Good-bye Pod. Hello Clone!

I have been podded for the first time.

Should I be proud that I have managed to avoid being podded for nearly fours years, or does it just switch on the big 'Carebear' neon light?

Regardless, I'm pleased with the way I went down: fighting.

Our C2 static for the day was very active. There were six POS's, and most of them were full of nothing but industry structures. Their 'home' POS contained an active Tengu and Loki. I sat and watched them for a while, but with all the industry that was going on (I've never seen so many Silo's on D-Scan!) I decided they were too busy to worry about a couple of ships passing through. Their system had a few shiny signatures and anomalies, but it would be suicide to harvest from an active 'Hole. I went ahead and scanned the sigs and found a C1 branching off. It was also active. By this point I'd had enough of scanning, so went on to other things.

My CEO opened up comms with the inhabitant of the C1. They were new to Wormholes, but friendly. He ended up harvesting the Ladar sites there while I took advantage of our static Low-Sec's proximity to Jita. He harvested the clouds into cans and went back in his Badger to collect them. On his return he got jumped by the inhabitants of the middle 'Hole. He managed to warp away, but they had put up a warp-bubble on their side of the Wormhole. He stayed cloaked in the C1 while I charged across in my bomber. There was a Hurricane sat next to the 'Hole for the C1. I got in range (which took me into the bubble) and fired a bomb. His shields dropped and he began targeting me before I could re-cloak. My first priority was to get out of the bubble, so I tried to turn. However, he quickly gained ground and webbed and nueted me. I opened fire with my torpedo's, but with no cap I couldn't use my target-painters or sensors-damps. My speed was also reduced to about 140m/s. However, even through all this, his turrets couldn't track me. I was getting hit for very little damage while my trusty torps stripped his armour.

I was going to win!

With my heart pounding in my chest I abandoned the idea of getting out of the bubble and started to orbit the Hurricane. I was like a puppy around a new toy as I watched his armour-bar turn more and more red. Then a Drake warped in. My hopes were sucked dry from me as his Corp-mate targeted me. Knowing it was going to be over very soon, I started towards the Drake. By now, my bomb launcher was ready to go again, so I hoped to fire one at the Battlecruiser in my dying breath. It didn't happen. My Manticore popped and I was a pod floating in space. I selected a planet and spammed the warp-button. Nothing. I was still in the bubble.

Damn.

After a few alarm's sounded I was back in Ichoriya. I checked my Combat-Log and opened up a conversation:

Hamlox Helmholtz: Howdy
Akinesis: gf, man
Hamlox Helmholtz: Thanks, man. You were wailing on me in that Manticore!
Akinesis: Yup :D
Akinesis: I thought I had a chance, but then the Drake showed up and it was all over =P
Hamlox Helmholtz: I was a bit surprised... all of the sudden it turned into "Oh, S***!"
Hamlox Helmholtz: Yeah... my damned guns couldn't hit you.
Akinesis: I should have got out the bubble to save my pod, but I was too determined XD
Akinesis: =)
Hamlox Helmholtz: Bloodthirsty, yeah!
Hamlox Helmholtz: Good fight to you, see you around!


I'd made a lot of mistakes (as is expected from being so green at PvP), but I had great fun. I learned a lot from that short experience, and I'm glad the guy thought I was a good challenge. But the biggest disappointment was my CEO got disconnected while this went on, making my distraction useless. Still, I feel I gained a lot more than I lost.

After I stroked my mission-running Scorpion Navy Issue a few times in Ichoriya, I set destination to Jita and un-docked. I rebuilt my Manti, plugged in new implants and then went back to the 'Hole 200million ISK lighter.

In a way, I'm glad I got podded. The hard-wire implants I had before were fitted a long time ago when I was still a noob.  I can't even remember what I had, but I most likely had ones that weren't really aiding my character. And I had never thought of going back and upgrading them. After a small bit of research, I bought ones that actually give me bonuses relative to my play-style.

My losses also furthered this very morning. I had some reading-up to do for my course, so I took the Covetor into a Grav site to suck up some ABC ores. I always keep a watchful eye on D-Scan, but as I was reading I was pretty much AFK. At one point I saw some Core-probes pop up, so I got my Buzzard and did a combat scan. With no probes popping up, I made the decision that this WH was no use to the probing pilot (we keep our system very dry). So I pulled my Covetor back out and went back to mining. I even turned my speakers down so the strip-miners wouldn't bother me (!). The rest you can guess. It's times like this that I'm thankful I left the Hulk in Empire.

RIP Covvy!

The 24th EVE Blog Banter (January 2011 Edition) - Topic: EVE and Real Life

Welcome to the twenty-fourth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week or so to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!


