Quitters and Survivors – reflecting on my first death in EvE

TL;DR: When I was a noob I got kilt by a corp. mole and learned to meta game EvE. My friend rage quit and I got his Stuff. It's sorta a MEME for this eveoganda post…

So I was reading this post at eveoganda where Rixx was relating a RL experience to the harshness of EvE. It has some colorful comments that are also a good read, and well Rixx danced around a delicate subject in the real world to prove his point in EvE. I've read eveoganda for as long as there has been an eveoganda so I knew what Rixx was getting at. It got me thinking about my first death(s) in EvE and well I felt it warranted a post.

I am sure I have talked about it at some point in a past blog post. I certainly know I have told this story in game as a CEO many times. It was one of those incidents that makes or breaks you in a game. One of those moments where you dig in and fight or you cry and quit. To truly set the stage one must go back to fall of 2009 when a mate I had played WoW with told me of this magical game called EvE online.

I remember logging into EvE and instantly having NO clue what I was doing whilst being totally enthralled with the images on my screen. Shit I was in a station and there was this ship in front of me. About my screen there was all this stuff. Stuff I had no idea what it all meant. Then some popup appears with an android chick telling me what I should do. 12 hours of tutorials later (yeah I did them all) I was hooked. I did what most do at first and flounder around for 2-3 weeks on my own.

Week later at work my mate and I are talking about EvE. He starts telling me how awesome his corp. is and that the CEO and members are nice fellows who all were old hands at EvE (CEO was 6 months old, and the oldest corp. player was 14 months). So I moved what at the time was an eternity. 21 jumps over to Caldari space from Gallente.  I joined this corp. and started to help them mine towards corp. “goals” (making the CEO’s ISK increase). I started mining in a frigate, then a Cruiser, and after a month or two getting my “cut” and training I got this amazing mining barge thingy called a retriever. I also added my second account and trained my “PvP’ pilot to fly a badger II so he could haul my ore (FAIL). Right about this time the corp. had a recruitment drive and some “new” (oh old enough to fly a destroyer) members joined the corp.

So I was out in a belt with my retriever and badger II sitting inside 2500m of an anchored GSC. I was mining on my time and making my ISK today. It was the 2^nd time I had undocked the retriever since dropping my entire wallet on it and the fit. 3 cycles into it and the “new” corp. guy comes online and says “Hello. What’s up?” to which I reply “mining in belt 2”. No further comments in chat but few moments later a thrasher lands in belt. It’s the “new” guy 20KM away heading over to me. I figured he was gonna kill rats and hang out. Chat about this or that perhaps. However that’s not what happened at all.

I remember sitting there in my chair as he locked my retriever wondering how it was I was being locked when there were no rats in the belt. Then I was taking damage and had no clue who was shooting me. I remember the light bulb going off before I was in my pod and asking the “new” guy to stop as it was not funny. I remember being in my pod next. I remember the anger as he locked my badger II and the whole process repeated. I remember being confused and angry. I felt deflated and betrayed. I just lost everything to a friendly who next typed some message about a jihad and gods of the asteroid belts being angry before looting my wrecks and warping off. That day was the day I learned about EvE reality and dark cold center under the eye candy outer layer. 

The next 24 hours was interesting as an EvE noob. Once the rest of the corp. including the CEO came online there was a period of panic. Little did I know the same dude ganked my friend earlier that day. Who emailed the CEO rage quit and was now nowhere to be found in game. The CEO wanted blood but had no ISK to help me out replacing my ships. The other members wanted blood and also had no ISK to help me replace my ships. Everyone was freaking out that the corp. infiltrator could kill them too or steal the stuff from their personal hangers. I was freaking out too because everyone was freaking out. Then the CEO called for us all to get in our best PvP ship and form up, the plan being to hunt this guy down and murder him. The witch hunt lasted about an hour. The New guy had logged off long ago and we were all too dumb to know you cannot kill someone not logged in. The CEO finally figured out how to boot the dude from the corp. and told us that he was shoot on site for the next 24 hours until his roles dropped.

All this happened on a Friday night. I remember spending hours that weekend researching all manner of EvE things. Vexor PvP fits, corporation management options, aggression game mechanics, and corp. moles. Each topic uncovered a new topic and as I fell into the rabbit hole of meta game information. The hook set deeper into my jaw. I now wanted to get a point on that thrasher with my Vexor and have my hobgoblins I and ION blasters rip it apart. I knew how to set up my overview. I knew how to add the bad guy as a contact and set standings. I knew I could lock and fire upon any corp. member with out concord getting in the way. I also knew that there was a good chance that bad guy no longer existed as a character because it was most likely an alt built for corp. infiltration.

