 |
| A Minmatar worker dusting off an engine part of a new Tempest |
I write and produce a lot of material that springs forth from these pages. Some of which is written from a purposefully narrow perspective, this is after all, the entire point. Indeed, it could be argued that the entire enterprise is written from an even wider-narrow perspective, if we wanted to encompass larger themes, such as a pro-Eve theme. Which would be fair to do. Even when I've had my points to make over the years it has been from a Pro-Eve perspective. But, on a smaller scale, this is certainly a blog primarily dedicated to PvP. And for the last four or so years, PvP from a decidedly pirate/low-sec angle.
Which, duh, is what I do in Eve. Massively even once labeled me as Eve's Promoter, which is also fair.
But that isn't the entire story. And sometimes in beating the drums, other messages can get lost. And I want to make sure those other messages are not getting lost within the noise. I spent a good portion of my first years in Eve living in Null, struggling to make ends meet. This is before this blog started and before I became a living legend. (lol) Those days were spent primarily trying to figure out how to make enough isk to buy ships and fit them. The first time I almost quit Eve was when I lost two Cormorants in one day. I almost quit because those two ships represented my entire wallet. A wallet I had spent weeks building up to even that paltry amount.
My first taste of fortune came by accident. I had lost my ratting ship the day before and after downtime the next day I took my Badger up to hi-sec to buy a new one. While I was docked a corp mate asked me to bring him some rigs for his ship. He needed them because there weren't any in the market in Providence. This was back when rigs came in only one size - Large. Not only did I buy his rigs, but I also filled up the cargo bay with as many other rigs as I could. And then trucked them thru Null Sec to deep in Providence, in my Badger. They sold within a day.
For the next few months I made that trip every day after DT with a cargo-hold full of rigs to sell. Some days I would make more than one trip. I only lost one Badger during that time, something I am still proud of. The one I lost wasn't even full of rigs, it was a supply run for myself.
I also ratted a lot. I also helped my corp mates mine, providing protection, or engaging in mining myself. And once I even fitted a Rokh with mining lasers. I could go on.
My point is this, and I think it can get lost sometimes, I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for those players that choose to be the builders, the traders, the miners, the workers in Eve. It is often a hard choice and one full of its own set of dangers. And excitement. And achievement. Not everything in Eve boils down to killboard stats. And no one is more aware of this fact than me.
It is a life that I have largely worked my way out of, but even I am still beholden to it. I can't live the way I do in-game without them, nor would I want to. And sometimes, like yesterday, even I have to buckle down and do some carebeary things. Nothing reminds you of the dangers as much as moving a freighter full of goods thru hi-sec and sneaking your ninja Providence into low-sec.
I just wanted to raise my cup to all of you. Full-timers, part-timers, strugglers, traders, builders, mission-runners, transporters, and every other stripe and creed. You are all an important and significant part of the circle that keeps the machine running.
No matter what I write, or what jokes I sometimes make, never forget that I know how much I need you.