Hello Fellow Capsuleers!
Today, 19th October 2024, or YC 126, it is exactly 20 years since I began my life as a citizen of New Eden and I wanted to say Hello to all you current capsuleers who, on a daily basis, I treat with the mistrust and cynicism that New Eden teaches you to adopt.
So Hello!
And to all those folks who’ve enjoyed (or otherwise) the pleasure of my company in whatever Corporation mattered at the time, I send out a big THANK YOU for giving me your time.
I entered New Eden when I was 42, now I’m 62 and have gotten old in this galaxy. No-one can say how long they have but, in the meantime, cloning keeps me immortal.
Once upon a time, if you didn’t save your clone and then got podded, you went back to being stupid - a loss of skillpoints did that to you. Nowadays you pilots have it easy 
‘‘Verm!’’ I hear you cry, ‘‘pass on some wisdom from your life amongst the stars’’.
Sorry, I don’t have much and if it relates to making ISK, I’m keeping that to myself.
What I can say with total assurance is that Captain Morgan Spiced Rum with ginger beer (never ale!) coupled with slices of lemon and some ice is a perfect beverage to enjoy as you navigate between the stars. Because New Eden never stops, it is always opening time somewhere.
But fear not, I do have some tips/tricks/whatever up my sleeve which I will gladly share from personal experience:
If you are in a relationship, it will help your peace of mind enormously if you can get your partner involved in the Eve Universe. After listening to my convo’s over an open microphone with my - at the time - corpmates my wife started playing and she enjoyed it for several years until her health prevented it (and no, I didn’t murder her, she is still amongst the living 
). It gave us a common interest and reduced the stress of both of us becoming ‘‘Eve widows’’.
Secondly, don’t be fooled by CCP, who seem to think their customers have unlimited ‘‘disposable income’’. Sure, if you have plenty of RL funds, spend it on Eve, but don’t let the fact that you don’t have it get you down. I’ve never had it and probably never will but I’m still in the game.
Finally, and this is the most important, make sure your relatives and friends know you are involved in a long-term, absorbing, intense and real-time reality experience that is far more important to you than their petty affairs. At first they will be offended, abusive even, but as time goes on and you stay the course you will earn their respect for your commitment to something they are excluded from (unless they pay a sub and get involved ofc).
There is a positive side to all of this. Through your dealings with third-party sites (a necessity in Eve) you will find you come to appreciate the variety and diversity of the internet. If your browser has any intelligence it will direct you to the portals where real information can be gleaned, this includes everything from particle physics to porn (the latter is at your own risk and is no reflection on the publishers of Eve-Online).
I sincerely hope you read this in the spirit with which it is intended.
If you have made it this far then I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Fly Safe Peeps
EVE Forever!
Yes, this game has a tendency to take over real life lol.
I’m glad that you have enjoyed 20 years of Eve. Maybe I will also.
Thank You and I hope you get the same enjoyment (?) I’ve had. Be warned, this way of life may ruin your liver, your love-life and your wallet. You have been warned
I enjoyed the read, and share many of your sentiments. Especially, involving spouses.
My husband has listened to me drone on about EVE, every Saturday afternoon, since I started playing in 2013. While he does not play, as commonly understood, he has “played EVE” vicariously the entire time I’ve been subscribed. 
I wish you many more years to come!
Fabulous to hear from you, Ms. O’Asis. Thank you for your comment and it’s great to hear from one of the 6% (the supposed percentage of Eve players who are truly female the last time anyone counted). As a liberal lefty it’s refreshing to hear that you’ve beaten any male prejudice and are currently boring your husband to death (pardon my presumption) with the minutiae of Eve.
I’m fairly certain that if my wife had never played I’d have become single long ago so good luck to you. Please tell your husband he should be bloody grateful to have married an intelligent woman.
Fly Safe and Prosperously!
Verm
Congratulations on having enjoyed 20 years of EVE entertainment!
I often see you and that alt of yours buzzing about Fittakan, busy-busy-busy! Perhaps I’ll hail you - but it will have to be in-between ganks. If you get a wave from a character you don’t recognise (‘Who the hell was that?!!’), it’ll probably be an alt of mine. We don’t all gank (anti-gankers please note).
A shared hobby can be a source of great pleasure, but recognising and indulging the individual leisure interests of partners is also a good thing.
My wife disliked computer games (never got ‘bitten’ - games for girls were non-existent when we were young), and I had no sustainable interest in obscure mid-70s avant-garde music; but we got along just fine!
Congratulations again, Verm!
Excellent write up, on point and humorous as well…
16 year Vet here and I still enjoy the game, course I don’t spend anywhere near as much time in it as I use to do, real life does take precedence over it…
Anyway, I definitely enjoyed reading your post… May you have many more years Space Truckin’ 'Round The Stars…
Thanks for the good wishes, now I have to remember where Fittakan is!
I hold to the view that should any of my characters get ganked it’s my own fault for not being quick enough or getting complacent. You’d think 20 years experience would have taught me how to avoid threats
Since my wife quit she’s taken up more ladylike, less intense activities like arts and craft and now I’m surrounded by works-in-progress that I daren’t touch. It’s a good job my PC and I take up so little room, otherwise she’d have turfed me out long ago I’m sure.
I’d advise caution when ganking, too many will send you blind 
but I’ll be watching out for you.
Fly Safe Sir!
Hello and thank you for your comment, especially the video. I sat there trying to name all those movies (I have a soft spot for the Dennis Hopper one, Space Truckers(?)) but where was the most famous? The Nostromo from Alien? I would put Alien at the top of movies about space-trucking, just ignore Giger’s monster 
Sixteen years is a goodly period, between us we must be keeping CCP in hot dogs (or raw shark).
I hope you still get as much fun from your exploits and keep it up for another sixteen.
Fly Safe o7
You’re welcome…
And yeah, Space Truckers was the one with Dennis Hopper… That video definitely has a lot of clips from different Sci-Fi movies…
For the most famous spaceship, I think it’s probably the Enterprise of Star Trek… However the spaceship Discovery One of 2001: A Space Odyssey is definitely well known… Same for the X-Wing Fighters of Star Wars…
There’s a lot of Sci-Fi movies with some very cool looking spaceships, was kinda disappointed the space freighter Valley Forge from Silent Running wasn’t included… Also no BattleStar Galactica scenes even though they did include clips of the actors from the series… Yeah, the list goes on…
Anyway, thanks for the compliment and yeah, there’s still a few of us oldies left still supporting CCP…
o7
DMC
Hi again! I wasn’t sure you’d want your usual systems to be identified, so I gave a broader location. I see you and the alt so often, it did get me wondering…it is nice to have a bit of flesh on the bones of our stories, no? We can be a cagey lot in this game!
Much appreciated, glad to know you are as suspicious as I have gotten. Never give anyone an inch! lol.