Back from EVE Vegas and I am still tired. And, since it was Halloween on Monday I flew back home just in time for more things going on. No rest for the weary. I heard that CCP chose the weekend because they thought it would be a good date for a party, but I am not sure anybody has problems finding a party on Halloween. But I was there.
Various bits of EVE Vegas 2016
Lots of interesting things were announced or talked about during the event. My favorite tidbit of data involved how many citadels there were in New Eden. The count, as of the art presentation (which also gave us the new explosions video) on Sunday, was:
- Astrahus – 6,690 with 90 more coming online
- Fortizar – 747 with another 30 in progress
- Keepstar – 14 in space
That is a lot of citadels deployed in New Eden.
They didn’t say how many Keepstars were being deployed, but one went up in our own staging system last night.
Goons have a Keepstar
Its deployment probably went unnoticed because our staging system has citadels the way Jita has station.
Anyway, lots of stuff at EVE Vegas that people are writing about. You can find summaries over at The Nosy Gamer and at NevilleSmit.com (post 1 and post 2).
I have some thoughts of my own rattling around my head, especially about the bright future of ship skins in New Eden, but I am tired and there are kids outside looking for candy so I am going to save that for another day.
Instead I want to look at some minor bit of EVE Vegas that I find interesting, which is who I spent time talking with at the event. The list, in no particular order:
- Noizy – The Nosy Gamer
- Neville Smit – NevilleSmit.com
- Marcus Scarus – Just for Crits
- Matterall – Imperium News
- Dirk MacGirk – The Open Comms Show and Total EVE
- Lockefox – EVE Prosper
- Dire Necessity – Crossing Zebras
- Johnny Spunk – EVE-Scout
- Mark726 – EVE Travel
- Mynxee – Various blogs past and present, plus Signal Cartel
- Sugar Kyle – Low Sec Lifestyle
- Silicon Buddha – Fly Reckless
- Gabby Hon
- Debes Sparre
There are probably a couple missing from that list, but since I generally can’t even remember what I had for breakfast by the time lunch rolls around most days, the fault is mine not yours.
Mark726 and I at the Chateau party
So yes, there is a pretty clear pattern there. That list is mostly people in EVE Online fan media whose work I had listened to or read before Vegas and who were, in most cases, at least somewhat aware of me and my blog. (This blog, and not EVE Online Pictures, my official fan site blog, which nobody knows exists.)
Myself, Neville Smit, and Nosy (Note the unintentionally on point sign in the lower left)
And just to sort of round that theme out, I know Gabby through Twitter (she was literally the first person I spoke to at EVE Vegas last year) while Debes used to comment frequently on EVE posts here (until I went to null sec), so they really fit the pattern as well.
Which isn’t to say I didn’t talk to anybody else. I spoke for just a bit with Robby Kasparic, who contributes to Imperium News and is in Reavers, and meant to get back to chat with him some more but never quite managed it. For example, I also met DBRB, who is exceptionally pleasant in person, Lady Scarlet, and The Mittani at various points during the event. But those were all in passing moments and as like as not I was forgotten pretty quickly.
Out of 800+ people at the event, that really wasn’t a lot of people. I spoke to two CCP people during the whole thing; CCP Logibro, to give him a TNT pin to add to the collection he had on his badge lanyard, and CCP Guard, because I was on his team for the trivia quiz. (Hint: Always be on Mark726’s team for such events. His team won while ours came in last with 9 points out of 40, though CCP Guard knew the answers when it came to questions about events in 2003.)
And part of that is because of me. Manic Velocity gave a talk title “Scaling the Social Cliff of EVE Online” where he spoke about how it can be a problem for an introvert like himself to come to events like EVE Vegas and actually talk to strangers, which I would have loudly agreed with if I wasn’t too introverted for that. It is nearly impossible for me to walk up to a group of strangers already talking and join in. I’ll look away and walk past and hate me for being me while I look for somebody I know.
But another part is in my motivation in going to Vegas, which isn’t primarily to party or gamble or drink exotic alcoholic milkshakes, though I may indulge in that sort of thing.
Holsteins – That is a slice of pumpkin pie on the left milkshake
And I certainly went to the Chateau party.
The DJ was pretty spot on picking music for the EVE Vegas crowd
But I think my prime motivation in going to EVE Vegas was to talk about EVE Online with other players, and doubly so in the face of announcements that CCP puts out at these event. And actually talking about the game, its people, and various related issues from running a stream to what makes a news site “work” for readers is difficult to do with more than a few people. Even at the blogger lunch that Marcus Scarus threw together, where there was not a huge crowd, we broke into smaller groups at times to talk about different topics.
So talking to a lot of people wasn’t necessarily a key objective. Talking to some of the “right” people was, and I think things turned out pretty well with the list of people above. Thanks for spending time talking with me.
Also, a special shout out to Dirk MacGirk because conversation is enhanced when somebody hands you an awesome T-shirt.
The Open Comms Show T-Shirt, graphics by Rixx Javix
So now to figure out how to get to Vegas again next year.
Also, in closing, there is one more odd aspect to all of this, which is what do you call people? And how do you introduce yourself? We all have our real name, our in-game name, and sometimes a different name under which we blog or stream.
When I met The Mittani we ran into him at the Cosmopolitan. He introduced himself as “Alex” so I returned with, “John,” both our real life names. But he came our way because I was standing with Noizy, whom he has met in the past, and started talking to him. However, I still don’t know what Noizy’s real life name is and only vaguely recall his in-game name. There isn’t any great message in all of that, just a glimpse at the oddity of our various identities.
Finally, I was told several times that there was one other person from TNT, my alliance, who attended EVE Vegas. However, this always came up when I arrived and he had just left, so I never actually met him. Ah well, maybe next year.
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