Saturday, February 27, 2010

My new and improved EVESpace

Having caved in to these multi-monitor evespaces I've been looking at, I purchased a sexy looking LG W2361V-PF; a 23" inch widescreen beauty queen! Trying to set this up last night proved a bit more tedious then I expected. but in the end I'm quite ecstatic with the results!
Ain't this the most prettiest site?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

EVESpace: CrazyKinux's lair within the BatCave!

Thought I'd join in and share with you my EVESpace, where I lay my Evil plans to control and subjugate the EVE Blogging Community. Or fail trying! :p

See the Flickr photo for more details and notes.

As you see, I'm still using one fairly small, 19" monitor. I seriously need to either add a 2nd 19", or get one of those nasty 24" widescreen LCDs! Now that would be wicked! Thanks for a great idea @chocolips! Here below are everyone else's EVE workspace in all their beauty! I have to say, Blake's setup and view is by far my favorite!
  1. Chocolate Heaven: EVESPACE
  2. Life in Low Sec: OOC: What's In Your EVESpace?
  3. Rettic's Log: Lots of Bloggers are posting their workspace
  4. The Travels of Black Claw: What's in your EveSpace?
  5. K162Space: Blake's EVE Machine
  6. A Mule in EVE: Manasi’s rig
  7. Wench with a Wrench: The Trinity Rig
  8. Zen and the Art of Internet Spaceship Maintenance: Inside my Pod
  9. Tales of a Low Sec Pirate: My EveSpace
  10. I am Keith Neilson: My EVE Space
  11. Sweet Little Bad Girl: Evespaces
  12. Finders & Keepers: Eve And the Apple
  13. Escape Velocity: My evespace
  14. My Loot, Your Tears: What’s Your EVESpace like?
  15. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah: My workspace
  16. Cogito Ergo Yarr: My EVE-Space? No. Just Space.
  17. Yarrbear Tales: Evespace
  18. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility: Weekly Highlights
  19. EVEOGANDA: EveSpace: Home Away From Home
  20. Learning to Fly: My Battlestation
  21. A Ghost Blog: My EVE Space
  22. @StMistaken's 2 and 1 monitor set-up
  23. @webspaceships' simple yet elegant space
  24. Nukes Thoughts: My Domain
  25. @worldpcdude's multi-monitor bonanza looks freakish!
  26. Kirith Darkblade: EVESpace
  27. EVE Newb: The Throne
  28. Guns Ablaze: EVE Space
  29. The Lathspell of Mithrandir: EVESpace: More Than Just a System…
  30. Mike Azariah: Evespace meme
  31. The Beginnings of Piracy: Very Late to the Game
  32. Diary of a Space Jockey: Pilot's seat
  33. more?

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

EVE Online Postcards for Wednesday February 24th, 2010

Who ever said that mining was boring, never took a long look at the vistas that New Eden provides! Ok, ok, I may be stretching it here just a little be, but nevertheless you have to agree with Maeve on this one, that ORE mining barge (a Retriever I believe) with the star partially hidden behind nebula are drop dead gorgeous!


See, I told you you'd find it pretty!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A Short History of the EVE Blog Pack


What is the EVE Blog Pack? What is its purpose? What functions does it serve? Are those still valid today? Which blogs should, and should not be part of it? Who currently maintains the Pack? Who should?

All these questions are valid. All deserve an answer.

Earlier today, the influential @RocWeiler wrote a post in which he offered his opinion on how I should proceed with the shake-up of the Pack. He offered a few interesting ideas and the reasoning behind it. Some of these went against the approach I had decided to take and members of the EVE Blogging Community started commenting and offering their take on it.

This got me thinking.

I've always been an open-minded kind of guy, and have certainly always welcomed the opportunity to argue my position, to listen to others' opinion and to even reconsider my position, if & when I have erred. Which is what I eventually did after putting a lot of thought into it.

Before we go any further though, I'd like to take you through a bit of the history of the EVE Blog Pack. This shouldn't take too long, so bare with me!

