Speaking of meta-gaming

I just listened to a very interesting interview with Mazziliu from PL at Kugutsumen.com :

http://www.kugutsumen.com/showthread.php?8011-Xutech-interviews-Mazzilliu

It was recorded about 4 weeks ago, but in light of all the security drama lately, I think it's very timely.

Before this, I had never heard Mazz speak. She doesn't really actively play EVE at the moment (I haven't seen her login since I've joined), but I hear she is still active in the "spy" game as you may call it. Xutech does a good job with the interview, as we get to hear about her beginnings in EVE and seeing Pandemic Legion and Sniggerdly grow from its humble beginnings as a pirate corp, to what it is today.

I think she had some really good insights into what makes Alliances rise and fall in EVE, from witnessing it all first hand many times through meta-gaming of some sort or another. She also makes some really good points about the often lack of security in many Alliance's forums (ironically, I know) and security issues in 3rd party apps in EVE in general.

I mentioned briefly in my previous post that the whole spy/meta-gaming thing really doesn't interest me, that it all seems like too much :effort:. Yet as I listened to that interview I now understand that it's just a different playstyle in EVE. It is still very much part of the game, and as long as people don't break the EULA or the laws of their country, then it's all fair game right? And she obviously gets a huge thrill out of it!

One thing is for sure, she is one smart cookie.

What a week! (PL forum leaks etc)

PL Forums Leak

First off, Wow... a lot has happened in the last week!

Everyone is talking about the Pandemic Legion forum leaks. I don't have much to say about it, except that I am now a lot more wary about the passwords I use, and security on the internet in general. I had to go change all my passwords to pretty much everything, including my personal emails and all.

I'm somewhat interested by the information being released, but mostly I really don't care for politics. I actually find meta-gaming thoroughly boring, but I understand why it's a necessary evil in this game. Internet spaceships are serious business etc...

Captain Serenity - The Angry Carebear

In other sad news, one of my favourite EVE bloggers is leaving the game. Captain Serenity has recently made this post saying his goodbyes from EVE and blogging in order to focus more on RL pursuits. I wish him all the best in his bright future ahead of him (I just found out he is only 15!!!)

PEW PEW PEW

In more fun news, this is what I've been doing lately:

A rose (guardian) amongst thorns (Abaddons)

I flew a guardian for the first time ever! Ever since I first saw this ship, I've always wanted to fly it, simply because I think it's one of the coolest looking ships in the game. Not because of its shape, but its colour is just brilliant! Gold and red on a spaceship... mmmh the Amarrians really do have the best taste in design.

It was rather fun to fly too. Pandemic Legion are extremely organized with their logistics. There are separate comms and channels for logi pilots. It felt good to contribute in that way. Also, logi pilots get their ships for free \o/ What more could I ask for?

Suddenly Tengus! That's me in the Sabre in the front :D

I finally got to fly in a "Thundercat" fleet! That is, Tengus and Basilisks, as shown above. You may have read in a previous emo blog post, I was lamenting on always missing out on these gangs. Well, I finally got to an op on time, and got involved... by flying a Sabre!

Every time I get into a Sabre, I make my peace with God. Knowing full well that I am likely to be primaried, and especially having no experience flying them in bigger fleets like this, I was extremely surprised to have lived to tell the tale! The lag was especially bad. It felt like I was running a slideshow on my Mac laptop. I realized after today, that I'm going to need to get a PC sometime in the near future.

Women Gamers of EVE (WGoE)

I haven't had a chance to talk about this in my blog yet, but about 2 months ago I was made an Administrator of the WGoE ingame chat channel. I had been a Moderator since mid last year, but recently Malindah (the channel Admin) has quit EVE Online and has left Arancia Detto and I in charge. What an amazing responsibility!

The channel has been a haven for me. It is a welcoming, encouraging and troll-free zone for women of all ages and backgrounds to meet and chat about anything and everything.

I realized recently that the only information available about the WGoE channel out of game, was a very outdated wiki (as in, was last updated in 2006). So Arancia and I decided to change this. I've made our very own EVElopedia article on the EVE Online website!

