Tales from the front lines

The below is what I hope to be the first of a series of 'tales from the front lines'. These are stories written by members of OUCH about their experiences out there on the front lines of nullsec combat. If you like what you read, maybe you'd like to join us

I'm a relatively young combat pilot, on the staff of a non-profit null security space survival corporation. Our job is to train pilots of various levels of experience to be unafraid of living in null sec, and to give them the skills they will need to move on in their careers as combat pilots. We have decided to do that by "maintaining a blockade in null sec, interdicting traffic bound for Empire".

Blockade duty is boring: Sometimes you fight, sometimes you run, but mostly you wait. And wait. And wait some more. And it seems like nothing is going on. Then BAM, a stealth bomber decloaks in the bubble, or a small T2 gang jumps in come in and tries to gank you, or a large gangs sweeps through and your gang runs to your safes, your skirts flapping in the wind. Sometimes, you don't see a soul for hours, and you ask yourself, "Isn't there something better that we could be doing?" It seems to be a lot more fun to be in the small gang looking for a bubble camp to break, or the large gang sweeping through null looking for a battle. But then I look at it from our adversaries point of view.

* * *

A member of a neutral alliance based a half dozen systems away lands in a bubble and loses his ship. He tells his corpmates that there is a camp in system N1-4U2. An hour later, another guy gets caught in the bubble and he complains about it to his mates. After a couple of days of this, there are a bunch of people in that alliance that really are annoyed that their travel been restricted. A few of them head over to N1-4U2 to "teach those guys a lesson". They pop one or two ships but they don't get away clean, the campers kill the bait. The next day, they attack the campers using the same tactic, but the cowards don't give them a fight. They kill the bubble and leave. The campers put up a new bubble, and later that evening, kill another alliance pilot.

Days later, the bubble camp is up again and a recon ship lands in it. The campers web and scram and take the ship quickly down into armor. Then local comes alive: stealth bombers and recons appear from nowhere, lock and kill several of the bubble camping fleet. They just got hot dropped by a Black Ops gang, who are very pleased with themselves for the battlecruiser kill they got today. That will surely teach the campers not to be so predictable. But hours later, those stupid noobs are back, camping the same gate in N1-4U2.

On the weekend, the alliance organizes another raid, a dozen ships. They scout N1-4U2 with a cloaked ship for an hour, bring in their fleet and the campers run off to safes like a bunch of screaming girls. The only casualty in the contest is a Mobile Small Warp Disruptor. The fleet leaves, and the campers set up another bubble.

Meanwhile, the alliance from the system next door, they jump in and engage the campers every day. Sometimes they get kills, sometimes they get killed, but most of the time, they just kill the bubble, smack-talk a bit and move on. Our campers look forward to them coming by to visit, and put up a new bubble.

But a few of the members of the big alliance down the street decide that something must be done about this camp. They get a recon ship and station it spying on the camp and wait for the opportunity to implement their plan. A fleet stages in at the closest POS: cruisers, recons, HACs and battlecruisers, ready to take on a camp of, well, pirates from their point of view. They closely orbit one of the largest ships in the game, an Erebrus. They are ready.

The recon uncloaks and lights off his cyno and 20 cruisers and battlecruisers jump in and destroy a 6 ship frig and cruiser fleet in seconds. They cheer, and pat themselves on the back, sending a clear message to these pirates:

Your scouts cannot protect you. We can take you, without warning, anytime we want. We own you.

A few hours later, they get word from one of their corpmates: The bubble is back up in N1-4U2. Don't those noobs ever quit?

They put out an advisory to their alliance: N1-4U2 is permanently camped. Proceed with caution. Various members place dedicated scouts in system, alts to log in and check the system status. Some place cloaked alts and leave them up for hours at a time. They are not the only corporations to do so.

All of them watch and gather intel. They fly through in big fleets. They fly carefully when solo. They change the way they operate to avoid this camp when they remember. When they forget, they end up in the bubble and more often than not, in their pods. N1-4U2 becomes a very popular system. The pilots of the region start to learn that they can find a fight there if they want it, but if they go overkill, all they'll find is a bubble.

* * *

I'm just one pilot, in a small alliance. We've got a handful of experienced combat pilots, teaching brand new players how to fly and die in null. We fly mostly T1 Frigates and Cruisers. We're nobody special, yet what we are doing, playing our Eve, affects hundreds, maybe thousands of pilots as they fly through a small "useless" system in a quiet region of NPC space.

Proceed With Caution. That's a snapshot of the Eve PvP dynamic. No TCU required.

How to be a CEO

I've had the pleasure of being a CEO now, in one form or another, for the past 5 years. In that time I've run an industrial Corp, an anti-pirate Corp, a pirate Corp, and now a PVP and nullsec survival training Corp.

But I do know that I'm not an expert - there are others out there who are much better and more dedicated than I am at building highly successful Corps and alliances. All I've done is developed my own style, in line with my own interests, and achieved some success along the way.

But when someone asked me the other day if I had any advice for them on how to start their own Corp, I felt reasonably qualified to give them some tips and advice. As a result, I decided to put the results into a blog post, so that you readers might get some value from it too.

So let's get started...

1) As a CEO you're going to have to acknowledge to yourself that you can't do it alone, and you shouldn't even try. You need to get some dedicated people onboard with you that share your goals, so that you can work together on them. So you need to...

