Delayed somewhat this month as we ironed out the process for nomination of candidates and selection of winners, I am still proud to announce the first ever winners of the monthly Eve Online bloggers awards, called ‘The Eebees’ for lack of a better name. Now, (queue drum roll) here are the candidates and winners for the first monthly Eebee awards:

Best Post of April 2012

For Post of the Month, we tried to achieve a nice spread of candidates while still recognizing what we felt were the best. The candidates are:

Rundle Allnighter for his philosophical Blog Banter entry

Susan Black (aka @GamerChick42) for her whimsical take on New Eden politics

Azual Skoll for his excellent post about Risk in Eve Online

And the winner is…

Azual Skoll! While all the nominees were obviously quite good, we felt that Azual nailed the topic of risk versus reward in New Eden. He will be the proud recipient of a PLEX, courtesy of Somer Blink.

Best Blog for April 2012

Blog of the Month is a category that seemed like a no-brainer when we came up with this idea. However, actually narrowing the candidates down (and then selecting the winner) proved to be pretty hard. I’m not blowing smoke up any orifices when I say that there are tons of excellent blogs out there, and keeping track of any given blog over the course of just one month is harder than it sounds. However, we did our best. The candidates are:

Tiger Ears by pjharvey

Eve Travel by Mark726

Mad Haberdashers by Corelin

And the winner is…

Tiger Ears by pjharvey! I’m not lying when I say this was genuinely a tough decision, and it was beginning to look like we might be facing a deadlock right out of the gate. In the end, we simply couldn’t ignore the consistently excellent narratives on wormhole life posted up by pjharvey. As a result, he too will be the recipient of a PLEX courtesy of our friends at Somer Blink.

Congratulations to both Azual and pj – your rewards are well earned. To the other nominees, keep up the great work! The tougher our jobs as judges are, the better the community is for it. I look forward to reading (if not voting!) for the rest of the month.

Write Smart,
Marc

EVE BLOG PACK

The Eve Blog Pack has been updated! Sadly, we bid adieu to three blogs – including my all-time favorite, Rifter Drifter. Luckily, Wensley is still active, now making the occasional podcast with Sard Caid on Caid’s Twitch.tv stream. Check them out!

However, where three go, three more follow – no shortage of candidates these days! However, I’ve decided to give preference to returning members of the Pack, and thus have added Rixx Javix’s Eveoganda and Helicity Boson’s….well, Helicity Boson….back to the Pack. Really great news to have them both back. In addition, we have one brand spanking new member of the Eve Blog Pack – The Nosy Gamer. Really quality posts over there – check them all out using the official Blog Pack feeds, available here.

EVEBLOGGERS.COM

A whopping nine new blogs have been added to the Eve Blog Roll (the master list of Eve Blogs). Actually 10, since The Nosy Gamer wasn’t on there for some ungodly reason. All posts going forward from these blogs will appear on the main page of Evebloggers.com, your main source for the Eve Blogosphere (and, coincidentally, where I turn when I’m looking for nominees for…)

THE EEBEES

I didn’t receive any new suggestions on what to call these Monthly blogging awards, so The Eebees it is. Either you guys don’t care about possibly getting a PLEX for doing what you normally do, or you think its some sort of scam since I’m a Goon these days. However, it’s not a scam, and the finalists for the two April awards have been chosen:

Blog Of The Month, April Nominees: Tiger Ears (by pjharvey), Eve Travel (by Mark726) and Mad Haberdashers (by Corelin)
Post Of The Month, April Nominees: Rundle Allnighter’s Blog Banter Entry, Susan Black’s ‘A Fairy Story’, and Azual Skoll’s ‘Risk’

As soon as Stan is back from his stag weekend and casts his ballot, we’ll be all set to announce winners. Congratulations to the nominees!

MY OTHER GIG

In case you haven’t given a gander to www.tacticalentertainment.tv, I’m their newest Eve Online writer. So far, I’ve written two articles and a guide:

• The Dust/Eve Link and CSM
• The Sack of Jita
• The Hulkageddon Guide for Gankers

Check out the articles and either leave feedback there or here, or hit me up on Twitter. Always looking for good feedback and differing points of view.

