Sampler platter

Thanks to recent articles on Massively and mmorpg.com pointing to my blog, there have been a ton of new visitors lately.  My average hits per day have pretty much doubled.  So I thought it'd be fun to write a little introductory piece.  If you're new here, welcome!

This blog was originally started as a platform for my run for EVE Online's CSM6.  Unfortunately, I lost that run, coming in 15th (out of 14 slots, boo).  Still, by the end of the election, I decided that I was enjoying the process of blogging.  I was enjoying it so much, in fact, that I was going to continue the blog about my search for a new MMO even when I had decided to unsubscribe from EVE Online.  However, I recently reversed that decision, resubbed, and will be continuing to play EVE.  So, while this is an "EVE blog", from time to time, I'll be delving into other MMOs.  Comparisons will probably ensue.  ;-)

I do things a little differently from most EVE blogs.  For one thing, I post much more frequently than most.  It won't be unusual to have two or three new posts per day here, except on weekends, where I might post once a day.  I have regular weekly features, like the Fit of the Week and the Quote of the Week.  And I have a wide range of play-styles in game.  I've tried just about every play style there is in-game, in fact, and I like to talk about all of them.

So, what do I write about here?

The Big Picture in EVE
A lot of my posts focus on CCP's business model, or internal factors in the game that affect CCP's business.  Examples of this:

• Not all curves are pretty  (Hard data on how many people actually play EVE Online)
• We suffer for our art  (What the CCP Art Team is doing instead of spaceships)
• Pebble  (The Fearless newsletter leak)
• The die is cast  (Why CCP might sell out EVE's current players)
• Learn how to fly  (Why EVE's current players might want to help them)

EVE Economics
Yet more posts look closely at factors affecting EVE's in-game market.  Examples of this:

• Key non-conformance indicators  (Metrics and why CCP might have stopped publishing QENs)
• Nocxium  (What the hell is happening to the Nocxium market?)
• Chasing the needle  (Chasing the EVE commodity market is dangerous)
• Target audience  (Why the NeX store prices won't drop significantly)
• The underwear index  (The item to watch to see if EVE goes into a recession)

EVE Politics
I love to delve into various aspects of EVE's in-game politics.  Examples:

• Spy for the Quote of the Week  (Mostly Harmless's death throes)
• Canary in the coal mine  (Will the blob take over every part of 0.0?)
• Bargain basement  (Why the sanctum/haven nerf will kill EVE's small alliances)
• Hit 'em where it hurts  (How to hurt Pandemic Legion)

CSM Watcher
And in a similar fashion, I pretty frequently comment on what EVE's Council of Stellar Management is up to.  Examples of this:

• Hole-hearted outrage  (Why the CSM is wrong about ABC in low-class wormholes)
• The quiet men  (CSM6's surprisingly subdued first visit to Iceland)
• Macro-transactions  (Overview of what went right and wrong in the CSM6 election)
• Tapestry  (The eight most important 0.0 elements CSM6 has to help CCP understand)
• Onward Mittens soldiers  (CSM6's first fireside chat)

Stuff I'm doing in game
I actually play EVE Online and weirdly, sometimes I write about it.  ;-)  Examples of this:

• Never too late to make a first impression  (My first Incursion fleet)
• I was there  (Small-gang PvP warfare)
• When carebears attack  (Themed roam against Pandemic Legion)
• Massive waste of time  (My early battles against Planetary Interaction)

Philosophical musings
As I mentioned, I like to compare EVE to other MMOs and in the process, I usually get philosophical about game design.  Examples of this:

• Upper limit  (How EVE's skill point system breaks the game)
• Practice targets  (Why Global Agenda's AI is awesome and EVE's is not)
• The next morning  (I cheat on EVE with Perpetuum Online)
• Don't stand so close to me  (Awesome Perpetuum innovation which EVE should steal)

Various other stuff
There are categories of posts that don't really fit anywhere else.  Examples:

• EVE Player Guides  (Player guides about the "how" of various EVE mechanics)
• Global Agenda Player Guides  (I do the same for Global Agenda, a FPS MMO that I enjoy) 
• Fits of the Week  (I do a deep dive on a particular ship fitting every week)
• Proposals  (Sometimes I go nuts and make pie-in-the-sky game proposals)

Enjoy your visit.  :-)