One Year's Progress

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Insert my usual disclaimer regarding killboards and how I feel about them here please. Which, to refresh and summarize, is that they are a useful way to keep track of kills and losses - but otherwise serve very little utility. They can become an issue if you watch them closely and dictate a certain play-style. Which is why I generally ignore them for the most part. And here is the other side of that coin, and on the other hand, it is ok to take a certain amount of pride in them. Especially if you make your living as a PvPer. Which I happen to do exclusively.

Whew. Thank goodness that is out of the way.

The image shows my BC killboard from this day exactly one year ago, and how it looks this morning. 12 months have passed and I thought we'd take a look at how I did over the course of those months.

On this date last year my win/loss record stood at 1,586 kills and 385 losses. Today that record stands at 2,690 kills and 540 losses. So over the last twelve months I've managed to go 1,104 and 155. That took me from just breaking the 10,000 rank, which is probably why I took the screenshot, to being ranked at around 1,400 or so. ( For those that have been long-time readers, or for anyone willing to look thru the archives, you know how much progress this really is. )

I'm going to go ahead and take some pride in the 1,104 and 155 record now, ok? Gimme a sec.
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Ok, back to reality. That works out to a monthly average of 92 kills to 13 losses. ( It is only fair to mention that BC and Eve-Kill do not agree on these numbers. BC has about a 100 more kills than Eve-Kill and Eve-Kill has about 100 more losses than BC for some reason. Like I said earlier, it don't matter. The only reason I used BC in this example is because of the rankings. Which I never really cared about until I was in a Corp that became #1 and they made a big deal about it.)

For someone who started this game as a soldier in Null, providing hero tackle and meat-shield abilities, I'd like to think that I continue to improve and get better at my craft. Why else continue doing it? All this comparison proves when the rubber meets the road, is that I am improving. And that is enough for me.

I've never striven to amass large numbers or to scale the heights in ranking, or do anything else involving kill-board numbers. But I have striven to be better at my craft. And my craft, at least over the last two years, has been low-sec PvP. And in that context I am pleased with my personal progress.

On a day-to-day basis? Not so much. I still struggle, I still make horrible mistakes, and I still find it challenging. Which is good. I also know that many of those challenges are self-imposed. That if I decided to train a link alt, or fly with boosters, or a scout, or use drugs in every fight, or station camp, or do any number of "easy" things - that I could improve my own numbers significantly.

But I continue to refuse. After all, this is a personal journey I am on. And I have my own council on how I choose to engage that journey. Every single kill, every one, was earned without those things.* And they will continue to be.

That is just the way I choose to do things.


Check out the NEW Eveoganda Store!



*PS: Before I take un-deserved heat over that statement, let me clearly state that I have nothing personal against how other people choose to play this game. This is ME I am talking about, not YOU. Get over yourself, undock and go fly around. It's fun.

The Eveoganda Store

Announcing the Eveoganda Store.

I've been wanting to do this for a really long time, so I've finally gotten off my butt and started putting some exciting items together for all my faithful readers. I'll be adding items daily for the nest week or two, so be sure to bookmark the site and check back often.

I have a rather large library of images, ideas and whatnots so I expect the store will be rather extensive in no time. I'm also open to suggestions, ideas and comments from you as well.

All of the items are somewhat customizable as well, you can pick shirt colors, sizes and even size of prints for the posters. I'll be adding other items as well in the coming days.

Thanks for taking a look and as always I appreciate your support.

And now a good day!

Click to embiggen and enjoy!

After a week of frustration and stoopid, it was great to finally have another solid day in Eve. Don't get me wrong, the past week saw its fair share of awesome, but it was tinged with some serious derp on my part.

In the spirit of my recent troll commenters I will not attribute yesterday's successes to anything that happened "out-of-game". I won't mention how great yesterday was out here in the real world, or how rested I was, or how things are starting to look up a bit. Since it seems that I constantly make "excuses" for the stoopid things I do, I won't make any for having a good day. Somehow this makes sense to someone I suppose.

As usual, I didn't have a lot of time to play. But I threw up the usual gang of misfits and undocked in something horribly fit for a quick jaunt around the area. Typically I have to fly in really bad ships to get fights, but even that wasn't working. So I figured maybe something more obvious might work. I flew back to base and jumped into a Hawk. When I undocked I noticed this Kestrel hanging around the station.

In the spirit of Kill All the Things I locked him up and started dancing. He was neutral, so I didn't expect anything to come of it. He thought about it a really long time and I give him all the credit in the world for what he did next. He shot back! I admire that kind of courage, but I exploded his ship anyway. I let his pod go for his bravery and we spoke a bit afterwards. Good guy, will probably join Stay Frosty someday.

After a few frustrating near misses with the hawk, it being slow and generally not fast, I decided to switch to a much quicker Slicer. This ended up being a good decision and not the usual, "Oh my God, if only I was still in that other ship!" decision.

By this time of day we usually have a good handful of pilots in the standing fleet and we started chasing this Caracal around. Off a gate, in a plex, off a plex, at the Sun, the usual game of cat and mouse, when the mouse is fit with Rapid Light Missiles! Eventually my speed was too much for him and I caught him off a gate. I paid the price for that point and was quickly on fire!! ( As I usually am! lol ) But by then my fellow pilots had arrived and I warped off to heal up and quickly return, still on fire to boom the nasty Caracal.

Still on fire I warped to the out gate to find an Atron sitting there. I cancelled my warp and locked him up. I could smell the smoke of his brain working things out and he finally decided to shoot me!! Silly Atron, tricks are for kids.

Good thing we all got some practice on killing a RLML Caracal, cause lo and behold two more popped into local. This time Sea's Scythe was used as bait and he got the initial point well off a plex gate. Luckily it didn't take long to boat up there and lend a helping hand in booming yet another unlucky Caracal. Nicely done guys! The other Caracal managed to get away after taking some damage, but eventually was caught and popped a few systems over.

I flew back to base for reps, my Slicer was on fire again! When Sea announced he had point on a Stabber in local. I didn't even have time to rep my Slicer, so I switched out to the Hawk and undocked. Sadly Sea's Scythe popped just as we all landed, Hero Tackle!, but we managed to corral the Tusker Stabber into submission rather quickly.

Not a bad day at all. 3 Caracals, a Stabber, and a couple of nice frigates.

I won't mention that it was a short day for me, since I had to take the boys to some Halloween parties. Cause really, that would be beside the point.

Cheers. That was a Monday and I didn't even die.

Guarding Against Bitter Vet Syndrome

Having played Eve for over five years now I can tell you straight up that the old Bitter Vet lurks around every corner. It becomes easier and easier to get angry over the slightest change, buff, nerf, free item, or change of the wind. And life itself, out here in the real world, increasingly needs attention.

I just took a break for a couple of days. It was so bad that I even went about four hours last night with nothing in my skill train!! I know, ARGH! lol.

Mini-breaks are one of the tools I use to keep Eve alive. Eve tends to be very streaky and enveloping, in other words, the more you play the more it sucks you into itself. This is immersion sure, but there is a dark side to becoming immersed. You can lose track of other things. And events within the game start to take on a value inappropriate to their true value. When suddenly that last exploded ship is finally enough. You've fallen off the edge.