MARCOSAURUS UNLEASHED

Ripard Teg over at Jester’s Trek has an amusing sidekick from time to time that he likes to call ‘Garth’. Really just an alter ego that goes on rants and the likes, Garth has inspired me to unleash the Wild Marcosaurus – the angry Irish Dinosaur of Voices from the Void fame. I don’t have a regular podcasting gig (and may not for some time, as several other projects are in the works), so when I just have to unleash some vitriol in a worthy (or unworthy, as the case may be) target’s direction, expect to see the trolololololosaur come out. First one is coming for you, Riverini.

And that about wraps it up. Been a busy day – check out the links and let me know what you think!

Write Smart,
Marc

I was a bit behind the curve when Hulkageddon officially opened for business. I had planned on being one of the first brave capsuleers to fell a mining giant, but instead I was stuck getting some odds and ends that I had forgot about. Meanwhile, Corelin and the Fancy Hats Corporation was dealing tons of damage to the dastardly miners of Amarr space, putting my hopes and dreams to shame.

Finally, it looked like I was going to be able to get out there and gank something. I had failed miserably during Burn Jita due to my video card deciding that that weekend, of all weekends, would be a good one to stop working. However, armed with a new card and a fresh sense of purpose (as well as some comforting familiarity, as this wasn’t my first Hulkageddon), I had hoped to bring some destruction to high sec.

I rounded up some friends near my lowsec cache of destroyers – 200 in total – and was just about to start sending out fleet invites when suddenly my computer shut down. No warning, no ‘are you sure you would like to shut down?’ – just a big ole ‘click’ and black screens everywhere. Not good. I decided to call it an evening, with my preparations made, and hit it back up the next day.

Finally, I was able to. 3 Mackinaws and a Hulk down – all solo in the wonderfully brutal gank Catalyst. Live was good. I lined up my next target, dispatched Marc in another Catalyst of Doom, and – ‘click’. Black Screens Everywhere.

Needless to say, I think my new graphics card is presenting some unique challenges when it comes to high security ganking. However, I’ve figured out what I mustn’t do (otherwise the computer decides to punish me), so I’ve been able to resume ganking. Right now, I’m sitting at 7th overall in Caldari High Sec ganks according to the Hulkageddon leaderboard. For a time I was ranked 9th overall and 8th in solo kills, but have since lost these positions to gankers who have no jobs are more dedicated than I.

Sadly, I’m not getting much in the way of tears, though between the 100 million ISK bounty being paid by Goonswarm (for every 10 exhumers killed) and loot/salvage, I’m actually ahead in the :iskwar: by about 100 million ISK. This despite the survey I am sending out to all my victims noncensual pvp partners. So far, the only good reply I got was:

Пидор ты, и этим хвалишься?

Granted, I don’t know how good it is because I don’t speak Russian, but I think there are some very bad words in there.

At any rate, if you’re interested in joining in on the fun (even if only for a gank or two), consider reading the Definitive Hulkageddon Guide for Gankers, by yours truly. Seriously though, check it out and use it – and send me your success stories (for surely such a guide will only bring you success). It took some doing and while it really isn’t definitive (there are about a hundred ways to carry out ganks, fits to use, etc), I think it’s a good starting point that was really lacking out there.

The reason I made it was I googled (out of boredom) ‘Hulkageddon Guide’ the other day and all that came up were Miner’s Guide to Avoiding Hulkageddon. Obviously, this could not stand.

I’ll be posting up my thoughts on Burn Jita (and some funny stories about it as well) over at TEN in the next couple days, as well as regular Hulkageddon updates here. I’m still adjusting to being a correspondent for another site and trying to find the line between strictly-Malefactor material and strictly-TEN material, so bear with me as this blog will probably stick around with weekly updates for a little while.

Fly Smart,
Marc

RVB recently has seen a rise in profile in New Eden, as more players than ever are joining for the nearly consequence free PVP (it still takes time or real bucks to procure ships, after all). From the newbie to the bittervet to the King Beyond the Ban, people from all walks of New Eden life have been merrily shooting at each other in record numbers. I decided to rejoin the mayhem (with an alt) and see if things had changed from my last stint in RVB.

