My Story

I don't have the extensive game resume that many EVE players seem to have. Prior to EVE, I played Ultima Online and then Lord of the Rings Online. My dissatisfaction with both led me to try EVE Online in late 2011. I sought a game with a vibrant community, yet one which abandoned the traditional theme-park model in favor of player-driven content with real risk and consequences. Naturally, I gave EVE a shot.

I started in Verge Vendor, around the Clellinon system, doing typical newbie activities like mining in an industrial (earning an amazing 1m isk per hour) and doing the Sisters of Eve arch where I first learned that if at first you fail, try again with bigger guns...

                    
Then came an almost inevitable day for each new player in EVE. Finally able to fly (and afford) a cruiser, I ventured out of my familiar home in the Verge into the unknown, low security space. You know the story: new player, starting at the top asteroid belt, oblivious to local intel and dscan...

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=16741521

For some players, events like this mark the end of their EVE career--particularly when they lose a lot more than I did. For me, though, it was at this point that I was hooked. I lost everything I owned (17m was a lot to me, then) but found the event thrilling, exactly what I wanted in a game. Chatting with the pirate (who still plays, and in the same--fantastic--small pirate corp: http://kb.repo-corp.net/) I learned how he found me, and how he, in a frigate, could kill a cruiser. I also learned that I, too, could do the same--even return the favor. 

The fact that I could lose everything made my previously meaningless actions like mining significant. And the fact that I could destroy virtually anything made my goals meaningful. 

It wasn't too long until I started down the path toward primarily PVP game-play. Here I am can-flipping and getting one of my first solo kills (this is back before cruisers were rebalanced, where exequrors were only good for lolbait): http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=17078823

I made my way into Red versus Blue, an incredible place to learn the ropes of PVP, and I found it so addicting I've returned multiple times in my EVE career. 

Here I am in my first large fleet during one of the weekly "ganked" null roams--completely disoriented and about to die

After two years of EVE, I still have a huge amount to learn, but I hope I can at least contribute a bit of content in this blog and upcoming videos. A few series are planned, including posts/videos on living in low security space, combining exploration and pvp, how to pvp in unorthodox ways, and my reasons for why after two years EVE is still one of the only games I find worth playing--and only getting better.

o/