Marc Scaurus Is Wrong

So, the other day I defended Marc Scaurus. Today, I apparently need to balance the books.

On his blog Malefactor he wrote a post called The Alexiasphere. I'm not going to go into that main subject but I do take particular exception with one small part of his post:

Now, some people believe that I handled this incorrectly. Okay, well, Ripard Teg does anyways. In his post, A right way and a wrong way, Ripard commends Seismic Stan for his handover of the Blog Banter to Kirith Kodachi, then condemns the handover of Evebloggers and the Pack.

[...]

Of course, this wouldn’t be the first or last time Ripard speaks out on things without talking to anyone, doing basic fact checking, or generally behaving like anything but an EVE version of Rush Limbaugh. For someone who offers advice to others on how to behave with professionalism and grace, Ripard himself falls far short. But I digress.

No, Marc, you are wrong.

First off, when you put something out in public like in a blog post or a podcast, it is not the responsibility of the public to make sure you didn't leave any relevant facts out or clarify what you meant when you are speaking/writing clearly before they respond with an opinion or assessment. Most of the time in the environment that is the internet people can only judge you by what you say and do, not what you meant and secretly did. It is the speaker's / writer's responsibility to get everything on the table and coming back after the fact and saying "well, there's all these things you didn't know and I didn't allude to that explain it" is fine, but then complaining that people misunderstood you or your motivations due to this missing information is not.

Secondly, bloggers are not journalists. Full stop. We are not beholden to get to the bottom of a story and get all the facts. That's why we don't get E3 press passes. Sure, there may be some bloggers on the whole internet that cross that magical line but there is not a single Eve blog near that threshold. To hold us to some "journalistic integrity" standard is unfair and unrealistic when I don't know of a single blog that claims to be anything but a personal space open to the public.

Thirdly, your original post about EveBloggers.com did come off as full of attitude and dismissive. It was completely fair for someone to compare and contrast your post with Seismic Stan's about the exact same topic but different community initiative. With a slightly different tone your post could have been less contentious and still accomplished the same thing. Don't get me wrong; I understand and agree with your motivations for wanting the EveBloggers.com to move forwards instead of backwards, but its not fair to blame Ripard for noting that your approach and tone was not ideal.

Let's get one thing straight: I'm not saying that your original post should be withdrawn or rewritten. Its your blog and you can write pretty much anything you want to in any style. But don't blame others when they comment on your actions and miss your intentions.

Recognition At Last!

Marc Scarus (aka Marcosaurus, the Irish Dinosaur),  runs these awards every month that he calls the Eebees  which recognizes top blog posts and overall blogs. For July my post Eve's End Game: Have We Arrived was one of the three nominated and yesterday he announced that it was selected for post of the month of July.

Nominees:
Team Avatar’s Tinkerings by ugleb
The Ridiculously Quick Faction Warfare Guide by Drackarn
Eve’s End Game: Have We Arrived? by Kirith Kodachi
So many great posts, so little time to read for all of us judges in the month of July. These were the three that piqued our interest the most. However, there can only be one (or so they say). Our winner for the month of July is none other than Kirith ‘I Fly Coward Rifters’Kodachi! Congratulations to the venerable writer of Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah – an excellent blog all around.

Thanks Marc!

P.S. Stay away from Old Man Star or I'll have to teach you a lesson.

The Old Guard

The Eve Blog Pack started on June 15th, 2008 and I was added a couple weeks later in one of the first updates on August 1st. Here is the list of blogs at the time of my addition. Note: found the list thanks to the Wayback Machine.

•  A Mule in EVE, by Manasi  <==defunct
• Articulated Sky, by Godlesswanderer <==defunct
• Bitter Old Noob, by Crovan <==was defunct as of 2010, ACTIVE as of March 2012
• Caldari Navy Ibis, by Mertannia <==defunct
• CrazyKinux's Musing, by myself!!!  <==defunct
• Derekest's Blog, by Derekest <==defunct
• Drawing Aggro, by FuriousMallard <==defunct
• EVE Newb, by Spectre <==defunct
• EVE’s Weekend Warrior, Tony <==defunct
• EVE-Pirate.com, by Ander & co. <== ACTIVE
• Flashfresh - A Pirate, by Flashfresh <== ACTIVE
• I am a Camera Drone, by Vestik Malice <==defunct
• Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, by Kirith Kodachi <== ACTIVE
• Lady in Space, by Bri <==defunct
• Life in Low Sec, by Mynxee <==defunct
• Morphisat's Blog, by Morphisat <== ACTIVE
• Nuyan's Hangout, by Nuyan <==defunct
• Ombeve, by Ombey <==defunct
• One Man And His Ship, by Karox Lomiax  <==defunct
• Postings from the Edge, by Zapatero <==defunct, rolled into EON Mag site
• The Ancient Gaming Noob, by Wilhelm2451 <== ACTIVE
• The Littlest Drone, by Alsedrech <==defunct
• Votrian's EVE Blog, by Votrian <==defunct
• Warp Drive Active, by Winterblink <==defunct
• Winterblink, by Winterblink <==defunct

So out of the 25 original blogs in the Blog Pack when I joined,  just 6 are still active (was only 5 until Crovan started to attempt a comeback last month). Some of those defunct blogs are still famous, like Mynxee's Life in Low Sec and Winterblink's Warp Drive Active, other's I barely remember ever existing.

And even out of the ones that are active, the output is low except on my blog and good ole Wilhelm Arcturus, aka the Ancient Gaming Noob who continues to produce quality every week.

Man, now I feel old as dirt.

Shameless Blog Plug

I found this in my evemail when I checked today:

Hi there,

I am going to be a bit shameless here. But as I really do like your blog, I read it on a regular basis.
And I have just started blogging about eve myself.

I was wondering if you could send some traffic my way: http://kaisi13.blogspot.com/

Thank you & Best Regards

Kaisi13

Well Kaisil3, flattery may not get you everywhere but it will certainly get a shout out on Ninveah.com. Keep blogging!

The Mittani

The Eve Report got an interview with the infamous The Mittani. It was all good stuff, no surprises, but I had to stop and do a double-take at this passage here:

6.) Many community members have said that the strong 0.0 message of the elected CSM members, including yourself, is bad for the future of EVE. How do you respond to such accusations?