That last stint didn’t leave me with the greatest impression, if I’m honest. As a young PVPer with a thirst for solo combat, I was disappointed. Most combat took place fleet versus fleet (in what I then, in my newbishness, thought of as ‘large’ numbers, around 10-20 in each fleet), and soloing in RVB seemed to be the exclusive reserve of those with very expensive ships and impressive amounts of skillpoints. To say I was skeptical of the result of rejoining would be to put it lightly. However, I took the plunge over the weekend.

Since Marc is still -10 (and likely to stay that way, what with Hulkageddon around the corner), I had to use an alt. Of my alts, two are combat capable in some fashion. My better skilled combat alt, however, has in recent months been converted to my money maker in the form of station trading. As those familiar with that profession will know, you can’t be very good at station trading without being in station. RVB would no doubt require my pilot to undock and actually shoot things at people, so I went with the much less experienced option.

Those of you who have read this blog may remember a little alt I rolled up awhile back named Liam Malukker. His mission in life was to try to prove that even a new player can jump into lowsec piracy with a minimum of training time, financial backing, and support from friends. This project, however, ground to a halt during my last RL interruption of gameplay. He sat, logged out in Amarr lowsec, for many months. However, Liam has been reborn as a brave new capsuleer in service of my alma mater, Red Fed.

With less than 1 million skillpoints to his name, I have no illusions of solo success with Liam (the way I did with Marc when Marc was in RVB).  Thus, perhaps, I am entering into the fray with a more open mindset. I don’t really know what my conclusion will be, but in the meantime it’s a lot of fun running around in a T1 fit Rifter and shooting at things.

I dropped my app sometime Saturday morning and was nearly instantly accepted into Red Federation. Within an hour, I was in a fleet. Apparently this past weekend had some particular rules applied to the perpetual aggressors: no fleet could field a ship larger than a cruiser, no tech 2 ships allowed, and most importantly – anything not in fleet was a target (including corp members!). I didn’t really know what to make of these restrictions at the time, but looking back on it – it was damn good fun.

First, our fleet (led by an Irishman by the name of Magenta Blue) grabbed hold of a lonely Rifter, foolishly out on his own during what was certainly a bloodbath of a weekend. It died, with the combat record showing that some of his Blue Republic friends had taken full advantage of the Free For All rules of engagement. The fit is a bit strange to me – MWD rifter with Shield Tank, Damage Control, and 150mm Autocannons – and obviously did not serve him well. However, I rejoiced – first blood for Liam! I surreptiously scooped loot and continued on with the fleet.

We then stumbled across another lonely soul, this time in a Thrasher. He, too, perished beneath the might of Red Federation. Another victory for Liam, all 900k SP of him, but still nothing too trying as the first two kills had basically been ganks. Then, we puttered about for a bit, as Magenta Blue attempted to get a Blue FC to come fight our motley crew of cruisers and frigates. This reminded me too well of past experiences, but this time I didn’t really mind. There was nothing else available for the fleet to shoot at, so might as well stir up a rival FC to come give us some fun.

An unfortunate series of events then unfolded. First, we moved from the agreed upon planet 2 rendezvous due to our FC’s nervousness. It was taking the blue FC an exceedingly long time to get his troops in line, which made us think that perhaps we were in for a nasty surprise. Then, restless at our new planetary orbit, the FC warped himself over to Planet 2 to check on things. As he landed, my directional scanner revealed he had a lot of company.

“Shit,” came Magenta’s voice over comms. Yup. That was about all she wrote for Magenta’s valiant Thorax. Heedless of the superiority that Blue Republic held at Planet 2, the rest of our fleet was soon in warp to avenge Magenta. When we landed, nobody really called primaries, so I just took turns shooting at the nearest thing. Most of the Blue Crew were burning away, but we did eventually manage to down their FC’s Rupture. Before I could see that glorious blue flash, however, I noticed some not-so-glorious yellow blinky boxes appearing on the overview.

Discretion being the better part of valor, I warped out – to the sun. As I did, several of the Blue Repugs did the same. We all landed together at the sun and commenced to carrying on the fight. I quickly established a tight orbit on a Coercer and called for help. It came – but too late. My Rifter went down. However, it was quickly avenged as the Coercer had been held down long enough to die at the hands of my comrades.

Afterwards, we repaired to our home in Otela and played around with another fleet – taking down a Moa and Vexor before ourselves being slaughtered nearly to a man. The day’s fun was wrapped up for me by shooting (and killing, surprisingly) a pair of Red Fed cruisers on the home station (Maller and Omen). All in all, a really good lot of fun (and for really cheap too!).

