So everyone who has the pleasure of knowing me knows that Internet Spaceships are a big deal in my life. So what happens when they’re taken away?

Well, I focus on new things, but that’s a discussion for a different post.

What does happen, though, is that I get a chance to take stock. What with being on a laptop and having a crap connection, I’ve been forced to step back from spending all night, every night on the game. This can only be described as a Good Thing. Less time video gaming and thinking about games is definately a great benefit to my lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong here - I absolutely love the medium, but people stare at me, aghast, when I tell them of the 7 hours I spent at my desk in the battle for 6VDT. I choose to not tell them about the numerous nights and days when I can easily spend that time at the desk, just farting about in EVE doing ’nothing important'

New Eden really is all consuming. I love that I’m so immersed in it, and I love that my girlfriend can’t yet comprehend this very significant second life I lead despite numerous explanations. Some nights, I come in, take my shoes off, and become one of my characters - get fully immersed in T2 invention and production, shaving off 0.00x% from my costs, or the capital pilot carefully moving between areas, or the subcap cruiser specialist, waging close in warfare. I become them - I become a part of a fleet, I work with people for a common goal. I hate to say it, but EVE is Real is true, in my case. I get giddy just watching that video.

With consumption, though, come other problems. I’ve gained weight, hardly excercised, probably burnt some bridges and have been a messy, untidy fuck for the best part of a few years. “It’s ok”, I say, “I’ll tidy those plates up later”. “It’s ok”, I say a few days later, “they won’t get mouldy”. “What the fuck is that smell,?” I say, before finding the source.

Being pulled out of that immersion tank has been a nice, long overdue break. It’s also conincided with a particularly turblent time in the game that’s been interesting to watch. So, first we move on to:

Rubicon

What can I say about Rubicon that’s not already been said?
Very little, in all honesty. I was going to do a full blog post, but everyone else has and it’s late, so I’ll spare you.

My highlights, really, are the spaceyurts - I think they’re the foundation for a game changer, pulling us back to a time when small gangs can effectively deploy and cause havok to big groups of players. Are they a valuable balance on the renting empires, underpinned by moon goo that dominate Nullsec these days? No. They don’t change anything in the macro-meta, but they show that CCP is really thinking about how to empower the small man, and in the future, break the dominance of the coalitions, bringing our era towards a stormy end.
The other thing I’m excited by are the new ships. Just because they’re pretty as hell. I love the art style and can’t wait to jump in one and lose a few.

Warp Speed changes? Yeah, it’s a big deal - again empowering the smaller to disrupt the bigger, no doubt there. But c’mon - this could have been done as a point release to Oddysey - It’s not a headline feature for a game expansion, is it? “Look, we fixed something that’s been broken for a long time!”

Ship balancing? Ocht, come on. That’s a process that is CCP’s responsibility to keep doing. To quote another Icelandic, “I’ve started so I’ll finish”. Keeping the game in balance is their job - if it was horrifically unbalanced, we wouldn’t keep subscribing, would we? There would be minimal space for challenges and upsets and the big, headline battles that keep the game interesting. I don’t think this is a headline feature for an expansion - I think it’s their responsibility to do, and asking for more applause than we already give them is cheeky as hell.

Better certificates will be nice - I use the system as it is, and a brush up would be nice. Highsec pocos will be interesting to watch play out, but I’m not thrilled by them

Xander Phoena puts it excellently in CZ30 when he says something along the lines of “Rubicon has me excited for EVE in a few years, but not Rubicon itself”.

T2013

Again, this has been done to death. We’ve debated and argued and bitched and moaned and shouted about it at each other for a few days. (I’m including the Gold Magnate and Guardian vexor here too).
Want to know a secret?

I’m not all that upset by it all, really.

You know why? Two reasons. Like all my lists, this may grow as I write it…

a) I’ve been disconnected. If I was actively living in New Eden every day, I might be more upset about the whole thing.
b) CCP have every right to give who they want what they want.

Yes, I appreciate they have to keep balance and neutrality here too. My whole stance on the thing is that I just wish they’d celebrated these community sites with the community and given them the IScorps with a flourish - they might be worth more then. The folks behind these sites and subcommunities, regardless of it being blink or SCL or whomever else, have put in lots of hours of their lives both in and out of game and enriched the experience for others. Well done CCP for recognising this and rewarding them with a cool, rare toy. Not so well done for not telling the rest of us.
Initially, I got a bit… annoyed. But then I went for a run, and all the annoyance was gone. Life was much better, and I wasn’t being pissed off about a videogame, regardless of how big a deal it is in my life.

Back to Me.

Being away from the game, and only appearing on Jabber and Mumble sporadically has brought other things into consideration for me - am I happy in my corp? In my alliance? In a coalition? What the hell do I want to do in this game? I mean - I’ve achieved a lot of goals:

I’m a capital pilot, I can do T2 production from invention to manufacturing for whatever I want, barring Jump Freighters. I’ve fought in huge fights, I’ve fought and FC’d in small fights.
I’ve lived in wormholes. I’ve ran incursions, and FC’d them. I’ve made money on the market, I’ve lost money on the market.
I’ve made great friends, I’ve watched them leave and found other friends. I’ve scammed, I’ve stolen from friends. I’ve manipulated, lied and outsmarted people just because I can to hide my tracks. I’ve even written fanfiction that I’m horribly ashamed by. I’ve done all this and more, and lived and loved every minute of it.

I came into this game not knowing anything about it. I left and came back willing to learn a few years later, and here I stand. I still know nothing, really, much like Jon Snow. I’m not an expert in anything asides spreadsheet, but I am a jack of all trades and pretty flexible to do anything I try reasonably competently. Where do I go? What do I do next? Who do I do it with? I’m not keen to do a Poe and leave. I’m not turned on by getting a Super, either. I guess I just need to think, or something. I don’t know. I just have to learn what’s out there that’s new to me that I can play with and if it’s better than what I’m doing now.

Suggestions?