Two things. First, the ‘community’ in the context of sites like Eve Report means ‘the eve blog community and #tweetfleet’, which is a niche of the game’s population with an unfortunate tendency to assume that their echo chamber actually represents /everyone/, rather than people who blog about a space game – and eve bloggers don’t seem to have much to do with nullsec.

Wow, how much wrong can you fit into one answer?

First off, let's acknowledge what is right in this statement. If we assume a ratio of 3.6 accounts to actual human beings, that is still 100,000 people playing Eve. According to Eveblogger.com 's list, there are 587 eve blogs and maybe a few more not on there to make it an even 600. How many on twitter not a blogger? Say another 200. And another 1200 people who are readers of blogs but not bloggers themselves (and that is a generous number in my opinion) and we'll use 2000 people who blog/read blogs and/or use twitter. That's approximately 2% of my estimated number of Eve players.

So yes, we are a niche of the game's population, if by niche you mean tiny minuscule fraction of the people logging in every day. I think we are growing as a niche (reference new blogs started by Seleene and Ripard Teg) and will be more influential as time goes on with the ear of CCP in a unique fashion, but that is another blog post for another day. I'm also ignoring the podcast listener which is a larger group due to the ease of listening to podcasts while doing other things.

So, we covered what Mittens got right. Everything else is wrong.

The "community" referenced by the Eve Report interviewer is conveniently defined by the questioner to a group he feels he can brush off easily, but any other definition of the Eve community includes podcasts, forums, in game channels, news sites, and radio stations as well as blogs and twitter. That "community" encases a significant amount of the eve population that is not so easily dismissed. This is called "changing the question".

Next, he calls the blogs and twitter an "echo chamber". Of course, should he spend any real time reading blogs and twitter he would quickly realize the diverse nature of the community represented leads to many disagreements and discussions that do not meet resolution, either about the nature of a ship fitting, the power of a particular class, or the effects of a large coalition or mechanics change. We are not some uniform blob praising the attributes of CSM5 in relgious fervor. However, its easier to dismiss any dissenting opinion of the "community" if we're treated like sock puppets of a few.

If there is any echo chamber to watch out for, its CSM6 with its "working towards unified front" and made up of all null sec residents.

Finally we come to the most egregious statement: "eve bloggers don’t seem to have much to do with nullsec". Well, without looking at my subscribed feeds I can name ten blogs/blog authors that are written by either current or former null sec residents:

Orakkus - 2nd Anom From the Left
Noise - Phoenix Diaries
Mansai - A Mule In Eve
Letrange - Letrange's Eve Blog
PK - Aggressive Tendencies
Easley Thames - Easley Thames
Parasoja - Eve FAIL Posting
Hallen Turrek - A Merry Life And a Short One
Rixx Javix - Evoganda
The Mittani - Sins of a Solar Spymaster (call it a column if you want - its regular, about whatever you want, and on the web; in other words, a blog)

That's just off the top of my head. I think, in fact, if you went through and divided the 600 eve blogs by where their author currently lives, you would find the ratios would match to the population distribution of Eve players pretty closely. Just a hunch.

However, its much easier to dismiss bloggers if you lump them up as low sec pirates or high sec carebears who don't know how the real game works in null sec.

* * * * *

To be fair, I'm not convinced this was a calculated attempt to brush off all opinion of bloggers and twitter users. I suspect its a case of confirmation bias in such that he looks at the "community" and its average opinion and sees that it disagrees with his version of reality, thus he subconsciously dismisses them due to reasons he stated and any evidence that supports his opinion gets noticed and any that disproves it gets disregarded. This is a common occurrence in politics, religion, science, hell everywhere. Of course, one has to be careful about delving the motivations of anyone as good at the metagame as Mittens is.

As for CSM6, I think he is going to be an excellent chair and that the council as a whole will accomplish much in their term. I am worried that CCP might turtle up if they go in to gangbusters, but I'm optimistic that a null sec leader with accolades and accomplishments such as the head of Goonswarm can boast will know when its time for diplomacy and when its time for slapping heads.

Wrong Game Tetra

Welcome to the twenty-fifth 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 or so 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's topic comes to us from @Tetraetc - "Tetra's EVE Blog" - who asks: "Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? Imagine a Null Sec where anyone could build outposts wherever. Would the reduction of the alliance game mechanic, and the removal of the sovereignty game mechanics (or the modifcation of it from Alliance level to Corp level for that matter) force more PVP into Null sec, or would giant power blocs like the NC still form themselves?"

* * * * *

Of course power blocs would still form. They exist not because of game mechanics but because of a basic fact: 2 people often beat 1 person in a fight. Reduction of alliance game mechanics would complicate the matter but would not allow a null sec where anyone could build outposts wherever. That is practically a different game and not Eve Online.

As for the original question, alliances and the sov system have no limited the amount of PvP overall. They have changed it so it is large scale and utilizes larger capital and super cap fleets, but PvP is still there.

What Tetra is really saying in this question sounds like this:

" I don't like big blob warfare and I wish me and my small group could build and own an outpost in null sec without being part of a big alliance or power bloc. Then we could live there and engage in small gang PvP without worrying about defending our space from cap fleets. Don't you agree with me?"

No, Tetra, I do not.

As for roleplay potential, Eve Online itself and the players that enjoy it limit that. Blaming the sov mechanics is just being mean.

