Ho Ho Ho!

So I woke up and realized that we got our Christmas presents from CCP today.  I currently only have one account so my list is rather limited, but eventually I'm sure I'll collect it all, especially the ships, I love ships, I need collectors ships.

Sukuuvestaa Heron x 1
Public Portrait: How To x 1
NEO YC 114: Much Crying Old Experts x 1
NEO YC 114: Oxygen Isonopes x 1
Snowball CXIV x 300
Concordokken x 1
NEO YC 114: My Little Nulli x 1
Genolution Core Augmentation CA-1 x 1
Carbon x 1
Boots.ini x 1

I would like to say how much I love how CCP did it this year.  The problem with giving out collectable items to all the players is that they immediately become worthless because everyone has it.  Seriously, go look at the value of a Zephyr, or Apotheosis, pennies.  Everyone active at the time got one.  Yes their limited edition, yes their cool, but their basically worthless.  Does anyone who calls themselves a collector not have one? 

The way CCP did it this year was perfect.  Everyone gets some cool collectors stuff, yet they all keep some intrinsic collectors value because the market isn't going to be flooded with them for eternity.  No, they aren't a Silver Magnate or Malice, but you also can't pick everything up for pennies either.  Well done. 

As a side note the only two things I really wanted was the boots.ini and the Concordokken, and I got them, so it's been a great Christmas so far!

You Can Take The Player Out Of Eve...

Well that was a little awkward, putting up a return to blogging post and following it with nothing for another couple of months.  I honestly thought I would continue, but truthfully, my interest in Eve basically fell to nothing and my desire to blog went with it.  Personal issues in real life have a tendency to do that I guess.

Anyway I actually am going to return this time.  I find I love writing, hell I've even started writing a book!  Don't worry, it won't end up being any good (probably), but I recently read an article that shamed me to do more with my life than watch TV.  Writing is something I enjoy, and it's always been a dream of mine to write a novel.  So we'll see what happens with it.  If I get it published (HA!) I'll be thrilled, but if not, at least I created something instead of just devouring the creations of others.

And in the end my love of writing is why I'm back to blogging, for real this time.  Eve is a passion of mine, the nuance of the meta-game, the skill required to fly your ship, or fit it, or trade, everything.  And writing about it is enjoyable to me, even if I don't have many readers yet.  So I'll have some thoughts over the next couple of days, then I'm heading off to Chicago for Christmas with the family. Maybe I'll even write some Eve fiction stories.

So assuming the world doesn't end tomorrow, expect more from me.

Back To The Grindstone

Just a heads up that I'm finally back to the game, what has it been?  2 Months?  That thing called real life can sure get in the way of video games.  I'll probably start posting again this week, I just have to see if I remember how to play Eve...

AFG

For the two or three of you that actually read this, don't expect many updates over the next month.  I'm currently in the process of moving and as such I won't have much time for gaming.  I'll be sure to pick up activity after everything has settled down. 

WTFB: Be Careful With Drunk Forum Posting

You know those great ideas you have when you're drunk?  Like jumping off the roof of your house; yeah guess what, they usually aren't great ideas.  This continues to forum posting.  I've had a few instances where I posted something and the next day I just scratched my head and wondered why I was possessed with such stupidity.  It makes you look like you need to go back in the womb for a while and cook some more.  Those brilliant ideas that will fix the game forever, like completely removing CONCORD, usually aren't fully vetted in your mind when you've been drinking.

If you've got something important to say, and you're drunk, think about it long and hard.  Remember, the people reading it don't know your drunk, but they do know that you're an idiot.

Fit Of The Week - Battle Burst!

This won't be you're average Fit Of The Week that many bloggers do; i.e. something I know works or a cool fit I found on a killboard somewhere.

Instead, each week I will fit out a ship in a way I've never done before and go out and see how it does.  Some will be serious, some lol, some off-the-wall, and some will probably make you think that I should probably stop playing this game and go suck on a pacifier.  When I am finished with my test I'll post the fit here and give you an AAR to tell you how it went.  Most of these fits will be solo, but there will be a few fleet fits as well.  Expect lots of failures and embarrassing loss-mails in my future.

To start it off, and in honor of the upcoming mining frigate changes I give you:

[Burst, Battle Burst!]
Damage Control II

Warp Scrambler II
1MN Afterburner II
Stasis Webifier II

150mm Light AutoCannon II , Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
150mm Light AutoCannon II , Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

-AAR-

The battle Burst is not a viable fleet tactic! :D  

I knew this ship wouldn't actually do anything worthwhile (duh...) but it was fun to fly around non-the-less.  I roamed around a bit throughout Syndicate, but due to my limited envelope of targets I wasn't able to find anything to kill.  At one point I did find myself caught in a bubble camp though, but I was able to successfully evade destruction, and to be completely honest, I consider that a win. :D  

After a bit of roaming, chasing an Itty III at one point, and not having any success, one of my corp-mates, Alistone Malkite, said he'd kill me with a Velator.  He succeeded.  3 Times.

It was a pretty simple engagement where in he sent his drones on me and proceed to kill me before I was able to kill him.  We tried two more times (because I had two more ships in my hanger) and the result was the same.  The last time I tried killing his drones before I went after him, but I was only able to get one drone to about 75% structure before I was killed. 

The slow speed of the Burst prevented me from closing the distance and inflicting the damage on his ship before the drones had done their work.  Combine that with the lack of a damage bonus (which the Velator recieves) and I was simply out-matched in a fight where he had the range advantage to start.  Had I been able to land at 0 on him (he clearly warped to 10 on each engagement) I might have been able to defeat him before the drones took me out.  

Just a bit of fun to see how I would do trying to fit out a mining frigate for combat.  It was a pretty worthless learning experience, even more so due to the upcoming changes, but in the end we both had a bit of fun on a slow night right before downtime.  Next time, I warp to 10.  >:)

CSM Summit Minutes - Part 2

Page 105 -The Launcher- 

"We may also be able to do something like let people buy more slots in an account."

Interesting, as I would assume this would end up costing CCP some subscription money in the long run.  If you have 12 Industry alts spread over 4 accounts, wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run for you to move them all to a single account?  

Page 125 -Logistics Frigate-

The topic quickly bounced over to the idea of having a Frigate logistics class.
Elise rather bluntly stated that Frigate logistics would “be bad no matter what”.
CCP Soundwave countered that he liked the idea and didn’t think a balanced solution was impossible to find.
CCP Greyscale chimed in saying that extreme range would be a good solution for a Frigate logistics class.
At this point Hans interjected and stated that Frigate logistics would finally give people a reason to use all the faction small remote reps they get. On this like, Two step suggested there should be faction large remote reps, to which CCP Ytterbium was apathetic.

I like this idea, there are so many T1 frigates in the game that this could provide a useful beginneres mark for that play-style.

Pages 121-134 -Balancing-
I literally loved every single thing in here.  Only time will tell if it all pans out, and as I'm no game designer or ship expert I'm probably not the one to ask about it, but it still all sounded good to me.

Page 129 -Sniping-

On the subject of sniping, Greyscale tossed out a high-level idea for a fix to sniping. He asked for CSM input on one such idea, an interdiction probe that would be launched a certain range before the bubble would deploy. In essence it would work as a drag-bubble to protect the sniping fleet, or at least give it ample time to react and reposition.

This is an interesting mechanic.  It would totally re-work combat strategies.  Though it's difficult to tell if this would work, I like the idea in its general sense. 

Page 133 -Off grid boosting-

CCP Ytterbium addressed the concern of off grid links and simply stated “off grid boosting should not exist”

Truth spoken here.

Pages 135-140 -Player to Player Contracts-
I liked most of what they said here, but one question kept coming to mind, which I think Elise summed up nicely:

Elise Randolph added that the backstabbing element is fun as well, and should be considered.

All these changes seem like they would limit the scamming opportunities in the game, and let's be clear here, there should always be ways to scam stupid people out of their isk.