This got me to thinking about another project. A bi-weekly video blog of my escapades in Red Vs. Blue. It seems to me that some of the negative things in RVB have not changed – but I also think they are less negative than my first impression gave. Sure, some fights are prearranged. And no, I won’t be getting a whole lot of solo combat in (mainly due to my deficiencies with said alt). But, if you want some nearly on demand PVP, without the (major) worry of being podded or losing too much – you can’t do better than RVB.

Fly Smart,
Marc

I set out immediately to setting down a rough format for the awards, as well as contacting potential judges and sponsors of the initiative. After a few weeks of doggedly pursuing this project, I am happy to announce that it will indeed be coming to fruition! Starting with the month of April, a select panel of judges will be selecting winners in two categories from among the Eve Online Blogosphere. Here are the details:

The Eebees, Brought to you by Evebloggers.com and SOMER Blink

Judges: Marc Scaurus, Ripard Teg, and Seismic Stan

Categories: Post of the Month (for best individual blog post) and Blog of the Month (for best blog over the course of the month)

Reward: 1 PLEX per winner each month, delivered by the fine folks at SOMER Blink

Rules: All blog posts having to do with Eve Online are eligible each month for selection as Post of the Month (barring media sites such as Massively.com, TenTonHammer.com, etc). All blogs having to do primarily with Eve Online are eligible each month for selection as Blog of the Month (again, barring media sites).

Selection is limited to once per category per six month period. Must have an active Eve Online account at the time of winning and be willing to inform Marc Scaurus of an active Eve Online character to which the prize will be rewarded. Prizes will be delivered in Jita by contract from SOMER Blink.

Schedule: Winners for the month of April will be determined NLT May 4^th, with announcements made NLT May 5^th. Prizes must be claimed (by informing Marc Scaurus of an active Eve Online character to which the prize will be delivered) NLT the end of May. This schedule will repeat each successive month.

Now, as it stands I haven’t got any sweet graphics made up yet for the winners, so if anyone wants to toss a submission in regarding that, please feel free to leave a comment here or hit me up on Twitter. Otherwise I will be forced to photoshop something incredibly corny. Winners will be announced both on this blog as well as on Evebloggers.com

Good luck to everyone, and remember: GUD POASTIGN PAYS.

Write Smart,
Marc

Edit: If anyone can think of a name I like better than ‘The Eebees’, I will gladly steal the idea.

 Welcome the the thirty-fifth EVE Blog Banter.

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?

Suspicion is putting it lightly when it comes to the wider gaming community’s outlook in regards to Eve Online and its adherents. ‘Disdain’ would be a word I might use, or perhaps ‘surprise’ in the sense that they fail to understand why anyone would play such a game. To delve into the questions at hand, let us take a look at the first bit:

“Is this perception deserved?”

I don’t know about you, but I think so. Eve Online is a game that takes no prisoners and neither do its players. Scams, griefing and long cons are all hallmarks of this game, whether you want to admit it or not. Ask a hundred players why they joined, and I guarantee a fair size of them will say ‘via [XXX] story about a scam/heist/griefing/etc’. It is the ability to do things like this, be it for a negative purpose (i.e. I hate those guys and am going to ruin their game experience), for the laughs, or even for a positive purpose (i.e. infiltrating an enemy on behalf of your beleaguered alliance), that sets Eve Online apart from anything else in the gaming hemisphere.

“Should ‘The Nation of Eve’ be concerned by its public identity?”

Not one bit. As stated above, that public identity is one that draws players in. While that number could possibly be significantly higher were the public image of Eve Online and its community somewhat shinier and prettier, I feel that it would be a disingenuous move. Further, it would take away the dark luster that Eve Online and its players have worked towards building.

That being said, it wouldn’t hurt to better highlight some of the more noble pursuits of the Nation of Eve. Things like Eve University, Project Halibut, the Agony courses, and I’m sure more all serve as great tools for new players to come to grips with this behemoth of a game. While more experienced citizens of the Nation of Eve may commonly direct new entrants towards these organizations, they remain shrouded in shadows when it comes to the larger gaming community.

“What influence will the integration of the DUST 514 community have on this culture in the future?”

