BB35, no such thing as bad publicity...is there?

Now approaching its tenth year, the EVE Online player community has matured into an intricate and multi-faceted society viewed with envy by other game developers, but is frequently regarded with suspicion by the wider gaming community.

Is this perception deserved? Should "The Nation of EVE" be concerned by its public identity and if so how might that be improved? What influence will the integration of the DUST 514 community have on this culture in the future?

[Unrelated and random bonus question sponsored by EVE News 24: What single button would you recommend be included on an EVE-specific keyboard?]

Other Blog Banters

• BB35 by Xander @ Crossing Zebras
• BB35 by Drackarn @ Sand, Cider and Spaceships
• On the Outside Looking In by Kirith Kodachi @ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
• For the Nation! (EVE Nation that is) by Lucas Rox @ Torchwood Archives
• BB35 by Harrigan VonStudly @ Gun Turret Diplomacy
• Through the Lens of Past Experience by Emergent Patroller
• Eve and the people that hate it by Urziel99 @ Urziel's EVE Chronicle
• Growing Up by Grimmash @ Warp to Zero
• The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am... by H @ Aggressive Logistics

There are not many other games that have been around as long as EVE Online has and with its steady development and unique attributes it looks to still have a long life ahead of itself. Not only by retaining a lot of the current player base but also through the appeal for new players this game continues its growth year upon year.

Developments in the new-player-experience-area have made the game vastly more accessible compared to several years back, an important improvement that has also increased the new player retention. The vast number of play styles available and the increasing number of different new aspects to the game, hand in hand with improving graphic content keep even the more experienced gamers tied in.

The steep learning curve is indeed a scary prospect, but its unique composition is part of the addictive nature of the game and surely part of its success.

And finally there is the community in its many forms that contribute to the growth and upkeep of the game as a whole. Bloggers, artists, youtubers, streamers, and so on ... For no other game are there so many player made fan-sites, support networks, guides and genuinely amazing applications and website than for EVE online.

There is a lot of good stuff out there promoting EVE, positive stuff, things that make our virtual universe look amazing and wonderful, produced by either CCP themselves or by fans. On the flipside there is also the ‘negative’ and ’bad’ stuff that comes out and get a lot, if not the most attention. I hyphenate ‘negative’ and ‘bad’ as this is merely a point of view or one’s opinion, not mine. It’s virtual news and drama; ganking and robbery, thievery of entire alliance funds, rigged political events, piracy, tears…

All of these things just point out the enormous freedom we have within the game, the power and the effect we have on others. A real life, financially measurable effect, our actions do mean something; our choices do make a difference. The butterfly effect...EVE is real…

Imagine that power within the safety of a pixelated environment, there is no such thing as bad publicity…

The launch of Dust will only help propel EVE onto an even bigger stage. As far as I can tell the game looks stunning and certainly will be one of the best RPG’s available for a few years to come. The interactivity between two gaming communities will only grow bigger and stronger as the two games get intertwined more in the future. If both games end up having the effect on each other as intended more friends will make friends and enemies will make more enemies. There will be even more stuff to force peoples collaboration and in the same breath there will be more stuff for people to betray each other over.

I shall be spectating and participating…

What button would I like to see on my ‘EVE-Keyboard’? … a button that transforms my PC into a PlayStation3 of course.

EVE Blog Banter #21, low-sec love...

EVE Blog Banter #21


Welcome to the twenty-first installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month topic comes to us from @ZoneGhost who a few month ago asked “Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?” Is it? I’d like us to explore this even further. Is Low Sec being treated differently by CCP Games than Null Sec (Zero-Zero) or Empire space is? Can one successfully make a living in these unsecured systems where neither Alliance nor Concord roam to enforce their laws? What’s needed? Or is everything fine as it is?


-=o0o=-

I am not much one for complaining to be very honest; I play within the boundaries set out for me. Its not that I don’t have an opinion, I simply have no energy or time to fight for these ideals.
We are the only gamers privileged to have a democratically elected body to fight for our beliefs; the CSM. The Counsel of Stellar Management has taken up the unenviable task of fighting for game improvements on our behalf.

