Have some faith.
During that time I was able to play most of the day.
I was the resident outlaw of Hek and inventor of the now commonly used double- and tripple-volley thrashers allowing shooting shuttle and pod in one go, under sentry fire. I’ve helped making shooting afk people a mainstream thing by seeking public approval as a ganker who believes that anyone, who is flying afk, declares himself to be free game.
You wouldn’t walk around with a leather suitcase, in a nice suit, wearing a rolex through the bronx. That’s what they do though, according to the rules and environment of the game. I always cared about public approval.
I’ve been fighting people every day and they respected me for that. At some point people started helping me defending Hek from other gankers I disapproved of. All I needed to do was asking in local and someone would respond.
I had plenty of friends and fans. I had a scoreboard of people donating me money. People have thrown billions of ISK at me just so I stay around insulting them, fighting them and making the game feel more alive. That was long before Alphas were even an idea and I’ve always paid my sub with real money. Fifteen bucks a month wasn’t much and the ROI was insanely high.
I’ve made a name for myself by refusing to use scouting alts, always being outside the station, always being up for a fight, always shooting anyone who thinks I’m an easy target (have you ever forced a battleship to dock up, in highsec, as -10?).
My game ended when CCP changed the rules of the game to cater to a different audience, which caused the game to grow more silent simply because the following generations of people stopped being a character in a role playing game and instead mis-treated EVE like all these other MMOs that, in no way or form, deserve to be called MMOs.
In case you’re unaware:
EVE used to be an MMORPG with the single most realistic world possible, ignoring that it’s a spaceship game. The amount of freedom of interaction was absolutely unparalleled and the only reason why I’ve actually played it. It was my first and only MMO, simply because all the others are much less of an MMO than what they want to ■■■■■■■■ people into believing.
And today … Today EVE’s a collection of mini games for farmers.
I’m not ranting.
This is sad.