#noteve …where I talk about guns

TL;DR: Pls don’t carry guns. #noteve

This is a screenshot from my first post on this blog:

You have been warned, remember? 😀

The following is a post where I share thoughts about guns in RL. It is not about EVE (which is an amazing MMO that you should probably try if you don’t play it already: Free EVE Online trial )

I will speak of my own ideas and experiences and I’m no expert on the subject. But since I find it difficult to explain my opinion on twitter, I have decided to write about it here.

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In the light of recent events, people are once again debating whether guns should be banned or if everyone should have access to guns to defend himself against all the other people with guns.

Today someone posted a story in my Twitter timeline and a short discussion followed:

Someones client had beaten up a guy with a hockey bat after he got mad at him.

The first reply to the tweet was: “That’s why I endorse gun freedom.”

On which I replied: “Then the client would have shot the guy, don’t you think?”

Reply: “But the guy would have had a chance to defend himself against the attack.”

(By the way, I’m not quoting these tweets literally and I don’t link the conversation. If you want to find a similar discussion simply search for “gun” on Twitter.)

I disagree with this attitude towards guns. Let me try to explain.

Humans get in conflicts with each other all the time. Violence is not always included, but sometimes. If violence between people happens, it tends to escalate, and escalate, and escalate… . Why is that? I’m not sure. But that is my personal experience. I have a job where I meet a lot of people from all layers of society  – often during or after conflicts – and I see the same pattern everywhere. I think most people are not very good at handling conflicts in general and almost all people lose control when it comes to violence. No matter whether they are the assailant or the victim. Google: “adrenaline” for more!

Additionally, violence often happens when people are drunk or on drugs or in great emotional stress of some kind. And all those things lead to a loss of good decision-making and a lack of consideration for consequences.

If you don’t believe me, just insult the mom of a random drunken person next time you hit the club or go to the pub.

( I take no responsibility for the consequences of course)

A common argument for firearms is that they are needed for protection and work as a deterrent to prevent violence in the first place. I do believe this is true in some rare situations.

BUT, given the nature of human behavior I think that in most cases the availability of weapons and especially lethal ones like guns escalate conflicts and thus promote violence. Here’s a little data on that statement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

Again, I will try to explain and get back to our example from Twitter:

A guy is attacked by another person who uses a hockey bat to hit him. This is clearly a life threatening situation, if he hits the person’s head he might kill him or her easily. Shooting the attacker would probably be seen as a justified act of self-defense in most countries.

Now, what would have happened if the victim of this attack had carried a gun?

Well, maybe the attacker would have been deterred and decide not to attack the person. (I wonder if I would still think about this while beating someone with a hockey bat tbh)

Or, in case of the attack, the victim could have killed or injured the assailant in an act of defense (by using his gun).

These are the simple answers. But there is more to it.

In a society where guns are easily available, the attacker could have anticipated, that his victim might have a gun and either ambushed him to render him helpless or he could have brought a gun himself… and then (surprise -) attacked him.

Also, if a person is being beaten up by another person, then he or she is already in a bad situation. Why did he not run away, why did he not use Krav Maga or a taser to defend himself, why did no one else help to prevent the attack? There are many possibilities, and to use a gun to defend is just one of those – and it has many disadvantages. Also, victims of violence often become victims because they are already in a bad position: Drunken, unheeding, disoriented, trusting when they shouldn’t be, having a bad vision etc. . Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to blame victims, my point is that in many cases, the attackers exploit the weaknesses of others. In such cases, carrying a gun is out of the equation, because the victim is not able to use it to defend itself in the first place.

As soon as a gun is drawn, the possibilities multiply even more: Can the defender hit the assailant at all, is the usage of a gun justified, what about non-involved persons in the area, how safe is the gun from being stolen or falling into the wrong hands, what happens if the police is alerted, can they distinguish between attacker and victim and so forth…?

