An Excerpt from "Piratez Und De Scum-Suckinkt De Do" By Doctor Pieter Butthurtsky, Ph.D.
"Ya, de Piratez are a very very interestink culture in da many ways. Ya? Von of da most interestink, in mah own humblez opinion, is da questionz of Blue or da friendly status.
It is so very hard for us more culturaled types to comprehensky. The idea of honorz is warped and twisted yes, but in ze way that make total sense to ze Piratez demselves. Ya? On da one hand you can haz friends and on de udder, you can haz enemies und fight. At ze end, each parties can exclaim good fightz in de local and go on from der. It is a mind twister ya? But for dem, it is way of life."
Being a Pirate in New Eden is the hardest playstyle choice in the game and it isn't for the faint of heart. Being a criminal in the opinion of the rest of the Universe is tough and it forces you into a corner as a player, a corner with its own rules, its own conduct and its own expectations. Expectations that can change depending on the Pirates involved.
One of the aspects that have intrigued me the most since I moved from a Null based to a Low-Sec based life in Eve, has been the concepts surrounding Blues, Reds and Neutrals. In Null these conditions are set-up by the Corporation or Alliance you are a part of and are based on political conditions. Reds are Red and Blues are Blue, in most cases the two shall never cross, the amount of gray area in Null is very low.
Perhaps it is because I grew up in Providence that I've always seen things a bit differently. Since Provi was one of the few regions to "allow" neutrals to work, and we had clearly defined borders with -A- for example, the region was constantly a melting pot unlike other regions. The idea of interacting, almost on a daily basis, with Reds and Neuts was not a foreign one. I came to respect and in some cases even talk to our enemies. Even while on the "hunt" in some cases.
Low-Sec isn't all that different. For the Pirate, having official Blue standings is the antithesis of a good idea. For every Blue standing given you've eliminated a potential target. And with targets hard enough to come by, that isn't such a good idea. But that doesn't mean you can't have friends. Many, many times over the last year I've flown in gangs or fleets with people that were not officially Blue to me. Often I'll pick up a few guys in local to go roaming with, or some of us will get together on the spur of the moment to kill a Carrier or something.
In my opinion, it is the highest form of respect to a fellow fighter. The idea that we can fight each other and still get together to fight others, to take advantage of opportunities and still be "enemies" in name but not fact.
When I was in Lucifer's Hammer and nothing was going on, I'd fly into Hevrice to see if I could get a fight with a Tusker. We shared some channels with the Tuskers and I often flew with them in gangs, but I knew if I wanted a good fight I could count on them. They were officially my enemy, but they were also my friends. I got many good fights, won some and lost some, and in the end I joined them when things fell apart.
At one point or another I've flown in gangs with just about everyone that flies in our general region of space. Heck, even some that have flown in from out of town. It is one of the things I like best about Low-Sec. The camaraderie of Pirates.
On the other hand, it is always good to have enemies. And in some cases those enemies have to be created from nothing. This was a tactic I used to great effect in Lucifer's Hammer and it works to unite and focus your Corporation. A Pirate without enemies is lonely. You can't be friends with everyone, but you can respect your enemies. And they, hopefully, will respect you. But that isn't required.
In the end, for Pirates, any Official Blue standings are doomed to eventually fail. One day, one side or the other, will exhaust the available targets in the region and start thinking dangerous thoughts. It always happens.
That isn't me. Although it does look like me a little.
Yesterday Ana was in Dodixie buying one of each of the new ships, plus fits and some assorted other things, for us. Once she had flown them back to Hevrice she went to put them up on contract. Imagine her surprise when someone else named Rixx JavixX ( the cap is mine, the character is Rixx Javixx).
He is even a member of a FAUX version of my old Corporation, Lucifer's Hammer.[LRUCH] - the dot and the scrambled call letters. This was done on October 31st, so I have to appreciate the Halloween aspect.
I have no proof regarding who is responsible ( not that it really matters much tbh ), there have been several "Rixx Javix" lol clones since I started playing. I can remember nine, but I think there were a few more. So this isn't very creative. Sorry Lex. Plenty of others have trodden this same road over the years, from -A- to Ash most recently with his funny Rixx Javix Jr. character.
I know it is my former Corp member Lex because of the Bio. Pardon the language, I didn't write it and I suspect he was probably drunk when he did. (It is all in Caps, so I've taken the time to de-cappify it for you)
"My Butthurtometer is going into overdrive. God damn those blaggard Directors and their Corp member stealing skills. I hope they read my 100% legit Nano Drake Guide that I wrote even if it doesn't actually include any useful info and is a total copy and an awesome pro pvpers version (that is way better btw)
Further more I am so butthurt even my butts that are hurting have little butthurts growing on them like little butthurt pustules that hurt my butt"
The Nano Drake Guide he is referring to is HERE.
I admit to some confusion regarding the capitalization of "butthurt", so pardon me if I erred. I know Lex is behind the creation of this version of Rixx simply because of the reference to the Nano Drake guide. Apparently because Lex posted a similar guide on the Lucifer's Hammer forum he believes he is the expert on Nano Drake gangs. And that somehow I stole from him to create the brief guide that appeared on this blog Sept 31st.
