Blog Banter #5: Meet Paul

This month’s topic comes to us from Mynxee of Life in Low Sec. She asks “Alts and Metagaming: Is playing two accounts who are logged in at the same time and work together (hauler/miner, explorer/combat associate, trade alts in trade hubs) a form of metagaming that is “ruining the game”?”

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Meet my brother Paul.

Paul is an alt. He does not know he is one, or he pretends not to know, but I think he is an alt. My alt.

For starters, he has this uncanny ability to show up just in time and do whatever it is that I need. If I am running a mission he may show up to salvage, or to haul. Sometimes he shows up to mine the gravi sites I explore.

I swear, he must know somehow when, where and what.

We are different. He is the quiet one, I am the chatty one. He has got Maman's eyes and I have Papa's -but there is still some resemblance. I joined UC, he went to CAS. But I think that what is amazing is, how different we have chosen to be, how complementary our skills and career paths have become since he returned a year ago... it is as if we intentionally avoided doing each other's stuff, even the stuff we plan for the future! I have given up on research, for example, knowing that he will help me with my blueprints; he relies on me for fast courier runs.

Paul does stuff that I would not touch with a 10 km pole like, mining or refining. Boy, does he know rocks ("we don't call them rocks, Quin, it's ore"). He's got this sick sense of humor; often sends pics of industrial accidents signed 'Wish you were here.' You should see the guy's eyes twinkle when someone mentions hedbergite.

So what if he likes different stuff? The weird thing is that sometimes he will do stuff he does not like such as scouting ahead, joining a corp and I suspect he does not really care about getting podded.

We get along like, well, brother and sister, especially with other people around. I still remember that party at the Victory where my big brother introduced himself to everyone simply as "Mr. Delorois." Jerk. By the end of the evening some of my own friends were volunteering to spill their drinks on his face. Still, he sometimes flies me to events and parties when I have to dress up and can't ride in the pod. Maybe he wants me to hook him up with some of my friends. I have noticed how he looks at Miette...

So, lemme see.

• Funny connection, we know what each other knows. Check.
  
• Skill sets complement each other. Check.
  
• He does stuff for me that he does not even like. Check.
  
• Always there. Check.
  

Yup, an alt. Definitely, an alt.

Hmm. Does having such an amazing connection to someone else -know/complement/help/always- ruin other people's day in space? I do not think so. Everybody has their own connections, team mates, corp mates, brothers and sisters and friends and family. Stronger or weaker connections but, see, at the end of the day it is about people rather than spaceships. If you have people around you, alts or not, you are better off.

Now, it is certainly unfair. But not anymore than having a better spaceship or better modules. Maybe it does ruin life for lone wolf types but, hey, it should be a lesson for everyone to reach out and team up with someone.

So there. Meet Paul, my alt. Oh, and by the way? I introduced him to this metagame, RealLife(tm). Don't tell anyone, but we share a RL account.

Definitely, an alt.

-Q

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Participants:

• Epic Misadventures, This is my Alt - There are many like it but this one is mine.
• Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, I Missed This Month's Blog Banter!
• A Mule in EvE, Meta what? Is it hurting EvE?
• Morphisat's EVE Online Blog, Me, Myself and I
• One Man And His Spaceship, Me and My Shadow
• Ombeve, Blog Banter edition 5
• Diving into PsycheDiver's Psyche, CK's Blog Banter #5: Everybody Needs Somebody
• Dense Veldspar, Blog Banter
• Ecliptic Rift, OOC: Blog Banter #5 Metagaming
• The Ralpha Dogs, Me, Myself and I
• Mad Rant, "Blog Banter - It's my party, and I'll alt if I want to...."
• EVE Chick, The Handicapper General
• The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, "...you see mate, it's a matter of leverage, savvy?..."
• New Eden Diaries, It's only a game
• Oz’s House of the Evil Dead, If You Can’t Ride Two Horses At Once, You Shouldn’t Be In The Circus
• Diving into PsycheDiver's Psyche, Everybody Needs Somebody
• more to come over the next few days!...
  

