Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts

Friday, June 29, 2012

Bring the Frill Back


The ships of Eve Online are iconic.  It doesn’t matter if you are a hardcore Eve Online capsuleer or a casual science fiction enthusiast.  These pixilated masterpieces have connected players to the New Eden Universe for almost 10 years and there is no denying the players who fly them and the develops who create them are both passionate about these ships.

The ships were what drew me the play this game.  More than the complexity, politics, history and player driven almost freaking everything; the ships captured my imagination and my heart.  The daredevil and its look of solidified death took my breath away.  The Phobos was satirical and cheeky with its phallic shape and pinkish hull coloring.  The Avatar was the first titan I saw in game.  It made me feel so tiny in my rifter, but it also gave me a goal.

Then there is the Vagabond.  A ship that is quick, silent and deadly.  The Dragon of the Matar;  name well deserved when you consider it’s speed, striking ability and at one time it’s frill.  This ship is one of the most popular and widely used heavy assault cruisers.  It’s also a thing of beauty and pride for many of the pilots who fly it.

The V3 Shaders brought change which was good and is laying the path for even better graphics and options further in to the future.  There were artistic decisions made to adjust some models much to the disappointment of some.  The coloring of some ships changed dramatically including the pinkish hues of the Roden Shipyards line.  Some models were re-worked and adjusted for accuracy.  Such is the way of progress, but was the removal of the Vagabond’s frill really progress?

Would you take away Jimmy Hendrix’s fro if it made him more receivable to the public?  Would you tear down the Eiffel Tower to improve the scenic views of Paris?  Would you banish rotten shark from Iceland because it smelled bad?  No... you wouldn’t.

All of these things, much like the frill of the Vagabond, are iconic.  The frill makes the Vagabond special.  It’s a part of the ships personality and helps it stand out among the hundreds of other impressive ships Eve Online has to offer.  The frill is a part of it’s mystic and beauty.  It’s what makes the Vagabond more than just a set pixels with a set of stats. 

CCP, your players are appealing… no... pleading with you.  We know you understand because you love Eve Online and its ships just as much as we do.  Hear us in this request to bring the frill back.  Let the legend of the Dragon of the Matar live.  Keep the Vagabond iconic.  Bring the frill back.

Check out what other Eve Online players have to say about the frill

Make your voice heard by replying to the Bring the FrillBack proposal on the Eve Online forums.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Quasi-Fiction: To Dine with Death and Take Pleasure in Its Company

Warning:
This blog features a writing style I’ve decided to experiment with that I’m calling “Quasi-Fiction” or “Dramatic-Recount.”  It features real events, but it presents them in a role-playish and very dramatic style.  If it seems over the top or fanciful, it’s supposed to.  Leave me comment if you like or don’t like it.  Constructive comments are always appreciated. 

Thanks!
Dani♥
 

Oh New Eden.  What have I done?

I’ll admit that I’ve done my share of deeds that could be considered criminal, but I’ve never done anything like this before.  What I did the other night was unthinkable to me at one point in my career.  Of course I had considered it once, maybe twice, but it was nothing more than a flicker of a thought pushed to the back of my mind.  I thought it was a trifle of a daydream, but I was wrong.  It was more than that.  It was seed of temptation.

I have now succumbed to that temptation, that little flicker of a thought.  In the blink of an eye I found myself sliding deeper into the rabbit hole.  The fruits of wanton destruction were bore unto me and I could resist them no longer.  I bit into its succulent flesh and found rapture.  Its exotic fragrance flooded my senses intoxicating me.  The taste of the divine upon my lips is something that I will never forget.  Then again, you never do forget your first.

The experience was a whirlwind when I think back.  We were alerted to a proper quarry and in a rush of action preparations started.  The blood in my veins quickened as adrenaline spread through my body like a fever.  Settling into minimally fitted destroyer class Minmatar ship seemed almost like a virginal experience.  Reverence came over me as I considered its sacrifice for my tawdry pleasures.  The time for such thoughts would be short as the fleet commander called for us to undock.

There we were.  Basking in rich, bold light of the Gallante sun that fed life to our system.  Oh, how it’s light flicker against our hulls.  It was a truly magnificent spectacle that would soon draw anguish in deed.  We were ready to be wielded like the steady and true hand of death itself, for that is what we had become.  Final checks were given and with the precision of a true professional our fleet commander took us and led us down a path where angels feared to tread.

Local would empty quickly.  Those left behind… no.  Those that were given a moment of freedom from our tyranny, loosed a bated breath.  It would be a short lived time of reprieve for them.  An opportunity to escape what had once held them down with impunity.  Still in the backs of their minds, as they skittered from our solar system they would know.  They would know somewhere out in some not to distant sector of space… someone was suffering a fate much worse than theirs.

We slipped into high security space moving as one under skilled direction.  I use the term ‘slip’ loosely due to the fact that Concord’s watchful eye is ever present in the higher security systems.  Announcements of our criminal status and threats against us flashed across our screens so quickly the names barely registered.  We were all criminals as far as the intergalactic law was concerned.  As poor as our reputation was… is… we cared naught.  There were more important and insidious things that kept our focus.

It happened so quickly, but those memories play like slow motion in my mind.  The scene could almost be described as serene.  The floating asteroids twirled as if they were in some majestic ballet.  The sun’s tendrils of light slithered through the darkness to cast it away.  Even the sight of that one lone hulk with its lasers drawing in the universe’s riches was peaceful.  While they are all very… placid, what happened next was truly beautiful. 

Really there’s no other way to describe it.  I’m sure there are others out there who would adamantly disagree with me, but this is my story.  When you combine the intensity of such sensory delights; the flecks destroyed hull that burst into space like burning diamonds, the unmistakable sound of artillery* fire, the tightness in your chest due to your heart stopping for briefest of seconds until your held breath explodes from your lips much like the vessel before you.  The ecstasy that you feel can not be denied.  No matter if it’s from endorphins wrapping you in their chemical bliss or the gratification if your inner predator being fed; you will have your satisfaction. 

In this exquisite dance of brutality and delight there is only one problem.  Once you have supped from the tree of life and taken in its fruits; your eyes are forever opened.  There is no turning back.  There is no straight and narrow.  There is no from whence you came.  No.  There is only you, your ship and the pursuit…

Oh New Eden.  What have I done?

 The Kill Mail

* This was originally auto cannons. I prefer the sound of auto cannon fire and I think it's more recognizable than artillery fire.  However, after having to listen to my corp mates bitch and moan on TS and through eve mail that our fit has artys, I've decided to change it.  Yes.  I changed my blog post to get my WSHOT to STFU.  Fuck you guys.  I like auto cannons.

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