In short, little to none. DUST 514, from what is known now, seems not to lend itself to the culture of Eve Online. While mercenary corporations planetside will work hand in hand with the space going capsuleers, I don’t see much in the way of room for intrigue and politics in DUST 514. Part of this lies in the design of DUST, wherein Dusties will simply be an extension of the familiar methods of war and politics in Eve Online. However, a major part is the fact that Dust is a FPS, and in a FPS you expect to get fragged on a regular basis.

Much of the reputation surrounding Eve comes from a very basic fact of the game: The misconception of certain player niches that Eve Online can (and should) be made into a safe place to cater to their preferred gaming style. These are the people that think CONCORD is there to protect, as opposed to their real purpose of punishment. These are the people who think that if they choose never to participate in PVP, they should be protected from PVP in all its forms. Unfortunately for them, this is not true, unlike in 99% of other MMOs.

This is where things like the Phaser Inc. scam flourish – that small area of misconception between the perceived reality of marks and the comprehension of the facts of life in Eve by the scammers. This is where stories featuring villains such as Guiding Hand Social Club come to life. This is where Eve makes itself unique in a market being oversaturated by typical World of Warcraft-style games.

This misconception will not exist (in any significant quantities) among the DUST 514 playerbase. While I am sure there will be the occasional scandal or internet intrigue, those who play DUST know what they are getting – a First Person Shooter, where the main goal is to shoot things and kill people. In terms of ‘community’, I predict that DUST 514’s will simply be an additional niche of the overarching Eve Nation, similar to how Faction Warfare pilots, nullsec pilots, industrialists, etc are today.

In closing, I find it important for the Nation of Eve to come to grips with its own identity. To recognize its deficiencies and address them (i.e. doing a better job at promoting genuinely helpful organizations), but to never lose sight of the fact that what makes Eve great is precisely what most other gamers find abhorrent about this game. It is okay that Eve Online will never, in all likelihood, boast 10 million players. As long as gamers keep coming of age and deciding they want a game with some intrigue, some scamming, and some hilarious hijinks (from market manipulation to events like Hulkageddon), Eve Online will continue to flourish in its own little corner of the MMO universe.

Fly Smart,
Marc

Lots of people are writing and commenting on what the upcoming changes consist of, so I will refrain from going in-depth here. Instead, a quick overview:

• NPC Drones will no longer drop mineral-rich compounds, but instead will carry bounties like all the other NPC rats
• Manufacturable (Meta-0) modules will no longer drop from NPC rats, decreasing the amount of minerals reprocessed mission loot will provide
• CCP is going on a sustained rampage against botters and RMTers, resulting in a decrease in botting-related activities (i.e. ISK production)
• Incursion Vanguard Sites will now produce roughly 10% less ISK, and take more time to run due to the fact that you must now clear every NPC in each wave (as opposed to trigger spawns)

Any one of these changes would be a relatively small change in the wider landscape of New Eden, unlikely to make PVPers take notice. However, coming together (or within a short amount of time with each other) as a package means the landscape of the game will be forever changed – for everyone. How, you ask?

Mining is becoming an actual profitable activity again due to the mineral changes. This means more people out in Hulks and Retrievers in every section of space. “But Marc, most of those miners are just botters!” you say. Perhaps before. No longer, thanks to the diligent work of CCP Sreegs and the Security team at CCP. Bots are getting hammered in sustained numbers for the first time (I can recall, anyways) in Eve Online, making it rather foolhardy for the non-human element to persist.

Also thanks to the CCP Security team, we should see a decrease in the amount of blue-balling rat bots out in nullsec. As it stands, whole swaths of nullsec are farmed by programmed ships little better than the things they shoot at. These ships dock up, according to their programming, whenever a potentially hostile individual enters their local (information which is handily available via the Local Chat box).

Those of you able to add two and two are probably getting the point here. But let’s break it down anyways: More humans actually playing – humans which are prone to that little foible of ours called ‘human error’. More mining vessels out and about in empire and nullsec, also piloted by a higher percentage of humans. In short: more soft targets for the enterprising PVPer to go after.

Whether you prefer ganks or gud fites, you should be pretty happy right now. Gankers will obviously be pleased with more targets not capable of blue balling consistently. And patrons of the fine art of ‘Gud Fiting’ will be able to poke sticks at this new, rounder and softer underbelly of Eve to provoke the claws to come out, as defense fleets will no doubt be formed to combat your menacing presence.