Page 145 -Cocktease-

With only a few minutes left in the session, CCP Affinity brought up a very high-level thought for the CSM to ‘sniff test’. While no specifics can be provided the general reaction from the CSM was that the intent was good but it had to be done incrementally and carefully. CCP will confer further with the CSM should the idea make it past the stage of just being an idea.

This is just mean and unfair.

I'm torn about the usefulness of the long wait for these minutes.  In my opinion a ballance needs to be found.  It's wonderful to see who said what, but frankly I don't care about all the jokes being said, and most of the information was completely outdated.  It was a good read, but in the future they need to be able to pump most of this information out in a couple weeks at the latest, this took far too long.

CSM Summit Minutes: Worth The Wait? - Part 1

I am currently reading all 165 pages of the CSM Summit Minutes. I'm about halfway through and there have been a lot of great things to read.  I personally feel like the wait was worth it.  I like being able to see who said what in so much detail.  I'll talk briefly here about what stood out to me from the first half.

Page 49 -Arenas-

Discussion then turned to Arenas, which were envisioned as a tool to promote some sort of organized PvP without ruining the game.

Terrible, terrible, terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea!  The last thing that Eve needs is an arena!  This will destroy all casual small scale PvP in the game, leaving only the large fleet fights for territory left.  I'm actually amazed that they would even consider this.

Page 51 -Incarna-

Alekseyev Karrde (via Lync): Would like to see station establishments with war rooms and poker tables first as a stepping stone. Players need to have confidence in CCP’s ability to deliver WiS content before such an ambitious feature is launched. Otherwise buy-in will not happen."

I highlighted the part that stood out to me, will all Incarna features be MT based?  It could just be an innocent phrase, or it could be an indication of their payment scheme.  I don't really care either way, but it could be interesting.

Page 54 -Live Events-

CCP Goliath was happy with the response of the CSM and presented an idea that the Live Events team came up with, which is that there would be hidden event triggers and, if met, would cause a certain event to take place – or not take place. The players would then choose the outcome of the event and it would be written into EVE lore.

This would be a lot of fun.  Being able to affect the outcome of the lore would be a blast.

Pages 59-63 -Industry & Mining-

Everything they said about the new industry UI, automation, and mechanics I loved.  They mentioned "unicorn manure" and special resources to build more advanced ships (their example is a Titan vs. a Frigate), but I'd consider taking this a step further.  Say you find some of your "unicorn manure" and want to apply it to a batch of Rifters.  Why not have those Rifters be slightly faster than normal, or with a slightly higher tank, or maybe longer targeting range, or something improved over the sock ship?  Nothing game-breaking of course, but if someone wants to make a slightly better ship and charge a little extra, why not?  Don't know how this would work, but I think it's worth considering.

Ring mining was all interesting, but "best case...Winter expansion 2013," is kind of disappointing. 

Page 63 -Starbases-

We've heard just about everything that they want to do with this already, modular, customizable, ectt..., but one quote really stood out

Seleene said, "I want to cloak my secret pirate starbase." Greyscale said that might be a possibility, then shocked the entire room by mentioning offhand, "I really, really, really want to let you put a jump drive on them." The whole room erupted into smiles. He then continued, "Not just right click cyno jump, but you put a beacon down and it takes something like 48 hours before you jump." He wanted to do this to allow small gangs to have a roaming base.

Seleene declared that, "This is a hero move! This is amazing!"

Agreed!

Everything else in that section was just epic as well, can't wait until it's fully developed and deployed!

So there's my wrap-up of the first half.  As my brain is about to melt I'll leave the second half for another day, but so far so good.

Blog Banter 38: Small improvements make a difference

 "In his recent "That's just the way it is" post on Jester's Trek, blogger Ripard Teg posits that the established EVE player-base has come to accept many of EVE's design idiosyncrasies, rarely questioning their purpose or benefit. Conversely, he also suggests that new players might not be so forgiving of these "quirks". In an interview with Gamasutra, Senior Producer CCP Unifex describes EVE Online's developers as "relatively hands-off janitors of the virtual world", underlining that he has only four content developers but "a lot" of programmers and engineers.