Perhaps next year I will run myself, as I will be kicking it in the Caribbean and hope to have spare time by the boat-load. I do have ideas and suggestions and as always; I do like to throw in my two cents and then run away, screaming like a little girl.

As a Low-sec dweller by choice I actually rather like how things are set out but if anything requires some attention than let it be these;




Traffic
Low sec could always do with more targets, more and more valuable missions please CCP. Let’s get more faction-loot-dropping-rats and more valuable, rare ores in our belts while you are at it.



GCC and timers;
There may be a thought behind these ‘aggression-timers’ that I don’t understand. However now that I am used to them I have to admit I use them as often in my advantage as they are a hindrance.

My only real issue with these GCC timers is that they last too long. Fifteen minutes of stopping your game-play is pretty serious if you have limited playtime already. Every time you do manage to find someone to fight (with you instigating the action against a pilot with -4.9 sec status or higher), with an explosion as a result or not, you have to sit out 15 minutes doing nothing. Reducing this to 5 minutes seems more acceptable.

Other aggression timers are hard to spot and hard to keep track of. My first few months in low sec there have been occasion I felt the need to petition the loss of ships due to gate or station gun fire. It took me a third petition before a GM explained to me the mechanics of the ‘invisible timer’. A what? Why? It would be nice to have this made clearer or abandoned altogether.




Sentry Guns;
Sentry guns can work in ones favor or against; it just takes getting used to. There is an argument however that says gate guns encourage gate-camps and blob warfare, not so nice. It is very obvious that the perfect damage at incredible range demands either a remote-repping gang (either rolling or stationary) or a sizable fleet of battlecruisers and above to share the sentry fire. This makes small gang warfare and or solo work incredibly difficult (unless your name is Lady Shaniqua).

It would be nice to see Sentry gun statistics amended so that as like with ALL other guns in the game; target speed, size and resists make a difference to the damage impact. Hereby it would become viable to engage at gate’s in smaller, faster vessels creating a more creative game-play.
Another suggestion would be to make Sentry guns destroyable with a re-spawn timer or perhaps Station-owners and Gate-managers can be ‘bought’ or ‘bribed’ with as result them switching of Station- or Gate guns for a set period of time.




-=o0o=-

That’s all I’ve got for the moment. I highly recommend you visit Mynxee’s Blog and in particular this post re low-sec improvements. Your input matters, so if you care about low-sec, give her your support!




Other participants;

CrazyKinux's Musing: The Lure of the Wild
Banter 15: Arr, Yer be talkin’ bout me lowsec TheElitist
Banter 21: Low-sec- Chocolate Heaven
Subs' suds: Forever a noob in Eve: Low-Sec - the forgotten part of EVE Online
Blog Banter XXI - Lo-sec = Low Priority? I am Keith Neilson
In the Ghetto A Mule in EvE
where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 21: What's good for the goose...
Blog Banter #21: Change? Sarnel Binora's Blog
Low Sec = Wild West ~ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
a merry life and a short one: Low Sec: I Wanna Talk to You
Low Sec = No Sec Diary of a Garbageman
EVEOGANDA: Blog Banter 21: Friggin' Low Sec
Drifting through the Stars: Blog Banter #21: Low-Sec - The Forgotten part of EVE Online
Captain Serenity: Eve blog banter #21 - Low Sec, The Forgotten Part of Eve
Low Sec: the Best part of EVE Online Nitpickin's
Aeroxe's Assault - “Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?”
Eve Blog Banter 21 A Scientist's Life in Eve
Latro's Bunker: Eve Blog Banter 21 - Low-sec
A "CareBears" Journey » Blog Archive » EVE Blog Banter #21: The Low Sec Conundrum
More coming shortly...

Blog Banter #3 2010

The third Blog Banter of 2010 comes to us from ChainTrap of the Into the unknown with gun and camera EVE Blog. He asks us: “Eve University turns six years old on March 15th; six years spent helping the new pilots of New Eden gain experience and understanding in a supportive environment. Eve is clearly a complicated game, with a ton to learn, so much that you never stop learning. So, the question is; What do you wish that someone had taken the time to tell you when you were first starting out? Or what have you learned in the interim that you’d like to share with the wider Eve community?”

