It's insane to play a video game for 16 years straight. It is. I must be crazy. I often find myself telling myself this in my head. And then rolling that thought around the justifications that immediately start boiling over the neurons that are firing. And then realizing that things are much, much worse than that. Without much trouble I can leap to, "Dude, you've been playing video games your entire life!" And then that starts a dark slide into oblivion. Because, let's be fair with ourselves here, it is true.
More importantly however, and where these mental gymnastics land, is that I'm perfectly fine with the idea that I've now played Eve Online for 16 years. (Or will have on Saturday) And that I plan on continuing to play Eve Online for many more years to come. As I write these words I can't imagine a reason to stop playing. Only two reasons come to mind. Eve doesn't exist in a playable form, or I don't exist in a playable form. One of those things will happen eventually. Hopefully both are still many, many years down the road yet.
This post was supposed to be the big "look back" post and an attempt to find a common theme regarding the last 16 years. A tidy summation that would put a pretty bow on the years that have preceded this post. That was the goal I put in my head as I sat down to write these words. So let me try and at least attempt to construct some type of success in that regard.
Like many Eve players my first years in this crazy game essentially boiled down to trying to find my own way in the universe. Training skills, learning mechanics, and figuring out what I enjoyed doing. That took a lot longer back then because I wasn't playing all that much in those early days. But eventually what really stuck with me was the reality of playing against other players, individually and also in a larger sense. The tagline of the reality show Survivor always comes to my mind when I think of this, "Outwit. Outplay. Outlast." and I think it essentially sums up my approach. I wanted to become the master of both the martial art of Player Versus Player combat and the larger meta game. And for awhile that sufficed. But, to be fair, that was never a real theme. Sure it makes for compelling blog posts. But it really isn't fair.
There are also elements of anti-bullying in my history. Which is rich coming from a Pirate who often gets accused of bullying behavior in the game. Of course I get accused of all sorts of things in the game. Or have been over the years. This happens when you stand up for things, especially when you stand up against bullies. And I won't re-cap all of those efforts in this post, but I've largely been extremely successful in this aspect. I'm still here, still writing, still undocking every day - while many of those accusers from the past 16 years are no longer haunting us. So take from that what you will. I think "outlast" was one of the words.
So let's just go with "fighter" I think. Ive fought bullies, I've fought for rights for artists, I've fought to curb the impact of warp core stabilizers, to bring back the frills to the Vagabond, to enhance the region of space I enjoy, to expand the horizons of Factional Warfare, the unmitigated exploitation of our community, and many other battles over the years. Not to mention all the fighting in-game. But in-game stuff will be the theme of the next blog post tomorrow.
As for the rest I think it is best to leave that to others. I'm just this guy who tries his best each day to do the right thing. I've made mistakes. I've said things I wish I could take back. But I've always tried to stand up for what I strongly believed to be the right thing. Even when it wasn't popular. And, especially in these pages, to be honest with my readers.
And I look forward to continuing to do that for as long as I am able.
Keep the courage.