There is, however, a downside. As with all things in real life, all things in Eve generally aren’t pure rainbows and unicorns and glitter. With the mineral market in an uproar, ship prices in particular are skyrocketing. Drakes are going for well over 70 mil (depending on the time of day you shop). Armageddons, that bastion of cheapness in the Battleship class, are going for nearly 100 mil (again, depending on the current phase of the moon, the caffeine content of the .01 iskers in Jita, and whether or not you stepped on a bug outside yesterday).

Even small ships like the Rupture are reportedly going for over 10 million ISK, making it somewhat more difficult for the new PVPer to break into an already torturous career path in Eve Online. For the small ship enthusiast, or those who disdain pilots who rely on the shiniest ships possible to win the day, this isn’t really a ‘con’. Rising prices will encourage PVPers (experienced and new alike) to take it easy with the big flashy things.

This is what makes Eve Online great. Just a few tweaks and suddenly the economy has gone mad. Intrepid capitalists are making ISK hand over fist. Small ship partisans may see their preferred form of Space Combat become the ‘in-thing’, even more so than after the recent Assault Frigate buffs. Oh, and miners? Your day has finally come. Enjoy it!

Fly Smart,
Marc

I first tried Eve Online in 2007, I believe. It was not a successful attempt, as I peacefully mined for about 4 days in a Bantam before deciding that this game was the most boring thing ever created, and puttered around the MMOscape awhile longer. In 2008 I tried it again. This time, I stuck a little bit longer but ended up missioning, which was only mildly more exciting than mining.

I ended up doing what many, many players have done before and since – I joined Eve University. My stay there was short lived – a whopping 16 days – but it gave me a little taste of pvping, as I took part in one of the infamous E-Uni blobs and blew something up. Not sure what it was, but that didn’t matter, because it was cool dammit.

I moved on to another player corporation, but when they went tits up within a month I was so full of despair that, not only did I quit Eve, I wiped all memory of that corporation from my mind (read: I, to this day, have no idea what that corp was even about). However, something about Eve stuck in my head. As I roamed the wild MMOscape, I always wondered what I might still be missing. In March of 2009, I rejoined the capsuleer community – and was going to quit again.

Then, however, I heard about pirating. I read blogs by the likes of Wensley and Ka Jolo that really seemed quite interesting. Thus, with just a week left on my subscription, I joined a pirate corporation (Monsters). And lowsec has been where I call home ever since, for the most part.

For two and a half years I roamed lowsec, finding comrades in arms and learning the ropes. And the whole time, I always wanted to be one thing – a Tusker. They are the best pirate corporation in the game and even as I became a director in Monsters, and then the CEO of my own small pirating corporation, The Tuskers was always lurking in my mind – like the hot chick in high school that forever after you wish you had just gone for but never did.

Eventually I came to a point where it made sense to me to step down as CEO of Sinners. and take that last leap – to finally go for it. I apped, and they accepted me into their arms. I was about six different shades of excited and raring to go.

But you know how these stories usually go. You go for the hot chick in high school and she ends up being a high maintenance, holier than thou snob who too well realizes that she’s out of your league. With the Tuskers, it was plain to me within a month that I had not, in fact, found my Mecca.

Now, don’t get me wrong – if anyone asks me, I will tell you until Eve’s dying day that The Tuskers are the finest pirate corporation in the game. Their pilots are the best in lowsec and excel greatly at what they do. They are also one of the few truly honorable pirate organizations in the game. I have an immense amount of respect for everyone in Tuskers – even (and perhaps especially) Ka Jolo himself. To craft an organization of the finest lowsec pvpers from scratch with nothing but your own will and a strict code of ethics that would seem to run counter to what most people perceive as ‘piratical ways’ is no mean feat.

Some things about Tuskers I adore. I love the ‘work ethic’, for lack of a better phrase, of the Tuskers as a whole. They don’t just throw their hands up in the air when they’ve died in a fight, or start wishing upon a star that their entire fleet composition had been different – “If we would’ve had arty canes instead of AC canes, with Scimis instead of the inty and maybe a neuting Domi, we TOTALLY would’ve had them”. Instead, they analyze their losses, identify points they can improve on, disregard the points that they can’t, and go back at it with renewed vigor.

