Wednesday, May 4, 2011

BlogBanter#26 The Real Beauty of EVE


Welcome to the twenty-sixth 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 topic was proposed by @KatiaSae of the much praised "To Boldly Go" blog. Katia asks: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As an astrophotographer, I've found it in the stars and planets of New Eden. Where have you found it? Perhaps you've found beauty in the ships we fly? Maybe it's the sight of profits being added to your bottom line? Or maybe it's the pilot portraits you see in the comm channels? Where ever you've found it, write about it and post an image." Don't be afraid go beyond the simple visual aspects of EVE as well. Is the EVE Community in itself a thing of beauty? What makes EVE the game, the world, the Community, so appealing to you?

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m-w.com defines "beauty" as: the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit

For this blog I would like to focus on the latter part of the definition.  EVE Online is its truest essence exalts the mind and the spirit of those that play.  Once you enter in to the universe of New Eden something inexplicable happens to you.   Through its graphics, storylines and even it's ever growing metagame; EVE Online blossoms in to something... real.

When I first heard about EVE Online; I knew I would never ever not-in-a-million-year play 'that' game.  A friend of mine "Esperys" turned me on to it and asked me to consider the game once I told him I'd grown bored of World of Warcraft.  I watched review by Zero Punctuation, read a couple of other reviews and lightly browsed the now defunct "Scrapheap Challenge" only to give him my response of a resounding "HELL NO."

He was able to coax me away towards City of Hero's/Villians, but after a while I grew bored again.  There was something missing from those games.  I couldn't quiet put my finger on it, but I knew that the game I was playing wasn't for me.  That's when Esperys hit my up one more time.  "Come on.  I'm subbing again, I'll send you a 21 day trial.  Plus Veshik (another gaming friend of ours) will start with you so you're not a noob alone."  And so I tried EVE Online... and promptly quit.  It wasn't until a few days later that I realized this was the game for me. 

I was sitting on Skype with Espery and Veshik while they were on Vent with a pirate corp they joined.  They were hunting in low sec.  Esperys was in a Daredevil and Veshik was in a rifter.  The scout has spotted something.  I think it was a lone Orca in a belt or something of that nature.  As the tackle Esperys jumped in to the system and speed towards their quarry.  He got the tackle.  Veshik and the fleet soon followed and boom!  Killmail. 

It took me a moment to realize my own heart was racing and my own palms were sweaty.  Just listening to the group PvP gave me a rush that I had never felt before.   Wow... I thought to myself.  If just listening to PvP is this awesome...  How awesome must it have been to actually be in the fleet.  Right then and there I asked Esperys to send me another trial.  That was May 2nd of 2010. 

Now on May 4th of 2011, I look to back to my first year and... I can only describe the experience as beautiful.  I went from a newbie that was overly frustrated at an exploration tutorial to a corporation recruiter and an NC Alliance diplomat and then to a podcaster and blogger.  Tell me, what other game can pull you in to not only grow with it, but become a part of it?

Every day I find something in New Eden that takes my breath away.  Something that will pleasurably exalts my mind and spirit.  It could be the visuals of the solar systems with their stars and nebulas or even the intricate lines of the ships I fly.   It could be the unique and unmistakable sound of autocannons exploding in to space.  It could be the taste of victory of after a long and tiresome campaign.  It could be the smell of a spy within the ranks.  It could be the ethereal touch of befriending someone a thousand miles away.  Anyway you look at it, it comes down to the individual experience that bonds each of us as capsuleers.

Isn't that what makes EVE Online beautiful?  Isn't that what makes EVE Online real?

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  1. CrazyKinux's Musing: Beyond nebulas and shiny ships
  2. Freedom: the beauty in EvE » A Mule In EvE
  3. Achernar: The bike and the barbecue
  4. where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 26: Love at first sight
  5. BlogBanter 26: EVE … beautiful … « One capsuleer against all
  6. Blog Banter 26 « Mad Haberdashers
  7. » Blog Banter 26: Beauty of EVE – To Boldly Go To Boldly Go
  8. Down By Law: Blog Banter #26: "The Beauty of EVE" (OOC)
  9. Blog Banter #26 – Beauty « Roc's Ramblings
  10. Banter #26: Beauty is in the eye of the markets | Diary of a Garbageman
  11. Progression's Horizon: Blog Banter 26- Carry It With Us, Or We Find It Not
  12. Blog Banter 26: The Beauty of Eve « A Scientist's Life in Eve
  13. Freebooted: BB26: The Beauty Between the Lines
  14. Eve Opportunist: EBB #26 : Beauty is destruction.
  15. Blog banter #26: EVE shines, and not just visually « Diary of a Pod Pilot
  16. Learning to Fly - Spinning ships since 2003
  17. BB26: Beauty, in certain conditions | A Missioneer in Eve
  18. Dying in Lowsec (One Hauler at a time)
  19. EVE Blog Banter #26 – Beauty « Evehermit's Blog

1 comment:

  1. Oh my has it pulled you in. :) I don't know why, but it still surprises me to read about folks that have left WoW and found EVE. I can certainly understand, however. I''m glad you've found this community and have added your own special talent. I've certainly enjoyed what you've brought to the EVE community! Thanks for participating in this last month's banter.

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