OOC Entry 66 - Looking back on 2012

It's the 30th of December, and it's a sort of custom to look back on the previous year before the new year begins. I'm personally not so much the type for customs and traditions, but I have some time on a quiet Sunday afternoon so I sat down to write this.

I only started this blog in November 2011, so I can't compare this year with any previous one, but I can reflect on what I did during this whole year. It was my second year spent in wormhole space, and a lot happened in this period. My corp moved from a C2 to a C4 wormhole and at the same time our then CEO established an alliance. In the beginning this looked really promising. We got other wormhole corps in and things started to develop. Then he had this idea of moving part of the alliance into nullsec.

I have very little love for the playstyle involving sovereignty nullsec, and even less affinity with the major powers that exist there these days.

2012 has seen the rise of the sea-of-blue when Goons+TEST+Pandemic Legion stormed southward and steamrolled through several regions in a short time. A short time after that, the Goonswarm-lead Cluster Fuck Coalition (CFC) conquered the northern part of the map.

When all of this began I speculated that the victory might not be as easy as the aggressors like to think.

Oh boy was I wrong.

What happened was a saddening conquest of what is - now at the end of this year -  two thirds of nullsec.

Personally I have a deeply ingrained aversion against mass movements, on top of that Goons and TEST are not exactly the sort of organizations that work hard on coming across as likeable.
So against the backdrop of this, our CEO decided that he would ally himself first with CFC and then later the newly established Honey Badger Coalition lead by Test Alliance. The core of the wormhole pilots were not amused by that prospect. The fact that one of our corps had just recently been ripped off by a TEST infiltrator did not help. The result was quite some drama and in the end we split.

I have to say I was quite happy with that.

The main thing for me about living in wormhole space is freedom to decide over your own destiny while having all the danger and excitement of a frontier environment. Nobody is going to tell me who I am allowed to shoot, in which space I am allowed to shoot rats, which ships I am required to fly and all that. Also my personal sense of dignity simply does not allow me to become part of a community where spamming local with penises, homophobic, racist and sexist slurs, trolling and all kinds of other forms of immature behaviour is part of the common conduct. Call me old-fashioned, but that's how it is.

If I look at the Women Gamers of EVE initiative, then one of it's basic premises is to offer a space where the ladies can take a break from all of this. Most of the participants there are actually from major nullsec alliances where the level of communication is even below the average teenage boy's sports-team locker room. I fully understand that need. But guess what, if you would be spending your time with men acting mature and whose sense of humor is more refined than making penis jokes (what is it with the male obsession about their organ anyway?) then you don't really feel the need for a "protected space"

Anyway, our small wormhole space alliance soldiered on and it still does. We are nothing big or special, but we have fun and we enjoy playing together in the unrestricted way the environment allows us.

Because I like going against the mainstream I wrote a few blog pieces where I'm agitating against the major powers. A few of those got linked on reddit and it is both amusing and sad how incapable a lot of those people are to actually make an argument. What most do is just spouting oneliners. I have reflected on that too.

My most recent change came when I decided to take a break from wormhole life to gain a bit more practical PVP experience in the world out there. For this purpose I joined Noir Academy, and I am generally impressed with the professional conduct of this organization. On the other hand I also find that they are taking things a bit too serious, but I guess that's necessary when you make your ISK mainly by being efficient in PVP which is very hard to do.

In a recent move, the Noir Mercenaries have joined Black Legion. That is an unaffiliated nullsec alliance basically fighting everyone who is not with them. Seeing as they are camped out in the middle of CFC space right now, that means you run into enemies every way you go.

Through all that, I have seen another aspect of nullsec gameplay which is much more interesting. I still think that nullsec could use some changes.

Then of course there are my stories. With some interruptions I have kept publishing regularly and I am generally happy with what I wrote. I re-read them every once in a while and I don't find too much in there that makes me feel embarrassed. Some even make me a little bit proud of what I created there if I'm honest.

Recently there was a fiction contest which I participated in. Not that I necessarily think I will win anything, but it was a fun challenge and very inspiring to see so many great contributions. I am very excited to see who the winners will be. I have a few stories I would coose for top spots, I'm curious whether my verdict and that of the jury will be similar.

So what do I wish for 2013?

Without wanting to disappoint my new comrades in Noir, I want to return to wormhole life again. For me there simply is nothing greater to do in EVE than that. I could go on a long time about why I love it so much but this post is already very long, so I spare you that.

Also, I hope to learn black-ops operations so our wormhole crew can go outside into nullsec and strike at the vulnerable ratting regions of the large alliances. One thing I learned out there: For all their impressive organization and military power, the majority of members in those massive alliances are inexperienced and can only function properly if they work under leadership. Sure, once you really start killing them, their overlords will jump in whole fleets of combat ships, but by that time you can be long gone, looking for the next target.

Also, I wish for the CFC and HBC to tear eachother apart in a war that leaves both coalitions in tatters and re-shuffles the deck as far as nullsec is concerned.

That might be wishful thinking to the extreme though.

So, happy 2013 and fly creatively.