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| Hanging with the small gang |
2015 will be a year long remembered, it has seen my first Eve Fanfest and trip to Iceland and it witnessed the barrier finally broken between fan based art and CCP with the launch and sale of two complete poster series on QMx. A rather historic turn of events, not without its share of problems with international shipping costs, but certainly a huge step in the right direction. A direction I continue to hope improves significantly in 2016. There isn't much more I can do personally to ensure that it improves, my hands are rather tied in that regard. But I continue to be available to do whatever I can to support whatever direction CCP ultimately takes. That is really all I can do. The ball is securely in their court.
Fanfest was an incredible experience and I highly recommend it. My wife and I had an insane rollercoaster ride from the moment we landed until we left exhausted and wasted. But I wouldn't have changed a thing. We got to meet and hang out with tons of friends, both new and old, meet and talk with bunches of CCP peeps, I got to do a player presentation and a round-table, I was on Eve TV with Guard and Niden, and I was fortunate and honored to have dinner with CCP Seagull and her husband. Not to mention the reaction CCP Mimic blessed me with when she realized it was me she was talking to, all of which is something I will never forget.
This year I won the "Decorate the Offices" contest and my mural is now hanging somewhere in the vast CCP corporate behemoth building. That was a great honor and I look forward to getting to see it once we are back in Iceland this April. I also got some seriously awesome loots from the contest.
It wasn't all sugar and roses of course, this past Summer also saw the take-down of our video game Drifter Wars shortly after it was released. Once again the project was intended to present an opportunity for CCP Legal to address an open question regarding EVE IP and application based opportunities that are currently being exploited by others. And which will be in the future. The glacial pace of these changes and clarifications continues to be one of the most frustrating parts of trying to work with CCP. Nothing happens quickly. I was hoping to have some answers by the end of this year, but that doesn't look like it will happen.
In 2015 Stay Frosty and A Band Apart continued to thrive and grow. Over the Summer we played around with taking Sov in a couple of Null Sec regions. Our experience taught us many things, the most important of which is that transforming a Pirate based Alliance into a Sov Holding Alliance doesn't happen quickly. Even for lolz. We had fun though and that is all that really matters. We also participated in our very first Alliance Tournament and despite not winning a single match we learned a lot and will do better next year. I remain rather unhappy about our showing frankly. Next year we shall do better. All of our pilots will be more experienced and more skilled, which will only help the planning and application of doctrine. Ya gotta start somewhere. I would really like to win the AT someday. Might as well be 2016.
My wife started playing Eve when we got back from Fanfest, which has to be the ultimate highlight of the year for me. She doesn't get to play much these days, our family situation is rather intense right now, but she is my main counsel in all things Eve. She keeps up with the Meta even more than I do and lets me know when I should step in or step away. It is rather awesome.
And I can't end the memories of 2015 without mentioning the most incredible moment of all. A day I remain humbled by. I found myself up against a rather hard wall and did something I have never done before, I asked for help. It wasn't easy for me. But within nine hours the generosity and compassion of our great community overwhelmed me and provided a solution to get over that wall. I will never be able to thank you all enough times, or in enough ways, to express my sincere and complete gratitude. Every day when I sit down to work, to write, to draw, to play, I thank each of you in my heart. And I am totally not just making that up, I really do. Thank you.
So many other things happened in 2015. I'll have another post tomorrow to catch up on the greater community and the actual game itself. I remain hopeful that 2016 will be an even better year for all of us.
Keep the courage.