New Beginnings

After eighteen months of Eve Online, I needed a change. I started the game with two good friends. We formed our own corporation and blazed our own path. We picked up two more real-life friends along the way and had quite a ride, discovering New Eden on our own terms instead of just learning to do things someone else’s way. As a result, we found some unique ways to succeed in Eve and have actually done quite well for ourselves considering the length of time we’ve been playing. We had an amazing first year learning new things and taking a lot of first steps.

Then it happened: the corporation was drying up. One guy was quitting, two others were all but inactive, and my schedule prevented me from EVER being online with anyone at all. After a month of talking it out, we decided to disband the corp, cash out its assets, and divide the payout. I set out to get serious about PVP; a year and a half, I’d gone from salvaging to manufacturing to mission running to mining to exploration, but I’d never done more PVP than what I had to exploring lowsec and wormholes. I invited my old corpmates to join me if they wanted; at least one probably will once he has time for gaming again.

Five weeks ago I took an alt I’d intermittently trained and joined it to the first PVP corp I saw posting in the recruitment channel: The Skunkworks. I was expecting can flipping and suicide ganking and general piracy; what I got was a 30-man corp that, in the past month, has decimated larger corps, stolen sovereignty from alliances, created paranoia and dissent amongst its victims, sent mercenaries running to dock up, and spammed a lot of Fukung. Also, ponies. Don’t ask.

Remember that when I came to Skunkworks, I had almost no PVP experience. I suppose most would have called me a carebear: I spent my time in Eve roaming highsec, shooting rats and occasionally mining when I found a particularly profitable grav site. At the same time, I’d learned to be care-free about my ships; time in w-space had freed me of the notion that losing a ship was something to cry over. Nullsec was largely foreign territory to me; I’d spent time there but was never involved in anything that went on; I was strictly a tourist. In any case, I’m writing this blog as a relative newcomer to Eve, someone who is still learning how parts of the game work and who still has a sense of wonder about the sheer scale of some of the things you see.

I should have started this blog five weeks ago. I could have chronicled my first forays into suicide ganking, my first black ops roam, and me discovering what it’s like to be on the other side of the highsec wardec. Instead I’ll spend the next few posts trying to catch up.

edit: Okay maybe more than a few.