quickly and as enthusiastically as I condemn when I believe it's called for, and I'm very pleased to say it's called for.

These last two episodes show significant, no, massive improvement over the ones I'd watched previously. SpiralJunkie was clear and understandable almost completely throughout both. He's still gotta watch it when he does interviews, though. There were a few times, but only a few, where he lapsed into that fast-speaking conversational mumblespeak he tends to go into, but otherwise an excellent job. He's clearly making an effort and it shows.

In fact, my only real issues with these two episodes were not with the regular on-air staff or the production values but with the guest experts. Having a business reporter like Benilopax talk about the market and investment is a great idea, but this guy needs those same voice lessons I wanted SpiralJunkie to take. It was a little difficult to understand him just in general, and when the conversation turned to alphabet soup abbreviation references he became almost impossible to follow at points. Also, if this guy wants to wear a tie on the air, that's fine, but then he has to tie the thing right so that he doesn't look like he's just run into the studio after a quickie in the changing room. I also suspect it will improve his look and credibility immensely if he doesn't wear the same shirt and badly tied tie on every show.

Hippoking was very interesting contentwise, but watching him on-camera drove me absolutely batshit. I wanted to reach into the screen, grab him by the collar, and say "Look into the fucking camera, goddammit!!". This guy's eyes were everywhere, left, right, down, everywhere except where they should have been. It was so distracting and annoying at points that it actually became hard to follow what he was saying. He's good and knows his stuff, so if they have him on again they need to sit him down, point his face directly at the camera, and say "See that camera? Pretend it's the screen of your computer. You're in the middle of a pitched battle against BoB forces and you're fighting for your life. If you take your eyes off of that screen for even a second while that little red light is on, your mothership and your pod will be instantly destroyed.".

Really though, that was the worst of it. I'm thoroughly impressed by the level of improvement in this show in so short of a time. It's clear they're really working hard to make this show the very best it can be, and with great success. Therefore, I'll pay this show and the people who create it the very highest compliment I can in that regard:

EvE TV: It's now worth paying for.

*****

I did send my previous post off to both ISD and Valerie "Pann" Massey, the woman who does EvE's PR. I'd contacted her a while back when I did a show about LGBT gamers to get her take on how these issues are dealt with in EvE, so I felt it was a good idea to do so in this case as well. I haven't heard anything from ISD as yet, but Val did get back to me to say she wanted to talk to me about it. I sent her my phone numbers and I expect to hear from her soon. I'm considering taking this topic on again on the air, but I want to see what, if anything, happens as a result before I make any decisions about if or how I'd do that. More on this as I have it.

*****

It's been a hell of a busy time these last few days, so no chance to play a lot. I did jump in for a while yesterday though, did a mission, and had a very interesting conversation about an possible upcoming in-game career move. It's not something I'm prepared to talk about here just yet, but as time goes on I expect it will be. Again, more when I have it.

More soon. Til then, fly safe.

"Gay" Is NOT A Dirty Word!

2007-08-14T19:12:00.000-04:00

Since I started playing EvE and writing this blog back in February, I've always made it a policy to keep my RL and in-game realities as separate as possible. With only just a few minor chips here and two major dents on the E-O and E-Uni forums inflicted on that wall over that time, I think I've done a fairly good job of it. Now, however, real life and EvE life have suddenly crashed into each other so directly and significantly that I feel I can no longer rationalize maintaining that wall any longer, that to do so, to remain silent and uninvolved, would be in direct conflict with the values I believe in and live my life by. And so, the wall has to come down now and it has to come down hard. Bear with me as I grab my sledgehammer and hang on. This is going to get messy.

I came this realization late last night, when I logged into EvE and read an MOD (Message Of the Day) as I checked to see who was in the GLBTA chat. Our moderator was furious about something and offered a link. Since the link didn't work in the IGB, I copied it, logged out, pasted it into my browser, and found myself at the third page of an E-O forum discussion thread. At first, I wasn't quite sure what was so upsetting to Nealla that he'd post such an angry message, so I went back to the first post and read all three pages of comments, but I still didn't quite get it until the final post from an ISD forum moderator put a capper on it for me.

The thread was titled "Any other Homosexuals playing EVE and upset at CCP support?". The original post was from a newly-out gay player who was upset at the blocking of certain words from the E-O forums. He asked why words such as "gay", "lesbian", or even as commonly used and relatively inoffensive as "crack" were blocked. Even though I hadn't felt the question important enough to address publicly, it was certainly easy to understand why he and other players clearly feel otherwise. After reading the full thread from beginning to end, I decided that I too could do no less.

As I came to the end of the thread, a post by ISD forum moderator Jacques Archambault caused me to from from curious and mildly annoyed to downright furious, completely offended, and completely in concert with Nealla's feelings on the subject. It reads:

Please do not discuss issues regarding sexual orientation and adult content on the forums. We understand that many people feel strongly about this and inevitably a heated discussion arises between both sides. In the interest of maintaining peace and keeping the EVE-Online Forums a pleasant place to visit for everyone (irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, race, culture etc.), we kindly request to discuss adult themes outside of the EVE-Online Forums. Please understand that we have a teen 13+ rating and these kind of adult topics do not belong on the EVE-Online Forums.

As always, if there are any questions regarding forum moderation, please feel free to email the EVE-Online Forum Moderator Team at mods@ccpgames.com.

-Jacques

And now, I've got my sledgehammer hefted and ready to go because it's time to tell you why this post made me see red.

Let's just get the basics out of the way right up front. I'm a transsexual woman. I was born male and lived in that gender for the first thirty-five years of my life. I've lived and identified as a woman and as a lesbian for the last ten and a half years. Both of these identities, as well as others I choose to label myself with, are integral to who I am and how I see myself. I could no more separate myself from them than I could change my skin color or my personal life history.

I take pride in who I am and how I live my life, despite the opinions of others who feel I have no right to do so. While my gender identity and sexual orientation were not conscious choices, my acceptance of words such as "gay", "lesbian", "queer", and others to define myself to other people certainly was. Labels, as opposed to orientations, certainly are consciously chosen. They are a way for people who's lives and outlooks on life differ significantly from that which is considered the norm can express to other people their pride in that difference, in their identities, and in themselves. They are the way we begin the process of helping others to understand who we are, what matters to us, and how we live our lives.

This is, as you might imagine, a pretty big deal for many of us, especially for those like the original thread poster, those who have only recently come to accept some of these labels and identities as their own. Hollismason was understandably upset that the very word he chose to define himself with, a word which is so commonly used it appears in most dictionaries and all over popular media would be banned from even so much as being mentioned in a public discussion area. As saddening as that is, though, I completely understand and share the anger and outrage so many Queer EvE players must have felt when Jacques said, in essence, that even simply the very mention of his chosen identity is considered by ISD to be derogatory and offensive. While I doubt it was intentional, Jacques further increased the level of offense by telling this young gay man that this action was taken in the interest of protecting children.

The rest of ISD's argument is even less credible. Jacques contends that the E-O forums have a "teen 13+" rating. Does ISD really believe teenagers have never heard words like "gay" and "lesbian" in common usage, or they would be somehow negatively impacted by seeing them in print? Considering what passes muster in video games rated "Teen" these days, the very idea is absolutely ludicrous.

Jacques also cites "maintaining peace" and keeping the E-O forums "a pleasant place for everyone (irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, race, culture etc.)" as reasons for the ban. The implications made here are nothing short of out and out anti-gay bigotry. The inference clearly made here is that simply the very inclusion of these non-heterosexual identities on the E-O forums would be considered offensive and unwelcome in and of themselves, devoid of any actual offensive context in which they might be used. In my opinion, the fact that words which directly describe a person's sexuality are censored but those which might describe the other aspects of human identity Jacques cites are not effectively puts the lie to this line of reasoning.

Given the evidence, there is no question here that banning these words are a direct, specific, and intentional suppression of gay and lesbian identity within the E-O forums. If this policy were universal in all aspects of EvE, it might be arguable that CCP simply felt the best way to deal with the issue was to completely eliminate it from the game universe across the board. It would still not be right in my opinion, but at least the policy would be consistent. As anyone who's played EvE for a while knows well, that simply isn't the case.

This is a game where alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and illegal drugs are traded as commodities, where violence, death, war, crime, and other happenings usually considered not-so-pleasant or even tragedies in real life not only occur regularly, but are considered the most entertaining aspects of the gameplay. It's a game universe where the Minmitar Gay Rights League roams the spaceways and where a chat called GLBTA (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Accepting) can be joined in-game. To allow players this level of freedom in-game but then deny it to us in the discussion forums indicates that the erasure of non-heterosexual identities is a decision made and enforced by the ISD forum moderators, not by the designers of the actual game itself. That places the responsibility for this censorship and for the anti-gay bigotry behind it not on CCP, but squarely on the shoulders of the ISD forum moderators.

Sexuality not only isn't an adult topic, but one which every teenager confronts and explores during their adolescence. Indeed, it isn't really sexuality that's being banned here, it's valid and accepted non-heterosexual identities which are being censored through the filtering of the words which define them. Does ISD really believe that every teenager who plays EvE or participate in the forums is straight? What about the right of gay and lesbian teens (not to mention gay and lesbian adults) to feel welcome and respected on the forums? Do they even care? As far as I can detect, the answer is a rather clear and direct "No.".

When you think about it, you realize that there's really no other possible reason than the homophobia of ISD moderators for filtering these words out of the E-O forum discussions. These words have perfectly valid and acceptable uses in polite conversation, it is solely their connections to non-heterosexual identities which are offered as the reason for their being filtered. Since these words are so commonly used and accepted in all aspects of real-world discourse but even those uses are disallowed in order to prevent even the possibility of their being used to describe non-heterosexual identities, the homophobia and discomfort of the ISD staff are clearly the true motivators at play here.

It's not an issue of context, as it should be. Of course, these words and others like them can be used to disparage and offend, but in order to truly prevent that CCP would have to take down the forum and ban all discussion. Those who are looking to treat others badly and express their hatred and bigotry toward those they don't like will certainly find ways to do so, without or without using those specific words. When such things do happen on the E-O forums, the ISD staff is quite diligent in editing and removing offensive posts and in sanctioning those responsible.

Yet, it seems that when it comes to EvE's queer players and our own rights to define and describe ourselves accurately within the limits of polite conversation, ISD apparently doesn't feel that we're entitled to the same benefit of the doubt, or even of the same level of effort to protect us from the the use of these words as attacks against us and the ways in which we live our lives. Rather than make the same kind of proactive effort in this regard they consistently make when other forum discussion guidelines are broken, when it comes to gay and lesbian players ISD uses only a computer-controlled, automatic gag filter to simply eliminate our identities from all forum discussions. Apparently, ISD just doesn't consider the comfort of gay and lesbian EvE players on the E-O forums worthy of the same effort they exert to ensure the comfort of those who are heterosexual. To call it bigoted and offensive doesn't even begin to cover it.