2) Develop a 'mission statement' for what you want to achieve in the game, and how you want to achieve it. This is going to define everything you do, and even how you do it. By making this public in some fashion you will attract people who want to be part of your vision or even support it, and it's the latter who may end up becoming your 'senior staff'. If your mission is simply to relax and have fun, then make sure you detail that, or you'll get people joining who might take it all too seriously.

3) Establish operational policies for all activity within the corp. The policies establish the rules for all members, so that they understand what they can and can't do, and what the penalties are for disobeying the rules. Make sure these policies are in line with your mission statement, and the image and reputation you want to create. Include policies for industrial activity and logistics, security and PVP operations, and even wartime operations when affected by wardecs. Common sense goes a long way.

4) Get dedicated department chiefs to manage each of the depts, eg. a PVP Chief, PVE Chief, Industrial Chief, etc. You won't have the time to manage the departments individually, nor are you likely to have the expertise, but you WILL have time to manage the Chiefs who'll each have their relevant expertise in those areas.

5) As soon as you can, form a group of 'senior officers' from members that are eager and willing to step up and give you advice about how things should be done. These people need to have experience to back up their advice and support. Make sure they are sensible and obviously promoting the best interests of the corp and your goals. Only trust those who want to support the growth of the corp, and don't lose sight of what your vision is. Anyone who tries to change your mind or lead you in a direction away from your vision, dump them immediately. You'll be better off without them.

6) Never give anyone Director status, and never give anyone access to the Corp wallet. However, if you really think you must, then make sure you protect your assets by doing the following:

- transfer most of the corp funds out of the master wallet and into your personal wallet where they can't touch it
- transfer needed Corp assets out of Corp hangars and into your personal hangars

The reason for all the above is because anyone can betray you at any point, and you want to minimize the temptations that might encourage them to betray you. If more money is needed, you can transfer it back into the Corp as needed. If assets are needed, you can hand them out one at a time as needed, and make sure you get them back when finished.

7) Transfer at least 51% of corp shares to your CEO. This will ensure that you maintain ownership of the corp and even if you do make people Directors and they try to vote you out of ownership, they can only succeed if they can get a majority vote against you, as voted by shareholders. If you own the majority, you can always ensure any votes you don't like will fail.

8) Always pay your bills. If you have offices, make sure you pay your monthly rental costs, or you'll lose it. If you have assets in Corp hangars, you don't want the hassle of having to go to that station and retrieve them from being Impounded.

9) Run your corp as a 'dictatorship', where the final decision is yours and yours alone. Running by committee will ensure that your decision-making process is tied up in committee discussions which never go where you want them to go. Let your senior staff and even Corp members provide advice and suggestions and feedback and input, but at the end of the day it's your decision as to how you want your corp to move forward. When people make suggestions that are in line with your vision, allow those suggestions to move forward as actions. But if the suggestions are in opposition to your vision, then smash those suggestions into the ground where they belong.

If people don't like it, they'll leave. Let them. You want people that support you and support your vision (make sure you publicise it to your members, as per rule #2 above).

10) Learn everything about the Corp Management tab, including corp wallet, setting up divisions, managing and monitoring members, accepting applications, and how titles and roles work. Understanding all of the Corp management options is essential.

11) Blog about your experiences. You'll be surprised at how many people you'll attract and recruit simply because you're writing about your corp, its' activities and your own activities. Be a public figure, as that helps with your notoriety. But...

12) If you want professional, fun, respectable members, make sure that you are being exactly what you want in your corp. If you're an idiot and smack talk others all the time, then that's the kind of recruit you'll attract. If you're mature and talk about the level of fun you have, then you'll get mature people looking for fun as well. Be the kind of person you want to attract. (Interestingly, this works in life too. :)

13) COMMUNICATE. It's very important that you establish and maintain effective communication between yourself, your senior staff and the corp members. Set up a forum to allow discussions between members - it's essential, regardless of what type of corp you run. Learn about how to administrate the forum, including various levels of permissions related to different sections of the forum. If you don't want to learn that, find someone who is skilled in forum administration who can do it for you.

Communication is what keeps a corp together, and is what motivates it to work together. Keep everyone informed about changes, new developments, or items of interest. If the leader is silent, the members lose morale and move on. If there's very little for you to actually communicate, make sure your senior staff and dept chiefs are communicating about their departments instead. Always keep communication going, so everyone knows what's going on with whom.

I hope all the above helps to get you started. It's a lot of work to run a corp, and it's a lot MORE work to run a successful corp. But working out what you want to achieve from running your own corp will be very important to determining how it grows and operates.

Don't forget to keep it in alignment with your own personal values. If you're not passionate yourself about the corp and the goals you have for it, then it simply becomes a huge chore that will bore the hell out of you and make you want to quit playing. Keep that in mind.

This isn't enough! I need more...

If anyone wants more personal help, I'm willing to offer my time and knowledge on Corp management in exchange for ISK (which will be considered as donations to OUCH's funds). Also, I'm available to create an alliance for you if you can't do it yourself.

Contact me if you would like to discuss anything further.

Help Wanted

There's two things I need help with, and I decided to put it out there to the community.

The first thing: admin assistant for www.evebloggers.com

I lead quite a busy life, and give myself only a small amount of time each day to Eve Online. in that time I'm usually managing OUCH (nullsec survival training corp) and the Art of War Alliance, dealing with administration issues, membership queries and management, and diplomatic relations. I rarely get time to actually fly, but that's ok, as my game is now admin and management.

But as a result of the immediate need for my daily involvement in this way, I have very little Eve time for anything else. That means that evebloggers.com is suffering from my lack of time to manage it. It's a project in its own right that serves the Eve community, and it's suffering.