This kind of cycle isn't good for anyone.

Some people turn to special projects, a podcast, a blog, a work of fiction, these are all tools that some use to break from the actual game - while still remaining involved with Eve itself. For me that escape is easy, I have my blog and my work. Like the picture of Rixx that is on this post, no reason at all to do that - but it was fun.

In my humble opinion Bitter Vet Syndrome is best defeated by the opposite force - a sense of fun. If you are not having fun in Eve something is terribly wrong. And eventually that serious business of yours is going to bite you in the ass. And you'll find yourself extremely bitter about a closed door, or a changed hull model, or worthless ships artificially inflated on the market being given out behind your back, or something.

Thing is, everyone's definition of fun is different. And that is perfectly ok. All Eve is about really, is finding your happy place. Miner, builder, trader, shooter, defender or explorer. Where is your happy place?

Find it and enjoy it.

In the meantime, fly something you have never flown before. Go somewhere you have never been. See something you have never seen. Act in a way contrary to your nature. see what it is like. Try it on. Be daring.

Falling into a rut is the enemy of fun and the friend of the Bitter Vet.

In the meantime you can admire that awesome portrait.

1v1 EVE COMIC #62

Click to embiggen!

A Really Bad Day

If I learned anything yesterday it is this: I probably shouldn't play Eve when I'm stressed about being unemployed, not feeling well, trying to build a 'from-scratch' marketing plan for a multi-million dollar company, under court-order from my decade long divorce, and otherwise stressed to the hilt.

Perhaps one doesn't think clearly under such conditions?

I had a bad day. It happens. And it ain't no thing. But, as always, I strive to be as honest as possible and talk openly about my horrible tendency towards failure from time-to-time. It ain't all a bucket of roses!

My truly horrible derp happened first thing in the morning. I had logged on to be immediately beset with the usual amount of convo invitations, Corp business and whatnot. Someone reported a Manticore running Combat Sites in the system next door. I just happened to have a Manti fit up from our Null plunge last week and undocked it. My intention was to go sit on the bookmark for a short while and see if he uncloaked. That was the plan. (The fit was specifically intended to work with other SBs and support ships btw, it wasn't a solo Manti fit by any stretch.)

I had barely landed on the site when someone mentioned a Kestrel in the next system. There were a couple of us on and I figured I'd head over and see what was happening, instead of racing back to re-ship. Mistake number one. Sure enough, the Kestrel was inside. At this point my Son has arrived at my desk and he is a major distraction. Mistake number two. I distinctly remember thinking I would follow my two corp mates into the plex, as backup or support. I had no intention of engaging the Kestrel in my Manti. Looking back I can't even tell you how or why I ended up in the plex first. I can't blame anyone but myself. Predictably this happened and the Manticore went boom. Duh. Feel free to pile on in the comments, I deserve it.

In local Star commented that I should have known better. I commented back that I did know better and, for some reason, I did it anyway. I don't know what to tell you. Total brain fart on my part.

Since I suck I decided to re-ship into a ship that I always seem to suck at, a Tristan. I don't know why, everyone else seems to do so well in them, but I still haven't managed to have much luck with it. So why not?

By this time a few of us were loosely ganged up in the usual Stay Frosty fly around and get into trouble gang of the day. I jumped into a system and there, at the gate, sat a beautiful Gnosis. I held cloak and he had probes out. He just sat there while I wished I was in a Drake instead of the Tristan. I'm telling everyone on comms to get their butts into system when he warps to the Sun! I just can't help myself and I warp after him with two of my guys right behind me. I land right smack dab on top of him, I think one of my Tristan fins scrapped some paint off his ship. This was not good news and I knew I would be dead, but I got point anyway and overheated all the things. My mates landed further away and by the time they also got points I was dead.

I burned the six jumps back to re-ship. More than likely the Gnosis would be gone by the time I got back, but a few other pilots were on their way. And according to reports he wasn't in any hurry to leave the Sun.

I picked the Navy Caracal because one of our guys was already in a Caracal, seemed like the right thing to do. It wasn't. When I returned the Gnosis had just warped off to the station. And what followed was the typical game of cat and mouse, trying to get him off station and pointed somewhere useful. Which finally worked and the other Stay Frosty pilot called point and we warped in for the kill. As usual I am spamming the d-scan on the way in and at some point towards the end of the warp, the Proteus shows up. I am so dead.

Sigh.

When days like this happen you just have to laugh, own it, and move on. I am a horribly distracted person right now and despite my own thoughts, it does affect my game play sometimes. I'm not perfect. And I never claimed to be so. I am determined however, so today is a new day.

The rest of the day yesterday went extremely well, even though I didn't manage to get any kills. I did but a shit-ton of ships, fly around in my SFI, get taunted in local for the SB loss, and miss out on a fun WH op a bunch of guys went on into Curse! Grrr.

Hate What You Fear

“People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer.”

― Andrew Smith


Oh boy, is this ever true in Eve. In the great social experiment that is New Eden we see this unfold each and every day. As a student of group dynamics, mass exploitation and "propaganda" ( or advertising ) I am continually fascinated by my fellow pilots.

When they attack my blog and what I do here I can only smile, content in the knowledge that everything is working exactly as intended. Why is that? Because, people attack the thing they fear the most.

That is why, when I talk about other groups on this blog, I attack the opposite thing. Some small and insignificant portion, a mockable trait, a stupid, meaningless aspect. Not only is this funny, at least to me, it does nothing more than to confuse the Hell out of the other guy.

But their attacks on me, or on Stay Frosty, reveal their fears. And by revealing their fears they reveal more about themselves than they imagine. They reveal the underlying current, the basic truth that they so often try to hide behind big words, big blobs and superior attitudes of elitism. But their actions defy them and bring to light the true nature of things. For those observant enough to pay attention, your enemy is telling you everything you need to know.

Are they railing on you because you use ECM? Or because you hot-drop? Gate camp? Or blob? Ah, then those are the things that they fear most. Or are they demanding you stop blogging about them? Or mocking you in local? Are you starting the get the picture?

The trick is in having no fear.

Eve is, after all, just a game. And while it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day bullshit of the game, it is after all, nothing to be upset about. Crossing that paradigm and landing in the land of understanding, is the key to long-term success in New Eden. It certainly was for me back in the early days. I struggled with it and nearly rage quit a few times, walked away, pounded my desk, railed at the moon. But slowly you come to the realization that the days continue to move forward, those that threatened or demanded have stopped playing and you are still here. Time moves on.

And while having no fear seems trite, it is the absolute key to your survival.

The phase is easy to identify, when it first comes over you the symptoms are easy to see. Suddenly you will start looking for "fun" ships to fly, something to "derp" yourself in. Because you just don't care. This is the very early stage. You will take risks you shouldn't take. You will lose ships you shouldn't lose. And the frustration of this phase will mount. You will suddenly hit a very large and formidable wall. This is your personal breaking point. You have been over-compensating. And you didn't even know it.

There are large ones and small ones. Big moments and tiny moments, but they all hit you hard. And what you do next will determine your future path within or without New Eden. Many will quit, many will take long breaks, many will be destroyed, and some will triumph and pass thru.