To those of you who are reading this and scratching your heads wondering what the big deal is, let me paint you a little word picture, in the hope it'll become more clear:

Imagine you live in a world where you're treated badly and disparaged, not because of anything you've actually done, but just because some people don't like or even hate you because they find the way you choose to live your life distasteful or even downright disgusting. You cannot attend your local church because the pastor and parishioners consider you so ungodly and sinful they aren't even willing to tolerate you worshiping in their midst. Your government leaders passionately speak out against your equality under the law and successfully deny you and others like you the most basic of civil rights protections, such as the right not to be fired from your job, regardless of your work performance, just because your employer decides he doesn't want someone like you working for his company, or even the right to enter into a legally sanctioned relationship with the person you love. If you rent your home, you can even be evicted because your landlord doesn't want your kind around. If you go to a local bar for a drink, you know you may be kicked out or be made to feel unsafe and unwelcome for no other reason than who you are, how you act, or the way you look.

And then, you try to escape that hard reality for a little while with an online game based in a fictional star cluster far, far away, set thousands of years in the future, and discover to your dismay that everything you were trying to get away from is still right there, in your face, and for all its fantastic sci-fi trappings the discussion forum focused on this universe marginalizes and demeans you, your identity, and the way you live your life, saddling you with much the same disdain and disrespect as the real one.

Starting to get it now? Welcome to OUR world.

As for the rest of it, why I care so much about this (aside from the obvious reason), let me take a few more swings and knock out the last few bricks from that wall. Many of you who have followed this blog regularly for a while probably know I host a radio show. You've probably also figured out that I'm a writer. Here's the parts you probably don't know:

I'm also a pretty well-read journalist, blogger, and op-ed writer. On my other blog (found here or here), I cover a lot of social and political issues, most of them LGBT or specifically transgender-relevant. My radio show is defined as "The LGBT Internet Radio Show That Puts The "T" First!", and covers much the same topics with a special focus on transgender-relevant content, as does my podcast. I do all of this, a lot of it without pay, because I'm also an activist, someone who has dedicated her life to helping people like myself become more informed and more in tune with the topics and issues that are important in our lives.

I love what I do, and I'm passionate about it. That professional media job I've referred to here now and then? It was to be a host on a new LGBT radio network called GAYBC. It still may happen, but the network is now on hiatus because the founders are having trouble getting the funding to keep it going. If you read the US LGBT community political blogs and news media, you may have seen some of my work now and then. I'm pretty well-known within those circles, and more and more so all the time. While I do usually make my actual living as a retail manager, I've made it my goal to try to make my media work my professional career.

At the age of 45, a career change of this magnitude probably isn't the smartest goal to have, but being able to rely on those who were creating this kind of media when I came out in 1997 helped me to understand that I wasn't alone, that there was a place in the world where I was welcome and wanted, a place that not only didn't have a problem with who I knew myself to be, but actually welcomed and even celebrated it. After having already tried to commit suicide once, discovering that place probably saved my life, and so I've dedicated my life to ensuring that such a place will be there for the next newly-out Queer person who desperately needs it.

Hollismason sought such a place within the EvE universe, but ISD, their policies and their soulless word filter not only denied that place to him, but communicated to him and to every other Queer-identified EvE player paying attention that who he is and how he sees himself are neither welcome nor wanted on the E-O forums. He learned that his very identity is considered so vulgar and offensive by ISD that even the very word he chose to describe himself wouldn't even be allowed to appear in print. I see myself in his place ten years ago and I know how I would have felt if I had reached out for support and companionship and received the same kind of reception.

These aren't just words that can be used to express hate, they can also be used to express pride, community, culture, and to reach out others in love and support. Automatic word filters cannot make such value judgments, they can only do as they are told to by those who program them. Requiring human judgment to be employed in the vast majority of actions taken by ISD, but leaving Queer identities to be moderated solely by an unthinking, unfeeling computer program is the very lowest form of bigotry and disdain for our lives, our personal identities, and yes, our right to have that same pleasant experience on the E-O forums Jacques claims to wish to protect for everyone, not to mention being completely inconsistent with the far more inclusive and positive values incorporated into the game itself by its creators.

I love EvE. I wouldn't have spent the last six hours writing this post if I didn't. Still, I can't help but be offended to the core when I'm told that my own identity is being automatically banned by a computer program because some people find it so offensive that they believe children must be shielded from even seeing it appear in print.

How would you feel if it were an identity you use to define yourself were being rendered invisible in this way? How about if it were someone you love, a brother, a sister, a child, a friend? Would you be offended? You'd want to fight back, wouldn't you? If your answer is yes, then you do get it.

I'll be sending a copy of this post to ISD. Honestly, I really don't expect them to care much, if at all. Any group of people who are comfortable treating a different group in this way probably don't have much room their hearts for us or our concerns, much the same as in most parts of the world. Still, I guess I've got nothing to lose by trying. If you feel as strongly I do about this, I hope you'll take a few minutes and drop them a note to say so. Thanks.

And of course, I'll continue to play EvE. Indeed, it is the game itself which is an escape for the institutionalized, mechanized, and standardized anti-gay bigotry and homophobia which has insinuated itself into the E-O forums not because of those who post there, but because of those charged with protecting participants from it.

So, the wall is down, destroyed because it had to be, because I could not be true to myself and what I believe by continuing to remain silent. I know it's possible that some of you reading this may be put off by some of my revelations here. I can only hope that's not the case, that you enjoy reading what I write here for its own sake and that knowing I wasn't born female or that I'm a lesbian won't change that. I understood that I was taking a chance from the moment I began writing this post, really from the moment I lost a longtime friend when I announced my transition from male to female a decade ago. This is a reality all of us accept when we choose to be true to ourselves, and it is a reality I know I may be forced to now confront again as I bring this to close and publish it for all to see. All I can say is that I hope you'll stick around regardless. Oh, and one other thing:

Thanks for listening.

Waiting Out The War...

2007-08-09T15:01:00.000-04:00

...it's not really intentional, but unfortunately it's the way it has to be. For the moment, at least.

Now is a particularly busy time for me in RL, but in a good way. Of course, less time to write and play, yadda yadda, you've heard it all from me before. Suffice it to say that my posting here will be less frequent for a while. Funny how even as harsh and violent EvE can be, it's my escape from RL, which these days seems to be just overfilled with things requiring my attention. For the most part, professionally, this is a very good thing. On the personal side of the equation, though, sometimes maybe not so much.

With E-Uni at war, I just don't find myself with the kind of time that I'd need to go make myself useful in something like that right now. Therefore I haven't been doing anything in EvE at all this week other than jumping in to catch up on EvE-mail and change skills. At some point soon, I hope to have some real time to devote, but right now it's just not possible.

No answers and no promises, other than I plan to play and write as often as I can. It just may not be as often as I'd like for a while. Hopefully, a short while.

Fly safe.

Ok, Now This Is Getting Ridiculous...

2007-07-29T21:06:00.000-04:00

...I mean, really.

Today, I decided to give EvE TV another try, so I used an alternate email address (yes, I admit it) to get another 200 J-credits. I figured "Well, maybe I've been a little too harsh...the show just started and there are bound to be some issues. Let's see if they've gotten any better now that they have two more shows under their belts.".

Not only hasn't it gotten better, but parts of this show were actually unwatchable. The parts shot on location were recorded at so low a volume that I had to turn my computer speakers up to about twice normal volume. This worked fine for the first location segment, but when I tried it with the second, a deep, reverberating tone completely masked the conversation to the point where I was afraid of damaging my speakers. When I did turn them down low enough to make the tone go away it became impossible to hear what was being said. The studio segments and those shot indoors were fine soundwise, but I found myself eventually just giving up and fast forwarding through the location segments. In other words, I was forced to skip about half the show.

Ok, I'm just gonna say it: You people have got to be out of your minds to charge money for this. I've recorded better-sounding live audio outdoors with a $30 mini-cassette recorder and so could you. To expect players to pay for such utterly horrible sound quality is absolutely unconscionable. Either get your shit together and record live remotes properly or don't have them on the show until you can. To offer this level of production and sound quality and expect people to pay money for it is nothing less than an absolute ripoff. If I'd actually spent money to see this, I'd want a refund...a pity I can't get a refund of my time spent trying to tweak my computer sound trying to make it listenable.

In addition, the studio sound was ok, but only ok. SpiralJunkie still needs those voice lessons but was at least a bit more understandable this time, but the slower playspeed version was totally out of synch with the video. At least they had the good sense to have StevieSG interview Fortuna Five, definitely the single most enjoyable part of the show for me.

I want to like EvE TV, really I do. I love EvE, I love new media, and I love the idea of combining the two (obviously, since I'm doing exactly that in writing this blog). As true as that is, though, I can't help but be disappointed as hell that so far this show doesn't have anywhere nearly the level of production values that it should. Those location segments should have scrapped outright. Better by far to delay the release of the show by a few days for extra production work or to just release a shortened version than to take money for unwatchable content. There's just no excuse for it, none at all.

*****

The game? Oh yeah, right...

Well, basically I've been running missions when I've had a little time to jump in for a while, which hasn't been often over the last few days. I think I'm going to upgrade a few mods on the Myrmidon soon, but I also think I've finally got a fitting for it worked out that so far has kicked major ass every time I've taken it out. Once I had enough, I finally added a couple of salvagers and a tractor beam to throw in after I've done my mission killing and the ISK is rolling in faster than ever.

Really, my main problem now is having the time to run enough missions to get the ISK I need to start thinking about getting a Dominix and moving on to Level 4 missions. That's probably still a ways off, though. There always seems like there's something that needs doing in RL, and it's not at all a coincidence that this post has been written on a Sunday. It's generally the one day of the week when I can be at least reasonably sure I'll have enough free time to write up a post and maybe even go kick a little NPC butt.

In fact, I think I going to do exactly that right now.

Until next time (hopefully not another five days), fly safe.

Space: The Final Frontier?

2007-07-22T19:48:00.000-04:00

No, not in this game, anyway. With the coming of walking in stations, EvE is not going to be expanding outward as much as inward, giving pilots a more human presence outside of their ships, with more than just a headshot icon to represent their human aspects. It's an interesting concept, and one I think is inevitable in order for this game to really add a new dimension to it. Not only that, but it seems to be an absolute prerequisite in order to stay competitive with what's coming soon in the MMORPG market.

Star Trek Online has posted its first devblog and the screenshots are absolutely stunning. This game will have planets that can be landed on, with terrain that's as just as realistic as you'd expect. It seems that right from the very start STO will offer players much more human-oriented experience than EvE currently does, which seems right in concert with what ST fans have come to expect in all aspects of the Trek legend.

Right now, EvE is more about the greater universe and the various ways to manipulate it, with the true human element of the game being the interaction between the players themselves, rather than the characters. Right now, that's limited to text or audio chat, while the true in-game player-to-player gameplay interaction really isn't person-to-person but ship-to-ship.

In some ways, I think this is kind of unique and interesting, but in others, maybe not so much. There's a certain detachment that comes with the lack of a real in-game human element, something that it appears STO will have in abundance. If you're an EvE loyalist as I am and expect to continue to be one for a long time, be afraid, be very afraid...if the actual game is even half as good as what's been released so far, STO is going to kick major ass.

EvE does have certain major advantages, of course. For one thing, it's long past the beta stage...the game has evolved into one with major political players, alliances, wars, a depth that seems absolutely unequaled in other games. It's going to take a significant amount of time before STO even approaches that level. And yet, it's Star Trek, and that might well make all the difference. Even so, STO is still in fairly early stages of its development, so by the time it does actually debut EvE will be even further evolved than it is now. It's also interesting to note that comparisons between the two games have already started in the gaming press, with EvE apparently being held up as the standard by which STO will be judged, as well it should be.

