On April 20th 2011, life changed.  My wife (after a long, complicated and exhausting pregnancy which left me quite pleased to emasculate myself rather than go through it again) gave birth via Cesarian section surgery  to a 5lb. 15oz baby girl, and a 4lb. 8oz baby girl. The event, as you may expect, has brought my wife and a considerable joy.  On that day, my mind was intensely focused in the moment.  Family was everywhere, the camera was flashing, I was wearing a surgical smock that bore the footprints of my two daughters, and their weight and length written in marker written across my chest. and I was grinning from ear to ear. Nowhere, not even in the back of my mind, was the thought that my internet spaceship assets, basically all my work in-game for 3 years, was in serious jeopardy as my null-sec corporation’s leadership announced that they were no longer interested in administrating, and were closing up shop.

This folding of a very successful and well-favored corporation of Majesta Empire, Northern Corporation, Vale of the Silent Region, turned out to be a timely evacuation.  Vale would soon fall to Redland, and the power block known as the NC would become a shadow of their former selves.  By a stroke of luck, and while balancing a baby on my lap, I was able to convince a corpmate to ferry my assets to a low-sec station, and park them for safe storage.  I was able to log in long enough to do the trades, and stow everything away for safe keeping.  I wasn’t going to follow my long-time corpmates to another region of null-sec.  I was bowing out, taking a break.  I had other things to attend to.  Real life things.

As everyone knows, you start to get the hang of things with kids pretty quick.  With twins it’s about the same, except for the fact that you can’t trade back and forth between you and your spouse.  You both always have a baby.  Still, they started to sleep more and I found myself creeping back to Eve, spending more time online than was required to just update my skill queue.  With my return, I’ve decided to continue my break from null-sec.  I lived there for nearly 2.5 years, and a little fresh air won’t do me any harm.  Let the conflict rage somewhere else.  I’m going to just run missions for a while; going to see if I can put away some rainy day ISK and build a decent incursions ship, you know, the kind that make it easier to get picked up by incursion FCs.

Eve will be a bit different, at least for a while.  I’ll miss the easy ISK, and the endless supply of PvP.  But, I think carebear life will be good for me, at least for a little while.

Well, I’m fortunate enough to work with a gaming maniac.  You know the type: Owns all the consoles, has stacks of PC games he/she’s never even played yet, and best of all, upgrades/replaces their gaming rig about once a year.  I’m not that sort.  But, I like being around when those folks go to change out their machine.  I’m quite glad to take the leftovers.

What I ended up buying off him for $350 is a rig that’ll run Eve at full settings at highest resolution without a drop in frame rate or a drop of sweat forming on the brow of my processor or video card:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8600 3.33 GHz, 6MB L2 Cashe, 1333 MHz FSB, 45nm (easily over-clockable by 50%)
ATI Radeon HD 5850 Video Card with 1GB GDDR5 memory
Corsair 4GB 1066 PC2-8500 C5 RAM
ASUS P5Q Premium Motherboard

All in all, not a bad system given the price.  Sure, it’s not top of the line by today’s benchmarks, but good enough to run Eve all day long.  I’ll be using a Samsung 24″ 2433BW monitor. Finally, I can watch my pod explode on a worthy system.

If you watch the forums at all, or are in a corp or alliance of any size, you’ve seen the posts or the emails:  ”I simply can no longer tolerate [insert some game mechanic, or tyrannical behavior by CCP] and am therefore quitting Eve [choose: "forever" or "until they fix it"].  I hope CCP gets the message.” I really love it when these quitters are under the impression that since they have been playing since beta, are the head of a prominent alliance, or are a popular figure in the meta-gaming community, their ERQ will carry some weight with CCP.  That’s just plain silly.

With the imminence of Incarna, there have been some “seasoned” Eve personalities who have declared that if the “station-walking” interferes with their spaceshipping, they’re going to quit.  I can’t imagine that CCP is quaking in response to hearing this.  CCP has been working for years to develop methods to appeal to a broader base of players.  Increase the player base, increase the revenue.  Increase the revenue, and you’re now able to pour resources into aspects of the game (and other games) that you hadn’t been able to previously.  Incarna is a step in that direction, I think.  And though I’m not dying to walk around in a station, I welcome the expansion.  It will certainly make it a little easier for me to introduce the game to friends who wouldn’t give it a look before (provided they have a butch computer that can handle the character rendering).