Pssst, ISD

Haha! Quick note to say that we made the ISD frontpage news.

Thank you so very much ISD, for attending the event and spreading the word :) My name is even there as the "organizer" of all that mess.

However, there is such a thing as a proper form of address. You know, it would have been nice to add something like, "Season 6 interceptors champion Quintrala." I have worked too hard for too long to get here, and I do not think I will be ready to let go of that until someone else takes the title away from my hands.

I am not here just to plan the party and pass the cheetos. D'accord?

;)

-Q

Racing Series
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Racing Rookies

And the race went well :)

Eight people showed up in T1 frigates, it was actually 3/5 rookies to vets, but I still split them 4/4. I had the rookies play hide & seek with me at the starting line until I decloaked, then whoever was closest got to choose his vet first and so on. Four couples flying on a "blind vet." They had ten minutes to get to know each other a bit, get on fleet and voice and off they went!

Five minutes later I was bored silly. Not much happens on chat while people are racing.

But, I had an advantage - I knew where the track went so I had my, ah, cloaked cam at a nice spot in Egmar, which proved to be the best vantage point for watching the action like I had never seen before, half an hour later.

Oh boy, where to begin? With the fleet of locals that showed up in the middle of our track? Pirate acquaintance Shae mentioned later that Egmar happens to be GIS's base, rather than our track -I think she may have a point there. What about the fleet vanishing minutes before our first racer arrived? And it was the best waypoint ever: I saw Takashi warping in, then Kay and the rest... then Kazuo overtaking them both right there, warping out followed out by Kay and then Tak. You don't see that kind of flying every day (and if you are racing, you don't have time to notice). After all, very nice view.

Kazuo ran a surprisingly good race, he was smart and consistent and even beat Tak to the finish line (Kaz got a 5-minute penalty for a silly mistake, which did not really matter for the standings anyway). Kay came in 3rd and NeonFolf closed the line -he seems to have run slow just to keep pace with his rookie Kira.

Our rookies were amazing. Cai Lun (not really a rookie but, hey) won the race for himelf and Kaz. Dracoknight carried second for Tak, and today I hear he was promptly recruited by Tak's team. Bloodpetal was engaged by... an interceptor? and not only managed to get out alive, but came in just 10 seconds behind Draco. Last but not least, Kira Storm was shot down, but she re-shipped and came back to complete the race. That was probably the best part, to see her finish -as they say, the last person to finish a marathon deserves quite a lot of respect.

In the end I think it was a good race: eight racers out, two hours, eight racers in. I am happy that there were no major disasters with the organizing and hosting. I was just surprised and a bit stressed out by all the time it took me to go through all of it from the organization point of view (8-9 hours all things considered), so I am really looking forward to having KillJoy back to organize. There is a reason I am PR...

Anyway, as a reward, I treated myself with a quick ski trip. It is a shame Mt. Kaala is no longer a destination, I used to love that ;)

Racing Series
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Rookies & Vets

Everything is set for the Season 7 opening race. It is going to be an exhibition race, which means no scores and no official teams, basically everyone against everyone. With a twist, this time.

Some of the best racers will show up - rumour has it, Takashi coming back to the races; I think this means that VRT will be back in force. If true, this will be an amazing season. I really hope Dirtside will bring their best too.

But for this race, we are also inviting every rookie and potential racer in sight. What we are going to do is we pair rookies and veterans, ideally one and one. They should fleet, voice and race together, with the vet doing his stuff and helping the rookie along. At the end of the race, only the rookies will be scored.

The twist: awards go to the best rookies, and their vets.

So there you go. Our race is today, Sunday 22, in Metropolis. If you are interested, please come along to the "RACING LEAGUE" in-game channel at 19:00 for the pre-race; 20:00 race and we should be done by, say 21:30? Bring a T1 frigate with a microwarp drive, that's all.

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I have this funny feeling that I am not going to finish the race this time...