It's clear to me, and probably to CCP and anyone else involved with EvE in any capacity, that STO, when it finally debuts, is going to exceed EvE's playerbase in size faster than you can say "Engage!". That much, I think, is pretty much a given. The real question is whether EvE will survive it and for how long. Personally, I suspect that if STO draws the same kind of playerbase as WoW does, New Eden will continue to be a safe(r) haven for more mature and sophisticated sci-fi MMORPG players. If that's the case, chances are everyone wins.

Fingers crossed...

Late For Class...

2007-07-20T23:05:00.000-04:00

...even though I didn't know I was going to be attending one until literally minutes before it happened.

I've had incredibly bad luck in terms of E-Uni class scheduling, but that's not the Uni's fault, it's my own personal fucked up schedule that's really the culprit. I just happened to be bitching about it in corp chat earlier and as luck would have it, a class I needed just happened to be about to start, a basic Tackling and Scouting 101 with Acacia Incana. While I do have some very minimal experience in these skills which I got during the class I took with Agony Unleashed a while back, this was something I really needed since so many other classes build on what's taught in this and other basic classes. The problem was that since the class was literally starting in just minutes, I had no time to pick up one of my tackling frigs. I ended up doing the class in my Thorax, and while it was great fun being a target and playing what amounted to "Interstellar Tag", I didn't get a chance to actually practice what was being taught. I learned what I needed to learn from this class, but because I was in the Thorax I really didn't a chance to actually practice it. Not a big deal, but I do think I'll retake it when I can.

In addition, I also learned a couple of important things that weren't in the class curriculum. For one thing, always check your overview settings after a patch. After the Revelations II patch, I lost all of my overview presets, and apparently after this latest one I lost about half of them, which I'd just painstakingly reconstructed about a week ago. Not only do I use the settings recommended in Romble's mp3 class, but I also keep the setting I learned in the readings for the AU class I took as well. The AU setup is slightly different from Romble's and I find it useful in certain situations. Just after the class began, I discovered that most of the Romble settings were gone, and certain settings from the AU setup had vanished as well. Fortuantely, I've now set these up from scratch a few times so I was able to fill the gaps as the class progressed by switching between the settings I still had and doing a few tweaks on the fly. Now, I know the first thing I have to do when I log in again is recreate these yet again. Ah well, I guess I can just think of it as practice.

The other thing I learned was something I should have known, that for me, someone who's done live radio online for over five years, should be filed under "Duh!". Of course, these classes require Teamspeak which I have and know how to use. At the beginning of the class I was having a lot of trouble hearing what was said clearly, and for some insane reason it didn't occur to me that the reason I was having so much trouble was because I wasn't using my headphones, I had the audio coming through my computer speakers. Normally this isn't much of a problem, but the room my computer is in is not the most effectively cooled by the AC, so I usually have a fan going when the weather is warm. The fan isn't really very loud, but it does make that "whooshing" sound fans do, creating a kind of low-level background "white noise". I'm so used to it I barely notice it most of the time, but it does effectively mask a certain amount of whatever audio I happen to be listening to. As a result, it was much harder to follow the conversation than it should have been, and silly me just chalked it up to less-than-optimum TS sound. This made perfect sense since Acacia's British accent led me to believe it was simply the distance that degraded the audio. Once I plugged in my headphones, though, it was like night and day, and I didn't have a problem again. DUH!

Pretty damn lame for my first class with the Uni, but despite the shaky start I'm looking forward to much more. One thing that kinda sucks is that I changed my email on the Ivy League message board and apparently my account has been put on inactive status for some reason. I think I'm supposed to get an email of some sort to reactivate it, but it hasn't arrived yet. If I don't get it by tomorrow when I check, I'll jump in-game and see if I can get someone in the Uni to help me get it working again. Until it is, I can't find out when the next classes I want to take will be held. I totally understand the need for security, but this is really a major pain. I'm getting notices about people posting in threads I'm tracking but I can't read them because until this is fixed I can't log in...grrrr...

Another interesting and cool thing I learned tonight is another of my Eve-Uni peeps is a reader of this blog (Hi Dee! :)). I also discovered that some of my classmates and Acacia didn't know I write one so I guess I'll have to post a link once I finally get back into the site. I do keep track of the amount of traffic this blog gets, and I've noticed that it's been slowly but steadily rising. Of course, like all bloggers, I love it when I see more people reading, and when I see people commenting here and in-game. It's a big reason why I spend as much time as I do on it, besides the fact that it combines two of my favorite pastimes, EvE and writing. Just knowing people are reading and enjoying it makes something that already gives me a great amount of pleasure and satisfaction even better.

Alright, enough for now. Til next time, fly safe.

Here We Go Again, Again...

2007-07-19T00:52:00.000-04:00

Looks like in a couple of days the Uni will be at war once again. I've gotten the emails, and I know I'll need to be in Korsiki by then, I plan to wrap up the mission I'm on and get myself over there. Oh and speaking of that mission...

I'd finished nearly the entire thing last night, and was heading toward the final group of ships, drones out and ready to go. I enter attack range, cut off my afterburner, and begin targeting ships. Nothing happens, nothing at all. My afterburner is still blinking red, my drones don't respond to my commands, my ship ignores my commands to turn away and keeps heading straight for the blinking ships...and then, suddenly, I'm looking at my desktop.

After a couple of futile attempts to log back in, I check the E-O forums. The server has gone down, a GM tells us, but hopefully everything will be ok soon. Um, yeah, great...assuming I still have a ship left by the time I'm able to log back in. Since I know this is inevitably going to take at least a little while, I make a quick run to the store. When I get back, I immediately run the client and it tells me the server is restarting and will be back up in about two and a half minutes. I wait, I try connecting, again nothing. Sigh...

Finally, after waiting through another restart sequence, I get back in to find my newly-fitted Myrmidon still intact, but floating in the middle of nowhere and without its drones of course. By this point, it's three o'clock in the morning and I'm exhausted, so I just get it back to a station and go to bed. I know I'm now going to have to go back though this entire mission again in order to finish it....but hey at least I'll come out about a million and a half ahead. Even with the loss of five Ogre I's and the half-mil time bonus I should have gotten, I still come out ahead on the deal.

Tomorrow will be busy as hell...I doubt I'll have much time to play, but I'll do my best to get it all done in time. Since Korsiki is only a clone jump away it shouldn't be too much of an issue...hopefully. We'll see.

Ok, I think it's time for beddie bye...

Fool Me Once...

2007-07-16T18:32:00.000-04:00

...shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott, USS Enterprise

I was starting the second part of the four-part "Whispers In The Dark" storyline mission. When I entered Egghelende, I noticed several Mutually Assured Distraction (MAD) ships so immediately headed for the nearest starbase and docked. Once docked, I flipped over to Local and saw these guys actually boasting about how they were picking off noobs for fun. I'm proud to say I resisted the temptation to suggest in Local that if they were trying to pick off ships it would probably be best not to discuss it in a public channel, but I decided that another option would be far more satisfying.

It was late and I knew I was going to be packing it in for the night soon anyway, so after watching these MAD guys make comments in Local like "fish meet barrel" etc. for a while, I got bored with it. I'd thought about clone jumping back to my Myrm and avoiding the whole thing, but instead I chose the easier option: I logged. Earlier today, I went back in-game and did the mission. I missed out on the time bonus, but it certainly beat getting my Thorax vaporized.

Yeah, I'm learning. Still, based on what I read in Local last night, a lot of noobs still haven't learned this lesson as yet...and, of course, these MAD guys had no way of knowing that I had fallen for this kind of setup by Veto less than a week ago, and there was just no fucking way I was going to let it happen again. As I've written before, this is the one game I've ever played where just simply turning the game off and doing something else for a while instead can be a valid and effective defense.

I'll admit I was surprised to see them in Egghelende...even though it is low-sec, it seems that almost nothing ever happens there. Still, it was really easy to keep them from attacking. As I always do, when I'm going on a mission I don't carry anything other than the ammo and cap charges I need to complete it. I guess, like Veto, they figured I was there to pick something up so they didn't come after me and probably assumed they'd catch me on my way out. I checked Local when I logged back on to change skills a while later and they were still out there, so I simply started a new skill, logged, and went to bed. If only all pirates were this easy to avoid.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, the lesson of the day is: Always check Local when in low-sec, no matter how unlikely it seems that you're going to run into trouble...you just never know. It's the easiest and most effective way to prevent pirates from taking you out unexpectedly. It won't always work of course, but you up your odds significantly when you do, especially if you're facing pirates who are arrogant enough to assume you don't know better. In addition, set up your overview to let you know when you've got ships in the area from corps with low or horrible standings in general or against your corp. Just having that information handy when you need it can be the difference between life and death.

Hmmm...I wonder if this means I'm officially no longer a noob?

Back To The Future...

2007-07-15T15:07:00.000-04:00

...well, getting there anyway.

Over the last several days, I've continued doing Level 2 missions until I built up about 15 million ISK for the Myrmidon Fitting Fund. Last night, one of the readers of this blog, Aleyna, gave that effort a major boost by giving me a nice cache of mods that have enabled me to fill out my lower slots without spending anything. The actual game itself aside, if there's one thing I love most about playing EvE, it's the great people I've met and have become friendly with since I've been playing.

It really does make a difference. A big reason why I left Everquest, besides getting tired of paying extra for every new expansion and becoming bored with the game just in general, is that, with some notable exceptions, a lot of the people I found myself interacting with in EQ were people who I'd never want to associate with outside of it. So often it seemed like the discussions in EQ seemed much like recess time at the grade school playground, just bashing and smacktalking simply because they could and there was no one to tell them they couldn't. I love kids, but I've been an adult for a long time and I really have no desire to play online games with children. I haven't been twelve for a very long time, and I really have no desire to participate in discussions which take place at that relative intelligence level, and it was probably as much of a factor in my decision to leave the game as anything else. In EvE, I've found that, while that element is certainly present, it's certainly not as common as in EQ, nor, from what I've heard, as in WoW or other similar games.

It's really not all that surprising when you think about it. EvE is the only video game I've ever played that's so complex and has such a steep learning curve that it's very useful to actually take classes in how to play different aspects of the game. The amount of time and energy a player has to put into EvE in order to become proficient and successful is so high that a lot of younger players bail out because they have to take so much time to prepare before they can go out and blow stuff up. As I remember, most of the basics one needed to know before playing EQ were learned in a single starting area and could be accomplished in perhaps a few hours at most. EvE offers a tutorial as well, but as anyone who's been playing for any length of time knows, that's only the very beginning of the learning curve. There are reasons why I'm still a member of EvE University, and it's not only because I like the people. If there's anything I'm certain of in this game, it's that I still have a lot to learn about it.

In addition, there's a feeling about EvE that EQ, and I'd expect other similar online games, don't seem to have. The best way I can think of to describe it is as a "coziness", if you will. I suspect that's due largely to the fact that EvE's player base can be measured in thousands, not millions. It's kind of the difference between living in a small to moderate size town versus living in a major city. While there's certainly a larger number or residents and probably more diversity in the city, it's very size prevents the residents from experiencing the familiarity and comfort of knowing your neighbors and hometown in a way only those who live as members of smaller populations can. For all the vastness of the New Eden star cluster, EvE is still a significantly smaller and cozier play space than any of those boasting millions of players.