Participants:

1. CrazyKinux's Musing: EVE Blog Banter #25: And by Alliance you mean.....?
2. BB25 What sov changes will come? | A Mule In EvE
3. Confessions of a Closet Carebear: Alliances and Sovereignty
4. Blog Banter 25: Nerfing Nulsec « OMG! You're a Chick?!
5. Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? | Nitpickin's
6. Blog Banter #25: Alliance and Sovereignty Limiting PvP in 0.0? | Sarnel Binora's Blog
7. Blog Banter #25 - Mad Haberdashers
8. Alliances and sovereignty | Eve Online Focus
9. ...Shall we not Revenge?: BB 25: What if the Alliance vanished?
10. Blog Banter: Alliances and Sov
11. EVEOGANDA: BB25: Sov 'n Go!
12. » TBG:EBB#25 – Alliances and Sovereignty To Boldly Go
13. Freebooted: BB25: Leviathans of the Deep
14. Wrong Game Tetra ~ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
15. EVE Blog Banter #25 – Human nature what art thou? | Way of the Gun
16. Who cares about Sov? - Hands Off, My Loots! ~ well sorta like an entry! :p
17. The 25th EVE Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty - The Phoenix Diaries
18. Achernar: The space commute
19. Wandering the Void…my EvE musings. – Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty
20. (OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #25: How To Break EvE. « Prano's Journey
21. Captain Serenity: Blog Banter #25 - Crappy mechanics
22. Helicity Boson » Blog Banter #25 Nullsec and sov.
23. BB #25 – “With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?”
24. Boom! Hull-Shot?: It's the End of the Eve as We Know It
25. sered's lives: EVE Blog Banter #25 - Size does matter
26. 25th EVE BB – Medieval Solutions to Spaceship Problems | Inventions of a New Eden Industrialist
27. Eve Blog Banter #25: “Have Alliances and Sov Limited PvP and RP in 0.0?” « Align Outbound
28. Banter 25: Sovereignty, Alliances and Power Blocs | TheElitist
29. Blog Banter 25 – But I just left all that! « A Scientist's Life in Eve
30. Nobody likes losing « One capsuleer against all
31. >>>Vigil Ant: Alliances and SOV by Munny's eyes.
32. Latro's Bunker: Blog Banter 25 -Nullsec and Sov

6 Years - Ninveah Greatest Hits: From Jan 2009 On

While the blog was lacklustre for Eve posts in 2007 and most of 2008, things started to change that last fall. A confluence of events:
- my Warhammer hobby ended in the spring thus freeing up the blog for more in depth Eve posts
- the twins were sleeping through the night so more time in the evenings opened up, allowing me to end my lonely solo career I had been on all summer
- I was two years in Eve and had become a veteran of the game (i.e. I knew what I was doing AND what other people were doing for the most part)

And most importantly:
- writing on the blog became a hobby in of itself.

I really got into writing articles for the Eve Tribune to earn ISK and I ported that enthusiasm to my blog writing with more reviews, guides, mechanics discussions, etc. Then I got invited to write for E-ON magazine which increased my writing desire and later I picked up my fiction writing hobby that I used to indulge in for Warhammer.

So I feel I have a number of quality posts in the last couple years and picking just three was not easy. In the end I went for representative pieces that capture the spirit of the blog. I excluded anything I wrote for Eve Tribune (such as Project Athena compilation) or E-ON mag.

Eve Master Class - Tracking Speed - April 8, 2009
I did many special posts in 2009 to document some more uncommon mechanics in Eve and called it the Eve Master Class series. While the one I selected is not my most intensive (the missiles one was by far the hardest) the Tracking Speed article was one of my favourites because it clears up a fundamental part of the game that almost no one understands coming in: what does tracking speed on a gun really mean?

Eve Meme! The Places I've Been... - May 27, 2009
In 2009 I really started to try to connect with the community more, and not for entirely altruistic reasons. You see, in January of 2009 I was nominated for Writer of the Year for the now defunct E-ON awards. I lost but became determined to improve both my blog and my presence in the community. Part of that was engaging in discussions through posts on my blog and the blogging community. This post was one of my biggest successes and even garnered me a link from Massively.com as my meme spread throughout the eve blogosphere. Might be time send it out again.

Fiction Friday - Interlude - August 13, 2010
I used to write fiction for my armies in Warhammer but never put pen to paper for Eve for a long time. Then I saw a "Fighting Spacecraft" article in Eve Tribune and decided to have a hand at making some more. It scratched my fiction bug and eventually led to Project Athena and Fiction Friday series. The post I selected is not from either of those per se, but is a favourite one of my wherein I try to use technobabble and real physics to justify the four damage types and resistances in Eve online.

* * * * *
And that's it! 6 year retrospective over. If any readers have a favourite post please mention it in the comments.

6 Years - Ninveah Greatest Hits: My First Two Years Of Eve Online

As I spent last night going through hundreds of posts from late 2006 to end of 2008, I was struck by how boring my Eve posting was for pretty much the entire time. The first year lacks any thought provoking discussions on mechanics, politics, or ships and no meta game posts or fiction at all. Just status updates. To be fair, I was still heavily invested in Warhammer and they made up the meatier posts.

In late 2007 and early 2008 things began to improve as Warhammer took a back seat and was then abandoned and I felt I understood the Eve game more deeply. The posts get better in 2008 and my first "Eve Masterclass" article was penned in December of that year. But since mechanics and politics have changed, I picked three posts from that era that are timeless in a way.

Corporate History as told by Signatures - September 14, 2007

This is one of the first posts that was more than just a "I did this last night and I plan to do this other thing tomorrow". I've had a lot more signatures since then but it was a good trip down memory lane and captures the realization that I had been playing the game for over a year and in that first year did a lot of neat things.


Describe Eve - November 19, 2007

One of my first meta-game and thought provoking posts, I attempt to describe how Eve is a sandbox and how that is different than the typical MMO. It is a timeless post that it still relevant today.


Nano Whining - Tears at the Speed of Light - July 29, 2008

The infamous Nano-nerf is notable for not only bringing missiles and ship speed in line with each other, but also for the massive whining that preceded the changes. In this post I tell the whiners to stop overreacting and address some of the outrageous claims.

I picked it as a favourite because this cycle constantly repeats itself: something is overpowered and becomes known to the general Eve population, turning it into FOTM. A movement forms to address the imbalance and the abusers of the FOTM whine viciously to keep their power, pointing out the options the abused have. CCP annouces fix and the abusers whine massively about how the fix is going to break the game. The fix gets released and a month later pretty much everyone agrees things are better now... until a new overpowered FOTM is found.

Some things never change.

Next up, I'll pick three best posts from 2009 up to today.

6 Years - Ninveah Greatest Hits : Pre Eve Online

This week I'm going to do a "greatest posts" retrospective in three parts (thanks Seismic Stan!).

Pre-New Eden

Simple math demonstrates that if I started Eve 4 and a half years ago and starting blogging 6 years ago than I must have been blogging about something else other than Eve. Well, I was an avid Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures games for about 17 years before kids made me give it up and this blog started as a place to record battle reports, painting progress, army ideas, and miscellaneous other gaming bits.