I've been able to organize some assistance within OUCH, which has been fantastic and freed up a lot of my time to focus more on 'big picture' management.

I need that now for evebloggers.com

What I need is someone to help me with adding new blogs to the site, so that I can focus on other admin-related tasks for the site, as well as promotion of it to the greater community.

If you have time, and you'd like to help me and the Eve community, please contact me at evebloggers@gmail.com. I'll provide you with training to know what needs doing, along with ongoing support.

The second thing: tell me when you're mentioning OUCH or evebloggers.com

I read every single blog update that passes through evebloggers.com. I get excited when people mention OUCH and I usually visit their site and thank them for the mention. I also have an alert that tells me when someone sends or includes me in a tweet (to either @Alexia_Morgan or @Black_Claw or @eveblogs) so that I can keep up with mentions in the community.

However, I don't listen to podcasts at all. They just take too much time that I don't have. And if I'm listening to anything, it's usually relaxing music to wind down from the rest of my life...

So I'd like to establish a couple of new hash tags for you all to use with your tweets that would really help me out:

#eveouch
#evebloggers

If you promote either of those, or even if you just mention OUCH or evebloggers.com in a podcast, please use those hashtags in your tweets so that I can receive them in hashtag alerts, have a listen, and then promote you even further with my own comments or posts.

Thank you for your help!

The veterans are quitting Eve

You know, I've been seeing all this whinging and whining from all these Eve bloggers who are quitting because they don't like how Incarna seems to be turning out.

You know what? They're just the same as those whinging, crying carebears who don't like game mechanics being used against them and they want the game to be changed to suit them.

This is a game created by a company called CCP. It's their baby. How it turns out is, at the end of the day, entirely up to them.  The fact that they try to please the players (always a good thing), and even include a player-filled organisation to help them understand the needs of the players is an excellent thing.  It helps them improve their product so that they can get more people using it.

But ultimately, the business can do what the hell it likes with its product, that we pay for the privilege of using.

Regardless of what it does or doesn't have, or what is delivered or not delivered, it's still Eve Online.  These players who decide to quit because it's not turning out how THEY wanted it to turn out, all they do is remind me of spoiled little rich brats who throw a tantrum because they're not getting what they want.

Harden the fuck up.

Actually, no... stay soft. And stay gone. The rest of us who love this game don't need you hanging around in it, whinging about how it's not becoming the game you want it to be. This game is better without you, because there'll be less whinging in it.

CCP Shadow joined us in eve-bloggers chat

I was in-game yesterday when I noticed something I hadn't seen before - blue text. Eh? What's that? Lo and behold, for the first time ever in my Eve life, there was a CCP dude in the same chat room as me (eve-bloggers), and talking to me and everyone else. Exciting! So I thought I'd share the chat log with you. I've taken the time to mark his comments as blue, just like in-game.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Channel Name: eve-bloggers
Listener: Alexia Morgan
Session started: 2011.02.18 22:41:14
---------------------------------------------------------------