To sum this up: Humans tend to get into violent conflicts rather often. If a majority of people is armed with guns or other weapons then many of those conflicts will escalate and become deadly.

Unlike in EVE, death is permanent in RL. (Well, shit!)

I am thankful for living in a country (southern Germany) where only very few people are allowed to carry guns. For example the various police forces, special security services, like money transports, and huntsmen. Many more own guns of course, but except for a few exceptions, carrying them is illegal. In general, gun owners can only use their guns at the shooting range and they have to transport them in locked containers and store them in a safe when at home.

You know what? We are really ok with that.

If the police has to arrest someone, they don’t have to anticipate them having a gun (yet they are trained for that as well), if drunken people get into a fight, they don’t expect to be shot, if someone is in a bad mental state, he usually doesn’t have easy access to deadly weaponry. Children will rarely have access to guns. And as far as I can tell, the majority of people without guns, are not constantly being terrorized by a minority of people who carry guns.

The numbers on how many times the police in our country fires shots against persons is incredibly low. Here is an article about the situation in Germany: ARTICLE  

I assume similar statistics can be found for other countries with a low circulation of firearms.

If I try to compare this to countries where guns are rather common, I can’t see how they benefit people. I mean, just listen to the news and read the statistics: If there were fewer guns available, there would be a lot less blood in most of those stories.

My conclusion is that while guns are needed in special situations and for certain professions, it should be clear that a general absence of weapons has advantages that far outweigh the disadvantages.

It was not my goal to convince anyone of anything. I just wanted to explain my opinion and why I think it makes sense. Thanks for reading and for the previous discussions on Twitter!

o7, ChingShi

PS: My next post will be completely EVE related and continue ChingShi’s spiritual journey on Neyi IV, Sacred Water, Amarr Scriptures, Neyian sunrises and decade old prayer drones will be included.

Wheat

March YC 117, Neyi IV

Wheat. 
Not only is it one of the main ingredients in the traditional Amarrian cuisine, it is also the oldest and purest of all cereal grains and closely interwoven with our history.
Wheat mirrors the soul of the Amarr Empire and Faith. It prevails in Winter and Summer climates, it is rich in vitamins, proteins, minerals and starch.
Like the Faith it has been carried to many distant worlds and has nurtured countless civilizations.

The legends say that the Prophet Dano Gheinok, who lead the Amarr people from the continent of Assimia to the island of Athra, was carrying wheat with him and cultivated it when the first settlements were established.

Some historians and theologians even claim that the Prophet lead the Amarr through the EVE Gate to the planet that is now Amarr Prime. Curiously, this theory coincides with several other explanations for the settlement of the cluster, especially with the ideas of the Earthologists.

Many of the scriptures are using wheat as a parable for spiritual principles, symbols and rituals.
One grain has to fall into the earth and die to bear fruit. The small sprouts have to be protected to grow to their full size.
Before it can be harvested, is has to shine in a clear Amarr gold.
The harvested grains have to go through a process of threshing to separate them from the chaff. To finally make the cereal edible, it has to be ground to flour or cooked in water.

Wheat has to go through stages of death, resurrection and refining, until it can fulfill it’s purpose.

Much like me.

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I have returned to the surface of Neyi IV after I spent a year and three months in space as a capsuleer wrecking havoc in skies unseen from a planetary perspective.

I have returned to reconnect to my past and the culture and faith that forged my character when I was younger.

Before my arrival I felt disconnected and estranged from my past and I expected that a time of active repentance would be necessary to reconnect.

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I couldn’t have been more wrong.

My parents and uncle Etian had prepared a feast for my arrival.

After all those years of absence they were simply grateful to have their daughter and niece back. My urge to apologize for what I had done was strong, but they wouldn’t let me say anything of that sort.

Instead, we were sitting under a long Neyian sunset and ate a dish of spicy meat, steamed vegetables and of course: cooked wheat.

I had finally arrived home and after years of capsuleer training and travelling through space – the experience was simply stunning.