The Blog Pack saw the day back in June of 2008. At the time, there were less than 40 blogs dealing with EVE Online. Yes, that's right less than 40 blogs. Of those, there were 17 blogs that only focused on EVE. Back then, there wasn't any of the cohesiveness and daily interaction there is today within our blogging community. Nobody who's blog I followed was on Twitter - hell, I had just joined Twitter! There wasn't the sense of belonging there is within the EVE Blogging Community today. We were at its Dawn.

That's how, after reading about the concept of a Blog Pack, I decided to step-up and create our very own group of elite EVE Bloggers. We would be the lighthouse for other EVE players, those of us who wanted to put in writing their adventures, their ideas, their advice about our beloved virtual world.

And it worked! The community started to grow. Soon we were 50, then 100, then 200 EVE Bloggers! It kept growing.

And as the blogging community grew, so did the Blog Pack. Going from 18 blogs, to 20, then to 30 and last time to 40 blogs! The original 18 blogs (including mine) were all chosen and picked by me. As the Pack grew, I started to ask for help from within the Community as to which blogs they deemed worthy of the Pack.

Early on, I decided to put some rules of conduct for the Pack Members, and though at first everyone got on the band wagon, over time the enforcement of these rules wasn't as thorough as it should have been. And that's mostly my fault I'll admit. Having said that, most of the current members of the Blog Pack today keep an active blog.

Which is why I decided to keep the Pack going.


Originally, I had wanted to narrow the Pack back down to 20 members, not for lack of time on my part, but more to create a sense of an elite. And that's where I may have erred. When I asked for your input, I wasn't trying to get a popularity contest going, so that the "most popular" blogs got picked. My intention was to take the pulse of the Community, see which blogs were being suggested, and then choose 30 or 40 amongst those, which would then be narrowed down by you.

In the end, I wanted the community to have its say in some way. But all it did was split it into 2 camps - those who wanted the "Community to decide" and those who were against what was coined the "popularity contest". In trying to please everyone, I was pleasing no one. Not even myself.

And so I've decided to go back to my original modus operandi. I'll go through the blogs that are currently in the Blog Pack, remove those who are outdated, or have requested to be taken out, then pick from the blogs you suggested the ones that I deem well written, well structured and useful to the Community. In all, the Pack will have 50 members. That's right, not the 20 I had previously indicated, but 50. On that, @RocWeiler was right, the Pack should grow, not diminish.

The Capsuleer Dev team was kind enough to include the Blog Pack within the app early on. Back then, it was a WIN-WIN situation. I'm still very proud to know that the Pack is being fed into the app and that bloggers get noticed that way. As long as this arrangement is mutually beneficial, I don't see why we shouldn't continue to work together. If however this were to change, if the Devs decided to put together their own listing of EVE Bloggers, then I would certainly look back, cherish our accomplishments, and wish them good luck!

In the end the EVE Blog Pack is a group of good bloggers that I, has a player, has a blogger and as a member of this healthy and strong gaming community, deem worthy of my time. I can't read through 500 blogs on a daily basis, but I can through 50. Well I try anyways!

But it should not stop with me. The EVE Blog Pack is a group of 50 EVE blogs of my choosing. There is nothing stopping you from creating your own. I'd actually love to see what you can come up with! I've got a few ideas myself!

...

In the last 2 years the EVE Blogging Community has matured and grown beyond the means or control of any one individual. My goals were never to oversee that Community. I wanted it to grow and did everything in power to help nurture it. Along the way I've made some new friends, some of which have come and gone as active members of the Community. Today the Community is a successful, highly involved group of players, some of which blog, and even podcast about our experiences while we play the game we love (well I do try when I can!).

I look forward to its continued growth!



Additional Reading:

In an effort to show transparency, I've listed below the blog post that were written in response to @RocWeiler's original post.

Monday, February 22, 2010

CrazyKinux's Musing celebrates 5 years of blogging!


Half a decade. Five long years of blogging. Most of it about EVE Online.

Following a recent post by Black Claw (aka Alexia Morgan) about the longest running EVE Online blog, I realized that I had been blogging about MMORPGs in general, and EVE in particular for over 5 years now!