As for the ERQers, don’t overestimate your value to the rest of the Eve community or CCP.  You’ll quit.  Folks in your corp/alliance will chat about it for about 20 minutes (if that long), and then they’ll go back to their anomalies, industry, and/or Pew.  You’ll be forgotten quick.  As for CCP, they’ll exchange your account revenue for the subscriptions of other enthusiastic new players, who like the new, fresh content CCP has created for them.  Remember, your money spends the same as theirs.

It is true.  The NC has been able to repel several considerable assaults on their sovereignty by other so-called coalitions of alliances, always bouncing back more unified after each subsequent success.  The rest of New Eden seems to find this quite annoying.  So annoying, in fact, that many see the Northern Coalition’s superpower status as a flaw in game mechanics.  They’re basically stating that we owe the existence of the NC to a broken system which needs badly revamped.  If only CCP would change the rules, we could be rid of this vile purveyor of stability and prosperity across multiple regions and alliances!  I say, if you wish to be rid of the NC, do it yourself.  “It’s too hard.  They’re too big.  They have massive capital fleets, and oodles of jump bridges, and gobs of ISK and we just can’t do it.”  Blah blah blah.

I can imagine Churchill sitting on a plush green lawn in Hyde Park, a strong drink in one hand and a cigar in the other, with Roosevelt, sitting in his wooden wheelchair beneath a cozy shawl, as they moped and complained about how God had allowed Germany to rebuild its military, and actually be strategically positioned and resourced in such a way that a total conquest of Europe was actually achievable by Hitler.  If only He would change the rules a bit, the Allies my have a better chance.

The NC is like any other power in Eve, just larger.  They have an advantage in that a fail cascade is less likely.  A hostile takeover or failure within one alliance wouldn’t cripple the NC as a whole, and the other member alliances would be able to either stop the failure or fill the vacuum.  Nonetheless, you use the same means you use to topple other superpowers.  You plant spies, you establish a coalition that can strike on multiple fronts, in all time zones, and you make sure that you have an industrial backbone that is driving the war chest of the effort.  You establish a beach head from which to launch attacks and to which you can supply logistical support and supply lines.

Get down on it, people.  Don’t cry about how game mechanics has created a monster.  If everyone dislikes the NC so much, unify and wage war.  That’s what Eve’s all about.  Honestly, we in the NC expect more of you guys.  There’s some really sharp pilots out there that aren’t NCers, and not a few alliances who could cause some pain if they put their minds to it.  As for us, we’re looking forward to a good fight.  That’s why we all play, right?

This month’s topic comes to us from @Tetraetc – “Tetra’s EVE Blog” – who asks: “Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? Imagine a Null Sec where anyone could build outposts, wherever. Would the reduction of the Alliance game mechanic, and the removal of the sovereignty game mechanics (and the modifcation of it from Alliance level to Corp level for that matter) force more PVP into Null sec, or would giant power blocs like the NC still form themselves?”

My Response:

I say, “no, PvP has not been limited.”  Here is why (and it’s a long “why”):  ISK has value.  It takes labor and time to accumulate it.  If you want to experience all Eve has to offer, you need a fair bit of it.  It’s painful to lose, and when someone destroys assets you purchased with your ISK, you’re right put off.  Unfortunately, the chances of losing assets is high when you have only yourself to depend on.  Therefore, we ISK-lovers take steps to protect our ISK:

1. We relocate to locations where the potential to earn good ISK/hour is high, which is a form of risk mitigation.
2. We partner with other like-minded pilots who realize that it’s better to live in a pack than alone to protect those assets.
3. We either welcome the combat-minded to protect our industry, or we welcome the industrious to furnish us with the logistics to facilitate our combat.
4. We like our autonomy, but recognize that it’s good to have friends, so our packs create friendly relationships with other packs, which will come to each other’s aid when needed.

This has in fact happened in Null-Sec, and the presence of an alliance and sovereignty game mechanic is not required for it to exist.  There were clans in MMORPGs well before developers coded tools to facilitate them. If there was no alliance game mechanic in Eve, pilots would still congregate, and would use lists, and the standings system, and meta-gaming tools to organize.  Even if there wasn’t a sovereignty mechanic, you’d know whose system was whose when you jumped in and were accosted by the pilots who are fleeted to protect industrial operations of their colleagues.  Dissolve alliances and sovereignty, and you won’t have a free for all or a uniform distribution of pilots, with 7-8 in each of the 5000 systems that make of New Eden.  You’ll have a more nebulous mob rule that operates from stronghold systems.  All you need is for a few of those mobs to get well organized, practice some diplomacy, and set engagement rules (NRDS or NBSI) and you’re on your way to the present.

