2010 has come and gone, and with being 11 days into 2011 it is a good time to reflect on what has passed and how it has shaped the present, in order to clear the road for a better 2011.

Leaving Goinard

The start of this year was marked by the search for a new home. The search was long, and lead us to many places, but ultimately wasn’t very fruitful. When you are established in a location that has nearly everything to make life in lowsec easy, and share it with a group large enough to keep others out, you’re in a pretty perfect situation. Any other places with similar combinations of being an highsec bordering system, having a sufficiently large market hub nearby, having access to most of lowsec space, medical facilities in your home base, good rats and so forth are bound to be taken by someone, who likely will run you into the ground in the defense of their perfect situation.

Our situation was further complicated by the fact that Naraka then existed of a lowsec piracy focussed group (PRETA) and a highsec industry focussed group (PRELI) and we wanted an ideal situation for both. Even when we eventually expanded our scope and were willing to give up certain benefits, we just could not make it work.

Operation Longshot

Since finding a new home was getting us nowhere, we opted for something similar yet different: Nomadic roams. One picks a location that looks interesting, sets up camp for a while, exploits the area and when things either get boring, or too hot under your feet, you pack up and disappear again, all thanks to the convenience of carriers. Operation Longshot was supposed to be the solution to our problems, and despite indeed solving them, it sadly was not in the way that was intended.

Veto

When faced with the choice of joining a big established corporation which does what PRETA did (lowsec piracy), or diving into the unknown depths of nulsec piracy with a corporation that is falling apart, well, it is pretty obvious what people are going to opt for. The great irony is that people leaving us for Veto was not really a threat when we were simply doing what we do best, but became an issue when we planned for getting away to eliminate the “danger” and put an end to the whole being called pets by certain groups. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20, I made the call, and it turned out to be a bad one. In the end it did clear the roster of people who’d probably be better off in another group anyway. Not that I hold grudges, I am happy they are now enjoying themselves, or eventually discovered that they were just done with the game.

Being a shadow CEO within Veto was educational. While it is not exactly positive, it was somehow reassuring they deal with the same kind of issues a small corporation deals with as well, and that there really aren’t that much differences other than more numbers. Summer inactivity? Yep, they got it too, and having more members might mean that more stick around through that period, but also means that more of them disappear. If you’d use percentages, they would be very similar. More was also learned by simply observing how situations are tackled, and even though ultimately Verone’s style of leadership is not one that suits me, it is one that gets things done and going his way. Respect to that.

As for what I did with my time besides lurking, I spent a while going on every possible operation I could go on, buying ships and training for them as needed, and good times were had. Over time however I felt my inner CEO nag, and set up my own operation “Platinum Halo” which brought myself and a few others to Curse to do mission work for the Cartel, and supply Veto members with Dramiels. I wasn’t quite planning on giving up my colors, after all, and made a pretty sum off of it. Alas, in the end nearly all my profits were destroyed when the Tengu I had invested in to run the missions with exploded due to ending up in a mission that was not quite speed-tank friendly.

Silence

Despite being the dream of many budding outlaws, life in Veto soon grew old. I think never intending to make more out of it than a temporary residence has a lot to do with that. So I simply fell off the grid for a while. Burnout and bitterness were catching up with me, too, and then there was the Tengu loss. Time for a breather.

Ghost Syndicate

Ah, Alexander Rykis, entering the roleplay community with a bang, shaking the foundations of just about everything, and having some ideas that seemed really good on paper. Had promise, too bad the execution did not live up to it. A shame he chose to lash out at everyone when things didn’t go quite as planned. Given more time and patience there could have really been something in the making here. In the end, it is not all his fault however, the roleplay community in certain ways is just way too stagnant for big revolutionary ideas to take liftoff within the span of a few weeks.