Back then, we were very few EVE Bloggers, and I rarely got any comments or feedback on my posts or questions. I was a difficult time for us, but our continued efforts have paid off. I mean look at where we stand today, with the incredible amount of EVE blogs, and the tremendous activity and buzz that permeates the EVE Online Community. It's something to be proud of and to continue to help nurture!

Here's to another 5 years... and more!!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Friday Video: Samurai, by RealTimeUK

Short. To the point. Bushido, the way of the warrior!

Samurai from Phil Shoebottom on Vimeo.

The Evolution of the EVE Blog Pack


When I first created the EVE Online Blog Pack, it had almost 20 members, all of whom I had personally requested to come on board. I had plenty of time to monitor their post frequency and quality. Being unemployed does have its benefits. That was almost two years ago!

Some time after its creation, I even went as far as to lay down some ground rules as to what it took and what was expected of an EVE Blog Pack member. I still had time to patrol the blogs, and make sure people kept their end of the agreement. Today, this is no longer the case. And at least half of the now 40-member Blog Pack blogs are outdated, haven't had a post in quite some time, or post on a very irregular schedule.

Today, this all comes to an end!

Tonight, you and I will start to lay down the foundation of a new Blog Pack. A leaner group of elite EVE Online Bloggers.

But to do this I need your help. Your input. Your opinion.

I need you to take a look at the current Pack, pick and choose the ones you want to keep, and male a list. The new Blog Pack will have 21 members. That's 20 EVE Online blogs of exceptional quality, who provide useful and helpful information to capsuleers. The 21st blog will be mine.

I also need your feedback as to who should be part of this new Pack. Who deserves to be on that list. It could be your blog, or a corpmates, or a blog that you regularly visit and find insightful. But with all the new EVE blog out there, this is something I simply cannot do alone. This is where you come in!

Please use the comments below to suggest blogs you'd like to see on the Pack. Over the next week or so, I'll review all these suggestion, make a first pass at that list, then ask you to take your picks. I'd like to see blogs from PvPers, Industrialist, Pirates, Manufacturer. Lets have some variety here! I know these blogs are out there. I know a few good ones.

I'm willing to invest my time to improve things, if you're willing to do your part!

I look forward to your feedback!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Rebirth of the EVE Blog Pack is coming...


Over the last few months I've received lots of emails from EVE Bloggers wanting to get added to the Pack. Well, if you've ever wanted to be part of that elite group of EVE Bloggers, then stay tuned.

Things are about to get really exciting.

As Cypher so elegantly put it "...fasten your seatbelt Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye!"

Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday Video: Robotech Genesis Trailer

Way back in the early 80's I used to watch on the week-end the animated series ROBOTECH. For the next several years, I collected, bought and watched anything that was remotely related to it like; the Protoculture Addict magazine, which was published by IANVS Press, the guys behind Dream Pod 9. That got me into Heavy Gear, but that's a whole other story!

The video below is a teaser for an upcoming web-based animated series. The guys behind it, U.E.G. Productions, seem to know what they're doing, because that teaser looks amazing.

I can't wait to see more. How about you?


Those interested in learning more should head to U.E.G. Productions, follow them on Twitter at @RobotechGenesis, or head over to their Facebook page.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Lovers of EVE Online - Blog Banter Winners


If there's one thing that shines through all the entries - all 56 of them - it's the passion that these bloggers have for this vast and harsh landscape on the InterTubes we call New Eden. As I sat through the cold February night, reading and rereading all these articles, I couldn't but help myself but feel pride at the accomplishments, achievements and opportunities of all we've been able to accomplish within and through EVE Online.

And so, it was with the utmost care and consideration that I started picking, choosing, weighing in all these testimonials to our communal passion for the virtual world we spend so much time living in, dreaming of, plan for and talking about. The result of this process is listed below. But before you drop your eyes a few lines to look at the listing, please remember that 46 other bloggers took the time to write and submit their entries, and they all deserve the recognition. SO please consider dropping by some of these and letting them know through a comment.