[ 2011.02.18 22:41:14 ] EVE System > Channel MOTD: Happy new year everyone!Welcome to our community of Eve bloggers. If you have a blog, please mention this channel on it and help spread the word! Are you on FACEBOOK? Then join the Eve Bloggers Facebook groupStay up to date with the Eve Bloggers portal
[ 2011.02.18 22:41:17 ] Cyberin > closing out one sometime soon though, selling my cap char because caps are boring
[ 2011.02.18 22:41:23 ] Placid09 > so why didn't you ever pick one up Shadow? they aren't to hard to start with
[ 2011.02.18 22:42:05 ] Placid09 > yeah, I'm selling one of my orca pilots soon, slimming the herd a bit
[ 2011.02.18 22:42:18 ] Alexia Morgan > o/
[ 2011.02.18 22:42:27 ] Placid09 > o/
[ 2011.02.18 22:42:30 ] Kalaratiri > o/ Alexia
[ 2011.02.18 22:42:36 ] CCP Shadow > friend of mine was going to teach me but that was around when I started EVE. So, 2007, and most other interests faded for a while. :D I moved back to the States and just never did it.
[ 2011.02.18 22:42:43 ] CCP Shadow > hi Alexia
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:04 ] Alexia Morgan > /emote blinks
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:04 ] Mike Azariah > heyas AM
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:07 ] Alexia Morgan > wow - blue text
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:13 ] Kyoko Sakoda > So I heard there was a party in this here channel.
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:18 ] Placid09 > lol
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:18 ] Alexia Morgan > hi Shadow - I'm honoured to see you in here :)
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:23 ] CCP Shadow > how goes OUCH?
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:23 ] Mark726 > I don't think I've ever seen CCP outside of the help chat
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:27 ] CCP Shadow > well thanks
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:32 ] Alexia Morgan > OUCH is going reallly well, thanks for asking
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:44 ] CCP Shadow > Mark, I'm going to be spending more time in game.
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:52 ] Mark726 > well, welcome :-D
[ 2011.02.18 22:43:52 ] Kalaratiri > CCP arrives, word spread, channel hits 300 people in half an hour :p
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:10 ] CCP Shadow > I believe I wrote about OUCH a while back when I was a writer at Massively.
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:12 ] Aaron Kalee > now if only my clients would stop crashing...
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:17 ] Mark726 > lol, telling the tweetfleet about it is what got me on here, admittedly... I should be doing ohmework >.>
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:19 ] Placid09 > there are a lot of great instructional videos and sites... I'm self taught, just started by playing around with guitar tabs online and being in a metal band in high school
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:36 ] Kalaratiri > Guys, recoomend some people for me to follow on twitter :p
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:44 ] Aaron Kalee > cyberineve
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:46 ] Aaron Kalee > :D
[ 2011.02.18 22:44:52 ] CCP Shadow > Kala, I don't see that happening. ;) Well if I timed this differently would've been ideal, but I may also pop by on the weekend.
[ 2011.02.18 22:45:01 ] Mike Azariah > that would be nice
[ 2011.02.18 22:45:32 ] Dacil Arandur > Hey CCP Shadow, nice to see you
[ 2011.02.18 22:45:33 ] Alexia Morgan > your writing at massively was fantastic. If there's any other ways you think we can work together to promote OUCH and evebloggers.com (and this channel) I'd be very happy to talk to you more :)
[ 2011.02.18 22:45:37 ] CCP Shadow > hi
[ 2011.02.18 22:45:38 ] Dacil Arandur > It's cool that you are back in the tweetfleet now
[ 2011.02.18 22:45:46 ] Mike Azariah > before you guys come on as 'blues' are you given a briedfing paper on subjects to avoid?
[ 2011.02.18 22:45:55 ] Dacil Arandur > lol
[ 2011.02.18 22:46:16 ] CCP Shadow > Alexia, that's part of what the Community team does. Granted I'm not on EVE Community anymore but I'm still working with them everyday.
[ 2011.02.18 22:46:56 ] CCP Shadow > Mike, I'm fairly well trusted at this point (LOL) so I know what to avoid. ;)
[ 2011.02.18 22:47:05 ] Mark726 > someone in eve trusted?
[ 2011.02.18 22:47:07 ] Mark726 > I don't believe it
[ 2011.02.18 22:47:28 ] Kyoko Sakoda > He could probably successfully scam all of Jita
[ 2011.02.18 22:47:34 ] Alexia Morgan > lol
[ 2011.02.18 22:47:39 ] CCP Shadow > and Alexia, thanks for the compliment. Sometimes I miss the days when I could just write all day, but i'm pretty happy here.
[ 2011.02.18 22:47:54 ] Alexia Morgan > what do you do exactly now, if you don't mind my asking
[ 2011.02.18 22:48:07 ] CCP Shadow > I'm the DUST 514 Community Manager.
[ 2011.02.18 22:48:11 ] Alexia Morgan > oh wow
[ 2011.02.18 22:48:12 ] Masada Akiva > hmmm... medal creator is being broken...
[ 2011.02.18 22:48:43 ] CCP Shadow > So, actually I think I said this yesterday or today on Twitter -- people ask what I do day to day since we're pre-launch...
[ 2011.02.18 22:49:01 ] Alexia Morgan > I have a question - how do I get a job at CCP? ;)
[ 2011.02.18 22:49:03 ] Masada Akiva > drink coffee and hit on the girl programmers?
[ 2011.02.18 22:49:25 ] Mark726 > shadow, are we getting DUST pics at fanfest? I know you said to not expect major announcements...
[ 2011.02.18 22:49:33 ] CCP Shadow > I spend a lot of time following the industry (MMO and FPS titles), reading the various DUST 514 threads on EVE O, other forums, the fansites
[ 2011.02.18 22:49:41 ] Mike Azariah > /emote guffaws "Girl programmers? You crack me up"
[ 2011.02.18 22:49:56 ] Mike Azariah > <--sarcastic, do not go all emo on me
[ 2011.02.18 22:49:57 ] Cyberin > OOHHHHH..>IDEA!!!!
[ 2011.02.18 22:50:06 ] Mark726 > lol, applebabe is gonna pod you now :-p
[ 2011.02.18 22:50:09 ] CCP Shadow > and in general planning for how I'm going to run my department and what we're going to do on a community level ramping up to launch and post-launch
[ 2011.02.18 22:50:21 ] Mike Azariah > My former CEO is a programmer
[ 2011.02.18 22:50:24 ] Mike Azariah > and a mother
[ 2011.02.18 22:50:30 ] Mike Azariah > so I assume the female