Fear of feeling fear. It makes us feel weak and scared. It is the mind killer. And most rail against it. Some will triumph over it and use it as their strength. And a few, like myself, will use it as a tool in a slightly larger context.

A man without fear cannot be defeated. An entire group of people without fear? Well now, that remains to be seen. But so far, so good.

Titus Balls Twitch

Watch live video from titusballs on TwitchTV
One of the best things about leading the most incredibly awesome Corporation in all of New Eden is the people you meet along the way, the talented and dedicated individuals that participate in your crazy dream. We have a lot of those in Stay Frosty, I would argue that every single person is incredibly awesome! And I'd be right.

I would like to mention one today however, and one you should be following over on his Twitch Channel - Titus Balls. (And no, I couldn't resist the headline to this post!)

Titus is a young pilot with endless enthusiasm and willingness to learn, participate and explode. He is Stay Frosty in action and we are very fortunate to have him among the lunatics.

Plus there are tons of video in his stream with me in them!! Like the one above where we take down a Vexor with five frigates, I dc half-way into the fight, Titus warps to the wrong medium plex and gets blapped by a Thrasher, Harry hangs on till the last second, and I re-log to grab point right before the Vexor can get away. It's good stuff.

Enjoy.

Why I HateLoatheAbhor the place called Jita

I remember the first time I visited Denver. The airport is pretty far outside of the city and I had plenty of time to think on the ride into town. For those of you that have not had this opportunity, or live outside the US - let me paint a quick mental picture for you.

Imagine thousands of miles of flatlands slowly rising in elevation across a wide and open country. Now imagine a wall of mountains thousands of miles long that bisect those flatlands. At the base of that wall, sits the city of Denver.

There is no river, or lake, or obvious natural reason for Denver to exist at the exact spot in which it sits. It could easily be a hundred miles, or hundred feet, somewhere else. And it struck me, riding into the city, exactly how this happened.

Denver was settled by lazy people.

No insult intended to those living there now. But your ancestors, having trudged across disease and native american infested flatlands for months and months, took one look at the Rocky Mountains and said - Fuck that. And pitched a tent.

There are 5,000 systems in New Eden. And all the lazy people have settled into one of them. We call this place Jita. "Jita" means Wal-Mart in the native tongue. Y'know, if you had to get thru hundreds of thieves, pickpockets, and scum in order to get inside to actually shop.

I try never to go there because it depresses me. It sucks the life out of my experience, my game, and any enjoyment or hope I have stored up inside me for the future of New Eden. Unlike Denver, I fully intend any insults that residents of Jita may feel towards what I am about to say.

But, despite my intentions, every so often I am forced to waste an entire day of gaming to trudge my alt up to Jita to buy supplies. And that's what I did yesterday. I was in a good mood, until I landed in system and docked up for four hours.

Everything about Jita flies in the face of everything I enjoy about Eve. It is artificial. It is obvious. It is vulgar, but not in a fun way. It breaks the barrier. And above all it is horribly, disgustingly lazy. It is lazy because it is the ONE true trade center in all of New Eden. It is lazy because of the swarm of lazy ass opportunists sitting outside just waiting around for some idiot to undock. It is lazy, because it is infused with the spirit of quit. Give up. Far enough. Can't. Why bother?

For those of us pounding away in the hinter-lands, Jita represents the worst of shiny, boring, settled, "civilized" opulence. It was even worse this week because I had just spent two days in Null Sec space, reporting on "one in local", or "plus 2" in local. It amplifies the effect of constant 12, 24, 7, 18, 36, 2, empty, empty, empty - when suddenly there are 2,000 in local.

My blood boils and I just want to yell at everyone, "For goodness sake!! Split up!! There is a huge universe out there!!" and bash some heads in until someone agrees with me. But I don't of course, cause for all its faults, Jita sure is convenient.

I feel the same way about Wal-Mart. I try to avoid it, it makes me feel terrible, it sucks the life right out of me, but sometimes I really can't justify paying 20% more for something I really need across town. And I pinch my nose and plunge into it. All in the name of savings.

I don't feel good about myself when that happens. I need a shower afterwards. I'm left with a vague feeling that Wal-Mart is destroying the universe. And that there is nothing I can do to stop it.

And then I go home and tell myself that I probably, most likely, won't ever have to do that again.

Maybe I can stretch these supplies out further this time?

Overheating

TL;DR: Less Glow and more Go in the mod cluster of the UI would be greatly appreciated. Let's work towards clearly defining the different states for our mods.


Overheating in Eve is the act of pushing your modules beyond the factory warranty and deliberately causing them to overheat and eventually burned out totally. They will crisp up and fail to function if you keep doing it.

Anyone that attempts to PvP in Eve should be familiar with the concept of Overheating (OH). It is the primary tool/skill that you can use to overcome your enemies and bring some small advantage to your own ship.

I want to underscore this point - I use OH, in one way or another, on every single fight. That is how important it is.

Evelopedia has a good starter guide on Heat and how it applies across your modules, I strongly suggest you read it and learn it. As does the Uniwiki.
(I'm sure there are others as well, use your own Google for goodness sake!) Learn it.

This post isn't actually about the science of OH, it is actually about the art of managing it in an actual fight. As usual in Eve, all the guides and science in the world are not going to help you much in actual combat. Actual combat in Eve is more Art than Science. If you don't know this already, it is about time you learned it.

But you have to know the science in order to perform the art. There are no shortcuts in Eve. But there are keyboard shortcuts. And using them is the ultimate step that makes someone a true PvPer in Eve. If you just finished reading that sentence and "poo-poo'ed" it, then you need to go back to your carebearing ways. Learning and using keyboard shortcuts is essential to PvP. And in no other place is this more obvious than in the activation and managing of OH in combat.

Each module has a F key relationship and I organize my mods on every ship in exactly the same way each and every time. Shooter, Point, Web, Thingie 1 and Thingie 2, Prop Mod, are the top rack. Damage Control, Rep/Boost, Xtra Thingie(s) are the second rack. Only the activation mods are shown, everything else is unimportant. (Thingies are mods like nuets, TDs, ECM, etc) The first and most important of these is reserved for locking target. Faster lock means applying damage faster than your enemy, so many fights are won simply because you started first.

Unlike the sample art above, I don't typically split the prop mod simply because I rarely heat an entire rack of mods. ( And remember, organizing your mods here is totally different than organizing them on your ship! That is an entirely different science, but equally important.)

You can heat mods in several different ways. You can heat an entire rack by clicking on those tiny little buttons to the right of the Big Circle, or you can click on the tiny little green bar at the top of each mod. Never do this. Shift+click to OH or stop OH'ing a mod. ("Never" defined as extremely rarely, obviously this is art so things vary on the situation at hand.)

Since this is Eve the ability to tell exactly when your mod is in danger of burning out on you can be difficult to distinguish in the heat of battle. And this is where things start to get into the realm of "bummer city" in my opinion.

The heat of battle is an instinctual reaction based blur in which you have very little time to think, plan and debate. You simply act. The UI is not very helpful in these situations and, in point of fact, can work against you. Modules flash in various shades of green and red, bars fill up, and the visual representation of activated, heated or not-heated can get a tad hard to follow. Not in a huge leisurely fleet battle, but in a one on one head bashing, ship on ship fight.

