Monday 2 July 2012

Day 16 : Somnambulistic Meandering


I'm awake too early again. How suprising is that? Yesterday I also managed to get stung by some humid air loving insect, walk into the end of my bed generating a bruise the size of my fist, and crack the edge off my back tooth. Its a bad weekend.

I refuse to launch straight into EVE and watch some junk on TV. I'm so tired that I don't even remember what it was to blog it. It's a bad enough weekend that there is no sense denying myself EVE time.

Last night I got chatting to a couple of other space flyin' dudes who were, like me, enjoying the spectacle of exploding local system chat. The chat channel for the local system is normally very quiet, people tend to be active in other channels. Their corporations channel or the rookie chat channel. This night however a fight was brewing outside one of the stargates. One guy, tooled up to the max in an Amarr frigate, was trying to bait another into a PVP match. Insults started to get thrown around. People started to join in the ensuing banter. They generally took one side or the other but some, like me, were up for watching a scrap and were doing their best to egg the two potential oppenents on. It was like shouting "fight, fight" in the school playground when the latest two meatheads were about to go at it. Something I hated at school (theres a long list) and yet apparently morally acceptable to me in space. "Space morals". In EVE these have a value of less than the computer memory it takes to store the 12 characters used to express the phrase. Anyway. I've got a couple of new contacts in EVE, both fairly new and finding their way through the same stage of the game as I. On and off there is banter all through day 16. We should either join a noob friendly corp together or start our own. Hell, I've got no plans for the next four days while I train down the Industrial level 5 skill. Might as well have entertaining company while I do it.

While chatting I spend the rest of day 16 doing nothing much. Bits and bobs. I spend some time mining out in Silvala again, using drones to see off the local rats as they appear, backing up another noob miner who is in there without guns until his boss shows up packing similar drones.

I check out the Tactical view. I've not made much use of it for some reasons but it is clear after using it fighting rats that it makes everything a lot clearer. I can see where in space everything is and there are visual cues to indicate the 3rd dimension which is difficult to interpret when the entire background is 90% the dark of deep space. It reminds me of Elite again.

I spend some time moving around in a cargo hauler trying to get the best price for the ore I've mined rather than just selling it on. Frankly the hauler can't carry enough of it to make the moving around worth it. I could have mined more and sold it for more in the time taken to fly and sell at a high price. I'm going to have to think about this kind of thing for the trade plans. It's not just buy low sell high. It's buy low, sell high, what else could you have been doing during that boring 7 jump journey to Fucked Up Backwater V that is more profitable. At least I can autopilot and attempt real life stuff. I say attempt. I did noting. It's Sunday for gods sake.

Now there is this tempation to join a corporation. I've been browsing potentials through an in game tool. One of the guys I've been talking too has identified a possible. Friendly. Into all kinds of activities. Not too intense. In alliance with other corporations that might interest me when my skills are better and I pick some kind of role I like. Right now I'm a jack of all trades, but I'm looking hard at this table http://swiftandbitter.com/eve/wtd/ As you can see, there is some amount of choice. A jack of all trades is just going to get lost in the noise eventually.

Theres another thing about corporations that worry me. It's an odd thing and it's my fault. I'm a bit of a quiet solo player. Yes I know, I'm in an MMO. The big selling point of these games is that you are not alone. Well thats good. Don't get me wrong, but now and again I like to just play and chill out after work without having to get involved in anything organised. It can be a pressure. Having other people playing is great. I do get involved and I like the fact that other people are there and I am generally very sociable. I've made friends in games many times before. Other people playing the same game as you, there to interact with, brings the game alive. Sometimes though you want a quiet wander after a bad day and joining organised groups can put a stop to that. In EVE the game is even more reliant on the contributions of real life players. I wonder how that will affect me. I'm not as bothered as I thought I might be. I want to log in now and see whats going on and its a Monday night. Curmudgeon night. Where all I want after the first day back at work is to sit back in the sanctum of my own thoughts and be enjoy by whatever the nearest technological orofice of entertainment can supply.

Maybe this Monday though, I'll go do some mining and see whats happening.

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