This is both a good and a bad thing. It's good for the reasons noted above, as well as the fact that as a player, one feels less like just a single tiny voice among the teeming masses fitting themselves into content created by and for others, and more like a real part of the ongoing story, like what you do as an EvE pilot really matters, no matter if you're the head of a major alliance or just a relatively new "working class" mission runner who's still learning the game.

In addition, there's just this general feeling that even though players may find ourselves on opposite sides in battle, we're all in this together, here in New Eden. PvP is one thing, but on the personal, social level, such things are much more easily put on the shelf and the aggression of the battlefield is much less likely to spill over into public discussion spaces. It may be harder to be the little guy on a business versus business level, but in-game it can lead to a hell of a lot more fun.

That's been my experience at least. I know there are some, perhaps many, who take their in-game corporate and alliance loyalties to a level that exceeds the boundaries of that which is actually relevant to the gameplay, but I find that to be much less the case in EvE than other games, much as I've found the introduction of real-world personal attitudes and bigotries into the game to be far less than I found in EQ. Sure it's there, but you just don't have to deal with it at the same level you do elsewhere. It may not be something anyone really spends a lot of time thinking about while in-game, but I believe it makes the overall atmosphere a much more pleasant one.

So now, having fit my Myrmidon's lower and most of its upper slots, I've decided to run a few more Level 2 missions to give me just a bit more financial breathing space before I take it out and go back to Level 3's. When I finish getting those last several slots fit, I'll run the Thorax back to E-Uni HQ and clone jump back to the Myrm. Once I've done all that, I'll be pretty much right back where I was before I ran into those Veto ships a few days ago.

A pain in the ass? Sure. Time-consuming? Fuck yes. Boring? No, not in the way you'd think it might be to have to go back a level in most games. Unlike EQ and pretty much every other video game ever, going back a level does not necessarily mean that you have to repeat and successfully perform an exact sequence of events. I remember when I had to do that in EQ, it actually got to the point where I knew exactly what was going to happen when, and I could anticipate and prepare for it. Now THAT'S boring! Still, I'll be glad when I can once again leave these level 2 missions behind and go back to making some real headway in this game. Soon...very soon.

Another nice thing that happened was last night was I was contacted in-game by another blog reader who mainly just wanted to say hello and let me know they enjoyed reading it. That's always great to hear. Since I've been writing this blog, it's been really great to hear how many people are reading and enjoying it. While I love hearing from you both in-game and in the comments section here, one thing I'd ask those of you so inclined is to pass it on and let others know about it. If you have an EvE-relevant blog of your own, I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd post a link so others can find it well. Thanks! :)

Ok, I think I've written enough for today. Catch ya out there!

EvE TV: Is It Worth Paying For?

2007-07-14T18:13:00.000-04:00

Frankly, my answer is no.

While StevieSG is certainly pleasant enough eye candy, SpiralJunkie goes from somewhat difficult to understand to downright incomprehensible, at least to my American ear. Throw in some guests and you've got fast speaking, mumbling, thick British accents, making anywhere from half to two-thirds of the show as impossible to understand as if they were speaking Mandarin Chinese. To make matters even worse (if that's possible), they waste a ridiculously long amount of airtime interviewing plastered British players at get-togethers. I have to wonder why they believe this idiocy would be interesting to viewers who are tuned in and paying to learn more about EvE, not to see what kind of immature assholes men become when they drink too much.

Can someone please explain to me why EvE TV is worth even bothering to take the time to watch much less actually pay for? I did my bit. I like the idea of EvE TV, and I'm very inclined to do what I can to support new media, so I invested five bucks in some J-credits. Now that I've seen the first three episodes, I'm certainly not inclined to spend any more on this unless and until there's significant improvement.

As someone who makes media myself, I'm probably a bit hyper-critical, but I feel I have the right to be. The media I make is free to all...if you don't like my radio show, you don't have to listen, there's no price of admission required just to tune in. When I'm being asked to pay by the minute for it in advance, I've got a right to expect certain things, such as being able to understand what the fuck they're talking about without an interpreter. I also certainly have the right to expect that when I pay to watch a show about a game I love that the show is actually about that game with information useful to me as a player, and not have almost half of it taken up by interviews with drunks with almost nothing relevant or even intelligent to say. If I want that, I'll order the latest "Girls Gone Wild" video...at least then I'll get to see some pretty girls show off their tits.

In order for me to consider dropping more money on this show ever again, the first thing that needs to happen is SpiralJunkie needs to either be replaced or forced to take some voice lessons. Based on the on-air staff they currently have, if I were producing this show StevieSG and Farjung, who are at least consistantly understandable, would be the lead team, with StevieSG conducting the interviews. In addition, I'd insist that only those who can make themselves understood to Americans as well as Brits would be featured as guests. I know they have telephones in England, and I'd like to see them employed to bring on some Americans as guests...you know, from that country where the vast majority of EvE players live?

In all honesty, I'd be a lot less critical if I weren't being asked to actually pay money for this. In my opinion, this show is just far too Brit-centric to be of much value to anyone on this side of the Atlantic. Great idea...poor execution. EON Magazine costs money too, but the vast majority of its content is useful, comprehensible information, and that makes it a very worthwhile purchase. By that standard, EvE TV just doesn't measure up.

Better luck next time, folks.

The Thorax Flies Again...

2007-07-10T06:50:00.000-04:00

...out of necessity, mainly.

I had another Myrmidon blown out from under me a couple of nights ago by a Veto gang. It was really my own fault this time. I'd gone to pick up a new mod in a low sec system (I forget which one...something starting with a "G"). I did see one Veto ship but figured I could handle it if attacked. My big mistake was that I forgot to check local before I left the station, and when I reentered space three Veto ships were waiting for me. I was toast in about ten seconds.

After reappearing in Korsiki, where I'd had my medical clone set for easy access in case of E-Uni emergencies and/or event participation, I jumped in my Thorax and flew it back to Gallente space. Once there, I bought myself another Myrmidon and insured it, but realized I didn't really have anywhere near enough ISK left over to fit it properly. Most of the usable mods I had lying around I'd already used in fitting my last Myrm, and so I've started doing Level 2 missions again in the Thorax to fatten the wallet a bit.

As long-time readers of this blog know, I never have a problem bitching up a storm when I believe I've been unfairly fucked over, but this time there's just no way I can do that. I should have checked Local before undocking but I didn't, and it was that mistake on my part which cost me my battlecruiser. Live and learn...again.

I think part of the problem is that I haven't been playing with any regularity over the last several weeks because I've been so busy in RL and so I'm probably more than a bit out of practice. A month ago, I doubt I'd ever have forgotten to check Local before undocking, and in this game that kind of noob mistake is all an enemy needs to take you out. The good part is that things are finally beginning to normalize in RL so I'm hoping to have more in-game time in coming weeks. It probably won't last, though. Right now, there's a lull in the demands on my time, but I expect that to change fairly soon so I'm going to try to take advantage of the extra playtime while I can.

The other good part is that you'll probably see more posts from me here in the immediate future. I really enjoy writing this blog, and I've missed not having the time to post more regularly. Again, I don't know how long this is going to last...such decisions are made by others...but I do plan to use the time to try to get back into the swing of playing and writing here. No promises though...it can all change at any time.

One new annoyance I've discovered is that since the Revelations 1.4.3 patch, some of the audio effects such as the music and the voice stopped working. After scouring the E-O forums for a solution, I discovered that changing my audio acceleration in Windows to Basic level solves the problem, at least for now. From what I've read, doing this may also render Teamspeak and/or Ventrilo useless, but I haven't had chance to test that just yet.

You'd think that for all the time and effort the devs put into making this game great they could at least give some attention to the audio. As it is, I have to turn it off every time I go somewhere where there's even the possibility of any kind of combat because the lag it generates can be deadly. I know the audio is the culprit here as I've done some of the same missions with and without sound and the lag in combat is always significantly less when the game sound is off.

To be honest, I don't know why it has to be that way. EvE is the only game I've ever played where the sound causes this kind of a problem with the gameplay. My understanding is that they're still using the same sound engine they had during beta, over four years ago. Given how much attention is given to other aspects of the game, I'm at a loss to understand why this hasn't gotten at least some dev love by now. According to recent dev blogs, audio fixes are planned, but what I've read on the forums is that CCP has been promising a new audio engine since the game came out of beta and most don't seem to believe that a fix is actually coming anytime soon.

Personally, I like the sound. It adds a depth to the game that's missing when I have to turn it off. I wish I didn't have to detract from my enjoyment of the game in order to have it run at maximum efficiency. Thing is, with the cost of death so high in EvE, there's really no choice but to use every possible advantage in combat, and that's the place where the audio can be the most useful in terms of warnings and such. It just doesn't make any sense to me that CCP has spent so much time and effort making every other aspect of this game the best it can be, but seemingly has this issue on a very low priority. Considering how integral to the overall experience of EvE the audio is, you'd think they'd want that aspect of the game to be as immersive as the rest, but as far as I can see, that obviously isn't the case, and I think that's really a pity.

OK, enough for now...RL calls.

Taking A Day In...

2007-07-02T16:54:00.000-04:00

...at least one now and then.

I spent several hours in-game Monday, making a little ISK but mainly doing upgrades on my Myrmidon and relearning a critical lesson for any Eve player: Assume nothing, because if you do it will come back to bite you in the ass sooner or later. I never installed a warp stabilizer, assuming that I wouldn't have to deal with warp scrambling on missions until I started Level 4 missions...wrongo.

I get out there and I do good damage with my nifty new tech 2 guns until my cap starts getting low and I decide it's time to bail and recharge. I call back my drones and hit the button to warp out...and then I discover I'm being warp scrambled. Nowhere to go, my drones already back the bay, I send them back out and do as much damage as I can as I keep trying to unsuccessfully warp out.

I'm sure you've figured out the end of this story by now. Yep, baboom...do not pass into warp, do not collect several hundred thousand ISK, kiss several nice pieces of tech 2 gunnery buh-bye. Fuck.

Replacing and insuring the Myrmidon wasn't a huge problem, but fitting it is proving another story. While I've had some luck in having some useful stuff literally just conveniently laying around, there are some gaps in my inventory and not a lot of ISK left over to fill them.

Needless to say, I've now installed a warp stabilizer and eventually I'll find the time to try to do at least a passable fitting to get through some missions and fatten up the wallet some.

Sometimes in this game, the simplest rules are the most important ones.

Patching In...

2007-06-20T12:39:00.002-04:00

...and it seems this was a good one.

The first thing I noticed was the new color scheme. The black is much nicer than that tired old grey. The opening screen is a very nice change as well. Then, it seemed like one change after another, as if every single part of the game one must pass through from opening screen to space itself has something new and different about it. Even the new trailer was nice, though I do wish they'd make these things in a somewhat lower res version so those of us who aren't running cutting edge technology supercomputers could run the thing as an actual movie rather than a series of stuttering still shots with a soundtrack. According to the comments on the forum the ending of the trailer was supposed to be quite dramatic, but I guess I wasn't able to get that from what my computer was able to display.

As far as gameplay goes, I guess I really haven't played enough yet since the patch, just a couple of hours last night, to detect any real differences other than the cosmetic. Of course, one can see how Heat will be used, but since I still have some training to do before I'll be able to use that ability it may be a while before anything in Revelations II actually impacts how I play the game.