Actually, I know for a fact I am not finishing. Haha, I am not even starting! For the very first time, I am running the show... KillJoy is away and so is Miette, so it falls on the PR person to do this (I must admit I also said yes out of curiosity, and not wanting to delay the season anymore)... and now because I am hostess and I know the track, I should not race.

Well, let's see how things look from the sidelines. This should be fun...

-Q

Racing Series
What happened before Season 7 - still being written.
See what happened next

Racing Spy

November 109, ISGC Season 4, between races 3 and 4
Somewhere in Sinq Laison...

So I was testing the Poison Apple with her new rig. It was our secret weapon.

After months, we had finally gathered enough salvage for that second T2 polycarboard rig, used the second shot of Prof. Ryder's blueprint and set the fit crew loose on my racing interceptor.

Bye bye flying brick. Hello, gorgeous.


When they were finished she was lighter, therefore faster and nimbler when racing on MWD. Lots. People say Large T2 rigs are overkill, but every second counts and there is only so much that you can do with only two rig slots. You simply must have the best of the best. And there is nothing wrong with a few expensive treats. Mmmm, yes, one little problem: being dirt-poor. But having a kickass interceptor that cost the same as a small gang of battleships is sort of cool :)

It was time to go for a ride.

I eased her out of the hangar and set course to the test track. After a brief chat, Kay, Ken and I were up for it, I was going to try and see how much time I could cut the Auvergne-Renyn-Auvergne run from my 8 minutes and 20 seconds personal record. Also, I'd be watching Kay and I was sure she would be watching me. Race training is a chance to learn and improve.

Now think of it: how cool was that? The owners of the Big Three teams together, rivals chatting away at the test track. Only, Ken showed up in a Tristan and that is not exactly racing material.

A thought crossed my mind. Should I cloak? Too close. Nah, moving beyond range should be enough -MWD, eyeblink, orbit, there. Plus, he'd never shoot me.

But something was nagging me. Something was not right.

We chatted away for a while about stuff and then then Kay and I blasted off; Ken excused himself and had to go.

Eight minutes and fifteen seconds later (yay!), we were back to start another run.

--

Half an hour later we decided to call it quits. She was still faster with her Ares but, hey, I was improving my times and had been still watching her. She gated faster than I did, I rocked on align and approach. I was almost sure she was warping faster too.

Training over, we all ended up in the same chat channel. That's when it got interesting.

We talked about everything and anything and, at some point in time, Ken brought up rigs. Then T2 rigs. Specifically, Polycarbon Engine Housing II's. I complained about being a poor University student with no money -with 30M in the wallet it was completely true; it was because of the stupid price on poly materials but I was not about to say that- then Ken retorted with:

KZ > "Anyone using those things must be filthy stinking rich, or have a really big source of income."

*Dear reader. A distinction must be made now between what was said by a person (quotes), what was understood by the other person (translation) and, in some cases, what was really meant (meta-translation). Enjoy.

Translation*: I know your fitting.

Merde. Right then I knew what had nagging me: he had scanned me and probably Kay too. I simply knew it. Stupid, stupid Quin.

But Ken? He might as well have confessed right there. Why say anything to us? That was silly, in space we were vulnerable but in a chat channel we would pwn him. We would make him feel sorry for that...

Quin > I want T2, all the way :-) still wonder whether a poly/poly or a poly/hyper would be best...
Translation: I don't believe you. Prove it.
Meta-translation: I know you know and I am so going to make you admit to it.

KZ > I know who has 'em and who doesn't, so I'll know when to finally part with the cash.
Translation: Gotcha, and I am not telling you how.

How cute. Keep talking...

Quin > who has them and who does not?
Translation: Bullshit. You don't have a clue. La la la, Ken does not have a clue.
Meta-translation: Come on, tell us. You know you want to.

KZ > That's for me to know.
KZ > ...or not know. There's always the possibility I'm bluffing about my copious intel on rival teams. =P
Translation: I do have a clue, you silly woman. Wait. Damit, I think I am talking too much!