A slow restart

Ratting up my security status is one thing that took way longer than expected, even with help. Combine that with actually not being fully ready to lead a corporation again and not quite knowing what I wanted to do with it meant for a slow restart of Naraka. Not getting any members back from Veto other than myself and some alts — most play very casually these days — meant starting from square 1 again. Having all options open where to take PRETA next was actually not so good either, trying a bit of everything eventually gets nothing done. I am afraid I might have wasted the time of some good people there who joined to help build something.

But the end of 2010, and now the start of 2011 has things finally taking off: two new corporations into Naraka, differences of opinion within the Cartel community exploded with a bang which while not ideal does resolve a whole lot of headache, the second part of the Incursion expansion is upon us giving us many storyline hooks, and writing a year review has given me ample time to reflect upon mistakes made one final time, heed their lessons, and set off in such a way as not to make them again, but also not let them dictate me any longer. I now know what to not do again, and why. “Fail often”, they say, as well as “If it ain’t working, know when to quit, and then try again”. These wise words have made me realize that while 2010 may have consisted of periods of wasted time, they also served a purpose on a greater scale. I hope they will help in making 2011 a year of success for Naraka.

Welcome to the eighteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by none other than me, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week 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 tocrazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

On May 6th 2010, EVE Online celebrated its 7th Anniversary. Quite a milestone in MMO history, especially considering that it is one of the few virtual worlds out there to see its population continually grow year after year. For some of you who’ve been here since the very beginning, EVE has evolved quite a lot since its creation. With the expansion rolling out roughly twice a year, New Eden gets renewed and improved regularly. But, how about you the player? How has your gaming style evolved through the years or months since you’ve started playing? Have you always been a carebear, or roleplayer? Have you only focused on PvP or have you given other aspects of the game a chance – say manufacturing. Let’s hear your story!

Getting near to my third year in EVE — I started in August 2007 — and I still haven’t seen it all, though I’ve certainly been around. Being a carrier pilot is something that will get ticked off this year, after which I need a new list. And while I never say never, 0.0 sov and all it entails is something I hold no real interest in, which is the only area I’ve not really poked my nose into.

A short summary of my carreer could be described as carebear gone pirate but remaining true to that carebear side. And then there is the constant of roleplaying all through the years. The specifics? Well, keep reading.

Alts

• Same account: Valnurana, my trader, newbie hauler and alliance executor resides on the same account as Myrhial, as for a long time I was very stubborn about getting a second account and did not have the income to pay one with PLEX. She’s mostly retired now. Also have the placeholder CEO for Ghost Festival sitting in the third slot.
• Different account: Faber Demaunier is my miner and has taken over the role of hauler from Valnurana. She will eventually take over the role of trader too. Will probably go down the path of research and manufacturing in the future, or mission running, or even both.

Carebear

• Exploration: A constant throughout my career, with which I share a love / hate relationship. Have gotten a rare few good catches, an overall steady income when focusing on radar plexes, but also a great many sites that just were a waste of ammo. Primarily focussed on these in lowsec.
• Research: I have personally researched all blueprints in my possession and aided PRELI with researching blueprints which were payment for the POS tower they received in exchange.
• Manufacturing: Mainly making my own ammo when running missions, or produce rigs for my own use to save some ISK on fitting ships. A few months back I finished Production Efficiency V and started buying up cheap salvage to create rigs and sell them at profit. Not a bad income for the slight effort it takes.
• Mission runner: My earliest source of income. Have done both combat missions and couriers in highsec, lowsec and nulsec, and have worked for the Caldari, Amarr, Thukker and Angel Cartel.
• R&D: I’ve got five agents working for me and once every few months I blitz through highsec to collect my earnings. A nice wallet booster but not as good as it used to be back in the days.
• Mining: I once mined in a Procuror — lol terrible ship — in lowsec just for the sheer lulz. I still get poked fun at for that. When I was a wee lil’ pirate I mined a few lowsec gneiss plexes in an Osprey, but other than that I leave this to Faber.
• Wormholes: Potato RR fleets make quick work of Sleepers, and getting near 100 mil a person for a few hours work is great. While quite dull in itself — point drones at broadcasted target and sit back — the vent chatter does get me through it.
• Trade: Mostly marging trading and probably where I’ve gotten most of my ISK. I’ve also invested in shares and IPO’s, all but one payed off, the one that didn’t was due to the player vanishing into thin air. Not sure if that was an intended scam or not. Have also done some resale for people, and selling goods on their behalf with getting a cut of the profits.
• Planetary interaction: Running a nanite repair paste chain spread over two accounts, with Myrhial working on five planets and Faber taking care of the sixth.