Has a culture developed where CCP has started to take player effort for granted - expecting the "social engine" to fulfil tasks that might otherwise be CCP's responsibility? Or should this culture be embraced as part of "emergent gameplay" with these quirks accepted as the catalyst for interaction?"

This is an interesting question, which is why I've waited a few days to blog about it.  The TL/DR of it is, yes, I believe that CCP does take player generated content for granted.

As we look at this though, it's not as simple as saying CCP needs to start pouring content into the game.  A sandbox, by its very nature, walks a fine line between the developers pushing their agenda and allowing the players to pursue theirs.

Imagine for a moment what would happen if CCP started focusing their development on storyline missions.  I'm sure we would get some great "quests," some great "raids," and everything else that every theme park MMO has to keep its player-base entertained.  Wouldn't it be fun if we could take part in this video:

Honestly, the story lover in me would love that.  We fly our ship and discover something, then we debark and explore it, get something valuable, and all of this within a well written narrative that keeps us engrossed throughout the end.  Honestly, in my opinion, this would be amazingly fun if done properly.

The problem with doing this lies in the amount of resources that CCP would need to put into it.  We wouldn't get PvP balancing nearly as often, probably no new ships (or one per new "raid" every year or so).  We probably wouldn't see mining, POS, and all industrial mechanics iteriated on for a much longer period of time.  CCP isn't EA or Blizzard, they don't have the resources to do it all.

So where is the razors edge in this?  Clearly putting content of that level is out of realistic reach of CCP (if they can even do it all at).

I ask you this question, what is the single most important thing to keeping players in the game?  It sure isn't the tutorial, nor is it the wonderful UI.  It could be the spaceships and the visuals, but honestly that will only take you so far.  I'm willing to bet big money that Eve University (and other noob-friendly corps) is probably the most important part of Eve's growth.  I know for a fact that I wouldn't still be playing this game had I not joined E-Uni when I started playing.

And there in lies the problem.  The single most important thing for Eve's continued success isn't anything CCP is doing at all, it's all with us, the players.  Simple things like convincing new players  to keep playing are completely abandoned by CCP and, in my opinion, that is a very telling sign.

So what should CCP do?  Again, they can't go WoWish with the content, but simple things they can do.  Create more engrossing epic mission arcs, infuse the Eve lore more into the daily game play (for example put more of the lore into ship descriptions, with links to further reading).  Voice acting.  Create a great NPC villain that everyone from day 1 can recognize (Sansha is a pretty poor villain from a game standpoint in all honesty).  Why not let the factions duke it out in highsec?  See faction navies fighting each other, and swapping territory (why can't Jita sometimes be in Gallente space?).  Do live events that span large areas and further the Eve story instead of just putting it in the expansion notes.

There are literally thousands of simple things that CCP can do to provide content on their end without destroying their core game philosophy.  Eve would be better for it.

How to begin FCing

If you're anything like me, you want to FC but you're terrified to do it.  You might be new to the game and not have the knowledge you need; you might be shy and afraid to make mistakes; you might be completely overwhelmed by all the information; or it could be any number of other reasons.  Hopefully this little guide can help you understand how I was able to do it, and can help you achieve it as well.

What this guide is:

• A way to show you how to lead your first fleet out.
• A way to overcome all the difficulties of starting.
• A way to cope with failure.
• A plan to improve once you've popped your cherry.

What this guide is not:

• A guide on how to be a good FC.
• An overarching treatise on tactics.
• Something for those who regularly lead fleets already.

So you want to FC, but don't know where or how to start.  First off figure out what is holding you back?  Most people probably don't pick it up because they are either afraid of criticism, afraid of looking bad, don't know enough about the game to make sound tactical decisions, or most likely a combination of all of that.

Let me let you in on a couple of facts.

1. If you tell people you are brand new to FCing, no one will make fun of you.  No one will be unduly harsh in their criticism.  People won't avoid you because you are new.
2. Every single person who has ever FC'd sucked when they began.  They didn't understand tactics.  They didn't know how to bait properly.  They all got their fleets wiped.

