In December 2019, less than six months ago, I managed to record my 7,000th kill in Eve Online. Now I've already managed to record my 8,000th less than half a year later. Just to put that into perspective, in my first 4 years of playing Eve I managed 1,500 or so kills. Over 4 years.
Primarily that tells you just how little I actually managed to play Eve those first four years. Back then I had a company to run and mainly played an hour here or there, or on weekends. I also was playing primarily to have fun with my Son back then. He was the Eve Online nut job back then. lol.
Over 12 years my playtime has gone from next to nothing, to a lot, to next to nothing over and over again. It happens. 12 years is a long time to play a game. And I certainly haven't always played at the same intensity level due to real life commitments and other factors. This is normal and, even now, my playtime ebbs and flows. Like I said, this is normal. We all know what that's like.
I'm also aware that many people in Eve have more kills than me. Heck, my good friend and fellow Stay Frosty pilot, Cervantes Marovinjun is coming up on 10,000 kills in Stay Frosty alone! (Over 16,000 total) Which is double my output. And there are people out there with over 30,000 kills total. Kudos to them all, well done. I'm not comparing myself to any of them, I play for other reasons and I enjoy running Stay Frosty and A Band Apart and being the Pirate Lord. The numbers are milestones along the path.
I'm still proud of them however. Those are all had won, low sec, being -10 numbers and while the quantity isn't always in the numbers, I do strive to make the quality something to be proud of. When I can. The 8,000th kill was an empty shuttle we stumbled on down in The Bleak Lands on Friday. It was just floating in space with a few others ships a couple hundred clicks from us. We think they were left overs from a Citadel explosion. So we all boated over and made a big deal about the shuttle. We had a good laugh on comms and everyone had a great time. So that one was a gimme.
8,000 kills doesn't mean anything. And yet it means something.
All I do know is that every day I try to get better. To have fun. And to enjoy the friendships in this community of ours. And I look forward to doing that for another 12 years. And maybe more.
Onward & Upward.