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| An early propaganda poster |
As with most things in life that you commit time to doing - that slowly started to change. I started to see various pieces of propaganda around the game, primarily in our Alliance forums. That looked like it could be fun, so I started making a few pieces here and there. Around the same time I got involved in helping the Alliance during a war and learned how to FC. I started reading various blogs and a piece of art I had created was used in an issue of EON Magazine. There was no over-riding plan, or machinations, or diabolical scheme behind any of this. It all happened very slowly and randomly. Both in-game and out.
In January 2010 I decided to start writing Eveoganda as a way to journal my journey in Eve. One of my first posts won a contest on CrazyKinux's blog. And by this time I was creating Ads and writing regularly in EON Magazine. It wasn't long before I was creating blog banners for the community and when Crazy retired, I took over the reins of the Blog Pack. Around this time someone asked me for a piece of art or a logo and offered to pay me ISK for it. I eventually got confirmation that such a transaction was not against the EULA and that has been my primary income source ever since.
The thing I've noticed after playing Eve both inside of TQ and out for the past ten years - is that real life influences the game. As many of you know my own life has transformed tremendously since I started playing Eve in 2008. There have been huge tracks of time in which I did very little playing Eve, and times when I would log in simply to haunt a certain system or two for lols, or any number of other time wasting events. Sometimes I'd do something just to have something to do. There were times in my life when Eve was the most positive thing I had going on at that moment. And there have sincerely been two times when the Eve community literally saved my life. And that is not an understatement.
Everything changed for me when I went to Iceland and Fanfest for the first time in 2015. Up to that point I had never met another Eve player and all of a sudden I was meeting hundreds of them. I was also the host of CCP and getting private tours, and dinners, lunches, and signing autographs at the Eve Store table. For a person working his ass off to rebuild his career and his life at the time - those were some extremely positive days.
I've been thru a lot in these ten years. Both here in this wonderful and amazing community, and over here in real life. But the most important lesson I've learned in those years is this - there is no difference between those two places. Real Life is Eve. Eve is Real.
I made several promises to myself (and by extension to you dear readers) back in 2015. One of those was that I would never stop fighting for what I believe in. No matter what other forces are arrayed against me. Another promise is that Liz and I would do whatever we could to pay back the kindness you showed us when we most needed it. In the intervening years we've literally spent and given back many times more than we were given. And we continue to do so willingly and with joy. No one will ever convince or change my mind about this great community of ours. It remains what we all make of it - no matter who is writing the checks.
In the posts to follow I'll talk in more detail about parts of this ten year journey. And it has been a journey. Full of adventure, mistakes, challenges, great triumphs, frustrating setbacks, missed opportunities, plenty of idiots, and so many good friendships.
We look forward to meeting even more of you at Eve Vegas and in Eve London in the coming months.
The journey isn't over yet.