But, again, Art over Science. I would prefer a more clearly defined "edge" to each of these actions. Especially once combat is engaged and you are down in the trenches managing your mods, it can get rather complicated. Especially for certain, more active-minded, ships. Not only are you managing OH, but you are also turning things off and on to manage cap, the engagement, range, etc. A more clearly defined "edge" would be extremely handy at those moments.

Yesterday I had two perfect examples of both the positive and negative aspects of those challenges. Both involved toe-to-toe fights and both involved bad feedback from the modules resulting in different outcomes. In the first fight I was managing my prop mod in close combat, mindful of cap, the enemies position, and incoming damage. The feedback of OH damage to my mod was not accurately defined and it burned out on me when it wasn't supposed to. Or didn't 'look' like it was supposed to. I won the fight anyway, so no harm, no foul.

The second fight went the other way. While I pre-warmed the mods I wanted to pre-warm before the engagement, they actually were not pre-warmed at all. Despite 'looking' pre-warmed, when activated, they proved not to be. A more clearly defined "edge" would have given me this feedback before I committed to the engagement. Not after. My foe had the edge and won the fight.

I am a professional combatant in Eve. It is really all I do. What I am asking for is subtle and relatively meaningless in the greater context of Eve. I also don't believe it is all that difficult to make happen. Less glow and more go is what it essentially boils down to. The transition of the mod between two states can remain unchanged, just put it in the background. Think about how your cloak works as an example of what I mean. Either a mod is on OH or it isn't. Visually, just that one small change would make the world of difference.

When most solo or small gang combat takes place in about 30 intense seconds, it is the small things that really matter.


This post is not intended to serve as a guide to OH or Keyboard Shortcuts, there are many wonderful and exhaustive guides to these features available. I suggest you read and study them.

Too Weird to Die

Click to embiggen

I saw this t-shirt for sale this morning and couldn't resist. Many thanks to 6amcrisis for the artwork, all rights reserved, go visit his site and buy something!

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Stay Frosty member Veskin Sentinel, whose blog is here, has an extremely interesting project in the works that he needs some support for.

It is called the Black Pearl Project and... well, I'll let him tell you:

"It is a fan project aiming to provide concepts and artwork to the EVE community and developers. What I've shared on the site and blog is a tiny bit of what is currently written in the main draft document. 

Sadly, no one has really shown interest to it, so I'm getting a bit lonely here. I really hope to get some people involved in this project, will be super good if there was an entire team behind it, providing goodness in Art and Concepts for our stellar realm. I mean new stuff - new spaceships concept, modules concepts, game concepts, some beautiful sceneries, stories - all aiming to enrich our EVE."

So get yourself over to the Black Pearl Project and let Veskin hear from you.


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The comment thread on this Reddit post is extremely interesting. The Siphon unit coming in Rubicon is probably the single most interesting and potentially beneficial new element for people like me. I'll be curious to see what the full, developed features and benefits will be. Hopefully CCP will stick to their guns and make it something worthwhile.


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And because I've had to listen to it a zillion times in the last week, I'll share this:





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What is the most important thing to do when you fall off a horse? Get right back up and try again.

Eve is no different. You cannot be defeated. You will be re-born and have an endless amount of chances. Always remember this. No one can tell you what to do, how to act, how to fly, or how to play the game you want to play. Don't let them. The only way you lose is when you allow yourself to lose. Individual fights, bad days, horrible luck? These things happen to us all. I've never let anything stop me and neither should you.

And that's it for today's inspirational speech.


More tomorrow.

Dissonance: 10 Years

On October 5th my friends in Dissonance [DION] celebrated their Tenth Anniversary! Dion was founded as an Eve Corporation on October, 5th 2003 and has been running every day since, which is just an amazing accomplishment.

So a well done shout out to all my friends past and present in Dion. You guys are amazing and I only wish you the best as we trek onward for another decade. You can visit the Dion website or join their in-game channel for more information.

This has got to make them one of the longest running Corporations in Eve, doesn't it?

In the meantime, I thought I'd re-post this interview I did with Dion's CEO LJB back in 2010. Enjoy.

Q: So tell us a bit about the history of Dissonance.

Well Dion is one of the oldest corps in Eve and I had the privilege of having the mantle passed to myself over two years ago by the original CEO Nighteagle.  DION has always been a mixed corp with PVP and PVE and I have been happy to carry that on,  I think it says something about the corp when many of the founding members are still around.  In corp we have some damn good pvp’ers and members with over 100 million skill points. Dion has made sure and steady progress in achieving many of the goals it has set for itself over the last 2 years and we have some exciting goals for the future that myself and Eradicator44 (The deputy CEO) are focusing the corp on achieving, he is my right hand man and many of the achievements of the last two years have happened because of the joint work of the corp with me and Eradicator44 there with the whip... oops... I meant words of encouragement.

Q: Do you have a philosophy that you follow in leading Dion?  If so, what might it be?

My philosophy has always been to focus on the fun factor, and being available for corp members when they have a question ect, what I will never become is one of those CEO’s that hasn’t got time for newer members, I'm firmly grounded in the fact that this is a game, everything we do is to try and increase the enjoyment factor for everyone in the corp.

Q: Does DION have a focus? If so, what might it be?

The focus in DION has always been firmly that what we do is for the betterment of the corp and its members and that it has to have the “F” (Fun) factor involved within it.

Q: What drives you to the game? What do you enjoy about being the Corp CEO?

The driver for me is seeing guys having fun, the “blowing shit up” aspect plays a heavy part in the game for me. But coming a close second is seeing guys achieve a goal in game they have set themselves, what I get my biggest buzz out of is seeing guys work together for a corp goal…..EVE does not lend itself to solo play largely and DION certainly does not lol….

Q: What gives you the biggest headaches? What do you enjoy least about being Corp CEO?

Well if you had asked me this about a year and half ago I'd have said logistics, but we've developed a hell of a logistics team with some great players like Xiau Bing and Lord Drakken, to name but a few. The biggest headaches in EVE for me at the moment is AFG (Away from Game) corp members, now I realize that real life comes first but if you say your going to be there and your not and the corp screws up because of it, I will want to know why, no one is bigger than the corp as a whole and the nature of DION is we work together to achieve what ever goal it is we’ve set ourselves. I've have had to take the bull by the horns and let some corp members go recently that have been afk without letting us know..

Q: Dion certainly has been moving around a lot, what's up with that?

Well Rixx it’s a bit like this, when your searching for a home sometimes its not all its made out to be, but I would add this although we moved around a bit in the last year it has mostly been with alliances that are relatively close to each other, and for me the most important bit is that we've never been asked to leave or been kicked, and more often than not when we’ve left its been on very good terms…. but the alliance were currently in at the moment for me is one of the best if not the best and DION has fitted right in….

Q: Does Dion have long-term goals as a Corp?  Can you share any of those?

Well DION has a number of long term goals but im sure you will understand there’s only so much I can talk about here, basically our immediate goal is to beef our numbers up a little and focus on developing some of our newer player base that have joined DION in the last couple of months to get them where they want to be in game, as I mentioned we recently opened recruitment and whilst were not “exclusive” in what we look for in newer pilots that also does not mean we take anyone, quality has always been more important to me than quantity. Id rather have 40 on the books with 30 active players then 200 on the books and only 40 active players. What’s been interesting though is the amount of players that go off to do something else in Eve but always end up returning to DION, so that is one of goals, get some more selective good players than can last the course.

