Category Archives: Eve Online

Growing Up

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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? -Seismic Stan, Freebooted, Blog Banter 35 Any discussion of the Eve community is tricky.  When you think of Eve from the inside, there are myriad groups all work with and against each other.  How do you succinctly capture a community that includes the CFC, R & K, Rote Kapelle, Tuskers, Faction Warfare, RP junkies, pirates, miners, inventors, manufacturers, wormholers, carebears, and traders?  Then add the flavors of each in all the various parts of space.  Then look at the meta community, which adds yet another layer.  I suppose the common theme to all the players who keep coming back is one of involvement.  The only way to succeed in Eve is not play, but if you ignore that, you reach a semblance of success Continue Reading →

Day 1: 30 Day Market Challenge

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The results of my first day of the 30 Day Challenge: Not bad for my first foray out.  I bought two skills, Trade and Broker Relations.  As far as modules, I am using a strategy of looking at volume and the margin between buy and sell orders in one station.  The most challenging part of today’s work was playing the .01 isk game.  Some items are much more heavily contested, and also have nice margins.  Those are for days when I have lots of time to look at the markets.  The biggest question is how to scale up from margins of 10k or a few 100k to something that is more profitable!  A few more days to manage the income, and then I think I’ll ahve to start looking at that question.

Borrowing From Others – 30 Day Challenge

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I’m blatantly stealing a project from another blogger, the 51 Day Challenge.  Beamer Grey started this but never finished it.  I’m going to pick it up, dust it off, and run it for 30 days. Goal: Make as much money as possible on a new alt by ONLY trading. Rules:  No leaving station Only market transactions can be used Start with 5 million isk as seed money Reporting: Each day I will report the following: Starting Isk: The Total Isk from the previous day Cash on hand Buy Orders Value Sells Orders Value Total Isk = Cash + Buy Orders + Sell Orders Liquid Isk = Cash + Buy Orders: This seems to me to be a useful term to have to illustrate what the actually accessible isk is each day. I started last night, so the first report comes later today!

My Daddy Was Tritanium Miner Like His Daddy Before Him…

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I never thought mining, drones or salvaging would become the hot topic they have lately.  To read the blogs, you would think Eve is going to implode in a few weeks…  But oh what a beautiful implosion it shall be.  A few things about the incoming changes. Short TermBuy you gear now.  I mean it.  I’ve been quietly building a small stockpile of minerals, and the value is increasing just by letting it sit.  Weapons, modules and ammo haven’t caught up yet, ships are already starting to.   Thinking of moving to that WH?  Buy your Drakes, Retrievers and haulers now.  Maybe some fuel…  I think in a few weeks weeks you’ll be wishing you laid in supplies for a hot summer.  Speaking of which… Update Your QueueWant to gank some shiny hulks?  Best get those last few skills ready now.  I predict miners are going to be hiding for most of the summer.  Better get in on the initial kills, because Hulks are already ~50 mil more than they were this time last year.  Can’t wait to see the price on those pop up over 300 or 400 mil.  Want to be ready for the clear(ish) skies after Hulkageddon? Continue Reading →

PI Redux

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I recently moved back to the same chunk of space where my PI installations are.  I never took them down, so I decided to visit those command centers, clean out the warehouses and reemploy my minions of production.  Mostly I wanted to see if my predictions of doom and gloom were actually true. Well, they mostly weren’t.  The reactivated planets are pulling in a nice little profit, even with the new taxes.  I think it may even be more profitable than before, but I can’t be arsed at this point to dust of the spreadsheets and try and do the analysis at this point.  However there is still the sticker shock of looking at that export fee!  <<834,456.00 ISK>> to get a small pile of plasmoids, yeouch! The export fees do represent a little bit more of a barrier to casual players who may be cashed-strapped though.  Getting your planet set up costs a few millions, usually, and I wonder how many players have set up a planet and then come to pick up the goods only to be oddly disappointed and discouraged by the taxes…  Perhaps the costs could be defrayed by installing a planetary shuttle structure and shifting costs Continue Reading →

Fanfest 2012 Impressions (Part 1?)