During the meal and the conversation, during those little spiritual rituals that are completely integrated into the Amarrian eating culture, through the friendly and loving way my family greeted my return I came to realize something:

While there had been bad decisions during my time in the capsule that I had been aware of, there was something else that I hadn’t even recognized.

The slow process of losing contact to my family, faith and culture had suffocated me.

And now that I was home, fresh air filled my lungs.

And the food was reviving me.

My parents and uncle Etian were eager to hear what I had been up to. As I had assumed, they had accessed combat reports to follow my journey, but there were many things they were not aware of.

Like a small child that returned from being lost in the fields for an afternoon I told them about my time during capsuleer training, the pain of integrating new implants, my first pod kill, the desorientation of waking up in a new body, my time as a pirat, my first visit to Old Man Star, the bright glow of the lost EVE Gate when I traveled to New Eden, the fun I had with Stay Frosty, that crazy bunch of Pirates, how one of our drunken mates had once tried to claim a whole system for himself and many other stories.

All of us broke into laughter when I tried to imitate the deep, booming voice of Rixx Javix, my former boss.
My mother was especially fascinated with the attitude and piloting skill of the pirates.

“Attacking multiple Destroyers and Cruisers in a single frigate!?”, she asked “That Joffy Aulx-Gao must be a most skilled pilot.”

Many more stories followed, some of them hilarious, some of them painful. Treachery is all too common among capsuleers.

Eventually I spoke of my time alone in the POS tower, somewhere in the lost cluster of Anoikis, and my desire to return home.

“It was wrong. Not becoming a capsuleer, but how I spent the time and the resources that were given to me. And although I experienced many good things during my time, I also caused a lot of pain for others. I don’t grief for the capsuleers, they can start over again or return rich to their homes if they want. But crews have been lost, all those young engineers, technicians, miners and science assistants who enlisted on capsuleer ships to make a decent living. Their lives should be more that just a pawn our game.”

“I want to return to the capsule, but not without a purpose. When I connect my spine and brains to that pod again, I want to do it without disconnecting from you, and … from all this.” I gestured at the table, the food, the houses, the chapel and the fields. “There must be a way.”

My father smiled. He had spent years of his past outside the Empire as a trader and I knew from his own tales that not everything he had done during that time was considered appropriate in Amarr.
He picked up a walnut from the table and opened it. He held the shell against the fading sunlight. “Funny, don’t you think? It looks a bit like a hydrostatic capsule and if you open it, the inside has the shape of a human brain.”

“Ching”, he said. “You left Khanid and Amarr but you returned. I had expected the first when we parted for your capsuleer training, and I had hoped for the latter.”

“I have returned to stay.”, I replied. “Not on the planet, but in this society. I will find a way to stay in Amarr as a capsuleer.
Tomorrow I will wander to the spring. Maybe I will find answers on my way.”

Home

“On our path to Heaven, we stumble;

in our journey of faith, we get lost.”

Neyi IV, Khanid Kingdom

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March YC 117, Neyi IV

Neyi IV, where my family leases a few square kilometers of land from a local holder is the planet where I spent a good part of my childhood.

We are commoners and although my father has made a fortune as a trader we cannot purchase the land of course.
But this is the Khanid Kingdom and if the holders are generous then the commoners often get a lot of liberties. In our case, the holder family even lends the work of their slaves to the tenants during the individual time of harvesting and approved my father’s request for a private landing pad.

The climate in our region is pleasant and much warmer than the average temperature on Neyi. A full rotation on Neyi IV takes 47.6 hours. But the “year” is only 32 standard days long. The planet has a small axial tilt which technically results in longer and shorter days on the northern and southern hemisphere but since we are close to the equatorial line we aren’t affected by those micro-seasons.

The early settlers adapted to the planetary rhythm by sleeping about eight to eleven hours of the wee hours of the long night as well as ca. five hours during the afternoon. By doing so they roughly cut one planetary day into two standard days.
Typically the first part of this divided day is filled with practical work while the second part, after the afternoon sleep, is often used for school and social or religious activities.