Last night, I finished up a mission I'd been working on so long I was within a day of it expiring. The reality is that this media job I've started has been making a lot of demands on my time and of course, the first casualty of that is playtime. This is likely to only become more and more the case in upcoming weeks as the demands of this new position intensify.

Hopefully, I'll have some time to write more after I play more with RII, but right now that time is scarce. Please keep checking back, though. As with the start of any new business, the first few weeks are always intense, but hopefully things will normalize soon.

Until then, fly safe.

It Figures...

2007-06-08T23:10:00.000-04:00

...I finally get some time to play EVE and the fucking server is going up and down like a yo-yo. Shit. Not much for me to talk about right now. All I managed to do before the servers went down for an emergency reboot was sell some stuff and make a bit o' ISK.

In the good news and bad news department, that media job I was going to be starting but then went away has suddenly gained a new lease on life. That's really all I can say at this point (because that's all I currently know), except that I've got a feeling that my RL schedule is going to get really, really, busy pretty soon. I'm not sure how this is going to play out in terms of my EVE playing time...I don't expect too much impact right away but as time goes on I fully expect it will more and more.

If nothing else it should be pretty interesting...more later if the servers stay up long enough to give me something to write about.

Slow Buildup...

2007-05-28T06:48:00.000-04:00

...that's what you could call it, I guess.

In reality, it's more that RL is just taking a dump on me right now terms of demands on my time and so, I'm playing whenever I get a little time. Regular readers may remember that not so long ago I had to take a short hiatus from posting here to prepare for a new RL position. Sadly, that position does not appear to be materializing at this time. However, an alternative or sudden resurrection are not impossible so nothing is carved in stone at this point. At this point, all options are open.

As a result, I'm going to have to devote more time to RL pursuits for a while, and I'm sure both my playing time and my blogging time will suffer as a result. Of course, the more I have to deal with in RL, the nicer it is to take a break with EVE when I'm able. On the other hand, if I'm successful in my RL pursuits, it'll change my life significantly...just how much remains to be seen.

I wish I had more time to write, but right now, I don't...more soon.

Another One Bites The Dust...

2007-05-26T12:34:00.000-04:00

...is it my fourth Myrmidon...or my fifth? I don't remember.

Still, a pretty simple matter to buy a new one since the insurance money currently not only provides enough to buy the ship but also refit it for the most part. The biggest PITA will be fitting the thing.

Ah well...I'll probably jump in-game for a while later, but I've got a lot of RL shit to do today...

All Fixed...Sorta...

2007-05-22T23:24:00.000-04:00

What I ended up doing is was following Lucas' suggestion (see comments on the previous post). I podded myself back to Korsiki and then clone jumped back to Gallente space to do some mission running. Now, I'm back in my proper original clone with all those lovely implants and in about 23 hours or so I'll be able to jump back at will. In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to rack up as much mission running goodness as I can, I suppose...

I did manage to lose a Myrmidon earlier on a mission, but it was a simple matter to replace it this time around. Gotta be a little more careful. It always seems like just as I'm about to finally make some real headway, I lose another ship. Not an especially good pattern to find oneself in. I gotta stop doing that, too.

So, I think it's probably almost time to jump back in-game and have just a little more fun before bedtime...

Continuing To Be Bad...

2007-05-22T08:37:00.000-04:00

...yeah, I really am.

Late last night, after checking Local repeatedly and finding it clear, I jumped in a shuttle and lit out for Gallente space. I took the faster route, which includes a few low-sec systems, and at one point found myself in the middle of a pitched battle between a couple of pilots who both had bad standing toward me (and toward each other, I suppose). Lucky me, they were so busy with each other that neither seemed to care about me and my little unarmed, empty shuttle.

Arriving at my current staging station in Gallente space, I did a couple of missions and then went to bed. This morning, I realized that since I actually flew the distance last night to Gallente space I have to fly back in order to restore my jump clone...or, I suppose I could fly to either Khanid Kingdom or a Federation Navy station to set another one, but at this point that seems kind of counterproductive since sooner or later I'd have to fly into Korsiki.

It's my own fault, of course. By now, I'd be able to clone jump back to Gallente space, but because I couldn't wait last night, I find myself in the interesting situation of having my medical clone in Korsiki and my jump clone in Gallente space. This is all because I had to get back to Gallente space I was willing to risk flying it, and now, because of that, the only way to fix it is by flying to Korsiki and then jumping back.

To be honest, I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do.

The Waiting...

2007-05-21T18:08:00.000-04:00

Well, at least its a little more interesting than counting the number of lights inside a station.

I stood watch along with about 40 of my fellow E-Uni peeps for a couple of hours before I had to go. I'd have happily stayed a few more but I couldn't right then. I do plan to take a few later tonight though. In reality, I doubt anyone is going to see any action at all tonight...but then again, who knows?

Very weird. The interesting part was that is was something...people felt like they were doing something...and maybe some of us weren't, especially if, like me, they weren't in on the three MENTL kills earlier today.

Right now, I'm taking a break from the waiting. If I go back in, I couldn't clone jump again until tomorrow even if I wanted to, so it'll just be more guard duty...and I'm ok with that. They also serve, she who stands and protects...ok, so I made that one up, but it works... doesn't it?

Perhaps a nap and then I'll go babysit Korsiki for a while.

Still Being Bad...

2007-05-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

...I suppose, anyway. I haven't been in-game yet today. Too many other things need doing before that happens today. In any case, though, I'm still in Gallente space, but I'm also ready to jump right back to Korsiki at a moment's notice if I'm needed.

This is my way of keeping the game fun for myself while at the same time making sure that I'm still in a position to fulfill what I see as my obligation to be there to help when help is needed. Still, a combination of RL responsibilities has conspired to keep me out of EVE thus far today...but not for all that much longer.

No, things are changing, I think...perhaps just for some of the noober of the E-Uni noobs, or perhaps for a wider group of players than that. This is where I suspect a lot of pilots are finally beginning to understand the true level of difference between EVE and everything else out there. This is war, and war isn't always fun...in fact, it's usually pretty fucked up. "Ah,", but you say, "this isn't real war, it's EVE war and EVE war is supposed to be fun.". Absolutely true. Another absolute truth is that part of what makes this game engaging and immerssive for those of us who play it is it's depth. Any game this deep is going to have fast, exciting parts and slow, not so thrilling parts, just like RL does.

Again, it's easy for me to say all this while I'm not even actually in Korsiki at the moment but in Gallente space running missions, but I'd never be doing it with a well-placed jump clone and an acceptance of the risks involved. Since I did lose 3 ships to the Privateers, I know exactly what the risks are at this point and therefore was able to make an informed decision to clone jump out of lockdown.

I will admit to feeling just a little bit guilty about doing it...but not really all that much. I knew I could be back within minutes were I needed. I still can be. I will be.

Sigh...this war is just an annoyance. Feh.

Ok enough typing...for now.

Enough Is Enough...

2007-05-19T12:52:00.000-04:00

...and that's where I am now.

Last night, I did it. I just couldn't take it anymore. I clone jumped out of Korsiki to where I'd parked my Myrmidon in Gallente space and ran my first Level 3 mission in a while. I know, I know...but the reality is that there was absolutely nothing going on at HQ. As was suggested by one of the more experienced E-Uni members while I was watching chat last night, I kept an eye on Local even in high-sec and just ran the mission as I normally would. You know what? In the process of doing that, I think I've discovered MENTL's one weakness.

As potent as they are as individual pilots (and they certainly are), they're not a very large group. They simply can't be everywhere. I came to this theory while checking the killboard and realizing that all of their kills in this war have happened in or close to Korsiki. The fact that seems to be escaping some is that while meeting up with one or more of these guys is probably almost certain death for the vast majority of noobs or perhaps even just pilots flying solo, the chances of having one find you outside of the area close to E-Uni HQ is not very high at all. Note that I did not say impossible. Anything is possible, especially in this game. However, given that they only have about twenty pilots in their corp and given that all of their E-Uni kills have been in Korsiki except for one which was in nearby Olo, the chance of running into one of these fuckers outside of the systems local to Korsiki is, in my opinion, highly unlikely.

So, I did it...I took yet another risk and clone jumped back to Gallente space for mission running. It's where I currently am, but by the time I'm able to go in-game for any length of time today the twenty-four hour time limit will have expired and I'll be able to respond to a call for E-Uni pilots for PvP or other ops within minutes. I' m already a bit over a million ISK richer than I was before I did it, but there's also one other important factor that I'd like to offer in the form of a friendly reminder to any E-Uni leader types who may be reading this:

It was fun...a hell of a lot of fun, as a matter of fact. I got to shoot up some NPC's in my shiny new tech2-fitted Myrmidon, made myself some ISK, and didn't see a war target during the entire time I was doing it...and believe me, I was watching. I really wasn't doing it because I need the ISK, even though more money in the wallet never hurts, I was doing it because it was the first real fun I've had playing this game in the last two days.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy hanging with my fellow E-Uni peeps and watching the discussion in corp chat, now and then even throwing in my own two cents, but the reality is that if that's all it is, it does start to get old after a while. I think perhaps our E-Uni leadership needs to remember that, and that if and when EVE stops being fun that's when players are going to tend to start rebelling and just doing whatever they want, regardless of the risks involved.

I hate to be one of those people who says "Do as I say, not as I do.", but the reality is that some common sense is definitely called for here. I can do this kind of thing and get away with it because I have a jump clone set in Gallente space where I keep my Myrmidon and one at HQ in Korsiki. Trying to do this while having to actually fly the distance between the two points would definitely come under the heading of "asking for it" and therefore is not something I'd recommend. If you're a noob and reading this, consider it an illustration of why training Informorph Psychology and having jump clones available when you need them is a very, very, good thing to do, perhaps even while you're locked down in Korsiki.

For now, it's really not an issue. I have a full day ahead in RL, so I doubt I'll be doing more than just briefly jumping in-game to check for new EVE-mails until late today. At that point, I'll decide what my next move is.

Later...

Lockdown!

2007-05-18T22:33:00.000-04:00

Basically there are just a few choices available: Members of E-Uni are currently under orders not to undock. One way to avoid this is to join TDROPS, the other is to go play on the test server. Not a great variety of alternatives.

It's understandable. One look at the killboard and you know why...these MENTL guys are having us for lunch. They've taken out sixteen of our ships and we've taken out exactly one of theirs. It's not surprising our commanders have ordered a lockdown...it seems that just about any encounter with these guys is going to ends up with a significant number of E-Uni ships blown up, so our commanders are simply waiting this out. Probably the most sensible strategy at this point, even if not the most fun to deal with.

I just wish there was something to do, because TDROPS is looking better and better right now, but in all honesty, I really don't wanna do that again this time...now that I've had at least some PvP training, it would feel like bailing out. Add to that the fact that I don't have the moral high horse to get on I did last time, and I'm really having a hard time rationalizing a move to TDROPS.

If only it wasn't so damn boring.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

2007-05-18T12:46:00.000-04:00

Look, I'm trying, ok? Really, I am. I just didn't think war was supposed to be this boring. Logged in a bit earlier and couldn't even find out if there was an op planned. I'm now considering just saying the heck with it and joining TDROPS for the duration of the war, or, alternatively, just jumping back to Gallente space for some mission running. Anything that lets me get back to actually playing EVE.