[ 2011.02.18 22:50:34 ] Cyberin > Shadow can't give/buy/sell/take anything...but...he can talk in channels! I'm gonna go do the double your isk scam in Jita, you wanna back me up and say I paid you your isk Shadow? :D lmao
[ 2011.02.18 22:50:39 ] CCP Shadow > Mark, I'm not sure what art assets or video there is or might be. I'm not in Shanghai right now or I'd know.
[ 2011.02.18 22:51:01 ] Mark726 > ah
[ 2011.02.18 22:51:04 ] CCP Shadow > Not really. Sorry.
[ 2011.02.18 22:51:05 ] CCP Shadow > :D
[ 2011.02.18 22:51:24 ] Mark726 > lol, its like he doesn't want to get fired or someting
[ 2011.02.18 22:51:31 ] CCP Shadow > imagine that
[ 2011.02.18 22:51:39 ] Alexia Morgan > Shadow - what do I need to keep an eye on to see what jobs are going at CCP?
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:04 ] Mike Azariah > obituarioes
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:09 ] Alexia Morgan > lol
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:11 ] Mark726 > lol
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:18 ] Kalaratiri > XD
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:20 ] Mark726 > there's a job page on the actual CCP page, isn't there?
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:21 ] CCP Shadow > We're keeping the jobs listings up to date. This last year we hired quite a number of people so we're slowing down a bit. The only positions available at present are the ones listed.
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:28 ] Mark726 > job postings get passed around the tweetfleet now and then
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:30 ] CCP Shadow > www.ccpgames.com/jobs
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:35 ] Alexia Morgan > thanks :)
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:40 ] Kalaratiri > Damn, was about to link that
[ 2011.02.18 22:52:48 ] Kalaratiri > I always get beaten to things :p
[ 2011.02.18 22:53:01 ] CCP Shadow > just curious though, was there a particular job you're seeking?
[ 2011.02.18 22:53:07 ] Mark726 > oh, PS, happy Hulkageddon Eve everyone
[ 2011.02.18 22:53:18 ] Alexia Morgan > yes - I'd love to be involved in community management in some fashion
[ 2011.02.18 22:53:36 ] Alexia Morgan > hmmm
[ 2011.02.18 22:53:55 ] Mark726 > you *want* to put up with us obnoxious fanboys (and girls)?
[ 2011.02.18 22:54:20 ] CCP Shadow > There are no vacancies right now on the EVE Community team, but I'm REALLY hoping we can hire soon. As to DUST Community, I am a team of one for right now.
[ 2011.02.18 22:54:58 ] CCP Shadow > Mark, for all the bad stuff there's generally way more good. That's my impression 1 year into this.
[ 2011.02.18 22:55:13 ] Alexia Morgan > absolutely Mark - helping out Eve players is what I love doing. Currently I do it by promoting the blogging community, as well as providing a training corp for noobs and carebears But getting more involved in the real behind the scenes stuff would be...
[ 2011.02.18 22:55:16 ] Alexia Morgan > excellent :)
[ 2011.02.18 22:55:28 ] CCP Shadow > also, i'm an EVE fan or I never would've ended up here. :)
[ 2011.02.18 22:55:37 ] Kalaratiri > Hmm, I'm torn who to vote for in the csm
[ 2011.02.18 22:55:48 ] Alexia Morgan > evebloggers.com currently has about 750 Eve bloggers - but I'm weeding out the inactive ones to tidy it up
[ 2011.02.18 22:55:50 ] Kalaratiri > Thinking either Seleene or Roc
[ 2011.02.18 22:55:51 ] Mark726 > heh, I would tend to agree actually. I pretty much love the tweetfleet and the bloggers, at least most of the time
[ 2011.02.18 22:56:14 ] Cyberin > i'm voting for me
[ 2011.02.18 22:56:42 ] Kyoko Sakoda > Shadow: Pie or cake?
[ 2011.02.18 22:56:55 ] CCP Shadow > cake
[ 2011.02.18 22:57:06 ] Kyoko Sakoda > Interesting.
[ 2011.02.18 22:57:40 ] Farmer Tedd > the cake is a lie
[ 2011.02.18 22:57:51 ] CCP Shadow > btw, as to above and job vacancies, i have no idea when more positions will open up but the listings are current to the best of my knowledge.
[ 2011.02.18 22:58:05 ] Alexia Morgan > thanks - I'll be keeping an eye on it
[ 2011.02.18 22:58:13 ] CCP Shadow > Black Forest Cake? yes please.
[ 2011.02.18 22:58:49 ] Kyoko Sakoda > I had an apple fritter the size of my fist today, need not more sugar.
[ 2011.02.18 22:59:12 ] Mike Azariah > OIi, I'm not even up for consideration?
[ 2011.02.18 22:59:28 ] Mike Azariah > /emote grumbles about Roc getting all the fans
[ 2011.02.18 23:00:10 ] Alexia Morgan > MA, are you going for this CSM too?
[ 2011.02.18 23:00:11 ] Mark726 > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:00:25 ] Mike Azariah > . . .
[ 2011.02.18 23:00:27 ] Mike Azariah > yes I am
[ 2011.02.18 23:00:36 ] Alexia Morgan > I see
[ 2011.02.18 23:00:44 ] Mark726 > I honestly haven't made up my mind yet with CSM
[ 2011.02.18 23:00:59 ] Mark726 > when does voting start again?
[ 2011.02.18 23:01:10 ] Alexia Morgan > I thought about CSM a couple years ago, but never followed it up - maybe in the future I'll have a go
[ 2011.02.18 23:01:16 ] Mike Azariah > To tell the truth I think that the biggest problem is when there ARE really good candidates
[ 2011.02.18 23:01:20 ] Mike Azariah > and lots of them
[ 2011.02.18 23:01:22 ] Cyberin > who's gonna vote for me?
[ 2011.02.18 23:01:32 ] Mike Azariah > the decision process actually starts to break down
[ 2011.02.18 23:02:07 ] Alexia Morgan > I think Roc is motivated by anger against CCP for taking away Capsuleer. I see his focus is on business aspects
[ 2011.02.18 23:02:33 ] Alexia Morgan > taking away isn't right - more like lack of support
[ 2011.02.18 23:02:42 ] Mike Azariah > /emote nods, writing a post right now about 3rd party stuff, dammit Mandrill did a great piece earlier
[ 2011.02.18 23:03:19 ] Mark726 > I don't think he's motivated primarily by that
[ 2011.02.18 23:03:33 ] Cyberin > i won't vote for Roc simply for that reason
[ 2011.02.18 23:03:39 ] Alexia Morgan > same
[ 2011.02.18 23:03:47 ] Cyberin > i don't think CCP should have anything to do with 3rd party apps..that's why they are called THIRD party
[ 2011.02.18 23:03:53 ] Alexia Morgan > MA, I voted for you last time - I'll be doing it again
[ 2011.02.18 23:04:11 ] TetraEtc > MA ran last time?
[ 2011.02.18 23:04:18 ] Cyberin > i know who i'm voting for next year, not sure about this year yet
[ 2011.02.18 23:04:45 ] TetraEtc > i know who you all should be voting for in 2 years time :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:04:51 ] Mike Azariah > /emote facepalms