There are no seasons or weeks on Neyi IV, the warm climate in the equatorial region allows for a constant growing of crops.
As far as holidays and anniversaries are concerned the citizens of Neyi IV simply use the Universal Time Calendar.

While agriculture is dominating the warmer climate zones, fishing and industry are more common in the colder regions to the north and south. A large part of the planet’s surface is covered by water, the landmass is more or less scattered and forms countless islands, peninsulas, archipelagos and bays.

Our region belongs to the eastern coastal area of a larger continent and is rural. There is little automation or industry. The soil here is red and fertile, wheat is the most commonly grown cereal and covers most of the agricultural area.
There are no interplanetary transportation networks in sight and the weak gravity, only two-thirds of the Imperial Standard Artificial Gravity, allows for easy transportation and access to space.

The estate of my family consists of a small group of buildings, a small communication relay and a landing pad.

There is the main house which includes the living area and fathers trade office, as well as a small chapel and a barn that contains a few mechanical agricultural machines and can also be used to house slaves during harvest time.

The rest of the land is covered with wheat fields separated by rows of high, slender trees to prevent natural erosion by wind.

Basically, it’s an old farm with the addition of a communication relay and a landing pad.

My parents still grow wheat on the fields, but it is more of a hobby and maintaining of tradition. The main source of their income is the trade business of my father.
Both my father and mother spent a lot of their past days in space: My father during his time as an independent hauler and off world trader, a genuine Dark Amarr, my mother while serving as an engineer in the Imperial Navy for twelve years.

That was how they met in the first place. My mother is actually from the Kor-Azor region. She was on station  leave in Bhizheba in YC 71 when my father arrived with a ship full of exotic (and possibly illegal) trade goods from the Kingdom.

Nowadays my parents spend most of their time on the surface, but they keep a small orbital shuttle nearby that can get them to the customs office and back if necessary. This is especially important for my father, who directs his business from the office here, but has to be able to react fast if the markets fluctuate. If interregional trade is involved, he is sometimes required to shuttle to Amarr VIII and in rare cases to even to Jita IV-4.
The next real city is about 40 kilometers to the east and has a small spaceport as well as a sea port that opens to the eastern ocean. The spaceport allows for a daily transportation of ships and passengers to the systems only station. From there, one can get to any location in the cluster within hours.

In a ravine south of our estate is a spring of sacred water. It dates back to a Speaker of Truth who lived there as a hermit a few centuries ago. Since sacred water is a rarity on the lesser planets we often have pilgrims passing by our farm while traveling on foot from the coast to the spring.

There are no roads leading to our estate, only a few tracks across the fields that connect to the neighboring farms. The closest of those farms is leased by my fathers younger brother, who is also his partner in business.

The most common means of
on Neyi IV are hovercars of various size, the weak gravity and thinner atmosphere making them more efficient than wheeled models.

---

When I called my parents from Amarr VIII they were slightly shocked and surprised about my decision to return to Neyi.

It was a short conversation but they invited me to come home to the estate.
My fathers success as a trader had paid the tuition for my capsuleer training. And as of yet, I had not shown a lot of gratitude for that gift of immortality. Instead I have risked the reputation and status of my family by becoming a pirate.
We did not talk about it on comms, but I had the impression that they had not expected me to come back at all after I had become so estranged from my past.
I’m sure that they knew about where I had been and what I’ve been doing during my time in lowsec.

I waited in the customs office with a feeling of guilt and was nervous about meeting my parents.
When our family’s orbital shuttle – proudly decorated with the coat of arms of both the Khanid Kingdom and the Kor-Azor Family – approached the docking clamps I was watching the rendezvous from the windows.
To my surprise, my mother was piloting the shuttle by herself.
When she arrived in the lobby she started to run towards me, grabbed my shoulders and finally hugged me.
“I’m so glad that you are back Ching, we feared we had lost you for good.”, she whispered.