Skill Training Plans.
Hind sight is a beautiful thing. Knowing what you want to skill for when you first start out EVE is impossible. Everything looks shiny and interesting and before you know it you are skilling a lot of different things without a true end-goal. Perhaps this is inevitable as a first-timer; however when one starts a second account, and one will, the plan will be more specific and better prepared.

Other players and you.
The harsh nature of New Eden was not designed for lone wolfs. It is imperative for a characters personal development to converse with other players. New player corps come across problems or issues and solve them together quicker than one could do on his own. As basics skills reach a level where one can move to a corp that can expand your skills further, do so.

Do not stagnate or stand still, keep developing and learning but most of all find a corp where you like to be and can enjoy yourself.

Overview settings.
EVE can be incredibly complex and one needs to make use of all help tools wherever possible. The overview is one of the most important tools in the game. It has taken me a long time to get the settings right for me and I am still playing with more options. Please check Manasi’s Blog for some suggestions on setups.

Free thinking.
Battleclinic can be a great resource for ship fitting suggestions. Also the EVE website itself can give you some classic cookie cutter fits. Although these are great suggestions for basic setups do not forget you can fit what you want and how you want, be bold, experiment. Some more ‘awkward’ fits can prove very successful in certain situations.

Pvp is fun.
Over the last 2.5 years I have done merely some of the aspects in the game however the most exciting has been the PVP aspect. I have mined for a long time, ran missions, manufactured, researched, lived in worm holes, participated in Faction Warfare, flown a carrier, build POS’s and finally 6 months ago became a pirate.

I don’t regret doing the PVE side of the game and I have not turned my back on it completely, however I see it as a long learning curve to where I am today. Blowing stuff up is where the funs at, besting people is the ultimate thrill.

Don’t burn out.
EVE is a game of statistics and that can sometimes become a burden. Checking kill/loss ratio’s, isk efficiency, can be depressing when you go through a bad week, and you will have bad weeks. Losses are inevitable, just make sure you have plenty of spares whenever you undock.

However much we care about our online friends and get sucked in to our EVE, remember it is merely a game and real life always comes first.

EVE Blog Banter #12 I-pod Capsuleer

This is my first attempt to join in the Eve Blog banter created by the great CrazyKinux. I have not attempted to get involved in any previous ones due to time restraints or because the particular subjects had been way over my head.

This one however requests a post on how Eve can be made mobile and since I am an I-pod touch user I figured I should pipe up and let my voice be heard. After all there is the chance to win a billion isk… or maybe a key-ring and mug…or maybe not.

Hell, sign me up anyway…

I wish there was an application for my I-pod that retrieves data through API-keys and the Eve server. It should look slick, handle smoothly and have some really useful tools. I think a catchy Eve related name for the application would be nice, maybe something like…er… ‘Capsuleer’?

What it already exists? But it has some free slots you say for future additions? Mmm… interesting. Please find my additions below;


Headlines
In this section one will find some of the top blogs in the eve community displayed. Updated automatically when a selected blogger posts a new story. It also has some CCP and Eve news updates.

A nice addition would be the option of leaving comments straight from the I-phone.

Pilots
Now this is very prominently the most important feature of the application. Any eve pilot will have had that one moment in the middle of the night where they sat upright in bed sweating, having just realised they forgot to add a skill to the skill queue.

Well no more. With this submenu it is easy to keep track of what skills are queued up and when they finish; reducing the chance of a pilot missing out on those precious skilling-hours.

In a future edition of the application there should be a possibility of actually adding to the skill queue via the application itself.

Skills
This has a clear overview of loaded pilots current skills and how long learned skills would take if added to the skill queue.

As an addition there is an option to view all skills available in the game to see what skills would be useful to get in the future.

Agent Finder
There is a great website that supplies every possible solution in the agent business. May it be that you are looking for a combat mission agent or a science project manager this application should be able to fulfil exactly what this website offers.