[ 2011.02.18 23:04:59 ] Cyberin > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:05:12 ] Cyberin > i knew you ran both years Mike, I still love you :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:05:30 ] CCP Shadow > How did this go from apple fritters to SERIOUS BUSINESS?
[ 2011.02.18 23:05:41 ] Alexia Morgan > we're a crazy bunch in here, Shadow :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:05:46 ] Mike Azariah > welcome to eve bloggers
[ 2011.02.18 23:05:52 ] Alexia Morgan > conversation ebbs and flows in all directions
[ 2011.02.18 23:05:57 ] RexMurphy > lolz
[ 2011.02.18 23:05:59 ] Mark726 > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:00 ] TetraEtc > it could be worse.. the dust514 channel is crazy
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:00 ] Cyberin > because EVE IS SRYS BIZNES
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:00 ] Kyoko Sakoda > Be glad this isn't VETO Alliance.
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:06 ] Mark726 > I think I voted for Mike first time he ran
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:10 ] CCP Shadow > I used to come in here a while back
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:25 ] Alexia Morgan > hey Shadow, what brings you in here today?
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:28 ] Mike Azariah > so you were the other one, mark
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:32 ] Mike Azariah > /emote shakes head
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:33 ] Mark726 > :-D
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:37 ] Cyberin > go get more devs to just in here Shadow, lets have a party
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:44 ] Cyberin > jump*
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:47 ] Cyberin > /emote can't type today
[ 2011.02.18 23:06:55 ] Kalaratiri > Agreed, want dev party
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:00 ] Cyberin > speaking of typing...i should be working on that post i promised today...
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:00 ] Mark726 > YESSSSSSSSSSSS
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:00 ] CCP Shadow > In general I would like to spend more time talking with the player community, beyond the forums, beyond social media.
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:12 ] CCP Shadow > I figured this would be a nice way to kick it off.
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:17 ] TetraEtc > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:26 ] Cyberin > what i would personally like, is more dev comments on blogs :D
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:30 ] TetraEtc > get in the dust 514 channel... need someone to lay down the law occaisonly :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:07:56 ] Alexia Morgan > Shadow, we're very happy you're here
[ 2011.02.18 23:08:04 ] Alexia Morgan > I'm recording this chat and will be posting it on Black Claw's blog
[ 2011.02.18 23:08:18 ] Mark726 > its always great to see CCP interaction with the community :-D
[ 2011.02.18 23:08:19 ] Kalaratiri > twitter is confuzzling me
[ 2011.02.18 23:08:24 ] Mark726 > how so?
[ 2011.02.18 23:08:28 ] Kalaratiri > I knew htere was a reason I didn't use it
[ 2011.02.18 23:08:47 ] Kalaratiri > can't work out how to add a profile picture -.-
[ 2011.02.18 23:08:53 ] Kalaratiri > such a basic thing...
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:10 ] Alexia Morgan > Shadow - is there anything you'd like to say to the eve bloggers and the eve community for the reprint on Black Claw's blog? :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:12 ] TetraEtc > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:38 ] TetraEtc > just randomly.. is there an eve bloggers list on twitter?
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:40 ] CCP Shadow > Drink more Ovaltine
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:42 ] CCP Shadow > :D
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:44 ] Alexia Morgan > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:48 ] TetraEtc > LOL
[ 2011.02.18 23:09:52 ] Cyberin > CCP Shadow > I love Cyberin, he is my favoriteist person ever
[ 2011.02.18 23:10:10 ] TetraEtc > Cyberin > I like tanks
[ 2011.02.18 23:10:16 ] Alexia Morgan > there is, but it's not very active because evebloggers.com is a portal to other active blogs - it doesn't generate its own content or events
[ 2011.02.18 23:10:17 ] Cyberin > tanks are cool
[ 2011.02.18 23:10:25 ] CCP Shadow > There's less realism without the blue text.
[ 2011.02.18 23:10:42 ] CCP Shadow > Sry, was just on the phone with arrangements for tonight.
[ 2011.02.18 23:11:17 ] Mark726 > tetra, I don't think there's a formal list
[ 2011.02.18 23:11:18 ] CCP Shadow > But I stand by my statement. Drink more Ovaltine. Also brush and floss.
[ 2011.02.18 23:11:25 ] Mark726 > though there's a number of informal ones
[ 2011.02.18 23:11:31 ] Mark726 > the tweetfleet is really the only formal list
[ 2011.02.18 23:11:37 ] Alexia Morgan > thanks Shadow :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:11:48 ] TetraEtc > Ovaltine aye.. time to go shopping
[ 2011.02.18 23:12:41 ] CCP Shadow > Hate to say this, but I'm going to have to run in about... 15 minutes or so
[ 2011.02.18 23:12:59 ] Alexia Morgan > yeh, me too - I've got cats to take to the vet for yearly vaccinations
[ 2011.02.18 23:13:03 ] Kyoko Sakoda > Me too. Food. Been inspired by Regular Ordinary Swedish Mealtime.
[ 2011.02.18 23:13:24 ] RexMurphy > eveyones so busy
[ 2011.02.18 23:13:50 ] CCP Shadow > Rex, it's Japanese for dinner. Japanese!
[ 2011.02.18 23:13:58 ] Aaron Kalee > i have nothing to do except shoot at people tonight
[ 2011.02.18 23:14:00 ] Aaron Kalee > (ingame)
[ 2011.02.18 23:14:11 ] Cyberin > stupid alts...
[ 2011.02.18 23:14:32 ] Kalaratiri > Doing an interview, so going a bit quiet. (btw try interveiwing someone IC, its harder than you'd think :p)
[ 2011.02.18 23:14:36 ] RexMurphy > im only shootin at sleepers
[ 2011.02.18 23:14:52 ] RexMurphy > come find me and shoot at me Cyberian
[ 2011.02.18 23:14:54 ] Mark726 > lol, best of luck with that kala
[ 2011.02.18 23:15:07 ] RexMurphy > :D
[ 2011.02.18 23:15:10 ] Cyberin > come to Syndicate and i'll shoot you
