Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 54th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are visit the Blog Banter page.
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Today's topic comes Diaries of a Space Noob blog and other sources:
Quick post. I was listening to a song and a question occurred to me. Where are the EVE heroes? Against a dark background surely all we have are anti-heroes? A lot of mockery is aimed at any who attempt to be white knights. EVE is a dark place and yet pretty much all other MMO's try to place the player in the role of some form of hero, boosting the ego and taking the player out of the humdrum 1 in 7 billion that is RL. Why have I fitted into EVE? Did I never want to be that? So I guess my question is:
Do classic heroes exist in EVE? Is such heroism even possible in EVE? How would you go about being one without opening yourself wide open to scams? Is the nature of the game so dark that heroes can't exist? How do you deal with that irony? What effect does this have on us and the psyche of new players coming in from other MMOs? Is it something special that we don't have classic heroes, or should we? Are our non classic heroes more genuine?
And I would add to this, who have we elevated to the level of larger than life heroes ourselves in the game, and do they actually deserve it?
My Eve is Full of Heroes
Eve is played by people. Eve is not a 'path-oriented' quest, or search, or otherwise pre-programmed step-by-step conquest full of boring NPCs and programmer level writing. Eve isn't about the end, it is always about the journey. Eve is also NOT built on previously established fantasy genres that come with their own sets of pre-determined virtues and structure, within which we all do the same old crap every time we log in to play.
So asking Eve to fit within your pre-determined litany of expectations is rather silly.
Eve is all about this line from an Avett Brothers song, "Decide what to be, and go be it." In fact, the entire thing is a rather great Eve song.
Get deep with it people. Expand your thinking. Don't accept the establishment. Reject compromise. Dream big dreams. Grow up and realize the greatest potential YOU have in Eve - to be who you want to be.
My Eve is full of Heroes. I am surrounded by them. It might seem trite to you for me to say this, but every pilot in Stay Frosty is my personal hero. They would be yours if you knew them like I do. They are the odd ones, the ones that haven't taken the easy road and joined the hordes. They are the misfits that challenge the status quo every time they undock. That fight horrible odds. That go into every single region of Eve and say, "I will make my mark!"
When anyone is in a Stay Frosty gang and they simply type "www" into fleet chat, you know what happens? EVERYONE comes to help. No questions asked. Yes, we die a lot because of it. But we also win gloriously because of it. Or we save our friend's ship. Or we conquer the overwhelming odds stacked against us. Stay Frosty doesn't have friends. All we have are enemies. Our enemies are everywhere. They war dec us, they camp us, they smart-bomb our pods, they send their spais, they mock, tease, and taunt us in local. They have 4-5 link alts running. They swarm us. And yet, my heroes continue to undock.
My heroes put themselves in harms way. They jumped supplies right thru the Wars. They put their ship in danger for the new guy. They help, they assist, they swarm when needed and they never give up.
I use Stay Frosty as an example because it is mine. These are my friends. But I hope you have a similar reaction when you read these words. That you are thinking about your own mates, your own corp, your own Alliance. That you are thinking about yourself. (If not, then you need a change my friend.)
Because my Eve is full of heroes. I fly with them everyday. The rest? I don't care about them. I don't play Eve to be a hero to the masses, to change the universe, to wrong a right, or to right a wrong on the grand scale. Anyone that does is a masochist of the highest order. I play Eve to be a hero to my friends. To give them ISK when they need it, to provide a free frigate when they need it, to put massive events together because they are fun, to build a world around them that lets them play this crazy ass game of ours. To enjoy themselves.
Are their BIG Heroes in Eve? Nope.
Other banters have brought the usual, usual to the fore -The Mittani, or Chribba, or others. These are not Heroes. Those are names. The Mittani never pulled my ship out of danger, or came to my rescue. In my Eve I've never even met him in a ship. My personal feelings aside, the Mittani impacts my Eve in no way at all. He is simply a player of note. Chribba is, on the other hand, someone with whom I have had dealings. As far back as Providence. Chribba is an amazing person and I have total respect for him. But he isn't a Hero.
Eve doesn't need big "H" Heroes. It doesn't need them because it is chock full of day-to-day Heroes. Players that represent the very best that Eve has to offer, no matter what their play-style happens to be. Wromholers, Mission Runners, Pirates, Soldiers, Diplomats, Miners, Builders and all the other aspects of this game have their own Heroes. I salute them.
Eve doesn't need Heroes because it has you.
You decide. Hero or Villain. Light or Dark. No matter what play-style you choose, the choice is yours.
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