It's good to take breaks. From Eve Online, from gaming, from blogging, just about anything in your life. Vacations are good. Breaking from the normal grind. No matter what you do, taking a much needed break is important from time to time. I've certainly been quieter than usual here in these pages over the past Summer and that has certainly been on purpose. I needed a break from writing and thinking about Eve Online and the community. I needed to step back and think about what I want from this experience. In January of 2025 I will have been writing in these pages for fifteen years. That is a long time.
One thing that I noticed was that over the last few years I have strangely been holding back in ways I never would have earlier on. Holding back from talking about things openly and honestly in these pages. Looking back at it now I think this progression was only natural. For one thing, a lot of things I have stood for over the years have been addressed. Low Security space was dealt with and factional warfare was expanded (we can argue about the details and how they have changed the game), I've been working for the past eighteen months on an incredible board game project based on Eve Online, my officially licensed store front has been up and running for years now, and things have been great with Stay Frosty and ABA. In fact, things are generally good all the way around.
Except. There is always an exception or two. I realize now that I've let a vocal and antagonistic corner of the community dictate the words I use here in these pages. I started thinking about the reaction to certain posts, or information, or opinions, before I published them. And that is very unusual. Almost unheard of. In fact, that is the opposite of how I normally proceed. My frustration with Eveoganda steams directly from this corner, I started questioning posts and would often choose to just not post - rather than deal with the bullshit. To be honest I wasn't entirely aware that this was happening. And often I would justify this approach by telling myself it was in the best interests of my Corporation and Alliance. This is how we justify our actions, right? By convincing ourselves that we are doing them for the right reasons.
But I made a promise to myself back when I started down this path. A promise to openly and honestly chronicle my adventures in this game of ours, to share my opinions, to stand up for what I think is right, and to work hard to affect change. And, possibly most importantly, to call out those elements in our community that I feel need to be called out for whatever reasons. Over the last fourteen years that has meant taking a tremendous amount of gruff from various corners. It has meant taking threats, being exposed, stalked, threatened, and accused of grift, cheating, and numerous other false accusations.
I've also come to understand that these things happen to me because I openly write about them. I'm an easy target, I put myself out there to be a target and so - I've often been a target. So at least part of this falls on my own shoulders. If I was just a normal player of a spaceship game I could have avoided almost all of this. It doesn't excuse the horrible lies, threats, and abuse over the years. It doesn't. But it does help to put it all into perspective. If you choose to fight, you should expect a fight.
So I've decided that being a Pirate in Eve is just my nature. Being a person that calls out certain types of behavior in-game is just my nature. And standing up to bullies is just who I am. Trying to curtail that just brings me nothing but frustration. So I'm not going to stop doing it whenever it needs to be done. I'm going to rededicate myself to speaking my mind here in these pages and standing up for what I believe in, no matter what the consequences might be.
I'm also not looking for it. I'd rather just talk about my adventure in the game and share art, funny stories, and videos. I'd much rather just keep getting better at the game and enjoying some good fights. FC'ing my fleets and pushing for an improved game play experience for everyone. I'd much rather just do that.
So let's see where the next fourteen years takes us. Shall we?