This month's Banter topic comes to us from the ever helpful Eelis Kiy, capsuleer behind the "Where the frack is my ship" blog. She asks: How does your real life personality compare to who you are as a character in EVE? Does a good leader of people in the real world make a good leader of pilots in game? Or vice-versa? Do your real-life skills help you with the roles you fulfill in your corporation or alliance? Or do you behave completely differently? Does the anonymity of the Internet allow you to thrive on the tears of others in New Eden whilst you work as a good Samaritan away from your keyboard? Or are you as mean outside of your pod as you are inside it? Have experiences in EVE Online affected your behavior, skills or attitudes outside of the game?

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I will openly admit that I dislike people abusing the anonymity which the internet offers. It is an almost flawless tool that allows griefers and trolls to do what they do. Inside the game, I fully expect it, no question. The EvE Forums, however, wind me up no end. It shouldn't, but it does - even though I do force myself to remember that griefing is a part of EvE outside of the game as much as it is inside of the game. And their are even griefers who I do respect.

So, with that in mind, it would be hypocritical to say that I do not hide behind anonymity. Well, actually, I do. But I do not use it to troll. I've just chosen to make it about Akinesis, not about myself. I refer to what Akinesis is doing, what he has done or his plans. I treat it as a get-away from the real me. I have revealed some information in a few posts (in Function Vs Aesthetics I start off talking a bit about my profession and Persistence Prevails is about my partner) but I do hold back as many details as I can without jeopardising the topic I'm trying to address. In this post, however, I will be breaking that rule in order to discuss the topic.

It should now go without saying that I do not grief. I'm not out to try and annoy people or ruin their game. That is without question a direct reflection of my own personality - I can't hide from that after what I've said so far. I don't get high off of tears. In real life I will more than often try and practice diplomacy towards any situation. Even people I don't particularly like rarely experience a negative approach from myself. I also don't enjoy making people feel like an idiot and like to help out if I can, and all this reflects on Akinesis.

I've also mentioned before that Akinesis is a jack-of-all-trades. If you ever met any of my real-life friends or family I'm sure they will tell I am the same. And, just like Akinesis, I do not particularly excel at those talents. I can do many things to a good standard but I will never be an A+ student at a particular task. Likewise, Akinesis can do just about anything in EvE, but only to a moderate standard due to the broad range of his skills. Giving too many chances is also a trait of mine (perhaps an unwelcome one that I should shake off!) which I mention in the 22nd Blog Banter, and this is also repeated in-game.

At this point it is almost blatant that Akinesis is a digital representation of my true self. That now begs a new question - why am I playing myself in a game? Surely that's boring? The fun thing do is to play as an alter-ego, right?

Moving on. 

My profession in real-life is engineering. Aviation Engineering to be exact (more leaking!). Now, while these skills don't transfer to the game directly, it might explain my fussiness on the design of the ships and my desire to research and build them.

One of my personal traits, however, is creativity. Before EvE I channelled my creativity trait through both illustration and a novel that I never quite finished. I developed those skills enough that I almost got a part-time job drawing for a gaming magazine and my novel (according to a few professional people who proof-read samples) was on to a winner. It might sound foolish to have abandoned those projects, but it was hard to balance such commitments with the career that I have. EvE, however, slots in my free time nicely and accommodates creativity very well, so I'm not losing out completely. My enjoyment of writing is satisfied through this Blog (don't judge this Blog on my novel - it's written in a very different style and I don't write often enough to get back 'on form' - I had to get that in!) and one could argue that creativity is required to expand and further a Corp. My illustration is put to use through my job to a certain extent, but even that could be channeled through this Blog if I wanted.

As for gaining skills from the game, perhaps my own multi-tasking skills have increased slightly with Akinesis living in a Wormhole! But, in truth, if I have gained any skills from playing EvE, I probably don't even realise I have them. Trading in the EvE Market I'm sure holds many useful similarities to the real world.

At the very least I'm optimistic that I would be able to do something fantastic with a large rock, a near-by container and a pick-axe. Thank you, EvE.




Other Blog-Banter Responses:


EVEOGANDA - Real Life & EVE
A Mule in EVE - RL + EVE =
Confessions of a Closet Carebear - EVE and Real Life
The Hydrostatic Capsule - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Alt
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - Reflections
A Scientist's Life in EVE - The Other Side of the Screen
The Durzo Chronicles - Who is More Real??
A Lush in Space - Worlds Collide
Captain Serenity - Personalities
Diary of a Space Jockey - I Am Me
Freebooted - You Talking To Me?
EVE A to Z - EVE and Real Life