I also made a forum post in the "My EVE" section of the forums. The response has been fantastic! The WGoE channel has been growing exponentially, and is buzzing with activity. If you know any women that play EVE Online, invite them to WGOE=Public channel or get them to eve mail me, and we can set up a voice interview.

P.S. - I'm also looking forward to organizing another "WGoE Op" (women's only) roam soon! The last two were a lot of fun, so this next one should be huge!

Don Pellegrino's guide to CSM voting, 2001 edition (plus video)

My friend, Don Pellegrino (from Pod Liberation Authority) has created this hilarious and helpful little diagram to guide us on how to vote this CSM election:

It's funny because it's true!

Also, Don is a very talented young man and has recently released a very impressive and fun PVP video.

Check it out here:

Nanofiber Internal Structure

Happy voting!

My friends like to shoot me

So I logged in today, and am instantly convo'ed by my friend PMSing (who is also in PL) who tells me "Quick! Get into a ship and get into fleet! Stuff is going down!" So I get into fleet and am excited to get going, but the fleet composition is mainly Tengus and other Caldari shield tanking ships and recons, which I can't fly or don't have in my hangar.

I'm scrambling around, panicking, trying to find something I can fly so I can quickly get there and not miss the next Titan bridge out. Everyone seems preoccupied, and no-one is answering my pleas to lend me a corp hangar ship, or certain modules I need to get one fitted for myself.

My friend Duncan also logs in at this point, and we decide to get into shield Tempests and make best speed there together. No luck, we miss the Titan bridge :(

We won't give up! We'll make our way there anyway, 22 jumps!

Unfortunately our comms got messed up, and Duncan was ahead of me and dies to a camp on the way.  I make it through the camp shortly after, but then my computer crashes and I'm raging at my mac laptop. All in the meanwhile, my husband is trying to get me off the computer and persuade me to go out to the markets with him, as I'm listening in on comms at my Alliance absolutely owning the crap out of whatever they were shooting.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basically, I'm trying so hard to get to this fight, you have no idea. I've been missing out on so many good fights lately, always just 5 minutes too late. I'm REALLY desperate to get to this one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few jumps of emptiness, (I'm nearly getting there!) I land into the system of Y-2ANO - and I remember shortly after I jump in why this is familiar. I see in local various CONVICTED alliance members, including some fellow Aussie friends Opije, RaptorF22 and Zamone (the latter two of which I know IRL).

As I jumped into system, I warped immediately to the next gate just hoping that there is no bubble (I'm trying really hard to best-speed it to the pew pew destination). In mid-warp, Zamone says hi in local, and so do my other friends. I think I know what's going to happen... I make a small plead before I land in the drag bubble 70km off gate. "Please don't kill me guys, I've had a bad day" (which was true, don't ask).

Now imagine this, just 1 week ago, I was having dinner in the city of Melbourne with Zamone and Raptor. They are lovely people, and we had a great time hanging out with the regular Melbourne EVE players meet-up. But considering my previous blog post regarding the matter of shooting friends ingame, I can understand what happened next:

https://www.pandemic-legion.com/killboard/view_kill.php?id=374795

I tried to burn away and warp, but got scrammed. I hardly even got to fire a shot as I popped very quickly in my paper-thin suicide Tempest.

Zamone assured me she still loves me, but I could tell they were rather excited to kill me. LOL.

I, on the other hand was very very emo. I mean, I don't care about losing a ship, it wasn't even rigged and it was fully insured. What I did care about however, was that I missed out on the whole fleet fight I was so desperately trying to get to. Also, I missed out going to the markets with my husband, and as I write this, my pod is camped in a system so I can't even get home. Altogether, this makes for a pretty shitty day.

Makes me think, is this is some kind of bad karma for my previous post? It's just kind of ironic that this happened don't you think? Maybe I'll think twice about killing my friends next time, especially if they're solo. It's just kind of mean isn't it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S.  This is what I missed out on