When Monday came around my friend had no logged in over the weekend. I sat next cube over from him at work. I was full of all this wonderful EvE knowledge and enthusiasm. So I stuck my head over the cubicle walls and said good morning. We exchanged pleasantries for a bit before I started to ask about how he got ganked. I expected an eager conversation about EvE to spark up. Instead I got “I don’t want to talk about that shitty game man!” Apparently my friend had already un-subbed from EvE and rejoined WoW. He rage quit for good as a result of that one negative event and only once logged back in to give me his stuff before his time ran out. I use the 50M to replace my ships and left the corp. to found my own. The rest they say is history

Since that day I've lived in NullSec, LowSec, highSec and Wormholes. I've founded and ran 3 different corporations. Killed things in fleets, killed things alone, and built pretty much everything from a frigate to a jump freighter. I have a modest net worth somewhere in the 40 Billion ISK range and enjoy my EvE time as life allows. I've had many fun experiences and made a few good friends along the way. Why? Because I chose to be a Survivor not a quitter that fall day in 2009.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Days drift by – I make ISK – EvE has become another hobby!

Last post I talked about rightsizing my EvE footprint. Well I did that and since then have been plodding away building Orcas for the most part. Sure I have some PI going in highsec, I have my R&D agents stacking up datacores for me, and a little trade here and there. I’ve got BPOs in ME/PE or copy slots in my little POS in highsec too. Yet the biggest thing I am doing to make ISK is building Orcas from buying minerals cheap, building Orcas, and flogging said Orcas for x% more than the rocks cost. OH I ran a single level 4 mission in there somewhere too and smartly was reminded how much that game content needs a refresh.

So really EvE for me has become a hobby with a social side. Kind of like Friday night poker games with a group of dudes from work. You show up and play a limited bank game of Poker, talk some BS with the dudes, and consume beer and wings. See at first that sounds like a great thing and you typically find out some interesting stuff about the dudes from work and form some kind of friendship. Yet over time often the whole thing becomes mundane. In one way or another “Dave” is clearly the best poker player and by default goes home with the loot, “Bob’s” stories start to repeat themselves, and well “Sam’s” beer selection and wings tend to lose the flair and spice they once had. My fear is that like the Friday night poker game, EvE will become a hobby I feel obliged to do. 

Yet over the years and reading through my blog if you cut out my constant bitching about real life getting in the way of my EvE time. The whole damn thing reads like a diary of a social poker player. I clearly go through phases of excitement at a new area of EvE I am exploring (I win the poker night), and then fall into a funk when I return to highsec (I loose for weeks on end). It’s a funk yes but a comfortable kind of funk where I can make ISK and chat with mates with out distraction (I double my money and chat with mates). So I’ve come to a realization that perhaps EvE IS the ULTIMATE hobby. It’s there when I have time for it. It changes enough that I find new things to try periodically. Yet if I walk away from it for a week or a month the biggest loss for me is losing touch with the mates. Heaven forbid I might build one less Orca, but that’s about it.

In the end of it all I do continue to log in and tinker. I do keep in touch with mates. I do occasionally try some new facet of the game. So be it a Hobby or a MMO EvE still draws me in and brings me joy

.

Cheers

                                          

EVE SOB

Rightsizing my EvE Footprint.

With my recent departure from WH living coupled with my long time struggle for time commitment for EvE. It’s kind of time to be real about the 4 EvE accounts I run. Sure it’s handy to have 4 concurrent versions of “me” in space filling 4 different fleet roles. Being the scout, bait, and gankers was fun indeed. Being a 1 man asteroid stripping fiend was profitable too. Not to mention having 25 R&D agents RP jobs and 50 concurrent manufacturing slots made it super easy to build stuff and invent. Having 3 concurrent Cynos to jump at with my rhea/carrier was super handy too. Yet with 2-8 hours a week of EvE time these days 4 accounts is overkill.

Along these lines I've been looking to spend my hours less involved with trucking the endless amount of stuff around the gates of New Eden  With a WH you need a tower. With a tower comes fuel. Fuel means tracking crap around. To build capitals you need minerals. Minerals means trucking crap around. I really don’t like trucking crap around EvE. Over the years I have spent concurrent days/weeks of  play time doing so and honestly it’s dull. So I've been spending a lot of time preparing 6 pilots for deep sleep plus hauling all my stuffs to a single location, downsizing my indy network, and generally simplifying my EvE foot print. Why? So I can spend more time blowing up stuff and having fun.

With the subject of blowing stuff up it is twofold between PvE and PvP. The missions in EvE are very dry after 6 days let alone years of doing it on and off. Incursions are pretty easy to find a public fleet for as a logistics pilot or a dude who can fly a high DPS Battle ship. So that’s on my bucket list for my remaining pilots. I've never really wanted to be a pirate but I have enjoyed the few scraps I have had in lowsec over the years. So I might spend some time solo soul searching in the orange areas of the map. Mates tell me faction war is a blast too. So there are options for quick 2-4 hour bites of EvE explosions. I plan to make that a greater focus again.

The fun part is watching and partaking in the social study of human nature that is EvE. I am more than happy to spend a few hours in an ice belt in highsec. My orca and skiff hovering in mediocre amounts of ISK an hour while gankers and miners entertain me with their endless struggle between right and wrong. I love watching Pirates fight each other on lowsec gates too. Loot ninjas and missions runners comic gold. It’s all entertaining stuff that is worth me keeping a few monthly subscriptions. I've been chatting to the gankers more, seeking out the fights between the “bad guys”, and well I've always found ninjas to be hilarious folks to chat with. In fact some of the best times had running missions are playing games with Ninjas and chatting to them after about the day they have had.