Ha, ha, too late.

Quin > Ken, just curious, are people in your team scanning other racers?
Translation: Boo! You have no secrets. What are you going to do now, come clean or lie to your friends?
Meta-translation: Game ooveer. Hello? You can tell us now.

The moment of truth...

KZ > Just so you ladies know, my intel comes from me. You've both been scanned. Whenever I've had the chance.
Translation: Aaaaah! I confess, I did it!

At that point the rest of the channel was paying attention. Kay was incredibly angry; Gyra, the Racing League organizer, jumped on him and threatened to kick him out of the channel. The point being, scanning during the race was expected and, during the race we would take precautions. But as friends... ouch. Where was the trust? He had taken pictures of stuff we wanted private.

(And before you remind me how stupid I was not to take precautions anyway, I will go and say yes, very stupid. I should have.)

He ended up feeling sorry. He had confessed not only to having scanned us both, but also to posting the results on his racing team's board. He promised to take everything down and make amends.

Moral of the story: read between the lines ;)

--

Within a day, his very own team convened to pass judgment. Before he died (no, no, that's a different story, he was not executed for this), Ken had been the owner of VRT and one of its racers, but Tak was the Captain and held the gavel. According to the team charter (his team has like a zillion rules - mine has one and it is "Have fun") he was reprimanded, suspended for like, two races, and fined ISK 10 million.

Two races. 10 million. And he did not like racing that much to begin with.

Grr. Even a dirt-poor University student can afford 10 million. I mean, paying 5 to get someone's scan is pretty much sale price. He had done it twice. At that price per ticket, even I would do that.

I was angry. And I was going to get back at him.

(continued...)

Racing Series
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Gossip

It was October, YC 91.

I still remember Eram on my skin, sunlight warm and nice, a big green garden full of grass and trees and a pergola in the back. I was born there.

It was dad's first senior diplomatic assignment as an expert-technical-advisor-whatever-attaché to the Fed consulate to the Sebiestor tribe. We used to live in the expat district among so many foreigners and well-to-do Matari. My first memories are of stuff so alien to most that, well, it is just funny. Like people driving everywhere - sure, you can walk around at ground level but, it is so warm and things so far apart that by the time you get there, you need bug-bite cream and a clothes change. Airco rules. Or, playing with Paul in the mud, actual mud, in our garden without grownups yelling at us. Or, iguanas on the roof basking in the sun - mom once asked what could be done about those and was given a stew recipe, ew.

Totally alien, I tell you.

Anyhow, Paul and I attended this school nearby, the International School of Eram, where all the snobby kids like us would go wearing our little uniforms, learn boring stuff like reading and would go play out once in a while. I met my first friends back there, most of them Matari like Taro and Reba and Fred, and some expats like myself. On days off we would get together, sometimes at my place, sometimes at theirs.

By age four I had noticed something funny. Not a single one of the local kids was coming to my place. There was nothing wrong with the place, mind you. We had a room full of toys and dolls and holos and stuff, and my big brother even had that cool Capitaine Chasseur and the Fed Patrol set. But other than my Gallentean friends, no one else would ever show up. The strangest thing was, everything was nice and happy when I went to their places.

"Maman, why won't they visit with us?" I asked mom once.

She smiled. Did she suppress a giggle? Kids do notice, even if you do not think so "Oh, Catherine, do not worry about that, it is just a silly thing. You can always go play with them at theirs, if you want."

"But, I want to show them my stuff! Like this here my doll Anne and her friends, she never gets to play with my friends. And Taro has always wanted to see Paul's toys, but he will not come over and..."

She frowned a bit "Look, sweetie, there is this little thing called gossip. Do you know what it is?" I shook my head. "Gossip is when one talks to friends and then one's friends go and talk to their friends about the same thing."

I understood at once. "Okay, so the gossip lets us all stay in touch!" :D I had just found a new and very powerful means of communication. I wondered whose friends I could reach with this and all the new people I would meet, cool! I just needed to get myself a gossip and I'd be set.