When you keep these two things in mind, any fear you have of looking bad and being made fun of should go away.  People know this is a game and won't be an ass when you give them fair warning that you're new.  Now if you come across people who are assholes to you, ask this question:  "Do they lead fleets?"  If the answer is no, then remember that you are already ahead of them at FCing, as they can't summon the courage to try it.  If they do FC and they still do this, find another corp because those guys are beyond assholes.

A few tricks I used to get over the fear of leading my first fleet:

• Know for a fact that you're going to make bad decisions and everyone will probably die.
• Know that even a bad FC is better than station spinning.
• Have something to eat.
• Make sure you don't have to go to the bathroom.
• Have a drink.  Don't get drunk, but a shot or two can help calm your nerves down just enough to be able to get over the hump.
• Remember that you're playing a game, and everyone will have fun regardless of the outcome.
• Lead a T1 frigate or cruiser gang, this will keep it cheap.

Now remember when I said you are going be terrible at it?  That doesn't mean you will fail.  Failure is not taking the fleet out in the first place; by simply taking everyone out on a roam you have already succeeded, I'd wager that 90% of Eve players never even reach that point.  So keep that in mind as you learn.

So now you're out there.  What in gods name are you supposed to do?  You surely don't want to go out and suck on purpose, but you have no idea what the next step is.  There are few things as debilitating to a fleet as inaction.  Inaction gets you killed and it's boring.  So for your first few roams follow these two simple rules:

• When in doubt, warp the fleet to the next gate.
• If you think you can take something on, go for it.

It's very simple, as long as you are moving and getting into fights people will enjoy themselves; and that's all you can ask for on your first few roams.

The next step should be a pretty obvious one; continue to lead fleets.  If you continue to FC you will improve your abilities and lessen the nerves.  I set a goal for myself after my first fleet that I would lead a fleet every Saturday.  In my first 5 weeks of FCing I lead 4 fleets.  Now unfortunately real life has severely limited my play time since then, so I've been unable to commit to any more.  I do fully plan on continuing with my commitment though once life has settled down.  The reason I set this goal is I've found that if I set a goal like this it helps me stay accountable to improving.  I'd recommend you do the same, though it doesn't have to be weekly, find a schedule that works for you.

If you do these things, I know from personal experience that you'll get better.  It takes a while, and at times you'll regress (my last roam was a disaster), but the nerves will die down and you'll begin to see yourself improving bit-by-bit.  Make sure to ask for constructive criticism so you are able to correct things you do wrong.  Often times you will know exactly where you fucked up, but other times you won't even notice.  Asking your fleet mates after the roam what you could have done better is something you should do every time, either in AAR format or by just straight up asking over coms.

Anyway, I hope this guide is able to help someone who's sitting on the fence about FCing.  Good luck and may your enemies cower in fear!

Making Core

Just a quick one here.  I was promoted to CORE member in Agony today!  I was fairly confidant that I would be promoted but there was still a fear that I wouldn't make it.  I now have a place to call home!  So stoked I can't explain it.  Thanks go out to every member of Agony for accepting me as one of your own.

WTFB: Don't Mine

We all need to make isk, but mining is about the worst way to do it.  It's boring, low isk/hour, and any skills you train are useless for anything else.  If you truly enjoy mining, you're a weirdo.  If you like to make things, do something worth more isk/hour and buy the minerals.

I trained Mining to 3, Mining Upgrades to 1, Industry to 2, and Refining to 2 in a period of warped logic that I would build up some "isk making skills" when I started the game.  That's like 10,500 wasted skill points!  Don't do it, you can't get it back!

Alliance Tournament X

Edit:  Well that worked out :D.  Congratulations to Verge.

The final day is upon us, all 16 surviving teams are now only 4 victories away from being crowned champion.  Here are my predictions.

I'll be sure to brag when I'm right.