Q: Why is Dion recruiting right now?

DION has periodically opened its doors for recruitment, but we usually only keep it open for about a month at a time, as I've mentioned previously quality over quantity. I prefer that we have guys that we can rely upon and I know that I can relate to, for me it would be a bad day when I haven’t had time to chat to everyone in corp and ask how it's going… but now we have a very specific number in mind recruitment wise and were reaching it fast…..

Q: Any other thoughts you'd like to share with us?

The game has moved forward a lot in the last couple of years and personally I've learned a lot as well, but the best thing I say to potential new recruits when they ask for a tip about living in 0.0 and getting on in the game is this, be prepared to die, in fact be prepared to die a lot, when you get over that fear the game really opens up for you in relation to pvp.

BB#50: Accessibility & Wanton Destruction

With the Rubicon expansion being announced and the SOMER Blink scandals (or non-scandals depending on your point of view) that have erupted on the community at the same time, it truly feels like an age of EVE has passed and a new one is dawning.

But which direction is it going? This blog banter can be about several different topics:
• where do you think EVE is going? Is it a good or bad vision ahead?
• if you were EVE's new Executive Producer, where would you take the game?
• What comes (or should come) after Rubicon in terms of the mechanics and ship balancing we've seen? (CSM8 not allowed to answer this one!)
• Is there anything in EVE's ten year past that should be resurrected? Or buried and forgotten?
• What is the future of the community? What should or should not change?



My name is CCP Brickhead and I am the new Executive Producer for Eve Online. This is the very first of what will be Quarterly Executive Vision Reports in which I will lay out for the player base my vision for the greatest game in the world - Eve Online and its second decade.

The greatest challenge that Eve faces in its second decade is not technology, or features, or vision. Our extremely talented staff, the player community, the CSM, and the game itself propel us forward each and every day. No, the biggest challenge we face is one of accessibility. In order to survive it is critical that Eve continue to evolve and introduce new players, and retain those players, to and in our incredible universe.

Eve has become famous for being one of the harshest, most unforgiving player driven sandbox environments ever created. This will continue. All of us at CCP are dedicated to maintaining the sandbox, to expanding the features that make it unique, and to developing new and increasingly challenging game-play for our subscribers. But we must also be committed to opening the game to a wider audience and creating the systems that allow a new player to become immersed in our universe.

We start by streamlining development. Moving forward Eve will experience an annual Expansion and Quarterly Updates. For clarity, annual Expansions will introduce new Gameplay features and Quarterly updates will focus on technology improvements, game balancing, fine-tuning, ship balancing, and other improvements to the game. This renewed focus on scheduled and balanced game cycles will allow us the opportunity to properly commit internal resources to the future of Eve.

Our next step is a radical make-over in marketing. Eve's story needs to be told to more people in new and interesting ways. We are in the midst of strategic marketing meetings right now to lay out a new, aggressive and compelling message to potential players across the globe. This is critical to the growth and long-term viability of Eve.

Our very next Quarterly Update will be exclusively focused on the New Player Experience. The Tutorial experience will be re-built from the ground up, live new player events will be introduced (Driven by CCP employees and by Player Volunteers), and we will be introducing Sanctuary Systems for new players (thanks to Rixx Javix for this great idea!). Other improvements to the new player experience will also be announced in upcoming Dev Blogs.

Based on our past experiences with the CSM, CCP will be announcing an even more involved initiative with the player community called the Player Drivers Club. The Player Drivers Club are vetted, long-term, committed players that volunteer for special in-game projects that receive special official support from CCP. We will be developing special tools for the PDC that will allow them to build incredible in-game events for all players to enjoy! We are extremely excited about this initiative and will be announcing the details in upcoming Dev Blogs. We may yet live to see a giant Space Octopus attacking a station! Who knows?

Our goal is to increase the amount of God Control that CCP exerts within the universe and leave the sand-box in the hands of our players. At the same time we believe that opening the initial entrance experience of Eve will encourage new players to give Eve a try and become long-term players in our sand-box.

Our first decade was epic, full of amazing success and paths not taken. Our second decade will be more focused and even more incredible, as we work together with all of our partners to ensure the long-term viability of Eve Online.

Join us as we step forward.

CCP Brickhead



For more Blog Banter's on this subject, please visit this here link.

My Cat Kilt Mah Dramiel

Typical Eve.

Whenever you start to work up enough internal hubris to start mildly suggesting the merest mention to yourself that, y'know, you might not totally suck balls at this thing you've been working at for over five years now - your cat kills you!

Oh, and then? It just keeps getting worse. Oh yes, the cat thing (which I will explain momentarily) was just the beginning of a two week long stretch of stupid.

It all started innocently enough. I jumped into a Breacher and a Condor in a plex with my trusty, slightly loot blinged Dramiel. Y'know, the same ship I kill vast amounts of people with on a regular basis. Well, regular as in not recently, but before when I used to fly it more often. But a Breacher and a Condor? Should be a good fight. And it was. I knew it'd most likely go down to the wire and it did. The Breacher died and the Condor had done the right thing by pulling range. At the exact moment the Breacher exploded my cat Vinnie jumped perfectly up from the floor directly onto my keyboard and mouse! A few moments of extreme panic later, in which I was not doing anything helpful with my Dram, and I go boom.

Vinnie has not been getting his bedtime treats.

I'm convinced he cursed me. So last night I started giving him his goddamn treats again. Because since the "incident" I've lost 12 ships. Some due to my own foolishness, but a handful of others in bizarre and unusual ways that defy easy explanation.

For example, yesterday I was out and about in a Stabber. I haven't flown Stabbers very often, having generally skipped right over them for the Vagabond and SFI, so I figured why not? Oh foolish mortal. I roamed all over town but nothing was about, so I returned to Hev to dock up. Which is when the gang of frigates entered system. I waited and sure enough there was an Incursus on the Jove gate, all alone. I warped down and waited to see what he'd do. He yellow boxed me and I returned the favor.

Now this is where it gets weird. For some reason my Stabber, who had been sitting in my hanger for too long apparently, decided my passive attitude just wouldn't do. And without my knowledge it not only yellow-boxed the enemy, it also decided to point him, web him, TD him, and then sit there without allowing me to activate my guns. I imagine my eyes must have bugged out of my head in shock. I am mashing buttons like a madman to no avail. I go boom.

I jumped a Maulus in to the enemy first, instead of third. I attacked three ships in my Hawk. I totally derped a gang in my Firetail. And I generally did some extremely foolish things.

It hasn't been all bad of course. And October has seen its share of good fights.

Which is the entire point. This is typical Eve. If you are out and about, looking for fights, you will find them. And sometimes the fights you find will not go your way. Sometimes they won't even go. Your computer will freeze, or lag on you ( I killed a Venture last week while my screen was totally frozen, all I could do was push buttons and hope!), it happens.

It is challenging to keep your head in it. It is insanely difficult to be on your toes at all times. It is a horribly complicated and evil game.