Either way still out here doing my thing in my own space hermit way. Enjoying EvE as time allows but soon I’ll be doing it with just 2 accounts.

Cheers

EVE SOB

Oh wait...I forgot to blog...

Now that the holidays are here and work has slowed to a standstill. I can take a breather and get back to non-essential tasks. rehash #20197 Life is busy!

Eve wise I used to have 10+ hours 5 days a week in which I could semi-afk play EvE. Now with the new RL job and such I get about 4 scattered hours of interactive play time a week. This means I'll more than likely fall back on manufacturing and trade for a bit. Yes yes, becoming another semi retired EvE blogger.

The "Industrial DeResolution" wormhole corp. I founded continues to do well. Having recently picked up 10 new members and a C3. We are chugging along like crazy which is awesome considering I as the CEO am mostly offline. Fortunately the Directors and mates are keeping it moving. One such director "Chromite" from South Africa is being himself and trying to conquer all of EvE through industry. The other directors are just blowing stuff up which is just fine.

I still have the C1 which is kind of my holiday WH now. Mostly for the PI and the quiet now. I might do some light T2 material refining in there and keep the sites worked as I get 30 mins here and there to focus. I sold my RHEA and Carrier a while back. Might be time to rebuild both for grins. Zomb can now fly Minnie Dreads as well.

I still need to check out the new toys from the winter expansion. New mining frigate looks like fun. My vagabond got it's new nifty frill (hats of to Rixx Javix and the frill seekers). New destroyers and such etc. Now I have a safety to stop me from being stupid in Empire (lolz) and can flippers can get shot at by all apparently. Oh when I click stuff the camera shifts to it now. OH and I cannot seem to find the jukebox anymore?

Either way. Still out here and I'll blog now and then.

Cheers

EVE SOB

All dressed up...Still no place to go! :(

It's been over a year now since Incarna was released in June of 2011. Introducing walk in stations as a new feature. With all the controversy around micro transaction and honestly the release lacking any true value to the game. Most people simply turn off captains quarters and well go about there day in spaceships as if nothing ever happened.

Since Incarna we have had these gorgeous new avatars that can be customized and tailored to fit pretty much any PG-13 image one wants to fly around space. We were also given head to toe clothing to don which was cool but pointless because people could at best see a head and shoulders. Many worked the angles and cameras to include some more "goods" in there portraits. I forget the exact patch in the last year when the e-perv full body view feature was released. It finally gave anyone the ability to see what we saw when strutting about our CQs, well assuming it meets the co-eq requirements to wear a shirt and pants. The games T for teen and we can see floating naked frozen corpses, but heaven forbid if some one undocks with out SHOES!!!

Yet still there is a limited application to all this eye candy. Niffty Jiggles here was built to strut and dressed in her leather Officers outfit is in the prime of her social life. She should be frequenting the bars and officers lounges in Caldari Stations. She should be able to use her "assets" to advance her career and gain advantages over her peers. Yet for the last year when she steps away from the mirror and to the door she is greeted with the same message "Station atmosphere not yet decontaminated for capsuleer consumption." The same she has seen every damn time she has pressed that button in her capsuleer life. Honestly it pisses her off that she can undock and be one with her spaceship, get blown to bits and wake up in a med bay light years away. Yet the brilliant minds of New Eden cannot allow her to walk and breathe clean air outside of her little room. Every damn time she walks out to look at her Raven, she wonders how it is she is standing on an open air balcony and YET she can breathe the air.

With DUST looming and in Beta the military application of two legs VS a meat suit in a pod is painting a stark reality. Folks can wander about and shoot at each other down on the dirty planets. The fictional propaganda videos dramatize an attractive woman executing payback to a double crossing orbital commander who nuked the ground forces he hired. Ya know, she walks up behind the dude and points her pistol at him. Psft, yeah right. Like THAT shit is ever gonna happen! It might be fun and well there have been some station campers over the years I'd love to walk up to and shoot them in the head. Especially now implants costs are in pod kill mails. Heck I'd even be happy with the ability to flip them off or moon them from my open air balcony.

The bottom line is CCP has given us this thing. Stacked a failed micro transaction business on it. And yet we really don't have anything to use it for today or in the future. Yoda perhaps said it best "DO or DO NOT! There is no try!" While I love my spaceships and the current focus on spaceships. This Incarna crap should either be developed into something useful or scrapped all together. Shit at least let them run and jump and bounce and jiggle next patch. Perhaps make them walk right and not take awkward scissor steps when they cannot quite figure out if they are on that EXACT spot you just clicked. I mean how hard is it to build a bloody corridor and a common area and let people wander about?

OK off to sit on my sofa and entertain myself. Heck I might just go poke around the Worm Hole for kicks.

Cheers

EVE SOB