“Mother, I …”, speaking was difficult as tears welled up my eyes and my throat seemed to dry up, “I’m so glad that you are letting me come home after all these years…”

“Ching.”, she interrupted me, “Even though this is not the same body I have given birth to, you will always be my daughter. We will have time for talk when we arrive at the estate.
Come, your father and uncle Etian have probably finished preparing dinner by now.”

The sun was low on the horizon when we approached the landing pad.
My father, in his black and silver robes was standing at the edge of the landing pad, waving towards the shuttle.

This is home.
I haven’t been here since YC 110. It’s good to be back.

Disconnected

February YC 117, Alice’s Bar

 

“I think I need a break.” I said to Alice.

“A break from what?”

“From being a capsuleer. Let me try to explain, this might actually take a while. Can you get me another drink?

 

You know, I started the preparations for capsuleer training in YC 110. After I had passed all the genetic and medical testing I boarded a shuttle to Sehmy and the training began. The training, well, you know how it is.”

 

“Worst five years of my life.”,

Alice replied, her face darkened by a painful memory.

“During those long and painful years of capsuleer training on and over Sehmy I have changed. The perspective of immortality and the endless opportunities that followed started to influence my way of thinking.

Thoughts of my origins, my family, my faith and my duty to the Empire and the Kingdom were fading. Over the years, even the contact to my parents, quite frequent in the beginning of my training, had become sparse.

I feel like I have lost a part of what I was, while I acquired the skills to navigate a capsule without experiencing a mind-lock.

It was during those dull and exhausting years of training, that I started to make my own plans about what I would do as a capsuleer. My perspective had shifted. I was eager to begin my new life and start my own adventure.

From the stories I heard on campus, piracy started to appeal to me. I was dreaming of a life as a dangerous solo pilot, roaming low security space for thrills and profit.

October the 25th YC 115 was the day I embarked in my own pod.”

 

“Yeah I remember, on the same day I tried to convince you not to fly the Punisher as a solo combat ship, but to no avail.” Alice grinned.

“Well,” I continued, “I started out in golden hulls, flying Punishers and Executioners while trying to challenge capsuleers in low security space. Explosions followed, I lost my first Punisher and capsule on my first visit to Naguton.
Waking up in the new clone was less traumatic than I expected. The pre-fitted implants and interface connections were less uncomfortable and painful compared to the first set I got during my training.
Waking up as a new clone only seemed to confirm that I had finally started my adventure.
The months came and went, I killed and I died repeatedly. I roamed alone and in packs.

 

“Did you know that Karos Ma’l, that pirate who taught you the basics of combat in your first weeks, has visited the bar from time to time? Though I haven’t seen him for a while now.”

 

“He knew your bar? In fact I haven’t heard from him at all in the last few months.

Anyway, after a while I started to look for a corporation.

It was Alexis De Tocqueville who pointed me to Stay Frosty, a pirate corporation. There I intended to improve my combat techniques and get in contact with other capsuleers who lived in lowsec.”

 

Alice interrupted me: “I remember those days very well, you seemed so happy and content after you joined them.”

I nodded and sipped on my drink.
“I suppose I was. For a while.
But doubts started to gnaw inside my head. Each fight, each kill appeared more pointless than the one before and with each new clone I felt less alive.
Back then, I assumed that I needed something new, a change of location maybe. So I joined Supreme Mathematics, a versatile corp based in Anoikis and closely affiliated with Stay Frosty. While the corp was and is a success, for me it was just another pointless adventure.

Life in the wormhole felt hollow and hunting those creepy sleeper drones felt surreal. And the constant mentioning of ‘Bob’, the god of wormholes reminded me in an uncomfortable way of my once fervent faith and how quietly it had turned from fire to embers.”

 

“No more drinks for you Ching, you are getting too poetic. Or at least you are trying to.”