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After a few days to process the info from various blogs, video streams and the interwebs at large, I think I have a grasp on Fanfest 2012: WardecsOverall, I think the wardec revamp looks like a good starting point for iterations.  There is no ability for aggressors to retract poorly chosen targets, so I think we will see more selective targeting.  Giving defenders the ability to add support while denying this to attackers should also have the same results.  I am a bit worried about what happens to small corporations that cannot defend themselves.  Poetic has some thoughts on member-disparity based pricing, which may not be perfect, but provides disincentives for tremendously unequal conflicts.  My biggest fear is that small corps will still be “grief decced”, as the 20-30 million range is still rather low to prevent organized griefers. PvPCentralized Killboard?  Yes please.  Crimewatch changes?  Yes please.  I am interested in what these will both actually come out as, but the principles are good.  I would love to see more done to prevent station games, something like longer aggression timers at gates and stations, coupled with some sort of “station view” so pilots in stations can look out the damn Continue Reading →

Man Makes MMORPG Mad

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I’m going to piss people off with this, so if you don’t like that, you can stop reading. The Mittani got drunk at the Alliance Panel at Fanfest, made some very poor comments about suicide, and now is getting railroaded all over *gasp* the Eve blogoshpere. Players (Human Beings) in Eve use terms like “rapecage”, “rape face”, homosexual slurs, racist slurs, and probably some things I have never heard.  Players in FPS games hump dead opponents.  Duke Nukem talks about sexual acts on amputated body parts.  “Gamers” have a lexicon that would make a nun burst into holy flames due to proximity.  This is insensitive and childish and immature. This is also the state of online gaming, the internet and locker rooms in the United States, and I would wager in the world at large, in the bored male demographic.  What Alex Gianturco said was something I assume he regrets, but was nothing even remotely beyond the pale for gamers to hear.  This incident speaks more to the sad state of discourse in the greater gaming community at large, and if anything should a be point for gamers to rally behind.  Not to rally against one drunk guy, but to Continue Reading →

Quickie Update – CSM Endorsements

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Real Life and Eve Corp issues have dominated the last few weeks of my down time and will continue to do so, hence my apparent fall of the face of the earth.  That said, I wanted to get my CSM Votes/Endorsements on the record. I have three votes, and here’s how I cast them: Hans Jagerblitzen I listened to many podcasts, read many blogs and posts, and Hans is my favorite amongst many good candidates this year who seem to be using the logic of a rising tide lifting all ships, as opposed to focusing on one or two pet areas.  But he was the most outspoken and eloquent, and got my vote.  He also found my blog, which means he was looking rather hard for people to ask to vote for him.  I hope he works as hard at solving issues on the CSM and his campaign seems to promise. Seleene Love him, hate him, he knows CCP, he knows how to work with them, and he isn’t afraid to call CCP out on things.  I am voting for him because I think he brings a little “insider understanding” to the CSM side of the table, and he can Continue Reading →

Blog-a-Day 19: CSM7

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Poetic Stanziel sometimes posts community discussion questions, with the most recent being: Question #019 Do you know who you will be voting for in the upcoming CSM7 elections? If not, who are you following closely? Here is my response: First off, I have not decided who I will vote for.  I will not be voting for null bloc candidates, as I assume they will have no trouble getting the votes needed.  Those blocs will game the system a bit to try and split the other voting blocs, which are much less organized.  Others have written about this already, and Mittens has talked about the shortcomings and benefits of the CSM voting system in more than a few places.  I am also not terribly concerned about most of the incumbents.  If they are running again, a vote for them is effectively a referendum vote. I am following a few candidates though, so here are my thoughts on the ones I am aware of.  And yes, I used most of Seismic Stan’s links for the candidates, because although I have been browsing Jita Park, it was easier. Hans Jagerblitzen I have a post up already on this guy.  He seems to have Continue Reading →

CSM7: Hans Jagerblitzen

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So Hans Jagerblitzen, in an effort for publicity and to court my vote, went so far as to find my blog and put a comment up linking to his blog, and even posted the comment on a post that talked about CSM7.  He’s got my vote for organization at the very least! But seriously, I read Hans’ manifesto of sorts, and I think he is a very thoughtful  addition to the CSM 7 race.  Although I do not agree with all his stances, I find the effort he spent thinking about issues, compiling his thoughts in a mostly coherent document,  and crediting/admitting lack of knowledge on some issues are all good qualities in a CSM candidate.  He should pique interest, especially in the Faction Warfare and High Sec player bases he seems to be courting.  Hans seems to know where he stands (on the outside, looking in on the bloc voters and the fractured high sec mobs), and does not claim to be the end all candidate, but rather someone who wants to provide a reasoned voice to the CSM and CCP. I agree with many members of the Eve community who have already given most, if not all, of the “full” Continue Reading →