Mom rolled her eyes. "Well yes and no."

She was being shifty, I knew, she wanted to hide this from me becausethegossipisagrownupthing or youarenotoldenoughforasubscription or something. I put my best face, smiled but stood my ground. "How so? Why? Can I have a gossip too? Please? Please?"

"A gossip is not something you have, it is something you do Cathi," -nobody called me Quin, yet- "You go and gossip with friends of yours, and they will go and gossip with theirs. It is fun but sometimes... it is not as fun."

So that was the problem. Mom then told me how she had learned from her friends, who in turn had learned from their daughters, that Reba had heard a story that went something like this:

They put something weird in the water supply at Gallente homes, so kids grow up to be dopeheads just like their parents.

And Reba was in a position to know. Her father, a chief at the waterworks, sometimes mentioned a mysterious Gallentean-sounding substance called 'Fleury' that went into the water. Our water.

Mom explained that it was called fluoride, silly, and it prevented your teeth from falling out when you grow up; that if parents sometimes acted funny, it was normal. As for the dopehead thing, our great nation is a free nation and people grow up to be dopeheads on their own, if they want to.

"So is Reba right? Is there something in our water?"

"No no, Cathi! There can only be good stuff in the water."

"Then why is Reba lying?"

"She is not really lying, she is just... mistaken. People make mistakes sometimes. She just does not know any better."

Now I know all these things, but back then it was heartbreaking. My friends would keep distance because of something I just knew not to be true. Reba never asked me directly before spreading the story, nor did any of the other kids. I wanted to scream my lungs out at her -I am not a dopehead!- but then screaming is not the most un-dopey thing there is. So instead of screaming, I talked to her the next time, to dispel her fears. Big mistake. She just took it as further confirmation that there was 'good stuff' in the water. How do you talk to people that do not want to hear? Anyhow, although we continued to be friends, she never visited chez moi.

That is how I became acquainted with The Gossip Monster. It bit me and hurt me, and there was nothing I could do but watch. But I would learn to tame it in years to come, oh yes I would. Gossip would never become an obedient pet, nor have I given to every one of Gossip's whim. But we have learned to respect each other.

I hope Reba is OK. It has been ages since I left Eram and we have not kept in touch. I hope she marries a dentist. ;)

Stay tuned. Q.

Girl, interrupted

((I am sort of two-minded about posting this. Some people, including J., suggest it should be, so...))

Him > Ok, ask me one question, anything and I will answer it for you.

She was leaning back on the wall of the lift, holding down her handbag with both hands and looking at him. Why would he say such a thing? Was he trying to say something?

Something was about to happen.

Her > no, Jude, I will not. I will not ask that one.

She had only one question but she would be damned if she asked it. No, not so much in words. He had pushed her away before and, Gallic self-confidence aside, she was not about to step into that mess to be refused again. He was a mess, his own mess. She still let her eyes ask on her behalf. There would be no harm in that, would there? And she could always deny having said a thing. So she asked.

Her> /emote asks the question nonetheless, with her eyes

He had so many things in his mind. Questions, answers, words. He already had the answer, but just wanted to hear the question. However she was hell-bent on playing the subtlety game, of sending signals to be interpreted. He wanted a word. She wanted to be a puzzle? But Civire do not interpret; Civire do. Or don't.

Him > Damnit Quin, I am a Civire man, I do not do subtle.. out with it.
Her > /emote shakes her head> Welcome in my world.

Something was about to happen.

She closed her eyes. He leaned forward.

Something happened. The lift doors opened, letting all the magic out but leaving the startled two inside.

Opening her eyes, she quickly dissolved the distance between them, then hesitated... it had to be him, not her. How would she know the answer, otherwise?

((You bet something happened. After our second disconnect of the evening, the lights at his place went out totally killing RP. Going with the flow... half of that happened on evemail. Now, that sucked. Worst possible timing.))