Pirate

• Ships of all sizes: I have flown T1 / T2 frigates (with the exception of ewar frigates), destroyers, T1 / T2 cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships into pvp combat, mostly fit for pvp but the few occasional encounters in pve setups have been there as well. I fly mostly in fleets but have also tried my hand at solo combat.
• Faction war: Busting plexes or simply clashing with a militia group, picking off stragglers from large fleets and even opening plexes to bait targets inside, faction war offers a variety of strategies and was where I really learned to pvp. Operation Bold Harvest will always hold a dear spot in my heart.
• Mission busting: This has got to be the most profitable kill till date. Delicious faction loot. Not all are like that though, and it is usually newer players you catch because they aren’t watching the scanner or even unaware of probes. The bulk of targets in Operation Longshot were of that kind.
• Ransoms: A rare occurrence, not because of a lack of trying but because a situation has to lend itself to it and then there is still the willingness of the target to pay up.

Roleplay

• RP corp / alliance: All corporations / alliances I have been part of have had roleplay as part of their activities. My character has undergone quite the transformation, from State loyalist to Cartel loyalist. While this has had a certain impact on her personality as well as her cultural thinking she’s still very Caldari in her ways.
• Channel RP: From bars to political discussions, I’ve been in a fair number of channels. Favorite hangouts are The Skyhook and The Last Gate. I’m one of those eternal lurkers in The Summit as well.
• In character blogging: Been slacking on this a little — and blogging as a whole — since I’ve stepped down as CEO, but for the two years I’ve been blogging I’m at around at least two posts a month.

Leadership

• Corporate: Have been a director and later on a CEO, now serving as shadow CEO while I take out some more time for myself. Don’t worry though, Naraka will be back, no matter what people are saying or assuming. I’ve already got so much ideas on where I want to take the corporation and being in Veto has been a very enlightening experience so far. Someday I hope to chronicle my experiences in a guide for beginning CEO’s and directors.
• Fleets: PVE and PVP, I’ve been FC, backup FC, backup backup FC and logistics coordinator. Having invested in learning leadership skills I’m also serving as fleet booster when needed.

Participants:

1. CrazyKinux’s Musing: The Heroes with a Thousand Faces
2. StarFleet Comms: Life. Evolved.
3. A Carebear’s Journeu: This Carebear Thinks He Is Developing Teeth
4. The Elitist: Our ventures in EVE
5. A Mule in EVE: From a guppy predator
6. Travels of the Ronin: Evolution and Adaptation
7. The Ralpha Dogs: The Past Through Tomorrow
8. Where the frack is my ship: A journey, not a destination
9. I am Keith Neilson: 7 Year Itch?
10. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah: Evolution Me
11. EVE Opportunist: A long history of a short time
12. Roc’s Ramblings: Things Change
13. Guns Ablaze: Onwards and Upwards
14. EVE On Real Life: Haven’t you grown up yet?
15. The Fang: The path of the ninja
16. EVEOGANDA: Whoops Apocalypse!
17. EVE SOB: Learning to swim
18. The Life of a Dead Jester: My Time with EVE
19. Personal Files, Ciarente Roth: Personal Diary 18.6.112
20. Learning to Fly: Change is Good
21. Depths Unknown: Falling With Style
22. Morphisat’s Blog: Jack of all trades
23. Sarnelbinora’s Blog: Thoughts of EVE
24. Confessions of a Closet Carebear: It’s the yellow box, stupid…
25. Adventures in Mission Running: My path amongst the stars
26. When 11 Ninjas isn’t enough: First days in the North (continued)
27. Lost in New Eden: My EVE Life So Far
28. Life in my Hole: How My EVE Experience Has Evolved
29. The Lathspell of Mithrandir: EVE-olution
30. Chocolate Heaven: Recurring Themes
31. More as they get published…