Most things, though, I don’t. I don’t like the lack of camaraderie on Vent. Hell, I don’t like Vent. But when I play a MMO, I find myself craving some company – some guys (or gals) to shoot the shit with while cracking beers IRL and pods in game. I want joking and laughter, because that’s why I play games. I definitely do not find any attraction to the ‘TOTAL SOLO’ atmosphere, wherein everyone does their own thing most of the time – even in comms.

Eve is a cold and terrible place (not to mention a broken and shitty game trolololol), which is one of the reasons I’ve continued to play it these past three years. I’ve scammed, stole, ninja’ed and griefed and had a damn good time doing it. I accept that some people don’t – even that some people literally hate those things and the people that do them. The Tuskers, however, have a pretty strict policy regarding most of those things. Hell, they just booted a dude for being a (terrible) corp thief. Not because he was bad at it – but because he did it at all.

Of course, if any of you have listened to a podcast I’m on, you’ll also know that I’m quite loose with my language. The Tuskers is pretty proud of its ‘family friendly’ tag (despite the whole non-consensual pvp thing), whereas I’m about as far from family friendly on a regular basis. I’m a big fan of adults being able to be adults – call me silly, but I am.

However, I knew most of this prior to signing up. I knew about the Tusker Code, I knew about the family friendliness, and I knew about the silent comms. I still gave it a shot though, because The Tuskers are the best at what they do and I wanted to see how it was to fly with them. Reviewing my six month stint with them, I can honestly say that I feel like I learned a lot (even if my flying hasn’t improved markedly). I’ve learned not to fear long odds, but instead to relish them as opportunities to shine. I (re)learned the thrill of flying in lowsec at a time when it was becoming very humdrum. And I learned that Konig is a good Rapier pilot.

Now, however, its time for me to move on. The Tuskers, while great, is not my home in Eve. And there is just so much more out there in the game that I want to take a swing at. I’ve started up a research alt, a market trading alt, and I’m even looking into doing some very carebearish manufacturing projects.

But where will Marc go? Hmm….what organization out there can provide a culture that I would enjoy, a general air of giving no fucks, but also let me expand my horizons and experience something completely different and new? I wonder…

.

.

.

.

.

Fly Smart,
Marc

Calling The Mittani’s remarks a ‘clear violation of our Terms of Service’, GM Salmon (VP of Customer Relationship Management at CCP) announced today that The Mittani would be subject to a 30 day ban from Eve Online. In normal circumstances, CCP has a straightforward policy of never discussing bans publicly, however in this instance they felt that ‘special circumstances’ made it appropriate, indirectly referring to the explosion of game media coverage in the aftermath of the panel.

Despite The Mittani’s issuance of both a public apology to the Eve community, a private apology (and compensation) to the ‘victim’ of this breach of the Terms of Service, as well as his preemptive abdication from the Chairmanship of CSM7, CCP’s ban effectively renders The Mittani ineligible to hold any seat at all on CSM7. The CSM White Paper, the only public document currently in existence that outlines the rules and procedures of the Council of Stellar Management, has this to say on Representative Candidate Eligibility:

“Players with a serious warning or ban on any account in their possession can be excluded from candidate eligibility. However, in-game behavior, regardless of play style, will never be a criterion for candidacy unless the rules of the EULA and/or TOS are violated.”

In addition, the White Paper also outlines causes for a current CSM member’s removal from office, which could also be deemed applicable to the current circumstances. From the CSM Represenative Conduct section:

“Any behavior or actions considered being a material breach of the EULA or TOS by a CSM Representative is ground for immediate dismissal and permanent exclusion from all pending and future participation in the council. There are no exceptions, regardless of the infraction.”

With the 30 day ban being delivered just days before CSM7 takes office, it has disqualified him as per the terms of the White Paper. This despite the fact that voting has already concluded, with The Mittani achieving a record breaking 10,058 votes in the election. No mention was made in the devblog by GM Salmon as to any steps being undertaken to insure that The Mittani’s record breaking support would have a voice on CSM7, though some CSM7-elect members have declared their intent to insure that those ten thousand players are not voiceless in the coming Council term.

