EVE Online Hold'em Sponsors Multiple Eve_NT Events
To promote the pursuit of fun, EVE Online Hold'em (EOH) has stepped up to sponsor Eve_NT.
EVE is all about fun and community is the cornerstone of that fun. Live events strengthen our community and turn in-game relationships into lasting friendships. EVE is Community!
EOH wants to help Eve_NT be the best event it can. Although we are a small community of poker players/gamblers without the resources of larger groups, we feel that it is important in the name of community to support EVE_NT. As EOH management observed, “There is nothing in our budget for Eve_NT sponsorship. We are sacrificing other advertising and planned promotions to make this happen. In light of recent events, we felt it was important to help Eve_NT and to make an important point about building strong relationships with our fellow EVE players. We feel strongly that in-game events should not come between real people enjoying getting together to share their EVE experences over a beer.”
EOH is sponsoring two EVE_NT activities: a 3-Card winner-takes-all poker hand and a 3x3 Valkyrie tournament.
The first 100 people through the door at EVE_NT will receive gift bags in which are 3 playing cards. Toward the end of the night a contest will be held to see who holds the best “3 Card Poker” hand. The winner will receive 10 Billion ISK. Tied hands will split the prize. This contest will allow people to trade cards and network before hands are presented, offering a great opportunity for EVE_NT attendees to break the ice and interact with players they don't know.
At the EOH poker tables as in EvE, players compete against each other. To honor the concept of PvP, EOH is providing 15 Billion ISK for the winning team of a 3v3 Valkyrie tournament to be held at Eve_NT.
EOH is EVE’s oldest gaming community – a trusted service for over 7 ½ years! We offer poker and 50/50 coin flip gambling using ISK. Bankers (backed up by collateral on deposit) hold your ISK securely. Games are run using independent third party commercial software that EOH cannot control and did not write. EOH only charges a 5% house fee (25 to 40% is the normal in EVE) on games. Bankers are paid 50% of that house fee. The other 50% covers advertising, promotions, sponsorships, staff bonuses, bonus games etc. EOH is not about making massive piles of ISK off players' backs. We are a community of people who love EVE and poker...a community for the fun of it!
He felt the usual sharp burst of pain as his memory was
injected into his new body. Bio fluid drained out the bottom of the clone
chamber as it gently opened, spilling his body out on the floor.
'Bastard' he groaned.
Nashh Kadavr had died many times but only enjoyed it, if
done by his own choice. Getting 'Santo'd' was not a choice.
The clone facilities seemed eerily quiet, they usually
where in this station. Many pilots lost their lives in this part of low-sec but
not many had clones installed at Ishomilken 4-2.
As his vision turned less blurry and strength returned to
his muscles he attempted to stand. Using the lockers opposite his clone vat to
steady himself, he became acutely aware he was not alone.
Blurred peripheral vision outlined her body, no mistake
about it; it was her. Despite motor skills still recovering from his sudden
re-birth he managed to open his locker with one hand to grab a blaster from the
middle shelf. Keeping weapons in unusual places had proven to be valuable in
the past.
'You ok?'She spoke softly.
'Yah'he muttered.
Nashh and Venom shared a past, some bad, mostly good.
There had been many times she had to bail him out of situations he had created.
Something didn't add up... He released his grip on the pistol and picked up a
towel instead, using it to cover whatever modesty he had left.
'Nothing I haven't seen before Mr Kadavr, although..'she
paused, 'it has been a while.'
'What are the chances huh?' Thinking out loud he pointed
out the obvious;'out of all places, all systems, all clone vat facilities, we
both end up here...'
'Indeed' she smiled,'what a coincidence huh?'
Vision returned to normal and he had no shame
familiarising his eyes to her curves and perk shape. Memories flooded back to
some of the crazy nights they had spend in years gone by.
She was just like he remembered.
Smiling a devious smile she whispered'So, how about a
shower?'
Rockets spewed forth and superheated rounds of Phased plasma crashed into the
Incursis.
In return rounds of antimatter hurtled back and started to rip chunks out of
his shields.
The Incursis commander initiated contact in the local channel;
'Nashh?! It's me Venom!'
'Venom? B.b.but you left?...'
'I came back!'
The famous and much loved female pirate halted her ion blaster fire and
recalled her combat drones.
'You broke my heart...'