I would argue that not only is there plenty of PvP to be had in Null-Sec, that PvP has a real purpose.  It is in defense of your livelihood, your home, and your security.  Sure, it is often fun and often for sport, but when it comes down to it, we form massive fleets because they’re the best way to assure our own security and prosperity.  We play to win.  Why else would we play?

With regard to roleplay, I recognize that holds appeal for some.  While Eve has a rich canon of storyline and lore, this type of roleplay can be hard to achieve, since not everyone you come across in Eve is interested in participating.  This is because the real roleplay in Eve is contained in the drama that can be found in the struggles between alliances, coalitions, pirate corporations, mercenary groups.  The very mechanics with which some seem to have such a problem provide a stage for the best immersion of any MMO anywhere.  No game marries real life mechanics like politics, greed, loyalty, ambition, business management and family with make-believe mechanics like internet spaceships and warp theory, just to name a few.

In conclusion, there are many different flavors of Null-Sec, and you’re likely to get a different feel no matter where you go.  Some areas are extremely secure for inhabitants, and are always struggling to find a balance between plenty of neutral hostiles to keep the locals from getting restless, and relative safety to protect ISK-producing operations and logistics.  Some areas are on the borders of two hostile alliances or coalitions, and are deadly.  Others have less capable defense fleets and intelligence networks, and neutrals have great success harassing the locals.  There’s PvP to be had practically everywhere, no matter what side you’re on.  Just remember, in Eve, there’s no such thing as a fair fight.

Participants:

1. CrazyKinux’s Musing: EVE Blog Banter #25: And by Alliance you mean…..?
2. BB25 What sov changes will come? | A Mule In EvE
3. Confessions of a Closet Carebear: Alliances and Sovereignty
4. Blog Banter 25: Nerfing Nulsec « OMG! You’re a Chick?!
5. Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? | Nitpickin’s
6. Blog Banter #25: Alliance and Sovereignty Limiting PvP in 0.0? | Sarnel Binora’s Blog
7. Blog Banter #25 – Mad Haberdashers
8. Alliances and sovereignty | Eve Online Focus
9. …Shall we not Revenge?: BB 25: What if the Alliance vanished?
10. Blog Banter: Alliances and Sov
11. EVEOGANDA: BB25: Sov ‘n Go!
12. » TBG:EBB#25 – Alliances and Sovereignty To Boldly Go
13. Freebooted: BB25: Leviathans of the Deep
14. Wrong Game Tetra ~ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
15. EVE Blog Banter #25 – Human nature what art thou? | Way of the Gun
16. Who cares about Sov? – Hands Off, My Loots! ~ well sorta like an entry! :p
17. The 25th EVE Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty – The Phoenix Diaries
18. Achernar: The space commute
19. Wandering the Void…my EvE musings. – Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty
20. (OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #25: How To Break EvE. « Prano’s Journey
21. Captain Serenity: Blog Banter #25 – Crappy mechanics
22. Helicity Boson » Blog Banter #25 Nullsec and sov.
23. BB #25 – “With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?”
24. Boom! Hull-Shot?: It’s the End of the Eve as We Know It
25. sered’s lives: EVE Blog Banter #25 – Size does matter
26. 25th EVE BB – Medieval Solutions to Spaceship Problems | Inventions of a New Eden Industrialist
27. More to come…

I decided to jump in my Crow.  This particular fit includes a sensor booster and a warp disruptor.  I mainly use it to shoestring tackle fast ships until someone else can get a scram and web on them.  I’ve had this particular Crow for over a year.  I’ve never landed a point with it, and never even aggressed with it.  I just haven’t had an opportunity (I use to use it to camp the regional gate between P3EN-E and Obe.  As you may know, regional gates have an extremely large area in which ships de-cloak.  They’re therefore particularly hard to camp without multiple bubbles.  I’ve never landed a point with a Crow on that gate).  Given that our fleet’s mission, I decided to supply some fast tackle.  Besides, I’ve been trying to get into some solo PvP, and I want to settle into the frigates speed, agility and relatively nonexistent tank.