Which is why I continue to love every minute of it. Except when my cat kills me.

Join Stay Frosty!

Click for various embigged sizes for your desktop!

Stay Frosty is looking for a few good pilots. Now going into our sixth month, with 130 pilots across all time-zones, we need a few more experienced, dedicated, insane un-docking fools to help lead us to the promised land. We have the infra-structure, the meatshields, the anarchists, the dedicated pilots that are spreading chaos throughout low sec, all we are missing is you!

Seriously. Stay Frosty is dedicated to old-school Small Gang and Solo undocking and getting after it. We don't care much about the rest of it. We are under the constant threat of War, station-camping, ganks, local booster alt insanity and the open hatred of half of Eve!! (We just haven't gotten around to the other half yet, but we will.) So we must be doing something right!

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. If this sounds like the kind of insanity that gets your blood boiling, that makes you want to log-in and get involved, then you are the exact kind of person that we're looking for. For you, ship-spinning is something you do in space while d-scanning for targets! Oh yeah, that's the hunter's mentality. Other people might not appreciate you, but in Stay Frosty you'll be among friends. We are all a tad crazy.

We are so crazy we don't even have any limitations on joining, put in an app and you get in! How insane is that?! (And yes, we have lots of spais. We love 'em!! They bring fights!!)

So get off your butt and join the in-game channel: EVEOGANDA

Or visit StayFrostyEve.com

Or just join already. Put those skills to use. Blow things up real good.

1v1 EVE COMIC #61

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My fundamental problem with the recent iScorp issue, and one of the major reasons I struggled with it popping up like it did, goes back deeper than the issue itself. And I say this despite the fact that 3rd party "gambling" has contributed to various events that I have run in New Eden over the years. But I strongly believe that gambling is horribly wrong for Eve and that it should never have been allowed to flourish in the first place.

Much like paying for game time with real world money, gambling introduces a fundamental flaw into the virtual economic system which bonkers the in-game origination of value. A controlled, centralized system of economics is suddenly inundated with the out-of-control introduction of money from unknown sources. As in the real-world proliferation of the casino based tax mentality we've seen here in the United States, the initial reasons and benefits are used to sell thru the idea to the community. The reality of the situation is much more complex.

And while everyone rails against certain parties being the recipients of a few special ships, everyone is deflected from the true underlying horror that such institutions represent. And the long-term harm they are doing to the game we love. We are being distracted.

I have no access to data, but the numbers that I've seen bantered about by my fellow bloggers and on the forums are concerning. The vast accumulation of wealth by those responsible for these applications in simply mind-bottling*. And the long-term implications from an economic standpoint are increasingly serious. As more and more wealth is deposited in less and less hands. Does this sound at all familiar to anyone?

It should. And it should worry you.

Power is being sucked away from the individual players hands and slowly removed from the collected players hands as well. True economic weight is slowly being siphoned from in-game Alliance/Corporation control and into the hands of essentially un-regulated bankers.

And so, it is difficult to generate anger over a few ships when the fabric of New Eden, the future of the game itself, is being sold off under our feet.

Fair warning.


*This is a Will Ferrel line from the movie "Blades of Glory"

Rude Awakening

This man thinks you're a commie!

I have two job interviews today, so it has been a rather busy and stressful day. I mention that as context and perspective to what I am about to write. Not as an "excuse" for anything. I don't make excuses.

But I woke up this morning to half-a-dozen attacks on Twitter that had arrived while I slept. Over coffee I wrote the "Warp Speed" post and then replied in my own defense to those tweets.

I want to plainly state that at no time have I opinionated or editorialized on the issue regarding the gifting of ships to certain parties by CCP. The other day I felt it incumbent upon myself to "come clean" in regards to the one gift that CCP gave me once. The same gift they gave lots of us by the way. I was being sarcastic and humorous. But even in that article I made it clear that I thought CCP probably crossed the line.

My history of not only calling CCP to task for things, but also doing something about it, is quite clear and readily available. I owe no one an apology for my own actions in defense of Eve on many, many occasions.

And so it was that I awoke to several misguided and strangely personal attacks on Twitter this morning. Tweets which I naturally responded to, as I always do. I had been charged with some serious accusations which ranged from "you don't respect the sandbox" to "you are a douche". In reply to the name-calling, some of which was in good spirit, I simply replied with facts. Those facts are that 15,000 ships a day are exploded in New Eden (2010 numbers), which equates to about 5 million or more a year. That is a fact. It provides context. Perspective. And it is true.

Does it change anything about the current incident? Nope. Does it change Rixx's mind when it comes to the current incident? Nope.

You want to solve problems, you are going to need solutions. Pushing CCP into a corner is not a solution. And you will achieve nothing other than damaging the game you profess to love more than it already has been. If you can't see that clearly, then I'm not sure I can help you.

I've written over 16,000 tweets about Eve in the last two years and not once have I been reduced to name calling. But I came close this morning. I could have been an advocate on this issue. I could have helped in many ways. But I've decided to sit this one out. There is an agenda here that I am not comfortable with, driven in large part by people who seem to have no issue with using personal attacks to gain advantage. And a few that don't even play Eve any more. This concerns me.

Past advocacy efforts have been successful because they built consensus among the community, not by driving a wedge thru its heart. And, I am forced to admit, that is exactly what some are doing. Just try and express a thought, an opinion, or a perspective that is different than theirs - and see what happens to you.

Or just ask Ripard.
Or my good friend Roc.


Or to quote my comment from another thread:

"You are making out like I'm on someone's side here and I am not. So stop doing that. Well, granted I am on Eve's side as I always am. As I've stated before, many times, I am actually against gambling. So let's start there. I believe it corrupts and that is all that it does. Those are facts proven time and time again. Secondly, I do not support the gifting of ships to 'for-profit 3rd parties' for any reason and I've never stated that I do.

I do however strongly support the involvement of CCP in their game and with their community. I support that because it is good for Eve and it is good for the community. While I agree CCP is most likely in error on this incident, the entire story has not been revealed and the facts are not in. Starting a witch hunt based on the available facts, over a singular incident is not wise. Especially when the result could easily be the further withdrawing of CCP from the community."

Warp Speed Active

Also check out this comparison video.

It was one of those changes announced in the upcoming Rubicon expansion that didn't get a lot of attention in the first few weeks. But from the moment the words came out of CCP's mouth, it was what I believed to be the single most important and significant change in all of Rubicon. And I honestly don't believe it would be grossly over-stating to say, perhaps since Incarna.

First of all, I applaud the change. It is about time. Small ships should warp faster than larger ships, it only makes sense. Heck, we've been taught to believe it since we started learning how to FC fleets. 'Ceptors go get tackle!!

But to actually have it work!?!?

From my own perspective as a low sec hunter, this is rather a big deal. Think about this with me for a moment from the perspective of the hunted. The reaction time between me popping into local and me pew-pewing your face is significantly less. I'm going to let that fact sink in for a moment.

Beginning to see the picture? Eve just got quicker. By a couple of degrees. Not "faster" exactly, but quicker. The actual tactics we learned as null-sec FCs will finally be the actual in-game reality. Sending the small, fast ships ahead to get tackle might really work. Heck, they might even get there BEFORE the enemy fleet arrives. Especially with Interceptor bubble immunity thrown in to the mix. lol.