Eve Parodies

I love parodies Eve players make of popular music, I actually wish I could sing so I could make some myself, but I digress.  I will be keeping a list of every (good) parody I can find on this page.  I'm omitting some that are either terrible quality or where the singer is so bad it detracts from the song; everything else I find I will post here, so if you know of one I haven't found please let me know so I can add it to the list.  Enjoy.

By Suas
Little Bees
I Robbed A Goon
Seleene Transvestite
109 Stupid Goons
Fuck Goons
Blackbird

By Cearul 
How To Stay Aligned

By Poetic Stanziel
SoCo

By Nitro G
Cynos Down

By Naburi NasNaburi
Eve, Oh Eve
Yesterday
My Guns Were Made For Shooting

By BendigoXana
Gate Camp Strut
Six Days On The Road

By Alekseyev Karrde & Jimer Lin
Pandemic Phone
Clik Lok

By Starstream
I'm Not Moving
Changed The Way You FC
Who's Gonna Save The Fleet Tonight?
Mad Eve World
I Dream Of Paradise, Everytime A Carebear Dies
Reship, Carry On (Blame CCP)
Eve Uprising
The Brightside Of PvP
Eve Players
Batphone

By DavidKMagnus
Pandemic Legion
Elect Elise
Winter Update
Fight Us Maybe?
SuperCaps
Dreads

By Asa Shaddix
I'm In A Rokh
Nyx In A POS

By DJ  Doby
Hey Yaa (So Sacked)
Dear CCP
Dude Your Alt Is A Woman
The Real Slim Doby
Downtime
Carebear Rhapsody
Whatever
Riny XXX
E-R Army
Born To Play Eve

By Dreddit
I Love New Eden

By Sindel Pellion
Titan
Makalu Cries
Good Fight (featuring DJ Starstream)
Dock Game

By Vis Nyliss
(Internet) Starships

By Curzon Dax
Tribute To Sabre A
Romance In Eve
Battle Of The ePeens
Noob, You'll Have An ePeen Soon
ISK ISK Baby
Dax Is Back
Eve-O Logic
Rats Got Loot
Behind Carebear Eyes
Runaway Inflation
Dreaming Of Eve
Flashing Red
Forum Whiners Unite!
Silver Death Bots
M.I.N.E.R.
I Need a New Home!
I'm A Racketeer!
I'm A Big Big Noob!
Because I Got High
Random Pwnage
Amarrian Pie
Flavor Of The Month
We Be Pirates
Carebear Blues
Ballad Of CCP
Eve Online Is For BOB

WTFB: Don't Corp Hop

I've been involved in the recruiting process a little bit in my Eve time and one of the first things that is looked at is employment history.  Having the list littered with dozens of different corps sends a huge red flag up to any recruiter and will make your chances of being accepted much harder.  This information says that either you are impossible to get along with, you're a scammer, you're flaky, you go inactive for long periods of time for no reason, or a combination of all of the above.

That's not to say you shouldn't leave a corp if it isn't working for you, or that it's terrible if you have some trouble finding your way when you're new to the game, just don't make a habit of it.  Understand that if you have a large number of corps you've been a member of, you are going to be asked questions about them and why you left.  This is especially true if the time spent in those corps is very short.

Noobs don't beware!

I had an interesting fight tonight.  First let me prefase this with the fact that I was very drunk (and still am as I write this, so forgive my writing on this one, I'm about 20 drinks deep currently).

In my drunken meandering I had a Wolf land on the gate with me as I was flying a Rifter.  I decided to engage and he obliged.  Quickly he had me in mid structure and I went to my pod-saver tab to attempt to warp out and save my pod.  To my surprise I saw my ship warp out of the area completely alive.  I asked him how he didn't kill me and this is the conversation that followed.