The posts were more like status updates so picking some gems from that era would not be very easy or good. Instead I picked three posts that capture what I feel was the pinnacles of my Warhammer career.

Post #1 - April 3rd 2006 - Eldar Megabattle Report

In terms of Warhammer, standard games are 1 versus 1. A Megabattle is where more players participate on each side allowing for games of massive scale. I've been in a lot of megabattles in 17 years but this one was one of the best ever.

The local gaming club I created and managed had a number of Eldar players (i.e. space elves) of which I was one. Six of us got together and planned an epic Eldar only megabattle and one of the players went so far as to create a custom terrain set and board representing a deserted Eldar Craftworld, staying up very late with my help to do the finishing touches. The battle of 3 versus 3 lasted an entire day and at the end my side edged out the slightest victory. The best games were always the closest ones and its rare for a megabattle to be so balanced, it was the single greatest game of Warhammer I had the pleasure of playing.

My post is not spectacular, and the Flickr gallery is lost to the sands of time, but I link to another player's posts and he still has the images for those so inclined.


Post #2 - June 26, 2007 - Chaos Versus Imperial Megabattle Report

Another megabattle, I choose this one for very different reasons. For one thing, it was the biggest megabattle I had ever participated in, with a full 18 players. The gaming board was 20 feet long and the armies were epic in size ( I forget the number but somewhere around 20,000 per side).

It was a massacre. My side, Chaos, ripped the Imperials to shreds from start to finish, a domination that was not expected at all. But that is not what made this a high point for me; the fact is I was the team lead of the Chaos side, the Marshal of the forces you can say, and the architect of the victory. It was like I was an FC of a 300 ship fleet and led it to utterly destroy an enemy fleet, supercaps included.

Now, I make no claims to being a brilliant strategist. If anything, I am pedestrian in my tactical capabilities. But this victory was not built on battlefield genius but on the ability to come up with a plan weeks prior to event, get buy in from the other 8 players, organize them into complimentary task forces, and then adapt our plan on the fly based on the actual terrain and enemy deployments. The Imperial side had nine guys show up with whatever they wanted and threw them on the table with no plan other than Shock and Awe. Well, we were veterans of Warhammer and were neither shocked nor awed.

Again the post is not very engaging and the image gallery lost, but it represents the greatest moment I had as a leader in the game.

Post #3 - November 26, 2007 - Golden Marine XII

As I mentioned, I formed and managed a Warhammer club in Ottawa for years called Deep Space. One of outputs of this club was a tournament called the Golden Marine which still goes on this day in Ottawa. I ran the tournament for years but finally passed the reins on in the twelfth iteration to people in the club. It was nice to participate in the tournament and my Eldar came in 6th overall out of 14 players.

The reason this post is mentioned is because it marks the winding down of my Warhammer career. My wife was pregnant with the twins and I suspected that weeknights rendezvous with my buddies at the local mall would be ending. I didn't organize or help run the tournament for the first time. And I had started Eve online a couple months prior and realized I had found a replacement hobby that was less time intensive overall. I had a few more Warhammer games before April in 2008 but nothing major; this tournament was my last hurrah, the end of a hobby spanning decades.

Do I miss it? Yeah, there was a lot I loved about that game and a lot that frustrated the hell out of me. Now that I'm free of it I realize just how expensive and frustrating it really was. I don't plan to go back... but all my models are still in storage in the crawlspace of the house.

* * * * *

Tomorrow, best posts from my first couple years of Eve Online, Sept 2007 to Dec 2009.

Help Me Stop the "Help me Save 'Fiddler's Edge'" Movement

CrazyKinux updated the blog pack recently and left of Fiddler's Edge in a massive oversight. Mord Fiddle, deciding that was a sign to move on, posted:

Having said all that, I've a number of other writing projects that have been on the back-burners while Fiddler's Edge was in flight (more on those in a moment). I've been thinking this last month or so that it might be time to take The Edge off the stove and put other efforts on high boil. Frankly, I was a bit torn about it.

So I decided to let Krazy Kinux make the call for me.

As most of you know, his Krazyness is the patron saint of Eve bloggers. One of his means of promoting the Eve blogosphere is The Eve Blog Pack, where he provides linkage to the blogs he considers the best of the best. He recently posted that he was revising the list and that Fiddler's Edge was one of the blogs under consideration for inclusion in the pack.

I decided that would be the test. If Fiddler's Edge had improved enough to make Krazy's blog pack I would continue the work. If it fell short, it would be time to move on. Krazy announced his new blog pack yesterday and, as most of you know, Fiddler's Edge remains unworthy.  The arbiter has spoken. 

So Fiddler's Edge is closing (closed?) down. But then Crazy Kinux came to his senses last night:

Earlier this week I cleaned up the EVE Blog Pack, removing outdated blogs and adding a fresh new set of prolific EVE Online bloggers. In doing so, I turned down a few bloggers who had made the request to get added to the Pack. Last evening I set myself to the task of cleaning up my Unread emails that were related to this blog. Some of these dated back to last November.

You see, despite the fact that I may not be as productive in writing about my experience in EVE as I was in the past, I still get a ton of emails, which all warrant my attention. And sometimes, some of these request slip through the cracks. Just as great blogs can sometimes get overlooked. Fiddler's Edge is one of those.

Without realizing the terrible mistake I was about to make, I simply declined his request, once again, to join the Pack. And now, Mord seems to have decided to move on.

I've just spent the last hour, going through emails and evemails, from folks asking me to add Fiddler's Edge to the Pack. Mord even wrote about it and got a ton of comments to encourage him to continue and to disregard my blatant mistake. And indeed it was a mistake not to included him.

But hopefully it's a mistake that can be corrected. This is where you come in.

I need you to head over to his blog and add to the comments, and request that he reconsider and continue to do what he's been doing all these months; writing a great blog, for the benefit of his readers and the EVE Blogging community.

And Mord, if you're reading this, I hope you'll forgive this ol'time EVE Blogger, and provide us the privilege to be part of the EVE Blog Pack!

This cannot happen! We must stop CK from adding Mord Fiddle to the blog pack!

