OOC Entry 35 - We Naw Mix Nah Mingle

We naw mix nah mingle
Before dat me otta rather stay single
- Lady Saw

I stay away from computers and EVE for only a few days, an extended weekend, and when I come back I am greeted by a mailbox that reminds me of the scene in the old Star Trek series with the cargohold full of Tribbles.

It turns out that alliance leadership has decided to take a certain step into nullsec life that the wormhole corporations could not, and would not, support. So from an alliance meeting on one day things went on to a CEO meeting the following day and all WH-space dwellers finding themselves without an alliance on the day after.

A rather bizarre situation when considering that this alliance was actually born in wormhole space.

Of course it would not be EVE Online if the whole thing didn't happen without a good dose of drama. People's personal feelings were hurt. Former in-game friends look at eachother with feelings ranging from confusion to anger, and many people wonder how something that is supposed to be fun suddenly turned into something resembling a bad relationship breakup - smashed kitchenware included.

A few things became clear for me in all of this.

I never really cared much for sov-nullsec lifestyle as it looks these days, with it's power blocks, blob warfare and Technetium cartels. Now I actively despise it.

What good is something that makes people decide to cut off their roots, throw out many players who have personally supported them over months and even years, and cut the membership of their alliance in half with one stroke, just for the prospect of getting some sov-space of their own?

That was a question which kept running around in my head like a trapped rat trying to find a way out.

What I think it comes down to, is a case of very different perception of in-game reality. 

To me this whole nullsec thing looks like a combination of Scientology and Soviet Union mixed with Eternal September. When I talk to the people who have moved on to this playstyle, I don't even understand what they are on about half of the time. Things they say don't make sense to me anymore. I can only guess what really motivates them, but for them all of this seems to be very important and meaningful. So much so, that they are willing to sacrifice much of what they already had

In the beginning there was a dream, a vision even, to create an alliance that can span the whole spectrum of playstyles from wormhole space to lowsec pirating, highsec industry and trading, up to nullsec sovereignty claims.

Now this idea lies broken and in (at least two) pieces.

If I look at those pieces, then it seems like those playstyles don't really work out together. At least not when it comes to sov-space nullsec life.  Maybe it's just us and others have done it. I kept hearing, though, that there was no other alliance who really managed to do this before.

At the end of it all I am relieved even if I am sad.

Now we don't have to deal with all those politics, exorbitant alliance fees, ratting restrictions, CTAs, trolling, thought control etc. anymore. We can live our free life where things depend on the cooperation and dedication of individuals rather than who can build the bigger mass-movement; where there is no sovereignty other than what you can defend with your POS guns and your ships and where we can raid whichever site we can find before someone else does.

So now we forge a new future for ourselves and all other alliance mates who were in wormhole space and want to stay with us.

I wonder how the nullsec guys feel about all this?

Whether they will be able to look back on this and feel that it was worth breaking up over?