The fact that I've been flying such gangs for three years doesn't seem to matter. Or the fact that lots of other people have also. Y'know, unknowns like PL, -A-, Co2, Goonswarm... people like that.
I am flattered. This obviously came about as a result of me calling him out on the blog at some point regarding his role in the death of Lucifer's Hammer and Burn Away. It is comforting to see the path that Lex and Cyber have managed to take since then has been so rewarding for them. Just to be clear I am joking here. Let's see. Targeted Aggression for five days. New Eden Renegades (the best Corporation Evah!), Kadavr Black Guard ( Sorry Nashh, but you can't say I didn't warn you), Kicked ( Back with my friend Itsme, shame that didn't work out) and now in Blue Republic. Nice track record.
Credit where credit is due. Lex is a great PvP pilot and I was proud to have him in my Corporation. We had a lot of great times together and his particular brand of insanity was tremendously entertaining, especially when he backed it up in space.
But once again I apologize if my special needs child got in the way of your internet spaceship game. Because it didn't get in the way of mine.
Sometimes it rocks to have your own hugely popular and well-read blog.
My good in-game friend and former Lucifer's Hammer member Itsme has gone and formed his own Corporation - KICKED.
Here is a link to the recruitment thread on the forums.
Itsme was with Lucifer's Hammer almost since day one and I had nothing but great experiences with him in the Corp. There are those that don't like him very much, and those that hate, fear and despise him. But they simply don't understand him.
If you are a fighter, truly a combat oriented person and not just a wanna-be, then Itsme is the guy you want in your fleet. He has a natural ability to tackle really, really big ships. And, most importantly, that weird thing that good PvPers have of finding good fights. Something that I used to have and seem to have lost recently for some reason. Sure, he got us kicked from several >cough< Alliances and sometimes got his Corp mates derped... but hey, it's supposed to be fun isn't it?
I wish his new Corporation well. And if you happen to be insane, or want to become insane, then you should think about joining up with these guys. I can't guarantee anything except that it won't ever be boring. Oh, and that Itsme will be in-game pretty much 23.5/7.
I think they'll be hanging around Amamake.
I've made my share of mistakes in Eve. And I've always been man enough to admit to them, learn from them and try to avoid making the same ones again.
Leaving my Corporation back in the early Summer when my son went into the Hospital was a mistake. I should have just gone AFK and let the chips fall until I could get back. Of course, at the time I wasn't sure I would be coming back. I came closer to quitting Eve at that moment than I have before or since. Hindsight.
That decision effectively killed my Corporation. It wasn't a decision made in a vacuum however. At the same time as my son's illness, two of my Directors were threatening to leave the Corporation. Those threats also led to the decision to leave.
I've been back now for over three months. Nine months since I re-started the Corporation. The person I started it with, Angor Mau, is not playing Eve anymore. My Alliance Exec has been gone for over two months. I have a blank portal page that I don't have access to. I cannot get to my TeamSpeak server, the forum, or the killboard. There are two Corporations wanting to join the Alliance that have a combined 97 members, more than doubling the current size of our merry little group.
It felt like the Chinese Hell of a Thousand Paper Cuts.
And then Steve Jobs died. And I was reminded of a quote of his, which I paraphrase, "Look in the mirror every day as if it was your last, would you be doing what you are doing?" I had to answer no.
As hard as it is to admit to yourself, Lucifer's Hammer died three months ago. It died when two people you wrongly trusted took half your members with them, under what turned out ( I discovered yesterday ) to be a false pretense. It is also hard to admit that you can't do this alone, that bringing new member corporations into this situation is wrong. That every day you keep hoping the course will be corrected, all while feeling guilty for those that have come on board.
I know. This is Eve and I should just do it anyway. But I can't do that. So instead of watching it all die a horrible death, like a beautiful race horse with a broken leg, I decided to kill it myself. Not violently, like some rage quitting fool, but honorably and with some amount of dignity. No one will probably care one way or another, but I will.
We had an awesome run. From January to early Summer Lucifer's Hammer was on fire. We had a great team of pilots and we all worked extremely well together. We had a blast in RK and with giving them Hell for the whole stupid small neuts thing, we enjoyed our day in Muppets and the subsequent trolololololol over the lost blue freighter, and we really built a decent Alliance with some great Corporations.
For every single pilot that came thru those doors, for every Corporation, I say thank you. Thank you for believing in us, in me and our vision for Lucifer's Hammer and the Burn Away Alliance.
As for me I am staying in Lucifer's Hammer. I said before that I wouldn't be leaving and I meant it. A few of our pilots are also staying, but we won't be actively recruiting any time soon, if ever. Right now I just want to simplify my Eve. My RL is more complicated than ever and I just want to focus on becoming a better pirate, pilot and player for the time being. Goodness knows, for some reason, I'm apparently not very good at anything else.
