Yesterday I was out in my trusty Federation Navy Comet just casually murdering everyone and hanging out with a couple of my fellow Stay Frosty pilots - when I went to warp to a Plex off-scan - and then our internet died. I live in a rural area north of Pittsburgh, PA (US) and our local cable company is the source of our internet service. It is not horrible, when it works. But unfortunately it goes out often 3-4 times a day. This morning, for example, it was out for several hours. Without me, my Comet went to that Plex and was murdered by two gentlemen who I can only assume appreciated the fact that it just sat there and died without moving or fighting back.
This happens a lot. So much so that I made the handy guide above to humorously explain away some of my losses. And while these percentages are totally made up, they aren't far off. It might even be much, much worse. Over 17 years even small percentages can add up to rather large numbers. 4.6% of my losses accounts for 150 total losses over the years. And to be honest, that sounds horribly low. Ask anyone who had flown in one of my fleets, I disconnect often.
But internet issues are not the only issues that can lead to death. Playing Eve on a Mac is also an issue. Although nothing like it used to be. Back in the early days of Eve we even had our own version of the game running under emulation. That was fun. Not. Mac based issues were plentiful and frustrating. I died a lot from those back in the early years. These days things work much, much better. But I still wonder sometimes. It can be hard to tell if it is a Mac issue or our next category, "Eve Being Weird".
Modules won't activate? The same local following you around? Chat servers constantly re-starting? Or this new one I get every so often where I can't type in any channel or do anything other than over-heat my modules? Love that one. It requires a re-start by the way. Eve is often weird and doesn't act in predictable ways, which can very often result in you dying. There is another subtle one going around which I find incredibly annoying. I'll start a target lock and watch as it starts to resolve only to have it mysteriously start over again from the beginning. Love that one. In a game of micro-seconds and server ticks, those lost seconds can be the difference between winning a fight and the pod express home.
To be clear, I'm not bitching or moaning. I accepted all of this a very long time ago. I can even remember when I took a deep breath and said to myself, "Self, this is just how it is gonna be pal." It was one of my very first adventures into Low Security space and I was in a Daredevil. I found a Comet in a belt and started to engage with it. My modules didn't work. They would spool and then stop. I lost that fight and I eventually got my ship reimbursed. But the loss stayed on the kill-board. As they do. Fair enough. This game comes with error, mistakes, server issues, and frequent internet shut-downs at the worst possible time. So you just deal with it. Like anything else.
I own it all. The bad decisions. The gate camps. The 1v1 that suddenly turns into a 2v1 with a Proteus. The hidden Recon traps. The server ticks that favor European players and are detrimental to those of us in the USA. All of it. I even own the insane amount of losses I've gained from hosting more than 11 massive FF4A events over the years.
It is all part of the game. And the stories, the complaints, the frustration - they are also part of that larger story. I remember multiple copies of my ship undocking. Or the time the new Destroyers didn't have any textures applied. Or the time the Vagabond lost its frills. Or when you could get stuck on a rock and get killed by the NPCs. Good times.
It's all good times.