[Delicious Tag: eveblogbanter18]

19.04.112 YC :: Goinard IV – Moon 5 – Impro Factory

Myrhial is seated at a table in living quarters that lack the Cartel and Achur influences of her usual abode. Instead the room is distinctively Caldari, with various details of the design colored bright red. The camera drone changes focus and zooms in on an object laying on the table, which when close enough reveals to be a chain to which two pairs of dogtags are attached. Zooming in further the inscriptions become readable. “Myrhial Arkenath, CEO, Ghost Festival, Naraka.” is embossed into the first pair, the corporation and alliance logo displayed on the flip side. The second pair gleams brightly, betraying it to be brand new. It too displays the logos for its respective corporation and alliance, and reads “Myrhial Arkenath – 009 – Veto. – Veto Corp”. Lingering a few seconds — it is unclear if this is to either add a dramatic pause or leave the slower readers enough time — the drone pans up and focuses on Myrhial again, who begins to speak.

“Don’t be alarmed. I’ve neither been bought out, abducted or was under the influence. I simply made a decision in the best interests of all involved.”

Myrhial picks up the chain and puts it on, sliding the tags under the collar of her blouse.

“Let me begin at the beginning, which places us before the start of Operation Longshot, which by the way was a big fluke. It was planned to be our first attempt at applying our style of combat to nulsec, and to increase both activity and morale which began to be on the decline. But it turned out to be neither. While we did try and make something out of it we lost the numbers we needed right at the start due to sheer bad luck with circumstances mostly outside of our control, ranging from issues with license extension to disagreements over the direction we were taking. Had there been fewer issues, and spread over a longer period of time, they could have been tackled, but alas it was not so. And then there is Jude vanishing again when I needed his assistance the most. And much as that puts me into a bad mood, I do wonder if he’s alright… Ah well, at least now I don’t have to worry anymore about a possible demotion.”

Myrhial shakes her head briefly in disappointment.

“I wish it could have been otherwise, but even capsuleers have limits. I’ve given it my everything, made the decisions I felt were right, and it wasn’t enough. I will not say I have been defeated, the support messages I have so far received and will likely keep receiving in the following period tell me otherwise. And I need only to read back into my writings to be reminded of all we have accomplished so far. Not bad for a corporation at one point split into two. Staying and making it work against the odds turned out to be well worth it.”

Myrhial smiles, aware of the irony.

“So why not stay now, then? Because this time, it is different. This time changing corporations it is not taking the easy way out, but accepting an opportunity that not many will ever receive: To be a regular member of a successful corporation and yet receiving directorate level access to data and communications. Ethan and I agreed on these terms to have the highest level of transparency as possible, with the added benefits for me that I could learn from their own successes and mistakes…or alternatively at least rule out one way of how I will not run things in the future. It is quite likely I am shooting myself in the foot here and that I will be the only one returning. I won’t hold it against anyone. I simply want to prevent a good group of pilots scattering, or ending up somewhere less desirable.

As for my loyalty to the Cartel, that remains unchanged. While I will abide by the rules of Veto Corp and will not engage Guristas forces, neither will I open fire on Cartel forces. And if I want to clone-jump down to Curse and do agent work there I am free to do so as I please. Can’t recall I’ve actually ever had any missions against Guristas forces, so it shouldn’t form a problem.”

Myrhial pauses a moment to adjust herself to a more upright position, and folds her hands in front of her.