[ 2012.07.08 10:53:39 ] Virto Nex > ...how didn't you kill me?
[ 2012.07.08 10:53:50 ] Neveen inglorious > lost point
[ 2012.07.08 10:53:51 ] Neveen inglorious > ...
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:10 ] Neveen inglorious > GF
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:15 ] Virto Nex > i'm so drunk thought it would be a good idea to engage a wolf
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:16 ] Virto Nex > lol
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:17 ] Virto Nex > fg
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:20 ] Virto Nex > *gf
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:24 ] Neveen inglorious > HAHA
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:34 ] Neveen inglorious > my first time solo frig
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:35 ] Virto Nex > Meh only a rifter, who cares
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:38 ] Neveen inglorious > so you had a chance
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:38 ] Virto Nex > right on man
[ 2012.07.08 10:54:56 ] Virto Nex > i was preparing to warp my pod out
[ 2012.07.08 10:55:01 ] Neveen inglorious > haha
[ 2012.07.08 10:55:09 ] Neveen inglorious > i dont know i just lost point
[ 2012.07.08 10:55:12 ] EVE System > Channel changed to Local : PVH8-0

At this point I started a private convo to continue the conversation.

[ 2012.07.08 10:55:38 ] Virto Nex > you had me in 52% structure
[ 2012.07.08 10:55:41 ] Neveen inglorious > y
[ 2012.07.08 10:55:46 ] Neveen inglorious > one or 2 more shots
[ 2012.07.08 10:55:50 ] Virto Nex > yup
[ 2012.07.08 10:56:06 ] Virto Nex > no one flys the wolf, props for flying something different
[ 2012.07.08 10:56:07 ] Neveen inglorious > ah well good practice
[ 2012.07.08 10:56:15 ] Virto Nex > exactly
[ 2012.07.08 10:56:19 ] Neveen inglorious > hit its fun
[ 2012.07.08 10:56:20 ] Virto Nex > i suck too
[ 2012.07.08 10:56:47 ] Virto Nex > thats why i don't fly the wolf, a web and you would have had me
[ 2012.07.08 10:57:07 ] Neveen inglorious > if you would have had scram i would have been gone
[ 2012.07.08 10:57:44 ] Virto Nex > nah you get too much bonus to weapons, you have to be damn good to take a t2 frig in a rifter
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:03 ] Virto Nex > of o were upi. o
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:06 ] Neveen inglorious > i have no tank and arty guns, if you get close real close
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:23 ] Neveen inglorious > well gf mate, cya around
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:24 ] Virto Nex > wft did i just send? ingore me
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:25 ] Virto Nex > lol
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:29 ] Virto Nex > yeah gf, take care and gl
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:30 ] Neveen inglorious > ;)
[ 2012.07.08 10:58:35 ] Neveen inglorious > cya

If either of us had been more experienced we probably would have won the fight.  We both sucked and in the end neither of us won.  My point with this is, don't be afraid to come out to null, you just might meet people as terribad as we are. :D

Blog Banter 37: Don't cross the line

"EVE Online sits on the frontier of social gaming, providing an entertainment environment like no other. The vibrant society of interacting and conflicting communities, both within the EVE client and without, is the driving force behind EVE's success. However, the anonymity of internet culture combined with a competitive gaming environment encourages in-game behaviour to spread beyond the confines of the sandbox. Where is the line?"

Eve is real they say, but how real can we allow it to be? There are people in this video game I will freely admit I can't stand; but what would happen if I met them in real life, or found their real facebook page, or anything outside of the game?  The answer to that is simple, nothing.

Let's back up a little bit though, at first look this is a very simple question with a very simple answer.  Would you physically harm someone in real life over a video game?  Would you attack them in their social circle?  Taunt, ridicule, harass them?  Of course you wouldn't; and if you would, it's probably time you stepped away from the computer for a while.  There's more to this simple question than would first appear though.

As we delve deeper into this line of thought a few truths arise.  First, we all think we're way smarter and more important than we really are.  Second, the internet allows us, via it's anonymity, to be someone other than our true selves.  In an of themselves these aren't bad things.  It can be a great relief to come home from your menial job and enter a world where you're a bad ass and incredibly important.  All games do this for you, frankly that's why we play them.  TV does this, movies, books, they all allow you to take away the stresses of life while enjoying another reality.