This change rocks the world. Sit and think about it for a few minutes.

But don't take long, you'll be pointed by a pirate.

Full Free Ship Disclosure

In the spirit of full disclosure I would like to freely admit to all the free ships that CCP has given me over the last five years.


Uh....


Oh I remember. Earlier this year I got my choice of a single Pirate Rookie ship. CCP gave these out at Fanfest and, since I am poor and can't jet off to Iceland, they gave me one. I believe they did this to all the registered Fan-sites. I picked the Immolator because I liked the way it looked. I have it fitted in my hanger and I try to kill Ventures with it.

And once, about three years ago, CCP gave me a Zealot. This was in response to the one and only Petition I have ever won. My own Zealot was killed due to a freaky station incident down in Syndicate and it was returned to me shortly afterwards. I'm really not sure this counts, but I want to come clean.

And, just like everyone else, I get those year-end freebie ships and whatnots. I really appreciate those, so I hope this new round of rage doesn't ruin that tradition.

I was on the road yesterday tweeting and I may have mistakingly stated that CCP had given me free ships in support or response to the many live player events I've hosted over the years. I apologize if I was misconstrued or if I stated that fact in error. CCP has not done so. I have received many, many wonderful player gifts over the years in support of the events and CCP has certainly done a lot to support those events ( thank you! ) but handing out FREE ships hasn't been part of it.

Just to reiterate, when it comes to events everything I get in - goes back out. 100% in, 100% out. That has always been my policy and will continue to be as long as I am running events in-game. I have never once profited from an event. I know, I kick myself sometimes, but that's the way I do things.

Players do sometimes gift me ships by the way. And I appreciate all of the wonderful gifts that I have gotten over the years. Those that give know that I will fit them up, undock and fight with them. I am a ship collector that explodes his collection.


I will admit that I liked getting the Pirate Rookie ship from CCP. I also enjoy the free gifts at the end of every year. The non-combat ships I usually sell to buy more combat ships, but the idea is a great one. If I was fortunate enough to receive a free ship from CCP I would fit it up and undock it. If it was super special then I'd most likely create an event out of it and let you people shoot it in some creative way.

The other day I saw a Chremoas on scan! I announced it in Corp chat and everyone came running into the system. I figured out who the pilot was and started talking to him in local. And while it would've been nice to trap the ship and kill it, the most important thing to me was having the chance to see it. So I finally convinced the pilot to de-cloak and let us have a look at it. Which he did. And for a moment, Eve wasn't about death and destruction, it was simply about Spaceship porn.

I love spaceships. It's what keeps me coming back to Eve. It is why I have over 100 fully fitted ships in my hanger ready to go at a moment's notice. It is why I must have the newest thing, why I bought a Tornado/Naga/Talos/Oracle the very first day and the same with every other new ship introduced. Even though the first day is the worstest day to buy new ships. I don't care, I gotta have one. To spin while I figured out how to fit it and then undock and see it in the glory of space.

If, somewhere along the line, someone at CCP had thought enough of me and my efforts in support of Eve to gift me a special ship - I would be honored. I would not expect them to announced the gift to the world and would expect them to allow me the opportunity to decide for myself how to proceed. Of course I would blog about it immediately. That is my nature.

I wouldn't be ashamed of getting such a gift. I would be proud of it. If it was a non-combat ship then I'd probably sell it, but more than likely I'd be fitting it up right now to undock and play with. That is also my nature.

I'm as quick to give CCP a hard time as anyone. Goodness knows. But I'm really struggling to find a wrong here. I freely admit that I don't get it. I'd much rather CCP give out special ships than ISK, or special favors, or gold ammo, or any of a dozen other horribly imagined possibilities. Wouldn't you?

I imagine every scandal in light of a simple litmus test - If you didn't know about it, would it still affect your game?

Nope.

I just hope this hasn't ruined the free gift giving at the end of the year, for the rest of us. Cause I enjoyed that.

Community Spotlight: Eveoganda

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Today's Community Spotlight blog is about this humble bastion of under-statement, called Eveoganda.
If you are coming here to visit from that link, then Welcome Aboard. We have over four years of material, insanity, art, comics, video and assorted whatnots for you to enjoy.

I'd like to give a much deserved shout-out to CCP Eterne for managing to plow his way through everything I wrote in response to his questions and turning it into a good read. Well done Sir and thank you. Whatever they are paying you is not enough. Tell them I said that.

I just want everyone to know that I wrote a lot of material from which they had to edit down and that some minor misunderstandings may result. It was not my intention, but these things happen and they are out of my control. Primarily, and to be completely fair, the past three FFA events were Tusker events. I certainly contributed greatly to their success, especially the last one that I purposely and famously "banned". Which only meant it got even more attention by the way. But I do want to be fair and give credit where credit is due. This was a rather complicated bit of history that I'm guessing was best glossed over.

The rest I believe is just minor quibbles. It would honestly take a much, much longer article to encompass everything that has happened. And I don't blame CCP for wanting to put a positive spin on some of it. A lot of protest and determination went into correcting some issues over the years. Which is a bit of an under-statement.

But it has all been positive from my perspective and I am unabashedly pro-Eve, so no harm no foul.

Like I said, if this is your first visit enjoy the archives, visit the links and I hope you make Eveoganda a regular stop. I don't plan on quitting any time soon, so we've got lots more Eve to enjoy!

Thanks again and keep the courage.

Happy Skippy Fun Time Systems

I'm about to tell you something that will automagically transform the entire Universe of Eve, increase subscriptions by 400 gazillion percent, increase revenues for CCP and ultimately, eventually, lead to the harmonization of peace and prosperity throughout the known world. You ready?

Introducing Happy Skippy Fun Time Systems, or HSFTS. What are HSFTS you ask?  Quite simply the best idea ever in the history of Eve. So let me back-pedal and try to explain this insanely great idea.

Imagine with me a moment. A brand spanking new system is discovered, let's say one new one per Empire. These systems don't have CONCORD protection because they simply don't need it. Because, for some unknown but gloriously happy skippy reason, weapons mods simply DO NOT WORK in them. Whoa. I know right? But that's not even the great genius bit yet.

These systems are full of Kittens. Oh yeah, big-eyed, fluffy kittens of love. The asteroids are cupcakes, the planets are marshmallow, and the stations are open-air atriums of love and understanding. Old school Hippie style.

Oh sure it's magic. Love is magic baby. Unicorns, which are in your CQ, are also magic. This is a magical place of love, harmony and understanding. No one gets ganked here, no one gets war dec'd, or aggressed, or laughed at, or made to feel inferior. 

Chicks will dig HSFTS!! Just think about it. Mining Cupcakes all day, drinking from the chocolate waterfall dessert tray of life, kicking it to the local bands, trading clothes with the Nex Merchants... I can imagine my own wife subscribing in about two seconds!

Oh sure, the evil, dark, dangerous Eve still lives on outside the gates of the four HSFTS systems - but after awhile no one will go there anymore. And why would you want to? Why not spend time consulting the EFT Wizard, who is actually a Wizard that lives on top of the Sun? You can spend hours talking about the latest fitting you worked up for your Drake, cause the EFT Wizard never tires, never sleeps, and never judges. Or why not join one of the fun-loving Gate Camps on the conveniently located Gates? These are real, honest-to-goodness camps of friendly, helpful, and non-aggressive girlie men, sleeping under the stars and pondering the deeper meanings behind deep stuff. It's just like College!!