Yeah, I suppose I'll log in again in a little while and see if anything's going on. If there is, great, if not...well, I've got stuff to do, anyway. I've been asked to write a couple of pieces...one is finished, the other I've had to throw away my original idea for and I've yet to settle on an alternative I'm happy with. Perhaps this "war" lull will allow me the time to sit back and focus on what I want to write about and then write it up. I can't argue that it's certainly allowed me the time to write this post. Of course, "allow" probably isn't the right term. There's no requirement that I play EVE as much as I do, only my own interest and desire...and of course, when my interest level wanes due to lack of anything diverting to do in-game, I immediately start seeking substitutes.

In EVE, of course, war is a temporary condition at best. I'd expect that when this week's wardec expires so will MENTL's interest in continuing to fight us. I'm looking forward to that day, anxiously.

This War Is A Pain In The Ass...

2007-05-17T18:36:00.000-04:00

...I mean really, it wouldn't be so bad if there were actually something to do, something to shoot, something...this though, this is just boring.

Waiting always is. The problem is that that's all the Uni seems to be doing, waiting. I guess one thing you can say about the Privateers is that at least there were some of them out there. I've actually seriously contemplated getting back into TDROPS again just so I can go back to doing something in-game besides listening to the conversation on Teamspeak.

I suppose I shouldn't complain. I was quick enough to bitch up a storm when the Privateers wardecced us over and over, but mainly my problem with them was their tactics and the cowardly way they went after ships already crippled from previous battles. It just seems to me that there should be a certain amount of honor among enemies, especially in a game like EVE, and that the Privateers, for the most part, just don't seem to have any. The Privs just offend my sense of honor and fair play, and it's because of that, more than anything else, that I refused to risk my ships or waste my time in battle against them. The corp that's wardecced us now, Mentally Unstable Enterprises, I really have no opinion of as yet, positive or negative, other than that by wardeccing a corp with as many more members then they have as we do, they certainly do live up to their name.

So, I'm more than happy to fight them, I just wish there were more of them to fight.

Feh.

Here We Go Again...

2007-05-17T00:40:00.000-04:00

...but not quite as big a problem as before.

Once again, Eve University has been wardecced. This time however, not only am I not refusing to fight, I'm looking forward to it.

It's actually kind of ridiculous. This corp with something like 21 members has wardecced us, so they're going up against a corp of something like, I don't know, maybe 100 times that number? I mean, how utterly stupid is this? Basically, I don't see this as war as much as potential sport, and that's just fine with me.

So what I did earlier today was do my first clone jump to Khanid Kingdom from Gallente space. I then flew a Velator back to where I'd parked my Thorax and flew that to Korsiki. So now I have my medical clone and my Thorax in Korsiki, my jump clone and my Myrmidon in Gallente space (now all fitted out and insured for missions), and three PvP-fitted frigs in Nonni. I'm also now registered on the E-Uni Teamspeak server as well.

Now, I'm all set up for just about anything. I've still got a nice chunk of change left over from fitting the Myrmidon because I decided to sell off a couple of beta implants and rake in about ten million. So I'm really in no rush to go back to running missions, I'm exactly where I need to be in order to available for ops and such, and should it be needed, the Myrmidon is just a clone jump and then about 20 jump gates away. Not bad for a few hours time spent in game today.

Funny, I feel completely different than I did when last we were wardecced. I mean, I know perfectly well that there's a fair chance that I'll get podded sooner or later during this war as I plan to be on the front lines this time around, but I also know that it's also possible that I'll be the one doing the podding this time. I kinda have that "Oh yeah? Bring it on!" sort of attitude now. I guess that can be a good thing as it gets me into the fray, but I have to be careful that it doesn't make me cocky or sloppy. I'm not prepared to risk my brand-new Myrmidon in this war, but I have made the decision to offer up my Thorax in defense of E-Uni as needed. It's the very least I can do for this corp, and I'm more than willing to do it. If that's not enough, I'm also happy to jump into one or more of my PvP fitted frigs I set up for the AU class and fly those into battle as well.

By the time I log in tomorrow, hostilities will have officially begun. Should be interesting, to say the least.

Stay tuned.

New Horizons...

2007-05-12T21:16:00.000-04:00

...and plenty of 'em.

I just got back to the staging system after my Agony Unleashed Basic PvP class a little while as I write this. Not only did I learn a lot, but I also had a hell of a lot of fun. I've now had, as our instructor put it, my 0.0 cherry popped. Our class didn't get to see a heck of a lot of PvP but we did have some and it was a lot of fun. One thing that wasn't very fun was the amount of lag I had to deal with. We had about thirty or so ships in our group and things like gang warping and similar stuff often slowed my screen to a crawl or worse at some points.

Even so, I'm a lot more confident as a pilot in general now that I know what I learned today, and I also know that a lot of what I learned will be applicable in any group or combat situation in EVE regardless of whether it's in 0.0 or not. Cool beans. Another nice thing about this class is that I can retake it free of charge whenever I like, and I'm sure I'll be doing exactly that sometime soon. Not only did I have a blast, but I also want to practice what I've learned. I could even have stayed later as many in the class continued with the instructor to look for more PvP, but a few quick but critical RL responsibilities demanded that I quit when the group was convenient to high-sec so I could go deal with them. Truth be told, I'd have loved to have rejoined them afterward, but I think I've had plenty for today.

A great bunch of guys, these AU folks. In all honesty, I'm not sure I'd want to formally join their corp as they are pure PvP'ers and right now, at least, I'm looking for a more well-rounded EVE education. Next, I expect I'll be looking to EVE University for classes on both the finer points of PvP and on other aspects of the game. Then again, who knows? Perhaps after I've had more experience and have a better idea of exactly how I want to play this game over the long haul, I might decide to apply to AU after all. One thing's for sure: If my experience today is any guide, I'm quite certain they'd be just a great a group both in terms of skill level and on a personal level to play EVE with as the E-Uni folks are. Given my experience with E-Uni, that's the highest compliment I can pay any player or group of players in this game.

I think what I'm going to do for now is just leave all three of the frigs I set up for this class right where they are. Since I know I'll be doing this class again sometime soon, it makes no sense to use them for other purposes other than perhaps in emergency situations. Also, since they're only about 11 jumps or so from E-Uni HQ they're handy enough should I need to jump in one to lend a hand on an op or something.

Another fun thing: While waiting for the class to start, I was trying to sell a few things I'd brought with me from Gallente space that should fetch a good price but no one was interested in there. While doing that, I managed to sell four units of Quafe Ultra Special Edition for a cool three million...a nice and very needed boost to the wallet, which had been depleted by my Myrmidon purchase.

And now, my thoughts fly toward the future. I expect I'll spend some more time, more than likely just a few more days at most, fitting and insuring my Myrmidon and building my wallet back up a bit. Once that's done, I'm going to be changing my base of operations to Korsiki and jumping back to Gallente space when I need to make some ISK quickly. When I'm ok in that department, I expect I'll be spending a lot of my in-game time with E-Uni, taking classes and participating in ops and events, and also beginning to build my standings in that area. As I've literally just begun learning Caldari ships, I definitely have a long way to go in that regard, but that's fine. I'm moving out there because I want to learn more, and that's going to take time.

Now that I've had my first taste of both true PvP and 0.0, neither are quite as scary as they were before. I may not yet really have a handle on exactly where I want to go in this game as yet, but I do think I've found some important signposts leading me in the right direction, toward new horizons, new battles, new challenges, and new experiences.

It just keeps getting better and better.

Pew-Pew Deja Vu?

2007-05-11T17:56:00.000-04:00

So, I did it...today, I bought myself another Myrmidon. It's not in space just yet. I got it at an excellent price, about 10 million ISK cheaper than the last one I bought. I saw it for about 34.5 million and jumped on it. I don't yet have enough to finish fitting and insuring it completely as yet, but I'm working on it.

It's interesting how I seem to have become a true expert when it comes to doing Level 2 missions in my Thorax. Even the formerly unbeatable "Blockade" mission is now merely time-consuming, but also highly lucrative. I zip through these quickly now, and I plan to continue doing so for a while, at least until I get the Myrmidon in space.

I've also made my decision as far as moving. I'm going to do it, soon, but probably not immediately or completely right away. Since I'm well above the standing I need to set a jump clone with the Federation Navy, I'll probably move my main clone to Caldari space, set a second jump clone in Gallente space (my first is in Khanid Kingdom...nice to have, but currently useless), and have the best of both worlds...or both regions, anyway: I'll be able to take advantage of being local to EVE-Uni HQ and I'll be able to jump back to Gallente space to earn myself some ISK when I need to. Of course, all this will take place after tomorrow's class. I'll be flying myself out to the staging system for that either later tonight or early tomorrow. I've got actual RL plans tonight (yes, I do have something approaching an offline life...sometimes), so it'll all depend on how late I'm out and in what condition I find myself once I get home. It is, after all, Friday night.

Moderation Vs. Censorship

2007-05-09T15:02:00.000-04:00

In the four months I've been playing EVE, this is about the saddest thing I've ever seen:

An excellent discussion thread about the possibility of having a regular "State of the EVE Universe" statement locked for being necromancy. Perhaps, had it A) not been interesting or relevant (in my opinion, it was and is both) or B) been old enough as to be no longer in concert with current reality, I could see it, but neither was the case here. In fact, the last post in the thread before the latest ones was just a mere five weeks old.

How very sad...but then, unnecessary censorship always is. This is what happens when you place power in the hands of too many people...it increases the chances that someone is going to use that power simply because they can.

In my opinion, that's clearly the case here. There was just no valid reason to lock this thread. The discussion was good and positive, the topic fresh and relevant. Speaking as both a present and former forum moderator, if I ever tried to do something like this on the forums I've had mod status on for a reason this lame I'd have had my head handed to me and rightly so.

The purpose of any discussion forum, the sole purpose, should be to foster and facilitate quality discussion about the topic or set of topics the forum is designed to cover. If the discussion taking place is an interesting and productive one, there's no reason why chronological time should have any bearing on it at all. There are plenty of good reasons to lock a thread, not the least of which is the quality level of the discussion. Simply being a few weeks old just isn't one of them. It is at precisely this point that such an act is no longer that of a moderator and becomes that of a censor.

If that's what CCP wants on their forums, that's fine...it's their forum. However if that's the case, then they should be up front about that. Let them call these folks what they are, censors, not moderators, and be honest about the kind of sanitized content they want there. That way, those who prefer a less restrictive discussion environment will know up front that they need to look elsewhere for it.

Personally, I'm very disappointed. I was actually considering applying to ISD to become a moderator, but I've now reconsidered because I refuse to be a censor. I've got far better things to do with my time than look for ways to prevent my fellow pilots from talking freely, openly, and honestly about this game we all love.

I'm sure I'll continue to drop by to read announcements and such, but I doubt I'll be wasting my time composing posts there anymore. Frankly, it just seems pointless now. Anything I have to say I'll say here, unmoderated and uncensored, or in the relevant unofficial forums.

What a pity that a game that's as open to unconventional play and variety of playing style as EVE suffers under such antiquated and restrictive policies on their discussion forums.

How very sad indeed...

You Know You're An Eve Addict When...