'I am sorry hun, but I needed a break, I am truly sorry'
Anger and rejection filled him with rage as Nashh overheated his weapons rack.
'I am not'
A violent explosion briefly lit up the nearby beacon as Venom Orchid's frigate
erupted, expelling her escape capsule.
The once ruthless, female, pirate captain must have lost her sharpness or
gained a death wish, she made little or no attempt to get her pod out.
'Do you feel better now?'
'A little'
'So how have you been?'
'I keep myself... What the?!'
Being distracted by one of the most beautiful pilot in new Eden was enough for
a Stay Frosty gang to sneak up on him.
'Cavalry baby, your Dramiel for my Incursis seems a fair trade'
'Damn you Venom'
Nashh exclaimed before firing shells deep into Venom Orchid's escape capsule.
The Dramiel was lost, overwhelming damage evaporated his remaining shield, the
reinforced armour and it's hull.
Lightning quick reflexes and plenty of practise allowed for Nashh to get his
capsule out, leaving behind the laughing pack of wild dogs.
'You suck!'Harrigan shouted over the local
radio waves.
'Fuck you, stay blobby you fucknuts'
What is it with these Frostians. Like some cancerous cell it slowly consumed
those he loved. Roc, Kinux, Harri, and now even Venom
'I hate you Rixx Javix, may you burn in hell'
Ending the long warp on the Usi stargate, something didn't feel right.
Heightened senses of danger troubled him.
Before any action could be taken he realised his fate was already sealed. The
moment that followed seemed to pass in slow motion.
Around him the corpses of at least a dozen capsuleers gently floated in space.
The Frozen and mangled remains of a body gently bounced of the side of his
escape pod.
'Fuck you too Santo'Nashh managed as a Proteus uncloaked beside him andlit up a rack of smartbombs...
Super excited about all the cool people attending #EVE_NT next month and this time with heavy CCP support! CCP will be attending with no less than 4 devs including EVE Valkyrie set-ups and DUST514 to play with!
Sponsors have been a massive help; Chillblast, Coolermaster and Plantronics will be providing all the equipment for the tournament and add lots of prizes to the pot! Expect winners to walk away with gaming equipment, apparel, CCP swag, beer and more!
EVEbet.com has stepped up and taken over as headline sponsor, providing a plex and a beer for the first 100 people to arrive!
I will not sink to the level of some others and keep the
moral high ground here. It is clear the relations with I Want Isk have soured
beyond repair and any future working relationship needs to be terminated with
immediate effect.
This is a sad state of affairs indeed but unfortunately the
only outcome possible after the drama that unfolded and fuelled by others and ill-informed,
unknowing participants.
In the early hours of this morning I was served with the
ultimatum to apologize publicly or lose the I Want Isk sponsorship for #EVE_NT.
I could but won’t post the related chat log as I do not think it would be
appropriate.
As I refuse to publicly (or privately) apologize for what
was a successful in-game event all participation by I Want Isk has now
officially been removed.
There is the matter of 100 billion isk that has been sent to
me as part of the prize fund for #EVE_NT that has been requested back from I
Want Isk. My conversation this morning ended with me explaining I will consider
this, however I am in no position until later tonight (I am at work) to send
this back. I Want Isk have therefore taken the stance that I have refused to
send back this isk.
This is simply not true, but as they have already slandered
my name regardless; now I do refuse to send back the isk. It doesn’t feel right
to use this isk as prizes at #EVE_NT as it would still be related to I Want Isk
and that just doesn’t seem appropriate. I will not be keeping this for myself;
instead I have sent it to Chribba to hold on to until the next PLEX-for-good
campaign and I will donate the full amount to charity.
It’s a shame that there will be fewer prizes to give away at
#EVE_NT but remember there are still 100 plex and a Malice to give away
sponsored by EVEbet.com. If anyone wants to step forward and donate anything to
give away as prizes please feel free to contact me via evemail!
I want to thank everyone for their support over the last few
days and wish I Want Isk the very best in the future.
Let me start off by saying what an amazing night last night! Best fight had in a long time in EVE with excellent attendance! TIDI obviously kicked in but CCP came through in the end and the system held just fine.
Let me continue by explaining my relationship with I Want Isk;
Organising #EVE_NT is something I do because I enjoy the community aspect of EVE and wanted to create an event for like minded people to catch up and share good times. Partly to attract higher attendance and to please guests, I spend a lot of time and effort into creating content and gifts for the event. This is achieved by negotiating deals with sponsors both in-game and in real life.