There are two reasons. One, his blog is too good, too insightful, too well written and it makes other blogs on the pack, namely mine, look pedestrian in comparison. Unacceptable!

Two, Mord Fiddle has joined the staff at Eve Tribune and I want him to write awesome articles for the Trib and not get distracted by writing awesome articles on his blog. His work on the Trib increases the site's cachet and as a result, I get some blowback fame from being on the Tribune as well.

Its Win-Win (for me)!

So let's stop CK's attempt to revive Fiddler's Edge. Do it for me!

Reflections

(I know I haven't been doing the blog banters lately, just too busy and frantic with life to participate. With Christmas finally out of the way and the routine at home improving, I found some time before bed to start it.)

Welcome to the twenty-fourth 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 or so 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's Banter topic comes to us from the ever helpful Eelis Kiy, capsuleer behind the "Where the frack is my ship" blog. She asks: How does your real life personality compare to who you are as a character in EVE? Does a good leader of people in the real world make a good leader of pilots in game? Or vice-versa? Do your real-life skills help you with the roles you fulfill in your corporation or alliance? Or do you behave completely differently? Does the anonymity of the Internet allow you to thrive on the tears of others in New Eden whilst you work as a good Samaritan away from your keyboard? Or are you as mean outside of your pod as you are inside it? Have experiences in EVE Online affected your behavior, skills or attitudes outside of the game?

Kirith is pretty much Bill, and vice versa. The years spent running a busy Warhammer 40K community forum and gaming club helped shape me into a relatively even keeled internet person and that carries on in Eve and on the blog here (most of the time... I can revert to Grumpy Mean Old Man Bill at times, just ask Rixx Javix). 

I think, for the most part, that this is true for almost everyone: who you are in real life is reflected in who you are in game. The difference is that the rules in which your personality can freely express itself is different in the two arenas. In real life I can't go around and slash people's tires and smash their windows for fun because I know that is an actual cost to them (which might lead one into discussions of actual worth of internet spaceships but I decided to fall down on the side of "just pixels" a long time ago).

But I do participate in board games with the intent of destroying my enemies even if that makes that game un-fun for them, just as in Eve I PvP and will gank a hostile hauler without a second thought. Does that make me a bad person? Of course not.

At the same time, I've done good things to help others such as given away ships and ISK, especially to those struggling. It is who I am.

Some people use the anonymity of the internet to let loose their dark side and I can see the temptation of that, but that opportunity is lost to me. Oh well. I'll survive.

Do I think good leaders in real life make good leaders in New Eden? And vice versa? Definitely. Ultimately, who you really are shines through in both venues. You may say you are only roleplaying a jerk, but deep down we both know that you really are a jerk, jerk.

List of participants:

EVE Blog Banter #24: Be, all that you can be, and so much more!
BB24:RL + EVE = | A Mule In EvE
Freebooted: BB 24: You Talking to Me?
where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 24: Behind the keyboard
(OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #24: I Am Prano. « Prano's Journey
mikeazariah » Blog Archive » BB24 Who are you, who hoo woo hoo
Drifting: The 24th EVE Blog Banter (January 2011 Edition) - Topic: EVE and Real Life
Victoria Aut Mors » Blog Archive » Eve Blog Banter #24 – Where Eve Meets Real Life
Who is more real?? « The Durzo Chronicles
Captain Serenity: blog banter #24 - Personalities
Confessions of a Closet Carebear: EVE and Real Life (EVE Blog Banter #24)
1. The 24th EVE Blog Banter - EVE and Real Life - The Phoenix Diaries
2. » EvE Blog Banter #24: EVE and Real Life EvE Blasphemy
3. Blog Banter 24: In Real Life « Yarrbear Tales
4. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Alt « the hydrostatic capsule
5. Blog Banter #24 – Me « Roc's Ramblings
6. More to come....

Low Sec = Wild West

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? * * * * *
The biggest problem with low sec is that people who wish to not be pirates (aka anti-pirates) cannot enforce security without incurring the wrath of security status loss (requiring a lot of work to regain through boring ratting/missions) and coming under fire from the sentry guns if you engage hostiles whose sec status has not dropped below -5.

That being said, I don't think low sec is all that bad as people often claim. Its OK in my opinion to have a part of space not populated to the brim with pilots. Some wilderness to get lost in and sneak around in is fine, the danger of pirates around every gate a nice tension compared to the relative peacefulness of high sec and security channels of null sec.

Perhaps some increase in rewards in low sec is warranted, and perhaps some aspects of the criminal element like smuggling, black markets, bribery, bounty hunting could be addressed. I have some rough ideas but I know a lot of people like Mynxee of Life In Low Sec have been making tremendous efforts to address Low Sec and make it more vibrant so I'll defer to their expertise on the issue.

I will say that I would like to see some ability to claim systems in low sec for corporations/alliances much like space in 0.0 is claimed. I don't know what that would entail but I think it would be really cool to have little empires in corners of low sec that have some security and some advantages over just living in a station in unclaimed low sec.

Participants:

1. CrazyKinux's Musing: The Lure of the Wild
2. Banter 15: Arr, Yer be talkin’ bout me lowsec | TheElitist
3. Banter 21: Low-sec- Chocolate Heaven
4. Subs' suds: Forever a noob in Eve: Low-Sec - the forgotten part of EVE Online
5. Blog Banter XXI - Lo-sec = Low Priority? | I am Keith Neilson
6. In the Ghetto | A Mule in EvE
7. where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 21: What's good for the goose...
8. Blog Banter #21: Change? | Sarnel Binora's Blog
9. Low Sec = Wild West ~ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
10. a merry life and a short one: Low Sec: I Wanna Talk to You
11. Low Sec = No Sec | Diary of a Garbageman
12. EVEOGANDA: Blog Banter 21: Friggin' Low Sec
13. Drifting through the Stars: Blog Banter #21: Low-Sec - The Forgotten part of EVE Online
14. Captain Serenity: Eve blog banter #21 - Low Sec, The Forgotten Part of Eve
15. Low Sec: the Best part of EVE Online | Nitpickin's
16. Aeroxe's Assault - “Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?”
17. Eve Blog Banter 21 | A Scientist's Life in Eve
18. Latro's Bunker: Eve Blog Banter 21 - Low-sec
19. A "CareBears" Journey » Blog Archive » EVE Blog Banter #21: The Low Sec Conundrum
20. EVE Blog Banter 21: Low Security Space « The Nomadic Gamer
21. EvE Blog Banter #21: Where Now?!? – EvE Blasphemy
22. Low-security space is for people who care « EVE's parity bit

No Blog Banter

Really? A blog banter on the CSM? Like we haven't had enough posts already on everyone's thoughts on CSM 5 and the meeting minutes and CCP's development priorities and people fucking up what exactly a stakeholder is in the Agile development process? (Hint, its not the same as shareholder in the company.)