So wither further ado, here are your 10 winners!
  1. 1st Prize - $100 in EVE Store merchandise: Wench with a Wrench

  2. 2nd Prize - $50 in EVE Store merchandise: Don't Fear the Mutant

  3. 3rd Prize- $25 in EVE Store merchandise: Into the unknown with gun and camera

  4. 4th Prize - $25 in EVE Store merchandise: Sered's Lives

    And the following bloggers each win a 14 Day EVE Time Code:

  5. FlashFresh
  6. EVEOGANDA
  7. Vive Virtual
  8. Why do I love EVE Online
  9. An Extremely Complicated Survival Machine
  10. Ecliptic Rift
IMPORTANT: I've got one more request for these winners. I need all 10 of you to write a follow-up post on the same blog you submitted your entry, in which you'll provide me with your email. This way, I'll ensure that I don't get an email from someone pretending to be a winner and asking for his prize. Please let me know you've done that by a quick comment below.

Congratulations again to all of you!

Thursday, February 04, 2010

The "Why we love EVE Online" Contest List of Participants!


When I first launched this competition almost 2 weeks ago, I wanted to list all the participants at the end of that original article. But then, both CCP and Massively.com mentioned the contest (well ok, I kind of begged them too!), and I got bombarded with entries. So much so, that I thought it would be more appropriate to have them all listed here on a separate post.

Due to this overwhelming deluge of entries, I've had to come to the fact that I'll miss the deadline I had set for myself to announce the 10 lucky winners. Had the turnout been what a typical Blog Banter is - say 30-some entries - then I could have made the deadline, but 56! Fifty-freakin-six entries! I mean for Godliness of the Amarr, the Liberty of the Gallente, the Discipline of the Caldari and the Spiritual Awakening of the Minmatar, there's a very limited number of hours in a day, and I do have a day job! :p

So, I'm asking - correction - I'm letting you know that I'll have the results ready for a BIG SPLASH DOWN this next Monday, the 8th day of the month of purification, in the year 2010 C.E.. How's that!?

Take a look at the list below, and you'll understand what I'm up against! A victim of my own success if there ever was one!

List of Eligible Participants:
  1. A Mule in EvE
  2. Astral's EVE Trial by fire
  3. The beginnings of piracy
  4. Guns Ablaze
  5. The Midnight Sun
  6. Eve Opportunist
  7. Sered's Lives
  8. The Lathspell of Mithrandir
  9. The Light of the Stars
  10. Dense Veldspar
  11. Latro's Bunker
  12. Yet Another Pilots Chronicles
  13. Morphisat's Blog
  14. EVE SOB
  15. Zen and the Art of Nullsec
  16. Tastes Like Chicken
  17. EVE What?!
  18. A Vasty Nothingness
  19. Ally's Walkabout
  20. Mark Mustang
  21. Why do I love EVE Online
  22. Bouli's Mind
  23. Weynards EVE
  24. Why do I Love Eve
  25. An Extremely Complicated Survival Machine
  26. Surviving within the void
  27. Fua Consternation
  28. Taxtro Grave
  29. A Sebiestor Scholar
  30. JugBlog
  31. The Wolfs Den
  32. Wench with a Wrench
  33. Yarrbear Tales
  34. EVEOGANDA
  35. Kirith Darkblade
  36. Vive Virtual
  37. Adventures in Mission Running
  38. Normandy's EvE Online Musings
  39. Faint Resolution
  40. Diary of a pod pilot
  41. FlashFresh
  42. The New Victoria in New Eden
  43. Don't Fear the Mutant
  44. Infinity and Doom
  45. Event Horizons
  46. acolite.eu
  47. MushskiC's Marshmallow Mountain
  48. Why We Love EVE
  49. into the unknown with gun and camera
  50. Lyeit Lair
  51. Achernar
  52. EVE Online Contest
  53. Cogito Ergo Yarr
  54. Jump on Contact
  55. Ecliptic Rift
  56. SpiderMonkey Express
And the two following entries who unfortunately missed the deadline