2007-05-08T15:24:00.000-04:00

...you spend the first part of your 45th birthday on a 60-jump excursion to Khanid Kingdom to set a jump clone. Yep, that's exactly what I did earlier, and it gave me reason to pause, reflect, and maybe, just maybe, evolve a bit as a player.

It occurred to me as I was flying my way out across Gallente, Caldari, and, for the first time, Amarr space to set this jump clone that in just the last week I've reached a few milestones in this game:

1. I've now been to every major empire at least once, as well as Khanid Kingdom.

2. I've been on my first fleet op, which was also my first time playing EVE in concert with other players.

3. I've set my first jump clone.

4. I finally beat that goddam "Blockade" mission for the first time.

5. I've been within two jumps of 0.0 space.

On the way back to Gallente space, I did something that's been pretty out of character for me thus far in this game. Checking my map, I realized that I could save myself nine jumps if I went through five low-sec systems near the end of my trip. Three of these systems I'd already visited on missions, but two I hadn't...and the map indicated that one of those new systems had had five ships destroyed in it during the previous hour. I had to make a decision on which route to take before I started the trip. I decided to go for it.

I knew that even if I did get my Thorax destroyed and/or myself podded, I could afford to replace it. Therefore, I figured that with reasonable precautions and a cargo hold filled with plenty of ammo it was a risk worth taking. Funny thing is, I needn't have worried.

When I reached the gate to the first low-sec system, one of the ones I'd never been to, I set my chat window to Local and jumped into...nothing. There was only one other pilot in the system, one who was apparently neutral to me. I flew to the next gate, jumped into the other low-sec system I'd never been to...and again, nothing. I was the only one there. Jump, jump, jump, and I was back in Gallente high-sec. Big fucking deal.

Of course, it certainly could have been different, but it wasn't. I took a risk and it paid off. Chances are, I'll probably take more in the future. The truth is, though, I took the risk because I knew I could afford the worst possible result. I was, in fact, flying something I could afford to lose, so I took the risk. Would I have done it had I been flying a Myrmidon or Brutix instead of a Thorax? In all honesty, I don't know. Would I do it now? Maybe, maybe not, but I'd probably consider it a lot more seriously that I would have before this morning's excursion.

So, while it may be at a slower pace than some, I'm definitely making progress in EVE, in assets, in experience, in skills, and in courage. My perception of this game and my place in it is changing rapidly, seemingly almost every time I log in. The AU PvP class on Saturday will be another milestone, one I suspect will lead to even more changes in how I play this game.

All of this points up to me, yet again, how different this game is from any other I've ever played, and why I enjoy it as much as I do. It's been called a "sandbox" in terms of the way it's structured. I suppose that's accurate in some ways, but it's also so much more. Never in my gaming career have the risks been so high, the rewards so great, the learning curve so high, the content so engrossing, or the experience so satisfying. It's for all these reasons and more that I celebrate my own birthday, just days after the game's own, by playing EVE.

Damn, I just love this game.

The Wide Open Spaces Of Eve...

2007-05-07T12:15:00.000-04:00

...seem just a little wider and a little more open today.

Last night, I flew my first fleet op in EVE, as part of a freighter escort for an EVE University transport. We saw no combat at all, flying all the way to and from our destination deep in an area of empire space I'd never been to before. I never fired a shot, and yet, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had in this game.

The call went out mid-evening for combat pilots who wanted to participate in an op. Normally, I don't respond to these things. As I'm based in Gallente space for now, by the time I'd get to E-UNI HQ in Korsiki, usually anywhere from a 20 to 25 jump trip, where these things generally start from, they'd be long gone. This time, I just happened to be already halfway there, so I flew directly to the staging system for my Agony Unleashed class this Saturday which happened to be nearby, dropped off my Thorax, jumped in one of my PvP-fitted Tristans and headed for Korsiki.

When I was almost there, I realized that I hadn't yet installed Teamspeak. I'd used Ventrilo when I tried to attend the last AU class, but I hadn't had a reason to install TS...until then. So, upon my arrival in Korsiki, I immediately docked, logged out, installed TS and quickly logged back in. I thought I was going to be too late, but fortunately I discovered that I wasn't the only participant in this op who needed a few minutes to get ready for it. As it turned out, I wasn't even the last pilot to signal my readiness to go.

In all honesty, I had really no clue what the hell I was doing or what the op was about. It was my very first time flying as part of a fleet, and I'm sure it showed. Fortunately, the E-UNI instructors are very good at what they do, not only technically but also as teachers of noobs. We flew under the command of E-UNI Fleet Admiral Silentbrick, and for me, this was a truly unique experience.

I was literally learning as we went along...I do think I need a lot more practice in getting myself aligned in preparation for gang warping, but all in all, I think I did pretty damn well considering I hadn't had a lick of instruction in how to fly as part of a fleet before I actually did it. From my own perspective on this op, the best thing I can say about it and the pilots I flew with is that next time I'm asked to help provide an escort I'll have a much better idea of what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and how to best perform my own part in it...and, not inconsequentially, I had a hell of a lot of fun doing it. Not only all that, but it didn't even cost me a ship to do it, which I fully expected it to. Not too shabby.

Just as importantly, flying this op illustrated for me where some of the gaps in my knowledge are, what I need to research, work on, maybe even take a class in. While I've decided against taking any "official" E-UNI classes until I do the AU Basic PvP class this Saturday, at the same time I'm also planning to spend some of my time doing some research. Among the things I'm going to be spending some time on is becoming more familiar and adept with both Teamspeak and Ventrilo.

I've actually had a bit of minor previous experience with Vent, having investigated the possibility of using it to connect my producer and I during my radio show. It didn't work for that purpose (the delay was just too much to use for talk radio), but at least I knew how to connect to a server, activate my mic, and other basic functions. I'd never used TS before last night, and while I did manage to log in and was able hear Silentbrick and others give commands to the fleet, I still have some reading to do on the finer points of using this program.

In addition, I've also come to realize that I thought I understood how jump clones work but I clearly don't have a clue. That's an E-UNI class I'd have taken if I'd known about it before it was held. That one's totally my fault. They scheduled it, they announced it on the forums, and I missed it because I didn't check the Ivy League forums in time. Bad Bekka...not a mistake I'll be making again, though. While I wait for that class to be offered again, however, I'll definitely be doing some research in that area as well.

So, an E-UNI op that might have been pretty mundane for more experienced pilots was one of the single best learning experiences I've ever had in this game so far, and it's got me thinking. If I hadn't been within reasonable distance of E-UNI HQ when the call went out, I'd have missed it. I've often heard it suggested that in order to get maximum benefit from E-UNI and what it offers, it's best to be based within close distance to E-UNI HQ in Korsiki.

I've toyed with the idea of moving out there, deep into Caldari space, but so far have resisted the idea since I know that because I've been making my ISK running missions, as opposed to mining which can be done almost anywhere, chances are I'd have to start essentially from scratch again, working my way back up through the levels to get to where I already am in Gallente space. That's really where the decision I have to make is focused: While there are significant benefits to doing it, there's definitely a price to be paid for such a move...do I want to pay it, and, assuming I do, do I want to pay it sooner rather than later?

On the other hand, an interesting thing I discovered last night is that there are many ultra-low-level agents scattered about that will offer me missions out there. Sure, I'd have to seek them out, but now I at least know they're out there. I'm also quite sure I could depend on some of my fellow pilots for help in locating these agents and getting started on this, perhaps without setting myself almost completely back to Day One as a mission runner.

In reality, while I do enjoy running missions, I want to do more, I want variety, and I'm not getting it doing what I do now. I want to spend more time in low-sec, I want to see 0.0, I want to see the Eve Gate, I want to be and do more, and start to really experience the aspects of this game I haven't yet...in short, I want more from EVE than I'm getting right now and I'm less and less convinced that can happen on the path I'm currently on.

I've resolved that I'm not going to make a decision on this until after Saturday's class at minimum. I do need to build my nestegg a bit so I'm going to spend the rest of my in-game time this week doing that in Gallente space, where I can earn the most ISK right now. After that, all options are on the table.

All thoughts on this are most welcome...more than ever, this is a question that I need to answer, and soon.

Four Years Is A Long Time...

2007-05-06T11:14:00.000-04:00

...a heck of a lot longer than I've been playing EVE, that's for sure. Four years ago, I don't think I even knew what an MMOG was, much less that I might be interested in playing one.

It's funny how, looking back now, my concept of video games was so different. I was still in the mindset that such a game had a beginning, a middle, and an end, much like an interactive book or movie that allows the player to participate in, but not dictate, what happens next. I played things like sports sims, games based on movies like Spider-Man, LOTR, and Star Trek (yes, I admit it, dyed in the wool Trekkie here), and silly little games like solitaire and online poker.

Really, it was Everquest which changed my perception of what a video game could be. I was (and still am) extremely interactive online in other aspects of my life, so discovering a game that combined these two things was quite a find for me. In addition, the idea of a game that didn't really end, even though EQ did have content that one played through before moving on, was also quite new to me.

I lasted about six months with Everquest, but grew tired of it after a while. In all honesty, it was a few things that led to my losing interest and eventually canceling my account:

1. Grind, grind, grind....fun at first, boring later. Once I'd reached a point where I had to keep repeating the same content over and over in order to accomplish certain goals, I'd also reached the point where I started becoming disenchanted with EQ as a game in general.

2. The people. Some were terrific folks, others, not so much. I discovered that I dislike playing with children...or, at least, those who act like children. While that's certainly something likely to be found in most MMOG's, some apparently have it worse than others. Eventually, I just got tired of playing with people who acted like it was middle school recess in the schoolyard.

3. The content. Sure, much of it was interesting, but I've never been that big a fan of a medieval swords and sorcery kind of theme, and this game was clearly Dungeons and Dragons brought to life in video. Fun for a while, but only for a while.

4. The price. Just too damn expensive. Not only do these people bang you for a monthly fee, but they make you pay again every time they create a new content expansion for the game. After paying for two expansions over the six months I played, I just refused to shell out any more money, and it bothered me that despite all the money I'd paid into this game, I still didn't have access to all of it. While that may be standard operating procedure for most of these games, to me it just felt like a ripoff.

5. The game in concept as a whole. It just always seemed to me that there were parts of the game I'd never see without years of preparation and literally hundreds of friends to help me get there. It really seemed like there was a distinct line between those who would have access to such content and those who'd never see it regardless of how well they personally did in the game as individual players. You can guess, I'm sure, which group I felt myself to belong to. I just couldn't realistically see myself investing the hours necessary to reach that point, and even if I did, there was no guarantee that I'd be able to join a guild that would be capable of taking it on.

The first time I tried EVE, just before I signed up for EQ, I really wasn't all that impressed with many aspects of it. While I loved the concept and the theme, it just seemed like it was too hard to progress, too easy to die, and too hard to recover once you did die. I signed up for the free trial, but only lasted about a week before I became frustrated with it, seemingly just getting blown away by gatecampers over and over and...to be honest, after a week of this it just wasn't lot of fun. Still, there were certain aspects to EVE that I absolutely loved, if only...

So, I signed up and did my six months with EQ. I really don't regret it because the experience helped me to understand what I like and don't like about MMOG's, what's important to me as a player, what isn't, and what I wanted more of, enough that I was willing to pay for it.

I know myself well enough to know exactly the point when I determined for certain that my time as an EQ player was coming to an end. It was right after EQ released yet another expansion to great fanfare, and I realized I just couldn't afford to buy another one. I resolved to play what I had, that the original game plus two paid expansions should be plenty to keep me occupied for at least a while. The problem was that all roads seemed to lead to this new expansion and the new gameplay features that came with it. The marketing push was quite heavy and I found myself resenting it. By the time my next monthly EQ payment became due, I'd already decided I was done with the game and was actively looking for something else to play.

I didn't come back to EVE right away. Instead I played dumb but fairly fun little games like solitaire, poker, and even a sword and sorcery Java thing called Adventure Quest for a few months. None of the other MMOG's I checked out fired my interest enough to bother even trying them. I found myself purchasing games like "Rise of Nations", "Civilization", and "Runaway", but none of these held my interest long. And then, one day, I was leafing through a video game magazine and saw an ad for EVE.

It was like the proverbial light bulb winked on. I remembered how I'd loved the concept, the graphics, and the gameplay, but kept getting my ass kicked. I also remembered that I'd made some colossally huge mistakes during my first time playing and that, thanks to major fines levied by CONCORD for transporting contraband, my original character was several million ISK in the hole. I decided that the best way to try EVE again would be to do the free trial again with a brand-new character and just completely start over from scratch.

In all honesty, I was still wary. Remembering my first experience, I expected to be blown away with regularity again, but I figured that since I knew it was likely to happen perhaps I could at least prevent it from happening as frequently. The first thing I decided to do, before I even signed up and created a character, was read...everything. I read the entire 300+ page collected backstory, then the entire player guide. I went to the forums and read plenty there as well, especially the stuff intended for new players, where I discovered Eve University. Armed with all this mostly new knowledge, I then signed up for the free trial and created a new character.

I noticed the difference right away. The gatecampers were gone. I discovered that this was probably due to the introduction of "Warp to 0", which had been one of the many improvements implemented while I was gone. After screwing around for a few days, mainly just checking things out and watching the conversation in the "Rookie" chat, I decided to join E-Uni and get started on really getting good at playing this game. I've never looked back since.

It's been around four months now, and I've never regretted my decision to sign up for an entire year after only a couple of weeks of playing. Sure, I've had issues with certain corps (one in particular ;)) and their play styles, but never with being a player of this game. It's been tough, even frustrating at times, but never boring and always fun. Unlike EQ, I've never not wanted more.

That's really the best thing about EVE, the thing I tell people when they ask me why I play this game. It always keeps me interested, engaged, and wanting more. When you think about it, that's really the best compliment you can pay to any entertainment media: It keeps you wanting more.

And speaking of wanting more, it's time to go change my skill training and maybe take on a few more missions...

Happy 4th birthday, EVE.

Ramping Up...

2007-05-03T16:39:00.000-04:00

...it's actually getting easier.

Using some of the techniques I've learned in the reading for the Agony Unleashed Basic PvP Class, I've significantly increased speed and the number of the NPC mission ships I've been taking out. Of course, not all of these methods translate as effectively to PvE as they do to PvP, but many do and I've definitely noticed a difference. I've still got well over a week before my class, but I have a feeling (read: hope) that I'll be back to flying a battlecruiser and Level 3 missions before then.

Also, in a few hours, I'll finish training Medium Hybrid Turret V. This is a good thing as it not only gives me a little more advantage in combat just in general but also opens other skills I've wanted to train, such as those that will enable me to use Advanced ammo.

Right now, though, I will admit that I'm having a lot more fun flying Level 2 missions in a Thorax again than I expected to, even though I am looking forward to getting back to where I was a few weeks ago. I guess it's always more fun when you kick more ass and I seem to be doing that more and more all the time now. It just seems to be getting more and more fun to play this game.

Cool.

Cruisin'...

2007-04-30T18:49:00.000-04:00

The last few days in EVE have been exceptionally flawless technically, even if I did lose another Thorax. In fact, it was a miscalculation on my part, an inaccurate assessment of my survival risks. Getting another Thorax fitted, ready to run missions, and insured at Bronze Level basically wiped me out financially, so I've been running Level 2 missions and I'll probably continue to for a while. In the meantime, however, my three AU Basic PvP Class-ready frigs and all the extra mods I bought for them are still sitting at the staging station, waiting for the next time the class will be held, in slightly less than two weeks. Of course, this time I'll be ready, my net connection will be ready, and I won't be living on pain medication...all of which are very good things.

I had an interesting in-game conversation earlier today with someone who's a pirate, but who I don't think is a Privateer about the pros and cons of the recent wardec nerf. This person apparently feels it's going to hurt the game, while I feel what CCP did was exactly the opposite, an action taken to protect the game and its accessibility to new players. To be honest, I really don't want to get back into this topic full-bore as I think I've covered it and stated my opinion pretty well, but I will say this. something else I've said here before, but which I don't think enough players understand is key here:

First and foremost, EVE is not a game, but entertainment media, a commercial product which is intended to make a profit for the company that creates it, CCP. If EVE succeeds in this, it will continue to grow and improve...if not, it will wither and die. This has nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, to do with the actual quality of the game or how much we love it as players. It has everything to do with basic economic reality: If it sells, it lives, and if it doesn't, it dies.

In this way, it's really no different from the business I'm in, or trying to be in, anyway. As regular readers have probably picked up from my references, I'm a radio talk show host. The kind of show I do is very specialized, especially intended for a specific kind of listener but also designed to be accessible to everyone who cares to take the time to listen. In order for me to be successful in doing this professionally, I need three things:

First, I need to be good. In fact, I need to be better than most. I am.

Second, I need someone in the business who thinks I'm good enough to hire. That, I've got.

The third part is harder: a media company that's willing to take a chance on funding a genre of radio that's largely untested in the commercial market. Finding that is the job of the guy who will be my boss, and it's finding the right business partner that's what's really taking the time here.

To translate this into EVE terms, let's start with this reality that every professional mediamaker of any stripe understands:

Media consumers are unbelievably fickle. The average gamer (online or otherwise), properly motivated, will be just as quick to bail on any given game they lose interest in as the average radio listener will be to bail on any given show that they find boring or less interesting than another. The real difference here, if there can honestly be said to be one, is only in the amount of time it takes for the consumer to "change the channel". The way to combat this is in radio is the very same as it is in gaming: Generating and maintaining a high level of consumer loyalty.

I remember a conversation I once had with a radio professional about getting myself hired in the business, at a major radio provider. He told me something that proved to be right on the money, that his company would be happy to put me on the air as a guest on their shows because I'm damn good, but he doubted that they'd ever offer me a real job because I was just too different from everything that had gone before...in other words, as a guest I was attractive because I was new and interesting (not to mention free to the company), but they'd never actually hire me, because I was TOO new and interesting. How fucked up is that?

This kind of thing definitely applies to EVE as well. Many people download the trial, but how many actually subscribe as a result and how many decide for themselves that EVE just isn't for them, that it's just TOO new and different to actually invest money in? When one looks at the playerbase of WoW and compares it against EVE's, it's pretty clear that EVE caters to a playerbase as specialized as the listenerbase which my show and network do, with much the same results. It doesn't take a game with almost 35 times the playerbase as EVE's to tell me what I've known for years: Media which strays less from the familiar, the tried and true, will be more successful than that which breaks new ground.

So how does a host like me or a game like EVE, both of which break new ground in our respective fields, develop loyal consumer bases? First, we gotta get them to the door...things like free trials and active mainstream and guerrilla promotional activities help with that. Once we got 'em at the door though, we gotta keep 'em there.

For me, as for EVE, you either like what you get or you don't. You like, you stay, you don't, you leave and move on...if enough people stay, it's a success, if not...

In both cases, it all happens early. Chances are, you'll know if you like me and my radio show after just a little while of listening, and a similar amount of time is needed for a new player to figure out if EVE is for them or not. That's why, just as it's critical for me to make my show as accessible to someone who's never heard it before as it is to someone who listens every week, so too does EVE need to be as accessible and fun to play for someone who's been playing for two hours as it is for someone who's been playing for two years. Different play styles, different reasons for listening, sure, but it all has to meet in the middle to accomplish the key goal of both: entertainment...without that, neither can succeed.

That's why CCP needed to do what they did to the wardecs, to protect the game and keep it interesting and fun for players of all skill and experience levels. It's not just good for the game, it's absolutely essential for its continued survival. To all you PvP purists complaining about this, I ask you to consider this question and answer it honestly, whether publicly or just for yourself:

Which would you rather have: A game that has safe, protected areas for new players to learn the game or a game which loses money and eventually goes under, rendering all players equal in the complete and total loss of a pastime we all love?

I know what my answer to that question is, and I hope yours is much the same.

I Knew It...

2007-04-29T10:57:00.000-04:00

...I really should remember to double-check that my bill payments go through.

For some reason, my scheduled electronic payment to the broadband company didn't go through when it was supposed to. So, what do they do? Do they send me a email or a notice in the mail that there's a problem? No. They simply wait and then put my account in "Overdue" status, which I don't discover until I actually log into their site and check my account myself.

What I've discovered about this is that now what they do when you're in "Overdue" status, but not enough in arrears to actually cancel your account and demand their equipment back, is they turn your broadband from a torrent into a tiny dribble in terms of bandwidth, just enough to get your email and do some slow websurfing, but not much else. This is what they'd apparently just done to me, just a few hours before class time. As you might imagine, trying to play EVE like this is next to impossible...trying to play EVE and run Ventrilo at the same time for the class IS, apparently, indeed impossible, proven by the repeated crashings of both programs when I tried to use to use them together.

The next day, once I'd called the company and made the payment by phone (a pain in the ass process by itself) and then rebooted the cable modem and my computer, it was like magic.
Everything worked fine...better than fine, fact. EVE seems to be running better, more smoothly, than it ever has before, and that's even with streaming audio running so I assume the same will be true with Ventrilo even though I haven't actually had the chance to test that as yet. My email, browsers, etc. all seem lightning-quick. Contrary to my initial assessment, I now believe that all the trouble I was having in EVE was completely due to this problem.

Can you imagine if other utilities operated this way? I mean, imagine if when your electric bill was a day overdue all of a sudden your lights and television started browning out? Or if when the gas bill was coming due your house would only be heated intermittently until your account was paid in full? Yet, somehow, I guess because there can really be no rational argument made that Internet access is an essential service (regardless of what we who are avid online gamers might think) in the same way as heat or power are, these companies. at least the one that services my area of New Jersey anyway, apparently feels free to just turn down the tap to almost zero without notice...I guess they figure, rightly so in my case, that you'll become so frustrated that you'll do everything you can just to get the thing working properly. It may eventually gain you the desired results, but one unintended result that will almost surely occur are plenty of really pissed off customers...I'm quite sure I'm hardly the only high-usage Cablevision customer who's missed her payment date by a day or two and has had to deal with this crap.

Ok, enough bitching about my ISP...hey, I know! Let's talk about EVE! What a novel idea! So, last night, atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed, I zipped around Gallente and Caldari space with nary a technical care in the world. It was quite literally the best, most lag/glitch-free experience I've had playing EVE since I started. Deeply weird...I go from my very worst EVE experience ever right to my very best EVE experience ever with no in-between. I can't wait to see what it's like when I fire it up in a little while.

And of course, I'll be even more ready (if that's at all possible) for the next AU Basic PvP class. ;)