“I…am working hard with CCP to make sure the 10,058 voters that voted for Alex have their voice heard,” said Two Step, CSM6 Alternate and CSM7-elect Representative. Another high profile CSM member, Seleene, had this to say: “We are now working toward resolving the issue of Mitten’s [sic] 10k voters.” Of course, calls were heard almost immediately to schedule a second election for CSM7, but no comment has been forthcoming from CCP regarding the issue as of the writing of this piece.

The fallout from CCP’s move has wide-ranging implications, even apart from the issue of ten thousand voiceless voters. Fortunately, there are some guidelines to the replacement of a CSM chairperson in the event of their resignation or dismissal, ably covered by Ripard Teg of Jester’s Trek here, but summarized herein:

“If the Chairman decides to step down or rescind his responsibility at any time for any reason, a vote must be held among the Representatives to elect another Chairman.”

As Ripard points out, the term ‘Representative’ refers to the old format of the Council which had the top 9 vote getters flown to Iceland for the CSM/CCP Summits. As Ripard concludes in his post, it is likely that this will be amended to include just the top 7 vote getters (which after the removal of The Mittani from the CSM will be: Two Step, Trebor Daehdoow, Elise Randolph, Seleene, Greene Lee, Kelduum Revaan and UAxDeath).

Many questions remain unanswered at this point. Who will be the new CSM7 chairman? Will it even matter, given the fact that as it stands a full one sixth of all votes cast in the election have been disqualified?

The ramifications of the move by CCP could be game-shattering, with the forcible removal of one of the most powerful alliance’s CEO from the Council. Goonswarm’s planned Jita Suicide Ganking Campaign could become that much nastier with the anger and rage this move has no doubt generated in their camp. It would be no surprise to see subscription numbers drop appreciably as a result of the move as well, and not just by members of Goonswarm. For every player clamoring for Mittani’s dismissal due to his drunken mishap at Fanfest, there was another player calling for The Mittani to stay.

While the title of CCP’s Devblog was ‘Alliance Panel at Fanfest 2012: The Conclusion’, I think it is safe to say that this move has made a conclusion all but impossible at this point in time.

UPDATE: As of 2030 EST, 28 March, a State of the Goonion commenced in which The Mittani addressed the Goonswarm faithful. A rough transcript can be found here, and a recording can be found here. In it, The Mittani urges the Goons not to quit Eve, riot, or start threadnoughts on the forums. Instead, he incites the Swarm to violence, stating that NCdot will be evicted from Tenal (campaign commencing immediately). Further, he states that on April 28th (the day his ban is lifted), Jita will be destroyed.

Fly Smart,
Marc

First and foremost, I have inherited the duty and privilege of running the Eve Blog Pack. The new site is up at http://blogpack.evebloggers.com – I’ve updated the blog pack and added the excellent blogs Eve FNG, Poetic Discourse, and Mad Haberdashers to the mix. The site is still a WIP graphics wise, but links and such should be working just fine. If you encounter any issues or have ways for me to improve it, please don’t hesitate to drop a comment or hit me on twitter.

Voices from the Void is going to be streaming live once more, this Friday (March 30th) at 2300 Eve Time. This week we’ll be getting back to covering some news, as well as taking callers on the topic of “Your Best PVP Tale”. We’ll also be having Dian Lung interviewed by Dani as part of the revived Women Gamer’s of Eve spotlight series. Be sure to tune in!

Evebloggers.com was updated this week, with 9 new blogs added to the Eve community’s most comprehensive listing of blogs. If you’re not on there, you should be! Drop a comment on the page linked here to have your blog added.

Signups continue to go well for the VftV ‘Kill My Co-host’ contest. If you’re interested at taking a shot at me, I suggest you head over to the thread and sign up! We’ll be announcing the contestants for the month of April on the show this Friday. We’re also still looking for more submissions in our FanFic contest – details located here. Hit that shit up!

Finally, I’m hard at work at hammering out details for a monthly blogging award, complete with a very high profile panel of judges, a very rich sponsor, and finalists to be announced soon(tm). As soon as everything is finalized, I’ll let yall know about it – watch this space, as the saying goes.

Big thanks to Rixx Javix (for handing the Blog Pack to me – seriously blown away), all those that have signed up to kill me, and to the Eve community at large for doing what you do. And, of course, to everyone that’s been reading this blog.

Fly Smart,
Marc