Count me out. You want my views, I podcasted them already like everyone else a couple weeks ago.

Evolution of Me

Welcome to the eighteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than me, 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 out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

On May 6th 2010, EVE Online celebrated its 7th Anniversary. Quite a milestone in MMO history, especially considering that it is one of the few virtual worlds out there to see its population continually grow year after year. For some of you who've been here since the very beginning, EVE has evolved quite a lot since its creation. With the expansion rolling out roughly twice a year, New Eden gets renewed and improved regularly. But, how about you the player? How has you gaming style evolved through the years or months since you've started playing? Have you always been a carebear, or roleplayer? Have you only focused on PvP or have you given other aspects of the game a chance - say manufacturing. Let's hear your story!

The Noob

I started in Ksiogo next to Jita, running missions in my trusty Heron, then Merlin. Lost a couple Merlins to Worlds Collide level 1 and was ready to quit after two weeks. Then some friends from Warhammer offered to have me fly with them and I took the plunge and flew out to Placid region. Ran missions there but with more knowledge and capability. Also learned how to PvP.

The Merc

Those times in IPRC in Placid and then in Genesis were the foundations of an enduring love of PvP in Eve. I also saw the concept arts for the Rokh and became determined to be a Hybrid Caldari pilot. Merlins, Caracals, Feroxes, and eventually the Rokh. IPRC turned into Strife Mercenaries and we fought some high sec wars, winning and losing. Then we turned to join No Quarter corporation up in Venal...

The Dark Months

I lost a lot in this time, first my Rokh in a level four mission, and then my Raven while trying to get it up to Venal null sec. Depressed, broke, and tired of being the useless one, I left my buddies to their fate and spent some time alone in Molden Heath, rebuilding my wallet and enthusiasm with new skills and ships. Eventually after a few months I rejoined my buddies out in null sec with renewed purpose.

The New Path

Our time in Fountain was good personally but frustrating politically. We went through a couple alliance fail cascades and I decided to move on to a new corp and new training path. I joined up with M3 Corp at this point and began training earnestly for Chimera Carriers.

The Experiment

My old buddies reformed as Strife Mercenaries 2.0 and I foolishly left M3 to get in on the ground floor of this new corp. We had a few good months of success, tried forming an alliance with other corps in Syndicate, and was going along well... when the wheels came off. The CEO burned out, I had the twins being born, and the majority of the corp went different direction. We said "summer hiatus" but it turned into the death knell of Strife 2.0.

Back On Track

That summer of 2008 I was too busy with newborn twins to do much of anything, so I spent any time I had in Eve in Faction Warfare on the Minmatar side, earning standing and ISK. I got my carrier, more skills, and as fall rolled around I felt the need for company again. I had kept tabs on M3 Corp because I really liked my original stay so I reapplied and was happy to be given another chance.

That was 1.6 years ago and I've been through a lot of the corp's ups and down throughout New Eden but always happy with the company I keep while PvPing. Lately I realized I had built up a large amount of assets so I liquidated them all and fulfilled a long time dream of owning a Wyvern supercarrier.

This summer my time is gimped once more as a new baby entered our house so I'm finishing the skills for piloting the Wyvern and I hope to have some time to use it in the fall. Next step? Who knows...

Participants:

1. CrazyKinux's Musing: The Heroes with a Thousand Faces
2. StarFleet Comms: Life. Evolved.
3. A Carebear's Journeu: This Carebear Thinks He Is Developing Teeth
4. The Elitist: Our ventures in EVE
5. A Mule in EVE: From a guppy predator
6. Travels of the Ronin: Evolution and Adaptation
7. The Ralpha Dogs: The Past Through Tomorrow
8. Where the frack is my ship: A journey, not a destination
9. I am Keith Neilson: 7 Year Itch?
10. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah: Evolution Me
11. EVE Opportunist: A long history of a short time
12. Roc's Ramblings: Things Change
13. Guns Ablaze: Onwards and Upwards
14. EVE On Real Life: Haven't you grown up yet?
15. Escoce - Eve Trader : I Have Always Been Escoce

M3 Bloggers

I've been meaning to compile a list of the M3 corporation's bloggers but MushskiC beat me to it. So I'm stealing it.

With some amazing help from Rixx Javix, I have now added an m3 Blog Roll on the page you see now. m3 has an amazing 7 bloggers currently, possibly a record for any Corporation! m3 has also been a host to many other bloggers, so you can tell m3 is an active, vibrant and close-knit community.

Without further ado:

m3 Bloggers:

Kirith Kodachi
Lumenarious Rex
Orakkus
Dresarian
Rixx Javix
Angor Mau
MushskiC

ex-m3 Bloggers:

Arth Lawing
Rettic
Jager Da

Time Is On Our Side

Welcome to the seventeenth 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 out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game. Will Incarna do the trick? Can anything else be done in the mean time? Can we the players do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them? Should anything be changed? Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?

* * * * *


Don't change a thing.


If CCP continue to make an engaging and dynamic universe with increasing number of options for emergent gameplay, than the percentage of female players will increase naturally as the playerbase evolves through time.

I believe that the original base was so predominately male to begin with due to our culture and gender roles defined in the 70s and early 80s. As children of the 90s and 2000s grow into adults and look for entertainment, I think a larger percentage of those gamers attracted to Eve will naturally be female as gender roles evolved into more open ones when those new players were growing up.

Changing the formula now would be an insult to the current gamers that love the game for what it is.

If there is something inherently male about Eve and it will never increase beyond the 5% female playerbase it has now (and I'm willing to concede that is possible), then so be it. I'd rather play Eve as it is now with a bunch of guys and a few brilliant girls than to dilute the experience to have the chance to interact with more women.