MMO's take this escape, and put you into a world filled with thousands of others trying to do the same thing.  Just like in real life though, in Eve you can be unsuccessful.  You can be unimportant.  But it allows us to take out our frustrations on other people.  You can be a jerk, you can be a criminal, you can be the lowest society has to offer, and have fun doing all of it.

Thirdly, there is no true governance online.  You can do what you want, say what you want, lie, be a dick, whatever.

Let me ask you a question.  If you knew, for a fact, that you could rob a bank for billions of dollars and would never get caught, would you do it?  I'd wager that 90+% of the world would say yes.  I know I would, we don't do it though because we know for a fact that we will get caught.  The problem with the internet is, we won't get caught for being a douche-bag.  Our parents/girlfriends/wives will never know what we watch late at night.  Your friends won't know that you love My Little Pony (shame on all of you btw).

What happens when you combine people being their natural dick selves with no repercussions trying to fight a bigger dick, all in a world that encourages it?  Lines get crossed.  People say racist, homophobic, sexual, and all around stupid things.

The way I see it, the line is truly crossed when you bring up someones personal life into the mix.  I know we've all used the word "fag" to describe another pilot we've met.  The problem arises when we use that word to attack the person behind the pilot who is in fact truly gay in real life.  The line for acceptable online interaction is much further back than what it is in day to day life, and you need to be prepared for that.  What you can not allow yourself to do though, is get involved in other players real lives in a negative way.  That can range from physical violence all the way to personal attacks on the forums and in chat.  The moment you bring up the person, you've crossed the line.

Remember, they're just like you, trying to escape from reality for a bit.  So be nice, don't attack their personal lives.

WTFB: Alochol And Expensive Things

I know you've had that moment.  You get back from the bars, or after a party, and all you want is to see some shit explode.  We've all been there.  When you are at that point, don't grab your multi-billion isk, officer fit, Macherial.  Leave the Titan toon alone.  Don't so solo PvPing in your Tengu.  Grab something cheap and go fly.  You will lose it.

Fact:  Every single time I've PvPed while drunk, I've lost my ship.  Luckily I've never taken anything expensive out, but the fact remains.

100 Rifters

If you've been involved in PvP much you were probably given a bit of advice when you first started.  Grab as many T1 frigs as you can afford and go out to low or null and lose them.  As you lose them, you'll gain lots of experience and improve your abilities more effectively than any other thing you can do.  We all suck when we start, and some of us still suck (cough-me-cough), so this is a great way to improve.  I never did it myself,  though I wasn't shy about trying to find fights when I first started, I was (and still am) a little too cautious when I'm out PvPing.  My ship and tactic knowledge is limited at best as well, though I have improved exponentially since I've joined Agony.

So that brings me to my Rifters.  I recently just bought 100 of them with the requisite fittings, and I'm going out to lose them.  I've been pretty isk poor for a while so buying anything more powerful just isn't feasible right now. I'm not going to use them for fleet action, this is all for my solo work.  I won't care about KB stats, I won't care about losing them (though I won't be stupid in my engagements), all I'll care about is getting myself into good fights that I can learn from.  If I have a chance at killing something I'll go for it, period.  All frigates, T1 Destroyers, and T1 cruisers will probably be the main ships I engage, though I might try killing other things as well if I'm feeling adventurous.

Like I said, this is a learning experience.  I will be trying to win every fight of course, but realistically I'll lose most of them.  When I'm fresh out of Rifters, I expect my knowledge and ability in solo PvP to be greatly improved.  This will probably take a couple months to finish completely because my playtime probably won't allow me to do it any sooner than that.  I'll let you know how it goes.

WTFB: Ask For Intel

So you've spent some time in highsec and you need to come back to the fold.  You know the routes in are often camped.  This is when it behooves you do ask if there's anything in your path.  It will save you from a stupid loss.

A month or so ago I lost a Stiletto because I didn't do this exact thing.  I was in an interceptor, I'll be fine I thought.  I came through the gate into PVH, Bubble went up, ship went down.  Had I simply asked on coms if the way was clear, or if there was any activity in the area I would have been prepared and probably not lost my ship.  Not an expensive lesson thankfully, but a lesson non-the-less.