[ 2011.02.18 23:15:21 ] Alexia Morgan > CCP Shadow who do I talk to in order to get an advert for OUCH into the game when people log on? :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:15:51 ] CCP Shadow > I should know this, but don't.. One moment.
[ 2011.02.18 23:16:09 ] Cyberin > /emote pays attention to this answer
[ 2011.02.18 23:18:18 ] Mark726 > huh, my p4 stuff actually went up pretty significantly in price
[ 2011.02.18 23:18:25 ] Mark726 > i'm rather surprised by that
[ 2011.02.18 23:18:27 ] Kalaratiri > don't suppose anyone can tell me how to add a profile picture to twitter?
[ 2011.02.18 23:18:43 ] Mark726 > lol, give me a sec kala
[ 2011.02.18 23:19:20 ] CCP Shadow > Hmm, well it's after hours. Tell you what, best way is to ask me directly via petition. You'd want to select 'Other issues' in the first category, 'Community' in the second category, and in the title "For CCP Shadow" so it'll get directed to me.
[ 2011.02.18 23:19:33 ] CCP Shadow > I can ask around and let you know.
[ 2011.02.18 23:19:42 ] Dante Chusuk > its related to advertising in EON magazine if i remember correctly
[ 2011.02.18 23:19:54 ] CCP Shadow > Dante, I think you're right but I am not 100% on that
[ 2011.02.18 23:20:01 ] Dante Chusuk > http://eonmagazine.net/contribute/ads/
[ 2011.02.18 23:20:03 ] Alexia Morgan > ok, thank you very much - and thanks for dropping by, I'm sure everyone will agree that we hope to see you more often in here in future :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:20:08 ] Kyoko Sakoda > It is, but there must be a way you can advertise without doing so in EON?
[ 2011.02.18 23:20:26 ] CCP Shadow > oh np, but i'm not leaving quite yet
[ 2011.02.18 23:20:40 ] Alexia Morgan > I am - I wanted to get the thanks out of the way before I go :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:21:25 ] CCP Shadow > gotcha. well i'll see you around soon. 07
[ 2011.02.18 23:21:28 ] Alexia Morgan > o7
[ 2011.02.18 23:21:38 ] Kalaratiri > Fly Safe, eat well
[ 2011.02.18 23:21:47 ] Mark726 > fly safe o7
[ 2011.02.18 23:22:15 ] CCP Shadow > Kyoko, any current film projects?
[ 2011.02.18 23:22:18 ] Mark726 > kala, http://support.twitter.com/articles/127871-how-to-change-your-profile-picture-or-information
[ 2011.02.18 23:22:32 ] Kalaratiri > Thank you
[ 2011.02.18 23:27:30 ] CCP Shadow > Sweet. Ball is rolling. Shanghai in April.
[ 2011.02.18 23:27:34 ] Kalaratiri > interesting.. I don't have the picture option
[ 2011.02.18 23:27:46 ] Mark726 > yeah, neither do I actually
[ 2011.02.18 23:27:49 ] Mark726 > bizarre
[ 2011.02.18 23:28:17 ] CCP Shadow > maybe it's Old Twitter vs. New Twitter views?
[ 2011.02.18 23:29:08 ] Mark726 > I don't know what to tell you kala, sorry :-S
[ 2011.02.18 23:29:17 ] Kalaratiri > np
[ 2011.02.18 23:29:44 ] Mark726 > I wanna go to shanghai :-(
[ 2011.02.18 23:29:48 ] Mark726 > actually, I want to go to fanfest
[ 2011.02.18 23:29:55 ] Mark726 > but neither is gonna happen anytime soon :-(
[ 2011.02.18 23:30:17 ] CCP Shadow > This is my first Fanfest.
[ 2011.02.18 23:31:18 ] CCP Shadow > Wondering if I should build up a brennevin tolerance
[ 2011.02.18 23:31:21 ] Mark726 > where are you based?
[ 2011.02.18 23:31:30 ] CCP Shadow > I'm in the US for now
[ 2011.02.18 23:31:48 ] CCP Shadow > Relocating to our Shanghai office for about 6 months
[ 2011.02.18 23:31:53 ] Mark726 > nice
[ 2011.02.18 23:31:56 ] Mark726 > where in the US?
[ 2011.02.18 23:31:59 ] CCP Shadow > Could be longer.
[ 2011.02.18 23:32:00 ] Mark726 > if you don't mind me stalking
[ 2011.02.18 23:32:01 ] Mark726 > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:32:08 ] CCP Shadow > New Jersey. And I don't mind.
[ 2011.02.18 23:32:48 ] CCP Shadow > We don't have NJ office, they just let me work remotely. For now, anyway.
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:05 ] Mark726 > yeah, they only have Atlanta, Iceland, and Shanghai, right?
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:09 ] RexMurphy > The Jersey Shore!!!!
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:16 ] CCP Shadow > also Newcastle
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:33 ] CCP Shadow > That's a DUSt 514 team based there.
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:33 ] Kalaratiri > hmmm newcastle..
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:37 ] Mark726 > ah
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:42 ] Kalaratiri > 2 hour drive from me
[ 2011.02.18 23:33:53 ] CCP Shadow > Rex, pleased to say that i've never seen that show.
[ 2011.02.18 23:34:07 ] Mark726 > he's never seen it, he's just been on it :-p
[ 2011.02.18 23:34:27 ] CCP Shadow > I just ignore the cameras and suddenly I'm famous.
[ 2011.02.18 23:34:52 ] Mark726 > punching people helps too, I hear
[ 2011.02.18 23:34:54 ] RexMurphy > you are a lucky person. the gf streams it from her pc.. about a meter away from mine
[ 2011.02.18 23:35:17 ] CCP Shadow > I'm not a reality TV fan at all.
[ 2011.02.18 23:35:56 ] Mark726 > I like cash cab
[ 2011.02.18 23:36:06 ] Mark726 > does that count?
[ 2011.02.18 23:36:08 ] RexMurphy > ha
[ 2011.02.18 23:36:10 ] CCP Shadow > You should buy her some very nice headphones. Because you care. About her.
[ 2011.02.18 23:37:26 ] RexMurphy > Breaking bad is a good show
[ 2011.02.18 23:38:13 ] CCP Shadow > I find that I almost never sit down to watch shows when they air. Pretty much Hulu all the way, or Netflix to watch a whole season in one go.
[ 2011.02.18 23:38:27 ] Mark726 > lol, I recently discovered www.allstepisodes.com
[ 2011.02.18 23:38:33 ] Mark726 > I'm currently making my way through DS9
[ 2011.02.18 23:39:27 ] CCP Shadow > oh wow. quality?
[ 2011.02.18 23:39:35 ] Mark726 > eh, not fantastic
[ 2011.02.18 23:39:44 ] Mark726 > but for my purposes it works fine
[ 2011.02.18 23:39:48 ] CCP Shadow > sure
[ 2011.02.18 23:40:30 ] Mark726 > ok, I finished my market run, so I suppose I should take off
[ 2011.02.18 23:40:35 ] Mark726 > 200mil in sell orders \o/
[ 2011.02.18 23:40:44 ] CCP Shadow > well i'm definitely going to be late so I've got to to as well
[ 2011.02.18 23:40:50 ] Mark726 > lol
[ 2011.02.18 23:40:57 ] Mark726 > welcome to the channel, hope to see you around here a lot :-D
[ 2011.02.18 23:40:58 ] RexMurphy > See ya!
[ 2011.02.18 23:41:11 ] Kalaratiri > bai :)
[ 2011.02.18 23:41:17 ] Mark726 > fly safe, all o7
[ 2011.02.18 23:41:22 ] CCP Shadow > Was nice meeting you all, and I think i'll be talking to you more on Twitter too
[ 2011.02.18 23:41:37 ] CCP Shadow > 07