I play Eve for the pew pew, I don't care whether or not the person on the other end of my barrel is XX or XY.

Other Participants:

1. The Ladies of New Eden
2. Is EVE a man's world?
3. Sorry, No Pink Spaceships Here Please
4. EVE Blog Banter: Chicks 'N Ships
5. Eve Blog Banter: The Girls Who Fly Spaceships
6. It’s not about fluffy bloody Kittens people!
7. Space Boobies Are Bad, m'kay?
8. Special Blog Banter: I Like Girls
9. Special Edition or making Eve More Casual
10. I wish my wife played EVE
11. Is there something special about women?
12. CK's Blog Banter
13. The Female of the Species
14. EVE Online Can Appeal to Women By Adding Casual Content
15. Blog Banter: The Ladies
16. Women Who Want EVE
17. Tech 2 stilettos
18. New Eden doesn't need to change for Eve – Adam needs to get over himself
19. EVE Online and… women (sorta)
20. Think Outside the Spaceship
21. EVE's monthly banter - Women, women, women
22. Girls Just Wanna Have... Guns!
23. Draco Horizons (Blog) <-- Needs to add intro (with links) and list of participants
24. Don’t change Eve for me!
25. Where Are Teh Laydeez of EVE?
26. Where Are All The Wenches?
27. EVEquality: The Rise of the Female Gamer
28. Women? In MY SPACESHIP? Is she from Mars as well?
29. Blog Banter: Captain Kirk Hates Eve <-- Needs list of participants
30. The Female of the Species
31. The Ladies of New Eden
32. EVE and the X by X Genetic Succession Unit
33. Sociability V
34. Girl on Girls in Space
35. What women want (in Eve)
36. Time Is On Our Side
37. Roc Appeal <-- Needs to add intro (with links) and list of participants
38. Women in EVE
39. Getting In Touch With Our Feminine Side
40. More to come...

Shameless Blog Flogging II

There are a few bloggers that belong to my corp (or used to) and two new recent members started blogging some really good stuff so I thought I would push some traffic their way.

Lumenarious Rex has been doing some great information/instructive posts on scouting and camping at his blog A Scout's Domain. A sample:

As before, we are fairly safe making the following assumptions:

- The hostile fleet will have a competent FC
- The hostile fleet will have an competent advance scout who will not warp to 0 KM on the gate
- The hostile fleet, when faced with adversaries of greater numbers will choose to run rather than fight.

Since this particular deployment is anchored around the star gate, many wouldn't consider ship position to be that critical to the success of the camp.  That assertion would only be partially correct. Depending on the class of ship and it's role, position in relation to the gate is critical.  

As you can see, it sounds like he knows what he is doing. 

Another new entry to the blogosphere is Orakkus who is a quality Minmatar pilot and has some keen insight into that empire's ships at his blog, 2nd Anomaly From The Left: 

The Minmatar Cyclone is a ship rarely seen on the battlefields of today.  More often, the familiar style is seen in the Commandship variants, the Sleipnir and the Claymore.  Nearly all of the PVP duties that the Cyclone engaged in have been taken over by the much feared and respected Hurricane.  As much as I would like to say “Here’s a way to make it AWESOME!”, the simple fact of the matter is that due to its bonuses and due to the fact that its an active shield tanker.. there is simply no realistic comparision that we can do between the Hurricane and the Cyclone.  The Hurricane can passively tank better, do far more damage both long and short range, using any type of AC or Arty and doesn’t require you to be reasonably skilled in two weapon systems.  So, never get a Cyclone, right?

Well, besides being one of the best looking battlecruisers in the game (its got that steampunk/japanese pagoda/locomotive look going on..), it does have two advantages over the much praised Hurricane.  Its cheaper and, in very short spurts, can take much more damage if setup correctly.  This advantages are complimented by a slightly larger drone bay (40 m3) and that it is quite inexpensive to fit, and a decent PVP fit can be had with T1 equipment (which is nice when you are just starting to try out Battlecruiser PVP). 

Go read the rest.

Regarding the Blog Pack

Yesterday I said:

CrazyKinux is looking for input on the new Eve Blog Pack. I was going to submit a list of my favourite blogs but got paranoid I might miss some and offend someone. In the end I opted to not provide input as it all feels very reminiscent of high school popularity games to me (and that was a game I failed at hard). I understand the value of the blog pack to focus people to the quality content, but I wish there was a more objective measure.

Regardless, thanks to all those who put forth this humble blog, it means a lot to me.

Since then others have voiced similar concerns about the "popularity contest" feel of it and how it relates to Capsuleer. There have been some discussions on twitter as well. So I decided to take a minute to weigh in my full position.

1. The Eve Blog Pack is useful. It focuses people new to the community to the blogs that have garnered recognition due to effort of the authors.

2. Not all of the best writers are going to be in any Blog Pack. Newer writers just starting out might need time to build up readership, and older writers fading out still have lots of name recognition.

3. The popularity aspect of the input is unfortunate but not mean-spirited. I chose not to give a list because I was concerned about missing good blogs myself. If we were going to determine the blogs of the pack via popularity alone, I'd prefer an automated voting system per post rather than per blog.

4. CrazyKinux should have the final say as to what blogs are in the Pack. Its as objective as it needs to be and if anyone disagrees so much, they can make their own Eve Blog Pack listing. If he goes inactive for a period and his Blog Pack goes stale, well.... welcome to the internet.

For myself, I neither subscribe to the Blog Pack blogs automatically or entire OPML of eve blogs. Instead I subscribe to blogs as I come across them through links or references and find the content interesting. Without looking at CK's site or Capsuleer I couldn't tell you who is currently in the Blog Pack besides myself. I'm sure there are some really good Eve blogs I have not read yet but I have no interest in having a Google Reader subscription list of 500 eve blogs in order to find them. I've removed blogs that were active but the content did not interest me.

At the end I'm glad to be on the Blog Pack for the recognition, but would not change how I do things if I was not on it. Ultimately I blog for my own satisfaction, readers and commentators is just bonus.