“I know some of you out there see what I do as ‘weakness’ or even ‘treason’. I’ll give you my simple answer to that: If you feel you can do it better, do it yourself. You’d even do me a huge favor by promoting the Cartel amongst capsuleers, and provide a place for them now I can’t. But if you’re going to sit there and judge, believing that you could have done a better job under the same circumstances and with the same level of experience, or even feel for some reason you have the right to judge without knowing all the details, then I hope you realize such words have a way of backfiring in most ironic ways. We are far from Gods. And I have a pretty good memory.”

Myrhial’s expession turns milder again, having gone cold over the course of the last few sentences.

“To conclude, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to those who have stood with us. While I am aware this has come as bad news, I will not apologize or say that I am sorry. A good leader knows when to make the call and acts in the best interests of the corporation until the very last moment. And that is exactly what I have done, and will continue to do, always. Interesting times are ahead and I look forward to new experiences and expanding my knowledge. I am far from retiring, but I will take this as a well deserved vacation. Soak it all in, regain my energy, and arise better than before when the time is right.”

“Ghost Festival is currently in stasis mode. Operations will be resumed in the future.” That’s what reads in all our channels at the moment. In this post I will elaborate on how it got that far and where we go from here.

When we first came to Goinard it was a paradise. The location is ideal in the middle of the lowsec map, it connects directly to highsec with a market hub nearby allowing for easy supply runs, and our old stomping grounds The Bleak Lands were still within reach. And we had mutual blue standings with Veto, who occupy the same home system, allowing us to have the numbers to organize larger and heavier fleets, while we could pass on our small fleet expertise. Win-win.

So where did it go wrong? There isn’t one thing or anything specific for that matter that can really be given the blame here. It is rather a combination of some members leaving the game, others moving on, real life and financial issues forcing a few to take an unwanted break coupled with some of those that did remain not seeing eye to eye or simply clashing because everyone got frustrated and demotivated by this downpour of bad luck. I had some nice plans for Operation Longshot being our first steps into nulsec roaming, but for inty swarms and other light setups you need a certain number of people, which we simple didn’t have anymore. We tried to make the best of our stay in Eugales but other than probing down mission runners in two local hubs the area was simply unfriendly for the type of combat we’re used to.

It’s been really difficult to accept the decline, and for a while I didn’t even want to consider that an option, working left and right to keep everyone’s chin up, a smile on their face and help them with finding something to do. But that takes its toll eventually. I wasn’t leaving station anymore, and that is a major nono in a small corporation, because you do have to lead by example. I could preach proactivity all I wanted, but I wasn’t doing it myself.

Enter Saturday, where I got on vent after being asked by Kimochi, Morwen and Plumb if we could have a chat. My gut feeling immediately screamed trouble, and it proved to be accurate as usual. Kimochi was moving out to Veto. The other two said I didn’t let them help enough, but in all honesty I knew they meant to say this was it for them too. I tried to explain that I can’t delegate work before I’ve done my part, and that with everything happening I hardly got to do my part, which I realize is because I too had trouble staying motivated. And then I called it.

Some time before that I had gotten the offer that if I wanted to take a break from leadership Veto would take on all Ghosts willing to stick together so I could relax and do my own thing, but while also receiving the chance to take a look at their inner workings as a learning opportunity. Tempting offer, surely, but I kindly declined it. It felt like quitting, taking the easy way out and leaving the roleplaying community down by taking away the only (?) dedicated corporation and alliance for Angel Cartel loyalists. I figured if I just stayed optimistic, left the paperwork for later and got back into my yarring seat all would end up well. And it seemed to do so, certainly with the interest of new people in membership. But in truth I know now those three Ghosts were just retreating in the back trying to figure out how to bring me the bad news without upsetting me too much. Not that there is such a way, really, because I still shed a tear when it all came out.

