I play Eve my own way. I always have. I make no excuses for it. The way I play has evolved over the last four plus years but some things have always remained the same. I like to have fun. And when I say "fun", what I really mean is danger. For in danger, I find excitement, adventure, and ultimately FUN.
The definition of how that happens has obviously changed over the years as my own abilities have changed. A week after I started playing Eve I was bored out of my mind in Hi-Sec, so I joined a Corporation that was headed to Null Space. A week old. I did that because it sounded like more fun.
Oh yes, I died a lot. But it didn't matter back then. I was learning and I was young. I became as good of a pilot as I could. I flew ships I shouldn't have flown. I did everything I tell young players not to do!! I took crazy risks and paid the price for them over and over again. The only thing I was good at back then was what we called Hero Tackle.
Hero Tackle is really a meat shield. Some idiot in a ship that flies ahead of the main fleet and grabs point on a target that will most likely kill him, so that the rest of the fleet has time to arrive and kill it. I lost 26 Crows that way. I know this because I number my Crows and #27 is sitting in my hanger right now. God knows how many Taranis I lost, I didn't number those.
I was a good Hero Tackle. I mastered the art. I could pull a cloaking Stealth Bomber off a gate lickety-split.
And then I started moving to wherever the danger was greatest. I sought out places of conflict and went there. Mostly in Providence. Over and over again. Why? Because that was where the action was.
I mention all of this as a prelude to the way I play the role of being a scum-sucking Pirate. "Fun" has always been a bit of a misnomer when I write about it here on the blog. It can often be mis-understood. Fun for me is defined as being excellent at your chosen profession and not giving two-cents how anyone else feels about how you do that. But for me, I have to be comfortable in how I approach the game. It has to make some sense to me. It is one of the main reasons I joined the Tuskers after my own Corp died. The Code. The code helps make sense of things.
My play-style has also evolved because I am limited technologically. I'm on a Mac. So I could never really get the hang of dual-boxing. Mostly because it was impossible for so long. So I don't dual-box. Again, this isn't because of any ethical superiority on my part, far from it. But because it isn't an option it has developed into a choice I made.
Same with booster alts. I don't have one. My only alt, a transportation alt I created about three years ago, is now on my main account and doesn't even train. I made that decision earlier this year when I was unemployed.
Which finally brings me to the subject of this post. I have always flown pure. I don't use snakes ( can't afford them! ), I don't use Pills ( can't afford them ), I don't use a boosting alt, or dual-box a scout, or anything else. It is just me out there in space.
This is the way I have chosen to play the game. So every victory is mine. And every loss is on me.
( And don't think for a minute that I won't drop a Cyno on your sorry ass! I don't mean that. And when I am in a gang or fleet you can be damn sure I use all the tricks at my disposal. I'm not an idiot, this isn't some kind of stupid Holy Crusade! I'm a Pirate )
Because of these choices I'll probably never be highly ranked on BC. That isn't really even a goal of mine. My goal is to be excellent at my job. And my job is being a Pirate. But reaching the 5k mark on BC does make me happy. Because I worked hard to get there. And I am fully aware of the problems with BC Rankings, I'm not an idiot. But those are other people's problems, not mine. I can take pride in knowing I did a good job.
I choose to fly pure. I choose to engage and fight. I choose to manage my meager bank by selling loot as my only source of income. ( And commissions of course, but that's out of game ) I'm never going to be the best Pirate in Eve. I'm not even trying to do that. But I will be the best pilot that I can be.
And maybe, just maybe, that will mean something. It already does to me.