Part Two: Even better really
So we've established that Eve attracts a certain type of weirdo to its internet based sci-fi simulated virtual environment, and that some of these weirdoes have issues that cause them to act in extremis - either negatively and/or positively. A great portion of which depends on your own personal perspective.
In the last part I made some excellent arguments that two-sided coins are largely what the universe is built on, and taking away one or the other side might cause total collapse and make us into one of those boring Star Trek cultures the Enterprise seemed to always find.
So now what? This doesn't change the fact that the forums are full of trolls, haters and poo-poo heads. That Jita is infested with scammers and bad people waiting for you to undock. Eve is a rough place and it often makes me sadfaced. Do something about it Rixx! Salve my ePeen dude.
The very first time I ventured into low-sec in my Cormorant and dared to warp to a belt, I was summarily exploded. I was so angry that I podded back to base and got into yet another Cormorant. I remember thinking, I'll show him! This time I'll kill him and teach him a lesson. And he exploded my ship again. I ranted on the Corp chat about it and my CEO and my fellow Corp mates told me something then that has stayed with me every day since. Eve doesn't work like that, get over it and HTFU! Harden The Fuck Up.
I sucked so hard in those early days. There was one particular week where I lost ALOT of ships, mostly frigates and cruisers. But at the time, this was a big deal for me. I was still a young player and I wanted to fight, but I certainly didn't want to lose all of those fights. I got so frustrated that I quit. I've never told this story publicly before. I had worked hard to earn one million iskies and because of all the losses my account was empty. As one last gasp, I agreed to help the Corp do some mining. During the op I was telling everyone what had happened and of my decision to leave the game. One of the older players told me I couldn't quit, that Eve was hard yes, that I would regret it forever and that it was worth the struggle. They then gave me 150m iskies. The only condition was that I had to agree I wouldn't quit. And I haven't.
I tell this story because, as hard and unfair and rotten and nasty and mean that Eve can sometimes be - it can also be amazing. Eve doesn't work like we often think it should. And that isn't because of CCP, or some lines of code, or patches, or expansions, or how many triangles are on our inventory screens. ( I got so frustrated trying to loot a wreck the other day that I just shot it and blew it up! ) Eve isn't a collection of things, a result of brilliant coding, of digital wizardry. Eve works because of the people that play the game. Good, bad, indifferent, dedicated, casual, hard-working, sloth-like, leaders, followers, bloggers, designers, pirates, goons, religious fanatics and hardened scammers. The people make it work. All of them.
In the almost four years that I've been fortunate to be a part of this... this... whatever it is, I've met and interacted with so many great people. I've been scammed, I've been threatened ( just yesterday someone promised to stick a rusty kitchen utensil in my nether regions! ), I've had my Corp assets stolen, I've watched several Alliances burn to the ground, just about anything you can imagine. And I've loved every single goddamn minute of it.
It hurts to love. If you are young enough not to know that already, then you will learn it soon enough. I'm not telling you to love the scammer, to hug the troll, to accept the corp thief, to relish the collapse of all you've worked hard to build. That isn't the point at all. What I am telling you is this, kill the corp thief, turn the tables on the scammer, kick the troll, and build Alliances that do not collapse!! Play as hard as they do. Get out there and win. Beat them at their own game. Collect some like-minded peeps and go settle the score, get your revenge. Or die trying.
The human element is what makes Eve special and enduring and worthy of great stories.
HTFU.
It's good advice.