2010 - The Year That Will Be

Welcome to the fourteenth 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 out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of 2010 comes to us from the EVE Blog Father, CrazyKinux himself, who asks the following: As we begin another year in New Eden, ask yourselves "What Now?" What will I attempt next? What haven't I done so far in EVE? Was it out fear, funds, or knowledge? Have I always wanted to start my own corporation, but have never dared doing so? Is there a fledging mercenary waiting to come out of its shell? Or maybe an Industrialist? What steps and objectives will I set myself to accomplish in order to reach my ultimate goal for this year? EVE is what you make of it. So, what is it going to be for you?

* * * * *

I'm faced with a horrible year for Eve. With member #3 on the way for the Carebear Brigade I will be assigned to Twin Escort Duty almost constantly. Keeping up my scant playtime I have now will be impossible; logging in to change skills will be the best I will be able to do for many weeks. Perhaps in the fall some semblance of normality will return and I will log in regularly again, but only time will tell.

As such, my goals for this year are modest. Kirith is going to cross train into more Tech II Gallente ships with the possibility of going for a Proteus Strategic Cruiser late in the year on the table. Derranna will continue her combat training with a carrier being her ultimate goal after being able to field Tech II large projectiles in a Minmatar battleship.

I plan to continue to stay with M3 and live the good life PvPing when I can in Providence or wherever my corp takes me. I know its all very unexciting but when Real Life becomes very exciting and unsettled, my virtual life has to calm down.

List of Participants:

1. CrazyKinux's Musing - A beginning is a very delicate time...
2. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility - Words, words, words…
3. My God It's Full of Stars - What Now?
4. The Elitist - Plans for 112yc
5. Into the unknown with gun and camera - Show me the money
6. Ecliptic Rift - Enabling the future
7. Inanity and Doom - New Year's Resolutions, New Eden Style
8. Break Vol - Blog Banter #14
9. Guns Ablaze - What Now?
10. Adventures in Mission Running - The Way Forward
11. Diary of a Pod Pilot - Things I want to do
12. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - The Year That Will Be
13. Roc's Ramblings - WordPress ate my blog
14. Vive Virtual - Frontier Living
15. A Mule in EVE - Next on the chopping block
16. Prano's Journey - I Peer Into My Crystal Pod...
17. Life in Low Sec - Expanding the Franchise
18. The Light of Stars - Testing the claims of CCP
19. A Memoir From Space - A New Direction
20. The Chronofile - Blog Banter 2010
21. FlashFresh - What now for Flash?
22. EVE Opportunist - Fyreite in 112
23. Mike Azariah - George
24. More to come...

Mission: Tangled Webs

Welcome to the thirteenth 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 here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of this 2nd year of EVE Blog Banters comes to us fromZargyl from A Sebiestor Scholar, who asked the following: On the EVE Fanfest 2009 page are pictures of prizes for the Silent Auction that was held during the event. One of these photos was entitled “Design your own EVE mission”. My question now would be what kind of mission would you write if you got that prize? What would the mission be about? Would it be one using the new system of epic mission arks? What would be the story told by it? Feel free to expand upon his questions and put together your very own mission!

I have ideas, oh yes! There are a lot of different mission ideas rattling around in my skull but let's pick out one I'd like to see in Eve.

Level 4 Mission: Tangled Webs

"Hello Kirith Kodachi, I'm glad to see you survived that last mission. How was I supposed to know the Angel Cartel would send an entire battle group after that lone transport? Good thing you were there.

"Now I have a more delicate mission for you, of great importance to the Republic. 

"Retired Admiral Cosorassa of the Imperial Fleet is well known in Matari space. He led several 'unauthorized' incursion fleets in the Molden Heath and while the Empire publically punished him we know for a fact that he was lavished with praise and rewards back on Amarr. 

"I have received intelligence that he is part of a delegation from the Empire trying to ease tensions between them and the Republic. We want him dead but we can't touch him, see? It would cause an incident and perhaps plunge us into a war we don't want... right now. So that's where you come in.

"We will provide you with a Rifter that's been specially modified to broadcast a false identity of Folas the pirate to police units and the Amarr fleet (other pod pilots will pick up on your pod's relay but we don't have the expertise to mess with that and besides, they won't care). You will travel from here to Hek through high sec allowing the false identity to be detected and for Republic police ships to attempt to engage and destroy you. Don't let them, but make it look good. Once in Hek you must warp to the station where the delegation is meeting and attack Admiral Cosorassa's yacht. We'll guarantee he'll be on it by activating an alarm on the station when you show up in system.

"The Republic fleet ships guarding the delegation will engage you as they will see you as the pirate Folas so don't waste any time. Destory the Admiral's ship and get out of there as quickly as possible. DO NOT destroy the guard ships! We are not hiring you to kill Minmatar citizens!

"You, or rather Folas, will be declared KOS across the Republic and Empire as a result but you and I will be innocent of anything. The logs will show that Minmatar forces attempted to stop Folas at several points but failed; it will make us look bad and we will have to pay some reparations but war will be avoided and we will celebrate that old codger's death behind closed doors.

"Good luck Kirith Kodachi, don't let me down."

* * * * * * 

Technical description: 

 

Pilot receives Specially Modified Rifter that must be equipped. This Rifter requires any faction's frigate skills to pilot. While in Specially Modified Rifter the pilot's security standing is set to -10.0.

The pilot can take the ship anywhere and use it for anything but it is no better than regular Rifter and has a self destruct timer of 1 day. 

In Hek, the pilot will have agent bookmark to an acceleration gate that only allows Specially Modified Rifters to use. Once in the deadspace, the pilot will see several Repubic Fleet frigates and several Amarr Delegation Yachts, one of which is labeled Admiral Cosorassa's Yacht. Soon after the pilot arrives in the pocket, the Republic Fleet ships will begin to target and engage the pilot but most of them will be at long range and thus give the player some room to engage the target.

If any Republic ships are destroyed, the mission fails. 

The Admiral's Yacht will begin to move after 60 seconds and align to warp out. At 120 seconds the Yacht will warp out and the mission fails.

The other Amarr delegation Yachts will begin to move after 90 seconds and warp out at 180 seconds. Killing them causes no ill effect to the mission but will be difficult as the rest of the Republic ships get in range.

Other Blog Banters:

TBD