 

“Yeah well, but you get the idea. I was slowly realizing that the great freedom of being a capsuleer did not really satisfy.

 

A former pilot of Stay Frosty then told me about a young corp she had heard of.
Meanwhile I was actively looking for a lifestyle that would somehow make sense. I got in contact with the captain of said corp. It really was a change to the better. “The Captain” as many of his crew refer to him had no problem with my security standings or history of piracy.
With a simple yet clear set of guidelines he had established a small but lively corporation.
His goal was simple: He planned to take a few systems of unregulated space for his corp and turn them into a place to live in.
Since most of our corpmates back then were inexperienced in combat we moved to the border of Gallente and Caldari space and joined the Federal Navy. Back then, I did not even think about it. Although we were fighting the Caldari Navy, technically I had enlisted against my own Empire.
To train younger pilots was a good experience, but eventually I tired of a war I had joined without conviction. I stayed with the corporation for a longer time but I moved from the faction warfare zone to our wormhole base. Our tower was almost abandoned at that time. Everything was running, but I was the only pilot who docked there for more than a few days.

From there I sometimes roamed in stealthy ships and explored the ever-changing connections to other systems. Or I undocked my stealth bomber and preyed on unwary explorers.

Most of the time however I spent in the tower of our base. I would stare through the large windows or wander along the silent corridors and empty living quarters.

It was a quiet and lonesome time. Since I had finished my training in the Hedion University in Sehmy I had – with a few exceptions – never left my capsule.  It was strange to interact physically with the world again.

Memories of a time before my capsuleer training stirred up. The wheat fields around our house on Neyi IV, occasional trips on fathers industrial ship, my time as a student of Economics and Interstellar Business back in YC 98, the old Navy stories my mother used to tell me when I was little and the attack of the Elder Fleet and the return of the Empress a few months before I started capsuleer training.

 

Above all, I realized how disconnected I felt to all those people and events that had shaped my past.
Alone in the wormhole, homesickness was creeping over me.

My father had spent a large chunk of his money to pay the tuition for my capsuleer training. And there I was, walking around in some forgotten solar system in Anoikis, not knowing what to do with this gift.”

 

“And what brought you to the bar tonight?”

 

“I guess I just needed someone to talk to. You were the only capsuleer that I could think of. And I need someone to take care of my ships and all of my stuff for a while. Tomorrow morning I will convo my parents and take a shuttle to Neyi. From there, I will leave my capsule in the station and take a transport to the surface of Neyi IV.

I have decided to reconnect. To my family, to the culture that I grew up with, and to my faith. When I’m ready, I will send you a message.

 

I don’t know how long I will stay there. Might be a while though.”

 

 

 

 

 

OOC Note:

Stay Frosty, Supreme Mathematics and the 57th are really, really amazing and fun corps and part of the ABA Alliance. If you are interested in lowsec pvp, wormhole content or life in nullsec, check them out! And there are also highsec and industrial wings of the alliance of course.

 

Alice’s Bar

February YC 117

It was one of those nights when you just want to get out of the pod, wander through the endless corridors of the station until you end up somewhere with a drink and maybe, but not necessarily, someone to talk to.

On nights like this, I usually end up in Alice’s Bar. At least when I am docked over Amarr Prime.

It is a small place, seats for maybe 30 people, a window that shows the undock of the Emperor Family station and the blue-green surface of Athra – if it’s not too cloudy.

If clouds obscure the view of the planet, they originate more often from the endless capsuleer attacks than from the actual weather condition below.

Despite it’s location near the passing ships the bar is a quiet and often empty place. There’s an automated beverage dispenser for those who just come for the view.

Alice is of course, the owner of the bar. If you come to the bar for the first time, she will ask what she can get you, on your second visit, she might already guess what you want to drink or eat. If you visit the bar frequently, she doesn’t even ask anymore, instead she just serves to most of her guest precisely what they desire. I’m not sure if she is using a special implant to do that, but it seems to work almost all the time.