Action Report - 13 Feb 2011

This is the first of a planned series of reports based on 'after action reports' that OUCH / AWA members write on our forums. I decided to share them with you all, to showcase the ongoing adventures that members of OUCh enjoy.

So a small fleet of about 10 pilots got bored with camping a bubble (a common operational activity in OUCH) and went out on a roam through Curse and Catch, flying a mix of frigates and a destroyer, and including some equipped for e-war.

They spent a while travelling around before arriving at some nullsec space owned and inhabited by blues, and ended up deciding to go back home. This was when the action began...

They encountered The Initiative who engaged the rag-tag fleet of frigates with their Vagabond, Dramiel and Ishkur. After the dust cleared, OUCH had lost 4 of their frigates and the destroyer, but the other guys had lost their Ishkur and Dramiel. Not a bad exchange...

So the small fleet re-shipped and had a few skirmishes here and there with nothing substantial, but then were escorting a 'blue' freighter when it was ambushed by A4D and lost.

Lessons were learned, mistakes were acknowledged. And the learning goes on.

Cleaning out old Eve Online blogs

For those that don't know, I'm the owner and admin of The Eve Online Bloggers Portal. When I'm not running OUCH or the Art of War Alliance, I'm admin for evebloggers.com.

What this means is that every now and again I add new blogs to the site, so that everyone who either subscribes to evebloggers.com or visits the site will see the most recent updates on the front page from the Eve Online blogs out there.

I just had a look at the number of blogs that I have listed at evebloggers.com - there's 750 blogs about Eve Online that are listed. But I know that not all of those 750 blogs are currently active, or currently about Eve Online. People come, and people go, and blogs get lost by the wayside or changed as the interests of the author change.

So I'm going to start a new project. I'm going to go through every single one of those 750 blogs and I will remove:

• every blog that hasn't published a new post in 6 months or more
• every blog that doesn't have anything related to Eve Online on their front page

I'm wondering how many blogs this will remove, but the end result is going to be a more accurate number of 'currently active Eve Online blogs'.

I imagine this will take me a few weeks, but I think it will be worth it. Once I'm finished, this page will be a lot more accurate: Eve Online Player Blogs

If your blog is going to be one of those that get removed but you'd rather not - then get your act together and start posting about Eve before I come to yours. :)