“Sit Tight” ~ Crow (Caldari Interceptor)

High Slots:
“Arbalest” Standard Missile Launcher (CN Bloodclaw Light Missile)
“Arbalest” Standard Missile Launcher (CN Bloodclaw Light Missile)
“Arbalest” Standard Missile Launcher (CN Bloodclaw Light Missile)

Med Slots:
1MN Microwarpdrive II
Sensor Booster II (Scan Resolution script)
Warp Disruptor II

Low Slots:
Signal Amplifier II
Overdrive Injector System II
Basic Power Diagnostic System

Rigs:
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Small Auxiliary Thursters I

I took the jumpbridge from 7-U to U54 and joined up with the fleet.  We had an Onyx sitting on the NCGR gate in U54.  I jumped into NCGR with the rest of the fleet and spent some time on the directional scanner trying to help our prober.  To make a long story short, the hostile logged off, logged back on to find us patiently waiting, and logged off again.  We saw some neutrals reported in EOA-ZC, a Geminate system one jump from The Forge and not too far from our current location (via jumpbridges).  We headed that direction and pulled up short on the UBX-CC gate adjacent to EOA-ZC.  We have a corpmate who flies a probing Tengu, and is a champ at it.  He jumped to EOA-ZC and started looking for the Drake.  He reported a signature, and myself and a Wolf headed in.  I added the prober to my watch list and waited.  He called for a warp in and I punched it, fired up my sensor booster and waited.  As I dropped out of warp, the prober exclaimed that the Drake had pulled away.  I Option-clicked the Drake in the overview, fired up my MWD, and hit “approach”.  I activated my Warp Disruptor and started an orbit, letting my CN Bloodclaws loose (though, lets face it, I’m not there to injure).  By this time, the fleet was loading on grid, and the duel-web nano Drake died.

We regrouped on the UBX-CC gate, and saw a few ships skirt past us into Akkio.  We didn’t pursue them into low-sec.  Instead, with escorted a battleship back to our neighborhood.  What followed involved a re-ship into a Drake in 7-U, and a titan bridge into low-sec in an attempt to hot drop some pirates (who bugged out before we could all converge on the Titan.  The bridge was a joke).  All in all, it was a fun roam.  It’d been a lot more fun for me had I arrived a bit earlier, but that’s life.

Oh, you’re still here.

The Ibis pilot was scouting one of our jump bridges from within shields of the POS anchored near it.  For some reason, obviously a setting, the POS guns weren’t giving him any love.  SiN Corp and 23-7 (about four in all) were harassing him, and I’d finished my PI rounds for the night, so I hopped in my Harpy, found their fleet, moved up to their comms channel and joined them in P3 on the NCGR jump bridge POS. The little tike was darting around inside the shields and SiN Corp was bumping him and generally giving him some entertainment. Meanwhile, someone in alliance with the keys to the POS was on their way to eject him. We kept close to him, and when the settings were changed, we were all flung out of the POS. He came to rest 3,500 off me outside the shields so I locked him up. I landed a scram and web on him, while the others lit him up. The Ibis did what they do best, explode. I locked up the pod and got a couple of rounds on it before it vaporized. Nobody even said a word on comms.

We roamed clear to Geminate, but didn’t find anything we could nail down.  A hurricane and his cloaky alt gave our prober some entertainment, though the prober never managed to get close. We cruised back to TVN and disbanded the fleet. Yawn.

I want my ammo back.

Herein lies the problem:  PvP is a pricey business.  It’s not like a FPS where death leads to a sudden respawn only moments from the next gun fight.  In Eve, when you lose, you’re starting from scratch, and this often means the monotony of running plexes or ratting to pay for that ship.  It’s a form of punishment, a deterrent to flippant, reckless behavior. This is why so many avoid PvP in general, and solo PvP in particular. They know the cost of what they’re getting into.

In my region of space, we get many regular customers who show up to cause trouble and snatch a few kill mails from anyone willing to make a mistake.  We don’t see a lot of Tech 1 hardware coming our way.  We see faction frigates, faction cruisers, HACs and Recons.  All expensive, all relatively deadly when used correctly.  There really isn’t much opportunity for me to undock in a Caracal or Rifter to go after these guys 1v1.  Now, a more experienced pilot may be able to find the chinks in the armor and have some success.  But, generally, if you want to compete, you need to bring quality stuff, or numbers.