For most of her guests, that’s who she is: A friendly barkeeper, owning a comfortable little bar.

Those who have frequented Alice’s Bar over a longer period of time might have realized, that there is a little bit more to it.

Alice is actually a capsuleer and quite well connected to all sorts of people, she has contacts to large industrial corps, wormhole adventurers, lowsec pirate alliances and headhunters.

According to rumours, she even holds a decent share of the stationary market in Amarr and other market hubs.

But I am rambling.

It was in February YC 117 when I entered the bar.

“You don’t look so good Ching”, Alice remarked. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks, I’ll get back to you. At the moment I just need a little time to think.”

After I had spent a few minutes watching the traffic behind the window I went back to the bar.

“How did you even enter this place, I thought your security standings were below minus eight?”

“Tags.”, I replied. “Listen Alice, do you have a few moments to talk?”

She laughed. She does that a lot.

OOC Note: “Alice’s Bar” is an ingame chat channel, if you ever feel the need for some alone-at-the-bar roleplaying feel free to join. If I am online, one of my characters is always in the channel, and you might meet some interesting people there.

Time

So, yesterday morning my Mom convoed me and asked me if I had time to join them for dinner. Since I had just finished a mission for the Ministry in Penirgman I said yes and boarded my shuttle.

I had totally forgotten that the 18th is my birthday. Not that I feel like it, but technically I am 37 years old. Well, my body is only a few months old, but you get the idea.

Anyway, we spent a beautiful sunny afternoon and evening on Neyi IV where my Father leases a few square kilometres of land from the local holder. Traditional Khanid food, golden fields, and a lot of time to catch up with my parents and my uncle.

I also found a little time of tranquility in a nearby chapel. I do read the scriptures in space as well, but it seems easier to find inspiration when gravity pulls both feet and knees towards solid ground.

Before I went back to the orbital shuttle my Mom produced a small wooden box. It contained the golden hair-band I got for my 17th birthday. I can’t believe this is already 20 years ago… .

I’m wearing it now, to remember my family on the ground and a time when my time was a way more limited resource.

Ascension

This post is written out of character. Welcome to my blog.

I have been playing EvE Online since August 2013, roughly two years by now. During those years I went mining, built and destroyed spaceships, flew kilometer long jump freighters and waged war in the large market hubs of New Eden.

Recently, something new caught my attention: Roleplaying.

The backstory of EvE Online is vast and affects every ingame item and game mechanics. The NPC people and political entities actually have a millennia long history and even the player characters originate from the various bloodlines that exist in the empires.

Many, or even most of the players actually ignore the backstory of EvE Online. I don’t mean to say that they are not aware of it, but that it doesn’t really play a large role in their gameplay decisions.

I can’t say that the lore did not interest me when I started playing, but I only read it as an interesting story and it did not really have an impact.

In July this year I came back from a ca. six months long hiatus from EvE Online and decided to learn more about the details of New Edens lore.

I read some of the Chronicles  , Mark726’s excellent Lore Survival Guide  and a lot of entries from the fiction section of the official EvE Online wiki  .

Soaking up so much information can change the perspective one has in the game. Items, factions, NPC people, even player alliances, everything changes in depth and becomes alive in front of a rich background story.

Knowing the history of the big empires, or the stories behind some of the game mechanics started to affect my ingame decision making process.

It also made me question who I was as an in-game character. Where are my origins, on which planet was I born, what was the society like when I grew up, how did I even become a capsuleer?

The answers to those questions slowly began to trickle in.

Writers sometimes complain that the characters of their stories develop a will of their own. Something similar is happening to me at the moment. As I think more and more about the lore and roleplaying, I feel that it will affect what I do ingame in a profound and maybe unpredictable way.

My main character in EvE Online is ChingShi Bonney, she was born in the Khanid Kingdom.

This blog aims to tell parts of her backstory and what she does these days in New Eden.

I will also use it to share out of character thoughts about EvE Online and life in general. You have been warned.