Once upon a time, I won EVE.
Then one day I stopped winning EVE and for a variety of reasons, I returned.
I stepped back into the game just in time for a rather memorable Ganked, in which I even managed to FC for a short while. Followed by another great Ganked the week after. However, this wasn’t so much a triumphant return so much as it was me easing gently into the game. A game that had changed so much in the few months that I was gone.
Then as quickly as I returned, I was gone again. Fallout 4 had released, and all my free time disappeared into the wasteland. I binged on Fallout any chance I got, putting in nearly 70 hours over the past few weeks, despite work eating into my free time as well! Fun thing is I haven’t even scratched the surface of the game yet, I’ve only JUST reached Diamond City….
Anyway, this post isn’t about me failing at failing to win EVE, nor is it about Fallout. Its about my indecision to find something to do in EVE now that I am back.
In the before time
My history so far in EVE is very much intertwined with that of the second iteration of RvB. I, like many others, started off with an alt there until one day I found myself at a lose end with my main, Mangala Solaris. I took the decision to move Mangala into RvB as a place to get some pew pew until I found a new home. It never quite worked out that way as the past five and a half years demonstrated. As RvB grew and changed, so did I.
At first I was just a regular pilot, then I started acting as a backup caller, then fully fledged FC running multiple fleets daily both for RvB activities and against war targets, culminating with me becoming one of the main war time FCs when it came to the very large fleets that RvB was throwing at the world then, especially when fighting the folks over at EVE University and BNI. In conjunction with this, I organised many large events for RvB, and through the aegis of RvB Ganked, the EVE public. From simple roams right up to live streamed tournaments, I had to have a project rolling at all times. Knowing that others were enjoying their game experience kept me going. Until it didn’t.
FC wat do?
Now that I am back, this question is the one that is on my mind. After years of focusing on RvB, and groups connected to it, I am finding it incredibly difficult to decide on what exactly my next steps are. I know for certain I am not going to remain in RvB much longer. While RvB needs all the pilots it can get following some serious upheaval back in October, it is for others to rebuild it. I am content knowing that it will still be there, continuing to provide a home for many pilots I consider good friends.
As someone who has played this game (on and off) for around 9 years, I have experienced quite a few aspects of the game, so it becomes pretty hard for me to narrow down my options to specific path. Despite my prior experiences, there are still parts of the game that I have little experience in – wormholes, FW in its current form, the other side of Empire war decs, piracy, small gang operations and even solo pvp; Additionally there are aspects of my EVE experience that I would love to delve deeper into, notably the support and building of NPSI communities in readiness for the day when CCP give social groups their attention.
Of course I could ignore all the above and finally accept Doomchinchilla’s invite to his corp, and end up in Pandemic Legion.
Meanwhile…
For now I am just going to keep up with some well needed asset consolidation and try to get some minor projects rolling, including FCing again. The environment of EVE has changed enough that rolling around with a few (or many) of you, destroying stuff seems like a fitting way to find some inspiration both for my own future and on how I will provide for you all.