It is still sinking in, and I’m keeping clear from the game a bit, but I feel I made a good decision. Everyone gets to stick together — if they make it through the application process, which shouldn’t be a problem — and new doors are opened which would have taken us months to provide. If we didn’t entirely die down, which seems to have been the more likely case. The fourth habit of Highly Successful People says win-win or no deal. Carrying on would have been win-lose for me in relation to the members, or even lose-lose. While not my preferred solution the merge with Veto is win-win for all involved parties. They too like many pirate corporations have been hit by the recent wave of inactivity, and even if we all join they don’t make up for the numbers they’ve lost.

Those looking me up ingame today will see that I now fly under the Veto banner. I personally want to hammer our the in character details before I get back into the saddle, a post of that will also follow soon. It is my intention and desire to remain an Angel loyalist, and while Veto might be Guristas aligned I’ve been told there is the freedom for that, so we’ll make it work one way or another. I know there is a bunch of naysayers out there, or those fearful I will “cave in” over time, but in all honesty they can kiss my behind. Or go read The Burning Life, and pay particular attention to a character in there to a character who is an Angel as well.

To end this post, one question I am sure some will have is if I feel that Veto has stolen my members, or had that intention all along. My answer to that is that I do not feel that way. They’ve been hesitant in the past with taking on people that came from us because they too felt Angel Cartel roleplay is underrepresented and that regarding a larger corporation as an utopia without problems is a pretty dumb thing to do. I’ve received all the help I could ever want, and in the end it is up to each individual to decide where to go and what to do. I actually consider myself lucky, because many a crumbling corporation could only dream of an offer like this and is stuck with watching people drift apart, or having to start from scratch with looking for a group to merge with. And it is certainly not common to receive the offer to become a shadow CEO within a well-known and long time running corporation. Receiving that kind of trust in a game like EVE is a risky move and makes me feel flattered. Put the ideas of bribing me out of your heads though, they ain’t going to work. In fact I’m enough of a bitch to make them backfire on you. Consider yourself warned.

PS: PRELI’s fate is under discussion with their membership. I’ve told Marcus they can stay within the alliance, as I am keeping it open, and he can do as he pleases with the corporation, be it to take it solo, or reform it, or find a home for its members too. It’s pretty damn ironic that while we were doing so bad they really have been thriving. I hope that success will continue to last them.

With the recent loss of members, and the want of those who remain active and loyal to ramp up our activities the decision was made to move from Goinard to somewhere closer to nulsec. It has been a long search, during which I came to realize just how ideal our home is, and thus I made the call that instead of looking for a new home we’d go on a nomadic roam and take it from there. A nomadic roam is an extended stay in a target area where pilots take ships of certain classes suited for the work on that location, and frequent supply runs are held to replace lost assets and send spoils off to the market. This roam was named Operation Longshot and will run for about a month, with the possibility to be ended after two weeks, or extension upon success if the membership supports this. Being such a new concept and having a trimmed roster means evaluation is of even greater importance than usual.

Being finally settled here it is not long now until we will venture into nulsec (getting pilots to be available at the same time is hard sometimes!), but of course we haven’t kept still during daily operations. My last two losses having been recons I decided to return to the trusted Arbitrator for a bit, which has proven itself so far in the termination of four targets, two of them also being sent to the clone vat. Our newest member, Sah Phyre, was present for all this and I feel much joy in educating her about the fine art of piracy, not to mention her enthusiasm is very motivational. I have also made an effort to go out by myself during quieter times but so far the few targets I found slipped my grasp.

I hope this operation will have the desired effect of increasing our level of activity again as well as forming the first step into mastering combat in nulsec, so that we can start another recruitment drive soon. A bit of corporate and alliance rebranding is on schedule before that, which hopefully will appeal to more pilots, both combat and industry. We’ll always remain Cartel loyalists however, but sometimes a little more focus on just why you’d want to be on our side is needed, instead of merely presenting who we are and what we ask for. I really think we’ve worked hard enough to be proud of being an alliance with a combat wing with a long history, and an industry wing that is taking large steps into becoming able to do all the in-house production we could wish for. Not to forget our logistical backbone, alliance-wide operations, and close ties with other successful outlaw organizations such as Veto and Hellfleet.