Oh man, the ideas just keep coming. And that's when you know you are a genius!! 

And the HSFTS systems don't have Wormholes... ewww. No, they have FluffyHoles, where fluffy critters of all shapes and sizes live. Like the Space Gopher! Or the ever lovable, Ground Hog of Hugs!!

Oh man, there is something for everyone in Happy Skippy Fun Time Systems. No one is left out, no one is punished, everyone is a very special snowflake. And isn't that special?

But I don't want to give away all the secrets! Plus, I'm sure by now your own head is full of wonderful idears all your own. So share, get into the spirit of a Happy Skippy Fun Time place in Eve, where we all hug, love and care. Carebears, one and all, LOLOLOLOLO!

I feel all warm inside.

(Originally published in January 2012, cause archives are fun too!)

Let's Bust some Myths

Things tend to accumulate, in life and in Eve, often leaving a long string of stories trailing behind us that can be confusing, misleading and just plain wrong. Sometimes these stories take on the mantle of "myth", superseding common sense and elevating themselves into common truth.

The same is true here on the 'ol Eveoganda and our trained staff of monkeys has been pouring over the posts, comments and history to pull out some of the better nuggets for me to address here this morning. For your illumination, rumination and - perhaps - ruination. In other words, let's get started.

MYTH: Rixx is angry/mad/upset/pissed off about being kicked from the Tuskers.

This sentiment seems rather rampant and couldn't be further from the truth. Think about this with me for a second, ok? How could I be angry when I got exactly what I wanted? Since the day I had to close Lucifer's Hammer I've been planning to start a new pirate corporation, you can read me saying exactly that in about a dozen different places in the archives. (Look it up, I often come right out and tell people my plans, but they rarely seem to notice.) It is true that the actual event happened about a month sooner than I expected, but being kicked from the Tuskers was a friggin' gift horse. Imagine how boring it would have been if I had just quietly left instead?

That fact in no way invalidates the stupid list of reasons for why I was kicked, which are still rather lame in my opinion. But whatever.


MYTH: Rixx is STILL angry and bitter about it?

That was six months ago. In that time Stay Frosty has grown from one new member to about 130, including many prominent bloggers, personalities, alts of famous people, and a great core group of exceptional pilots, including many who are trying out low sec combat for the first time. Heck we even have two TMC reporters in our roster, you know, the same TMC that I once said was ruining the Eve Community? Does that sound like a guy who carries bitterness around with him?

What people often confuse for "bitterness" is actually pragmatic team building. In American Football we call this the "Rivalry Game" and I'm betting European Football has its share of it as well. We live in the exact same system as the Tuskers, so naturally they are our Rivalry Game. On University campuses you'll often see the rivals burned in effigy, mocked, teased and otherwise poked at in order to pump-up the home team. With me so far? No? I am the CEO of Stay Frosty and I am their greatest cheerleader. You made me say it.


MYTH: Rixx is a liar.

This one is hard to bust. You only have my word on it and it can be almost impossible to prove. I don't feel the need to "prove" my truthfulness simply because there is no Governing Committee of Blog Truthfulness that I am aware of. I can only point back at over four years of faithful, almost daily, blogging and advocacy, at event creation, at holding donated assets (over 50b in total, every last cent of which was just given away!), helping the community, providing advice, artwork, and support and say, "well?". If that ain't good enough for you, then you obviously have another agenda in my opinion.

I freely admit that the "truth" I write about is heavily tinged by my own personal perspective, agenda and goals. Just like all truth by the way. If you haven't learned that life lesson yet, then it is about time you did. Wake up.

[And for those four pilots, you know who you are, combining three convos into one is not lying. I wish I still had the originals but I don't, because I didn't care enough to save them! That is exactly how insignificant it was.]


MYTH: Rixx creates the news.

Ok this one is kinda true. Let me try to explain. The other night I was talking to one of our Directors who was going through a rough patch and they asked me a simple question, "Why does this stuff seem to be happening to me?" My answer was also simple, because that is the kind of player you are. In fact, we are a lot alike. There are players that have spent their entire careers with one Corporation, or in one corner of New Eden, or doing one job, or otherwise blending into the scenery. Nothing wrong with that, in fact I applaud them. But there are other players, like the Director and myself, for whom things happen. Over and over again.

By our very nature we are complicit in this, because we refuse to settle, we challenge, we incite, we ask questions and we act. This blog didn't create me, I created this blog to record my adventures. I was having those adventures before the blog. Things happen to me and I freely admit that I am often complicit in them.

For example. I could have easily just wandered off after I left the Tuskers, goodness knows I had enough offers ( and thanks again!) but I didn't. Not only did I create a new corporation, but I planted it right across the street from my old one. Fully aware of what that meant. So yeah, in a way, I do create my own news. Sue me.


MYTH: Rixx has it in for Sully.

Take a look at this link. I'll wait.

That was something that happened FIVE years ago. Did I personally know Aralis? Nope. I mocked him because he was the head of CVA. That's what we do. And for all of that, if I met the guy in a bar I'd buy him a drink. This is a game people. If Sully and I ever do meet someday, I'd buy him a drink also. Swap stories, laugh about Eve, get really drunk and then abandon him in a dark alley somewhere. Just kidding, sheesh you people need to lighten up.

He is the dictator of the corporation in the other station. Y'know the one that has us War Decc'd, station camped, ECM'd, insta-locked?! That one? Yeah.

I said it again yesterday, all we care about is good fights. That is all it really comes down to. BUT, and this is a big BUT. If the above continues then I will continue to mock, I have a long history of doing that right here on this blog and I see no reason to stop now. It's fun. It gives birth to some great creativity. And it keeps things interesting.


My loving wife, who recently started reading Eveoganda, pointed something out to me the other day. She noticed that after I cause some kind of stir I tend to follow it up with yet another post about how this is my blog,  I can say what I want, you people don't understand, something along those lines. It is true. You seem continually amazed by the goings on here, when they've been going on for over four years now. I haven't changed.

And I ain't gonna.

Dear Internets

Greetings Internet, 
I have been informed that i am obligated to apologize to you for the confusion about a certain code that I helped troll. I am sorry but i cannot apologize for any broken trolls of codes, because i had not agreed to not troll any such code. I will however apologize for the confusion on the matter and i hope you understand that if anything else like this happens, if I get my hands on troll material that is so good the internet must see it, then it will. Because I am a bad person.





This video has been sitting in our hanger for the last week, waiting. We took a vote among Stay Frosty leadership and we all decided that it was just to good to let it languish in silence.

Feel free to blame me, I'm responsible for the video.

Not that it will matter to anyone, but this is the last time I will ever mention the name of that other corporation on this blog. No matter what happens down the road, their name will never be spoken here again. Y'know, unless they do something so monumentally stupid that it simply demands to be posted about. I mean, c'mon, I'm only human. I think.

Until then, this is a goddamn funny video. Enjoy it.


And let the tears commence...