The Big Bang
This game… is it a game? It often feels limitless and there have been many times over my years of playing it where I haven’t had a direction, felt lost or have wondered what my purpose in it is; I wanted to make a difference here, and I still do. No matter how I have felt, I have still played in some form or another, and the reason is simply that:
I am addicted to it.
I have made lifelong friends in EVE, and I have lifelong friends that play EVE. It captivates me and my sense of belonging and wanting to improve like nothing I have ever felt in any other game, or to be honest many other IRL activities (not all :P). Is it a bad thing? Probably. Do I want to change it? No.
I am addicted to it.
When I started playing all those years ago, I like many others, started the grind with mining lasers on a cruiser trying to eke out an existence finding occasional Kernite rocks in high-sec; it took me 6 months of sustained effort to buy my first battleship and back then a Dominix was brown. There were, however, plenty of emerging PvP groups such as Killer Clowns and Sharks with Fricken’ Lazer Beams among many others, along with the beginnings of the nul-sec alliances inc. Rona (it’s like they knew), Stain and Curse, just a few that spring to mind that started to sow seeds of infamy.
Their users posting across the (old) EVE forums speaking of their daily antics (remember this is before YouTube) were great stories to read, and the back and forth by extension of Local was fun to keep up with during downtime, which lasted an hour without exception.
I remember being so desperate to play during my working day that I patched a PSTN line, that was used for a now defunct fax number, into a modem under my desk so I could dial-in to 'put a skill on’ (and mine a bit). This was to circumvent an MS Proxy Server that was managed by an outsourced IT company that, let’s face it, were never going to approve that firewall change request.
Intimidation
So why didn’t I join those PvP groups, or at least try to? The answer was that I was very intimidated by them. I’d had my mining Thorax die in fire in a 0.4 low-sec system, along with my friends; none of whom had a clue what we were doing! Unfortunately, rather than gf’s in local, it was ridicule and a lot of abuse. This group had also visited the website I’d put together for our fledgling Corp and were slating those efforts too. I found myself wondering how I could ever play like that and it turned me off massively to getting involved with PvP even though all I felt I really wanted to do, was exactly that.
Eventually after a few years of hard graft, my interest in mining and the grind was seriously waning, but for the occasional hilarious horrific PvP encounter with my high-sec based ‘carebear’ Corp, which were few and always brief, I would have quit.
It is PvP then, for me, that makes this game what it is. I just wish I had done it sooner and had my initial experiences been different, maybe I would have, but hindsight is great and let’s keep moving forward.
Insanity
My question to you all, whether you are new, old or are feeling like you want more is, would you like to change that? I can tell you first-hand that waiting, and wondering, and wanting doesn’t move you forward at all. Somewhere in there is probably a definition of insanity because nothing will change if you do not change it. But I also understand why you have not done so because I have been there and believe me, I get it.
Change Something
For the past two years of my EVE career I have finally learned SOME of the ways of the PvP’er in what will always be a constant learning process, and anyone who tells you different literally knows nothing and should be avoided.
Space is hard. EVE is hard. PvP is hard. There is no win button, there is risk in losing and it does matter when you die, and indeed when you win.
NOTHING in this game will give you the EVE shakes like PvP and if you have never experienced them, I promise you, you are missing out on something truly special. They alone are reason enough to get into PvP but, combined with a like-minded set of people I am proud to call friends (space friends to my long-suffering GF), it becomes something else completely. Imagine being able to celebrate with your friends while having the kind of fun that gives you the feeling you would get jumping out of an airplane for the first time, or standing on the edge of a cliff and looking down with your heart racing, the first time you drove something illegally, or completed some trick on whatever your machine might be!
Imagine then that happening during every intense encounter you had, especially in the smaller-gang orientated PvP that teaches you something each time and helps you to get better.
It is addictive. It is high-risk and high reward. It is best played with people you trust and genuinely connect with daily.
The Lizard God
If you want this for you or your Corp then I simply urge you to get in-touch with us. You do not need a long list of the same old stuff that every Corp offers; we are not selling anything other than a shared experience that will often result in endorphin fuelled euphoria. We invite you to join the experience that is PvP with us and make your difference!
The Lizard God awaits and one of his disciples will gladly try to answer your prayers in his church.
Join channel: Public Rainbow Meltdown
or contact me, Cl4rCE, in-game directly via EVE Mail or direct chat; I guarantee discretion and will do my best to help you.
Rainbow Meltdown and G0Z1LLA