Eve maps
Dotlan could be the base for this part of the application to help in how to find your way around the Eve universe. The maps should indicate each systems security status, who owns what space and what amenities are available in what solar system.

Eve-mail
This should sync with the well out of date Eve mail setup available at this stage. Eve mails should come in and should be able to be replied to like any other email server.

Scientist
It would be nice to be able to keep track of ones science projects.

Part of this menu ought to tell you with what science agents you have how many datacores accrued.

The other part of this should keep track of what science projects are outstanding and of what type; copying, invention etc.

Constructor
Similar to the Scientist menu this should keep track of outstanding building projects

Secondly it would be cool if Grismar’s building tool would be made available somehow.

Contracts
Yup I want to know how my outstanding contracts are doing. Have they got a bid on something has someone bought my 400 mil Raven?

Market
Full market details on current market prices for a start. I don’t believe that this part should be too hard to get on a mobile platform with the many sites already available.

Furthermore it would be great to see how my buy and sell orders are doing.

Item Browser
The only reason I keep a second Eve related tool on my I-pod is because Capsuleer doesn’t sport an item browser. Iclone has a pretty good base for the idea but is very messy. However it’s the only mobile item browser and I like to read up on ship details, module info etc. when I am on the bus to work.

Fitting Tool
Need I say more? A big part in eve is how to fit your ship and if your desired fit actually is possible with the skills you have. Bring on mobile EFT!

Test Flight
Test flying your fittings made in the fitting tool in this part of the application should at least give a feel of the ships speed and DPS output. Clearly the graphics won’t be as good as in the game and PVP would probably not be possible but as GalaxyOnFire has proven 3D PVE can look pretty sharp and handle ok on a touch screen device like the I-pod.

Server status
It is always nice to have a general time to keep when making appointments in eve. Since the pilots are from all over the world it is nice that all live by one clock and one time; Eve online time.

The server’s online/offline status is also available just in case it’s not already worked into your natural body clock.

Options
For changing background images, help messages, sound options and sync options.

About
The must have disclaimer bit until the application gets accepted by CCP as the best available and probably better than anything they could produce themselves.


That’s my two cents anyway. I love the Capsuleer application and can’t wait for it to expand and do even more great things. Maybe Roc Wieler and Pyjama Sam take some of the ideas listed above and pay me a few billion isk in show of appreciation =).

Ramblings #4 Eve Blog Pack

This is just a quick post to explain what I blog about. I have been accepted into the Eve blog pack this week (thank you CK) and will give a quick run down of what you can expect from following my antics. I have tried to keep my stuff under certain headings to make it easier for myself to keep track of what I am doing and for any readers to see by the title if they want to read the actual post or skip the particular subject I have posted.

Celebrity Death Match
By far this has proven to be my most successful part of blogging so far. I this section I explain my side of the story after challenging Eve celebrities to a duel. Various have already happened and there are lots more coming. Watch this space…

Weekly Updates
At the end of every week I post about what I have been up to in general or what achievements I made.

Fiction
I have written a four part fiction story and have already posted the first 3 chapters. I intended to post the last chapter on Wednesday but have not been able to do so. Instead I shall post it this coming Wednesday. The story is about Nashh joining the Bastards pirate corp. This never actually happened but as I said this is a fictive story. Flashfresh the Bastard CEO has kindly proof read the story and helped me make it more authentic. I will repost the full story including some artwork in a couple of weeks. A second story is in the making so if you enjoyed the first one keep your eyes peeled for the next...

Ramblings
Mid week rambling’s about stuff I want to get of my chest or simply stuff I cant find a better place for.

Helpdesk
Guides or advice from me. This is a tough subject as most guides have been done and redone many times. I add my bit though…

Bio Funnies
Simply copied and pasted quotes from pilot bio’s I have come across in space and laughed out loud at.

Eve Blog Banter
My responses to the famous Eve blog banter. This is a tough one and I haven’t participated to any just yet but I hope to put in a good effort on the next one.

So now you know what to expect from me, I hope you enjoy it! Remember to leave me some comments; good or bad they will only improve what I do!