It’s time for me to get my feet wet.  I’m going to have to come to terms with the fact that there is going to be an expense, there’s going to be “consumption” involved in me learning PvP well in this game.  I have no qualms about throwing T1 frigates and cruisers at the problem, but I need to find fights where I’ll have opportunity to learn without simply being obliterated by premium hardware.  I’d normally wait for corp/alliance sanctioned fleets, lead by alliance FCs, where the ship losses are replaced for you and you don’t realize any real net ISK loss.  These fleets, however, aren’t always on my timetable, and after more than two years of playing, it’s time to work on that first solo PvP kill.

I can fly some quality stuff.  HICs, HACs, Recon, Stealth Bombers, Assault Frigates and Covert Ops.  Better to lose some cheap stuff first.

“Vulchers” – John Mayer

I’ve been in a null-sec alliance for all but eleven months of my Eve experience.  My high-sec days were as a rock-muncher in a small, intimate corporation.  When I sensed that the guys in my corp were growing disenchanted with the stoicism of high-sec industry, I started shopping for a null-sec corporation that could offer a bit of adventure.  I won’t linger on the details, because it’s not pertinent to what I wish to say here. Just suffice it to say we moved out to Fountain as PL renters, had to bail when IT came calling in November of 2009, lingered in a high-sec limbo without sovereignty for a month, and then broke with that alliance to join an alliance in the Northern Coalition.  Since the day I joined my first player corporation, I have been flying with the same core group of three of four guys.  I’ve made some additional good friends whom I trust, and, strangely enough, understand.  I say that, because it’s a rare thing to really understand someone, especially when your relationship has existed on comms, in chat channels, and in small gangs.

When we joined the NC, we were nobodies; just glad to be rank and file grunts, enjoying the perks of membership in a very large and wealthy group of sovereignty owners, not unlike the first century Roman citizen, who enjoyed special privileges within the empire.  I’m proud to say that this small group of loyal friends has progressed into positions of prominence within our alliance.  They are paid alliance Fleet Commanders and directors, and are well-known and liked.  I have not progressed as they have.  I am still what I would consider a “grunt.”  I don’t carry any real responsibility.  I don’t have any titles or particularly sensitive roles.  I keep my mouth shut in fleets and fly my ship where I’m told.  I have maintained utter anonymity, despite the ambitious crowd I’ve flown with.  This is the case, I think, for several reasons, chief among which is this: I place a high priority on my family.

I’m not saying that all who achieve in Eve Online neglect their real lives.  Surely, many of them are young, perhaps students who don’t have social entanglements, or wives (or husbands) or children.  Some may be utterly lonely.  Some may be retired.  And still some may be adept and perfectly balancing their career, their family, and their free recreational time.  I do not possess the rare ability to be ambitious in Eve and plugged into my real life.  I have a job that requires my attention.  I have a wife who is a good woman, and who insists on me being “present” and not just “around.”  We are expecting twins in April/May, and I know that there is little else in life that is going to care the weight and gravity that their presence will insist upon.  Eve is a passion of mine, an excellently designed social experience that is challenging and frustrating and satisfying.  So is the rest of my life, though, and for that I’m thankful.

If you wish to be someone in Eve, particularly in the vast, complicated community of null-sec, that is possible for you.  Really, it’s not that hard.  All you need to do is join one of the corps that make up the alliances of those regions of space, and serve.  Volunteer to help, to carry the load.  Fuel POSes and Jump Bridges.  Participate in fleets, CTAs and events.  Offer logistical support if you can.  Contribute on alliance forums and sites.  Be accessible, available, and willing.  It is true that a small number of the participants do most of the work.  To excel in alliance politics, all you need to do is carry the load.  Be sure that it doesn’t become a second job, cause you to lose your first, or hurt the relationships that really count in your life.  CCP is right:  ”The Universe is Yours.”  Just don’t lose yourself.

For those interested in delving into the politics and mass conflict of null-sec sovereignty, it is a lot of fun.  But it fluctuates between intense fights action and ming-numbingly boring waits.

By the way, after my long wait, the bridge was bugged and I didn’t get through.  You have no idea how happy I am about that right now.  Well, at least I get to hear the kill mails for everyone on voice comms…