I Want Isk helped the first #EVE_NT as a sponsor and wanted to be a bigger part of the next one. The total amount offered was 500 billion isk to be distributed via raffles and tournament prizes. Please note that specific details on how this is split is not available as the entire sum has not been received and these details will not be available until then.
After EVEbet blew up a Supercarrier a few months back I suggested to the I Want Isk owner, Gonz, it would be a cool idea to blow up a Titan to promote the event and their website, using part of the sponsorship isk, rather than additional cost. We agreed 100 billion isk from the budget would be used to do this in-game promotional event.
So then what happened?
After posting the original thread and talking to people in-game and on social media it became clear pretty quickly that (of course) large numbers of pilots would turn up. The biggest single entity would be RvB led by infamous Mangala Solaris and a organised defence fleet would be required. Shadow Cartel was also scheduled to come along and I asked W0Wbagger if he would take control of the defence fleet, as I certainly have no experience in these massive fights.
Thanks to W0Wbagger, Paquito and Hunlight we managed to get a T3 fleet organised, in which I would later fly myself. At great personal expense I fitted the Titan and Titan-pilot, bought 4 carriers and 80 ewar frigates (for dead pilots to return in) to make the event last as long as possible and get maximum exposure for #EVE_NT and I Want Isk.
Shadow, Snuff, Dead Terrorist, Immediate Destruction and Bastards all committed personal assets to this fight, expecting to lose everything to the massive NAVPOC fleet. I want to take this opportunity to thank all those pilots involved willing to lose several hundreds of billions of isk in assets to make this event possible.
Then what?...
A fight ensued, a big-ass fight! More and more pilots filled local and outnumbered us 6 to 1. We kept at it and Snuff and Shadow scrambled to get lost pilots back into the fight we were sure to lose. RvB fought an amazing fight and nearly tipped the balance in their favour. Hunlight our FC called targets like a machine, coolheaded and steadfast, W0Wbagger kept an eagle eye on our losses and judged if we were able to continue or had to bail. Our bail out point was set at 20 guardians left (from an initial 40) and at one point the fleet dropped to 22 left. By using wormholes and cynos some dead pilots managed to reship and come back, no spare ships were pre arranged. It was close but in the end, to all our surprise, we tumbled over the breaking point and seemed to be holding the field!
The RvB carriers left on field were let go and local was invited back to come finish off the Titan (now refit to civilian fittings). As promised the Titan died, with in the end 800 people on the killmail. Significantly more than the 200 man defence fleet.
What an awesome night! Or so I thought. Knackered after a whole day of hardcore EVE I got a poke from I Want Isk owner Gonz, asking if I wanted to defend myself in front of their board and e24 reporter Bobmon about the 'failed' event.
'Failed' event?!? What are you talking about? Iron Bank (BL) led the charge of me 'rigging' the event and the defence fleet 'winning' the event and shooting the Titan.
Unlike my usual self, I am lost for words. Let me just be clear that no agreements had been made with I Want Isk about how this event was to go down, I simply got 100 bil to make it happen. The agreed prize was 20 billion isk for the killmail. That's it, that's all there is too it.
Just because the defence fleet won, the opinion of some is that this is unfair. I disagree but am tired of arguing the point. The defence fleet won, but only just, and had fully expected not to, but put their isk on the line regardless. This said, my suggestion to I Want Isk would be to pay the 20 bil to the incredibly brave (and lucky) Drake pilot who got top damage, I will personally pay 20 bil to the SC pilot who got the final blow.
To conclude...
I had a great night and again want to thank everyone for their involvement and attendance.
If I Want Isk would have paid for the defence fleet I agree the prize should not go to one of it's pilots. But they didn't. At great personal cost for each pilot involved came to fight and that's that. But opinions differ.
For anyone organising future events like this I recommend you have rules and regulations clearly stated before the event. I will endeavour to make things clearer for future events. I will note however, that the overwhelming feedback I have received, from all sides, is wildly positive, with many getting their first taste of a huge fleet fight and first titan killmail (made accessibly by the awesome NPSI guys of RVB ganked and spectre).
I want to thank I Want Isk for putting up the initial funds to allow for this ingame event to happen and whatever decision is taken on their end regarding the prize money or future event sponsorship, I hope to keep a working relationship with them.
