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Welcome to the 39th Blog Banter – the community discussion that stretches across the many communities of EVE Online through the use of arcane bloggery. The conversation is open to all and readers are encouraged to visit all of the entries that will be listed below as the discussion progresses. Be sure to leave your thoughts there when you do.

For enquiring minds who would like to know more about the Blog Banters, check out this short explanation or read this overview of the topics covered in the last year.

After a some heavy topics in the last few editions, this time we’ll be taking a more relaxed trip through the thoughts of the blogosphere. The origins of this month’s concept come from a suggestion from EON Magazine editor Richie “Zapatero” Shoemaker.

“Some say a man’s home is his castle. For others it is wherever they lay their hat. The concept is just as nebulous in the New Eden sandbox. 

In EVE Online, what does the concept of “home” mean to you?”

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“Home”

“Home” in a virtual world is a funny thing really.  Think about it.  Where you are physically at, usually with family, is what is generally considered “home” for most of us.  And yet, here we are.. thinking about our “home” in Eve Online.  I’ve had many homes in many games.  Everquest was my first and I had always considered the Wood Elf village high in the trees as my “home”.. still brings back a virtual tear in my eye too.

Then there was Star Wars Galaxies, and my home on Dantooine and Tatooine.  I remember some of the crazy runs I would make to the farthest ends of the game map (and those were huge maps that you could only walk thru initially..)  Then there was Vanguard, Auto Wars, etc, etc, etc.  Those were all places where I could have a virtual physical location I could return to and put my stuff in, decorate, and show off.  “This was MY place..” I could say.. be it a great location with a nice view, or a location nicely located close to resources..

But Eve.. Eve is different.  Home is a variety of places.  Home can be all the things I mentioned OR it can be the only place you feel some measure of safety.  But there is no place to display trophies.  No place to leave your mark.  No place to call your own.  No place to sneak off to when you need a mental break.

However, the human thing is to find a place where we can be “safe”, even in a virtual world.  Since there is nothing “safe” in Eve, we pick the next best thing.  We pick areas of space, of constellations, of regions that we feel “safer” in.  Places where we know the locals a little better.  Places where we know the prices, the agents, and the player corps interact and watch each other.  Those places become our home… especially in a game where your reputation can’t just be turned off or transferred to another character.

My First Home – Arand Constellation

My home started not when I first played, but when I joined M3 Corp in the Essence region, starting in the Droselory system.  I ran with a bunch of solid players that I still think about each time I log on.  That whole area we hunted pirates and even the famed Veto Corp (R.I.P, may it come back again) around Old Man Star, back when crimewatch was a bit more.. easier to understand.  We operated in and around Parts and Isenan, flying Drake fleets before they were FOTM.  Life, life was good there.  However, the Isenan system was quite popular.. and that was my first experience with fighting against the odds.  We fought Invicta three times because we didn’t back down.  Goonswarm visited us too.  Unfortunately.. we started to get a reputation for putting up a fight.  Soon “home” was constantly filled with every local pirate tramp and gang ranging from wannabes to massive null-sec alliances.  “Home” started out as a place where I found people I could trust, people I could learn from, people I could respect in a place where I could do what I wanted with these people.  But.. “Home” stopped being home.

My Second Home – Sukanan Constellation

So we packed up and moved on.  We found a new home in a side low-sec system of the Tash-Murkon Region.  By then we had started to focus on PVP and to discontinue our industrial operations.  Teshkat became our new home.  We learned some lessons and didn’t mess with any of the big alliances as they drug their capital ships through those systems.  However, pirates no longer had free reign of the space.  We fought and fought hard, and helped make that bit of space a little safer for those who also called it “home”.

My “home” now became my stomping grounds.  A place where I started to hone real world skills to help me play Eve Online.  “Home” became more than a place to hold my hat.  It became a place to train.  A place to build up.  A place to strengthen oneself.  This “home” became my dojo of sorts.  But sadly, some dojos eventually get too small.. or have too many people wanting to use the space..

No Real Eve Home – Wandering Like the Rest of Eve

It had been a good life and we had hoped it would open up the way for us to be accepted into null-sec space, where riches abound.  And we got better.  I fought better.  We became a force of reckoning.  That only thing that ticked us off was that CVA wouldn’t let us join them and their merry little band.  Those were innocent times.  We actually got tired of it and got on board with IRC (for the couple months before Goons switched on us) and then TNT during the week they failscaded.  I missed those interesting days because I took a hiatus to re-visit “real life”.

For that while, “Home” wasn’t in Eve.  It was on the forums that I viewed daily to see what everyone was doing, what was going on in their lives, what jokes they heard, what challenges they had to put up with.  “Home” ended up being a hospital while we dealt with all the bad deals heading our way.  Where we stoked our hatred of Goons.  Where we didn’t give up.

Finally a Null-sec Home – Providence Region

After our failed attempts to get into null-sec, we managed to get in with a subject nation of CVA.  The somewhat legendary Paxton Federation.  We joined up, moved our people there, and we brought hell.  We fought daily against the fleets of -A- and Ursha’khan as well as the pirate bands who feasted on the new and naive pilots who we tried to protect.  This our day of glory.  Our little band of 50 pilots often were on top of the killboards for our alliance as well counter battleship gangs, fast patrols, stealth bomber lurkers.  “Home” became our castle.  Not CVA’s castle, but OUR castle.  We wore the m3 Corp logo proudly.  We wore our Paxton Fed logo proudly.

There are times when one thinks good about their alliance.  But when you FEEL it in your bones.. when you stand up against the odds, against your foes, and STILL come out swinging.  Throw ship after ship into the maw and THEY turn back and THEY recoil.  When even your so-called “master” runs, BUT YOU STAY.  Yeah.. of any time, of any place, of any game those months in Providence, fighting day in and day out where by far the best and most stressful.  But fighting with your best buds, to the point that even your enemies must show you respect, that made it a real “home”.  “Home” at that moment was about as real as anything in Real Life.  I didn’t want to leave because I LOVED it there.

And it hurt when we had to.  Really, really hurt.  I think I’ll leave it like that because no where else really had the same impact.  We went and joined the Northern Coalition, under RAGE and FCon, our reputations paving the way.  But after that, after that things weren’t the same.  Even now, I still wonder if I will ever have those same feelings about a place like I did for Provi 1.0.  I did a stint with Noir., but that didn’t work out well.  I joined up with Fancy Hats and that went from a temporary situation to a more permanent one and I am getting a bit of good vibe from faction warfare.

But I still wonder.. will I have that feeling again, like I did for Kelethin and Greater Faydark and Provi 1.0?

Other viewpoints: