To live a bit more of it

This post is part of the EVE Blog Banter, a monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to him. The seventh topic comes from CrazyKinux, who asks us: « What 3 things haven’t you done in EVE and why? Would you be willing to try one day? Why so? Why not?« 

1. A change of character
Roleplaying something different from yourself is a difficult act. My characters in games usually import the largest chunk of their personality and quirks from my actual real life persona (one core of good intentions, one layer of deception and a serving of bad puns). I believe I am no exception, that the best roleplayers are people who also roleplay their everyday life, and that it would be quite a feat for me to achieve an original impersonation of a futuristic space pilot.
So, I would like to manage to give to my character’s story and… character in Eve a different edge. I have no grand plan and I do that for fun and not to fulfill an artistic urge. But, perhaps, the time will come when my character will become something else than the same old me that he is at the present time. I hope to be surprised.

2. A fight to remember
Eve’s player-versus-player combat, especially on a small scale, thrills me. Solo combat is perfect. I hope to enjoy many more mind-blowing dogfights against all kinds of target and to experience flow. Flow, according to psychological studies by the professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is this mental state in which « we feel a complete and energized focus in an activity, accompanied by a high level of enjoyment and fullfillement in what we are doing » (as described in 21st Century Game Design, by Chris Bateman and Richard Boon). My past flow experiences include a memorable try back when I was a winger in a rugby team, or a select few episodes of catlike carnage with knives in Counter Strike: Condition Zero servers. To me, flow can be reached when you interface intimately with the game. Such trancelike moments are always fleeting, but so much more rewarding than killboard accounting.
I have been thrilled, now I want more. I want a fight to remember.

3. Conquer 0.0
Well, maybe not conquer all of it. But I would like to taste life in null sec space, to get out of my usual little circuit between mission hubs and factional warfare areas. That desire is a pretty common one for pilots. Time and loyalty constraints have prevented me so far from scuttling my ships on the shores of 0.0, Cortés-style. However, I suspect low-sec, with its opportunities for solo combat, to be in fact a better place to visit in the quest for fun. An important part of my experience of Eve did begin this day long past, when I first read flashfresh’s blog. But this experience would not feel complete without an extended foray into zero security space, which might catch some of my preconceptions flatfooted, in a good way.
The time will come, eventually. I am in no hurry.

In the meantime, deprived of a large part of my entertainment time by never-ending work, I can vicariously experience many Eve lives through the writings of the game’s army of bloggers and forum warriors.

Check other Eve Blog Banter articles on the same topic: