Sunday, October 26, 2008

EVE Blog Pack Profile: Dee Carson


Here below is the another profile of one of 30 EVE Blog Pack members. I wish the idea for these profiles was mine, but it's not. This was first conceived by none other then Wilhelm2451, The Ancient Gaming Noob, as he is fondly known. Make sure you also check out Mynxee's profile over at EVE Network News and Morphisat's profile at The Ancient Gaming Noob.

More profiles to come over the next few weeks!


Name/Handle: Dee Carson

Blog site: A Miner With Fangs

Faction: None

When did you start playing EVE: October 2006

What brought you to EVE:
The changes to US laws that made playing online poker for real money so difficult (if not illegal) sent me looking for another recreational activity. Although I had been an avid gamer for many years, I had never participated in an MMOG. I tried a few, including WoW, but nothing really clicked. I don’t care for mindless grinding where you can buy a game guide at Bookstop & have all you need to know.

I stumbled upon EVE because of a web item that discussed the player-based economy, requiring that the players build what the players need in a free market economy. That was the hook that made me look deeper & see that many of the things I disliked about the other MMOGs that I had tried were absent in EVE. No shards. I didn’t have to mindlessly grind to progress skills and I had complete freedom to choose the kind of character I would have.

Play style:
I suppose you’d call me a generalist. I started as a miner (and my skill plan is pointed toward the much rumored Orca!), but I’m at least conversant in most of the major professions in Eve because of my role at Eve University. My wallet is supported by mining and production, with a little missioning with students thrown in for variety. When conflict arises, I’ll be there in a Falcon or Scorpion, frying eyeballs while the rest of the fleet does the DPS.

What keeps you playing EVE:
Two things. First of all, EVE remains the most interesting game I’ve ever played. It’s the strategy, tactics, weapons and platforms of Harpoon, mixed with the social aspects of Second Life, surrounding an economic system that is so close to real world supply and demand theory that it is studied by the real world as an dynamic, real time economic simulation. Beautiful graphics, in-depth content, sand-box play. Even with all its warts, EVE Online is unmatched as the most immersive MMOG in play today.

But that’s not the most important thing that keeps me playing.

For me, it’s all about the people. Starting with Morning Maniac, the founder and CEO of Eve University, the corporation where I currently serve as Director of Operations, the day-to-day steward of Morning Maniac’s vision. More than four years ago, Morning Maniac felt the frustration of new Eve pilots who found the complexity of the Eve Universe and the intimidating nature of the dark and dangerous setting. Rather than seeing these confused, vulnerable new pilots as prey or as a resource to be exploited, Morning Maniac saw them as students anxious to learn, but unsure of the next step.

That vision led Morning Maniac to found Eve University with a unique, and seemingly contradictory, mission. Eve University would teach any new pilot who wanted to learn, any of the various areas of interest for as long as he/she wanted to stay and then wish him/her well when they decided the time had come to move on. Students would receive skillbooks, ships, modules and instruction without charge or obligation. No forced servitude, no mandatory ops, no onerous tax levels. A group founded on the idea that their members would not stay! By design, they would be around for a short time and then move on. True altruism in a game? In a game that allowed piracy, griefing, scams, espionage and all manner of dirty tricks? It would never work! It can’t be self-sustaining!

Only, it has and it is.

More than four years later, Morning Maniac’s selfless vision remains. Eve University teaches PvP, PvE, mining, production, research, exploration, trading and all the subsets of those general areas. With more than a thousand members, we remain politically neutral, with friends and alumni in all major corporations, alliances and power blocks inside the Eve Universe.
That vision served me in the beginning and introduced me to some wonderful people from all around the world. I never envisioned a ‘game’ that would bring me friends literally from all around the world. Danes, Englishmen, Canucks, Aussies, Brazilians and all the rest. College students, service men (and women), business owners, butchers, bakers & candlestick makers. Young enough to be my children and peers with grey hair. Outlandish to conservative, prim to bawdy, serious to playful. A true slice of humanity. These are my corp mates, my friends, those that I serve and those that serve with me. They are the real reason that I keep playing Eve instead of taking up golf. Again.

What do you write about EVE:
Before I started Miner With Fangs a year ago, I had never kept a diary or journal, much less blogged. It started as a response to a request from our students to know more about the members of leadership.

I use the blog for many purposes:
What do you want people to know about EVE:
No matter what your personality, your play style or your time zone, there is a place for you in Eve. Pirate or producer. Miner or mission runner. Researcher or reprobate. There is a place for you.

Oh, that and, interweb spac3S4ipz iz serious business!

7 comments:

Bahamut said...

Awesome! Interesting stuff!

Anonymous said...

An excellent profile.

Anonymous said...

Good read. I've got lots of respect for Eve University.

Anonymous said...

Nice stuff, EVE U for the win. Seriously you guys rock for teaching the newer players!

Carole Pivarnik said...

Great profile, much respect to Dee and E-Uni. And always nice to be reminded that I'm not the only player "of a certain age range" in the game.

BTW, the real-money legal nerf bat that hit online poker killed my desire to play, too (it's just not the same with play money). I find that playing EVE Online Hold 'Em for ISK is a reasonable substitute. At least I can do something with the ISK I win.

Jaggins said...

Awesome profile for one of the best EVE bloggers out there!

CrazyKinux said...

Agreed. Dee deserves a lot of recognition for all he's done for the noob community.