Grandpa Hilberg was always "old" to me -- he must have been in his mid to late fifties in my earliest memories of him, going to see Cubs games with him and my dad. I remember his apartment on Ashland Avenue; its smell, and how it was filled with his model trains. I remember the creaky wooden stairs in his building and their red stained wood. I can't remember much else though, almost thirty years later.
He moved to Montana when I wasn't much older; I won't pretend to know why exactly, but after that I saw him less, when he would come to visit or on the rare occasion of a family gathering. I would talk to him on the phone, I always intended to go visit him sometime once I started working but somehow it never worked out; the idea of going to see him without my dad always seemed awkward, and how many people in their 20s want to go hang out with their grandparents? I always thought there would be time later anyway -- the mortality of Grandpa Hilberg never really set in for me.
When my mom's dad died on Christmas 2003, I seemed to make it through almost unfazed. Maybe it was because I had just changed my name and his funeral would be the first time I would meet my mom's family as I am now, and selfishly I was more worried about their reactions to that than grieving over his death. I hadn't spent as much time with Grandpa Schroedter either, since he lived further away. For some reason, I feel like he had reach his time -- he had done what he set out to do and now he was done, and maybe felt a bit at a loss with what he was supposed to do now.
Grandpa Hilberg was different; there was always something childlike about him to me. He seemed to have few regrets about his life and despite the fact that I don't think he ever really had a comfortable or successful career, he never seemed bitter or upset by that. It seemed like every time I talked to him, whether in person or on the phone, he had some story to tell about his friends or his family, and nearly every single one ended with his laugh. I don't think I ever heard him to tell a story with a sad ending.
For someone like me, who has felt world-weary and cynical since I was in my teens, there's something fascinating about a person like Grandpa Hilberg who could maintain that kind of point of view and outlook on the world for so long. I never really thought about his mortality, I guess, because it felt like he would never really go -- how can someone like that die? I figured when you see death coming that has to be the ultimate downer -- when the end is near how can you maintain that kind of outlook?
Yesterday, my dad called me as I was leaving lunch and told me that Grandpa Hilberg had died that morning. He'd been in the hospital, and I knew he was sick, but still, I never thought he would actually die -- it just didn't even strike me a possibility. I don't think it really settled in until last night, but for the first time, I think, I'm actually feeling a strong sense of grief over someone's passing in a way I've never felt it before. Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting older, and my parents are getting older too; for the first time I am really thinking about what it will be like when they die and realizing what that will mean.
I'm filled with regrets now, about my grandfather. I always told him I'd come visit, but I never did. He wrote me after the first time I went to Iceland, including an article he'd read on the place, and I don't think I ever wrote back. I talked to him on the phone, sure, but now...I was his oldest grandchild, and I think he was trying to reach out to me, and I wasn't there. I was always going to see or talk to him later, and now there's never going to be a later.
That is always going to haunt me I think, especially when I look at how his kids turned out -- seven boys and girls who managed to turn out to be pretty great people, one of whom I'm happy to call my dad. Whatever he and my grandmother did to raise them, they seem to have done it pretty well, and they managed to pass those lessons on to their kids, because I don't think I could have asked for a better dad than I am lucky enough to have. After all he's been through -- with me and my brothers, with my mom and everything else life has thrown at him, he's always been there for me. And when I think of that, I wonder if that's how my dad feels about his dad, and I wish I understood that more. I can't help but feel a bit of guilt that I am never going to have kids of my own so that I can pass those lessons on too -- and part of me wonders if I could have, even if it weren't no physically impossible. I can't imagine it was easy for him or for my parents to raise their kids as well as they did.
So, this weekend, I guess, I say goodbye to Grandpa Hilberg, and sorry for putting off what is now never going to happen. I hope that he passed peacefully and as without regret as he seemed, and I hope he knew how much he meant to those of us he leaves behind.
He moved to Montana when I wasn't much older; I won't pretend to know why exactly, but after that I saw him less, when he would come to visit or on the rare occasion of a family gathering. I would talk to him on the phone, I always intended to go visit him sometime once I started working but somehow it never worked out; the idea of going to see him without my dad always seemed awkward, and how many people in their 20s want to go hang out with their grandparents? I always thought there would be time later anyway -- the mortality of Grandpa Hilberg never really set in for me.
When my mom's dad died on Christmas 2003, I seemed to make it through almost unfazed. Maybe it was because I had just changed my name and his funeral would be the first time I would meet my mom's family as I am now, and selfishly I was more worried about their reactions to that than grieving over his death. I hadn't spent as much time with Grandpa Schroedter either, since he lived further away. For some reason, I feel like he had reach his time -- he had done what he set out to do and now he was done, and maybe felt a bit at a loss with what he was supposed to do now.
Grandpa Hilberg was different; there was always something childlike about him to me. He seemed to have few regrets about his life and despite the fact that I don't think he ever really had a comfortable or successful career, he never seemed bitter or upset by that. It seemed like every time I talked to him, whether in person or on the phone, he had some story to tell about his friends or his family, and nearly every single one ended with his laugh. I don't think I ever heard him to tell a story with a sad ending.
For someone like me, who has felt world-weary and cynical since I was in my teens, there's something fascinating about a person like Grandpa Hilberg who could maintain that kind of point of view and outlook on the world for so long. I never really thought about his mortality, I guess, because it felt like he would never really go -- how can someone like that die? I figured when you see death coming that has to be the ultimate downer -- when the end is near how can you maintain that kind of outlook?
Yesterday, my dad called me as I was leaving lunch and told me that Grandpa Hilberg had died that morning. He'd been in the hospital, and I knew he was sick, but still, I never thought he would actually die -- it just didn't even strike me a possibility. I don't think it really settled in until last night, but for the first time, I think, I'm actually feeling a strong sense of grief over someone's passing in a way I've never felt it before. Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting older, and my parents are getting older too; for the first time I am really thinking about what it will be like when they die and realizing what that will mean.
I'm filled with regrets now, about my grandfather. I always told him I'd come visit, but I never did. He wrote me after the first time I went to Iceland, including an article he'd read on the place, and I don't think I ever wrote back. I talked to him on the phone, sure, but now...I was his oldest grandchild, and I think he was trying to reach out to me, and I wasn't there. I was always going to see or talk to him later, and now there's never going to be a later.
That is always going to haunt me I think, especially when I look at how his kids turned out -- seven boys and girls who managed to turn out to be pretty great people, one of whom I'm happy to call my dad. Whatever he and my grandmother did to raise them, they seem to have done it pretty well, and they managed to pass those lessons on to their kids, because I don't think I could have asked for a better dad than I am lucky enough to have. After all he's been through -- with me and my brothers, with my mom and everything else life has thrown at him, he's always been there for me. And when I think of that, I wonder if that's how my dad feels about his dad, and I wish I understood that more. I can't help but feel a bit of guilt that I am never going to have kids of my own so that I can pass those lessons on too -- and part of me wonders if I could have, even if it weren't no physically impossible. I can't imagine it was easy for him or for my parents to raise their kids as well as they did.
So, this weekend, I guess, I say goodbye to Grandpa Hilberg, and sorry for putting off what is now never going to happen. I hope that he passed peacefully and as without regret as he seemed, and I hope he knew how much he meant to those of us he leaves behind.
Last weekend kicked off the big summer movie season I guess, with Iron Man 2 premiering; after how much I enjoyed the last one, I was pretty excited to see what they did with the sequel. I took the afternoon off on Friday and went to see it at a matinee, which was mostly empty (a situation I'm told changed quickly by Saturday).
The movie picks up six months after the last movie, with the US government trying to get a handle on the Iron Man issue. Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a competing arms manufacturer, is doing his part to try and bring Stark down (and develop something to compare with Iron Man), and Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) is plotting his revenge, as Stark's father destroyed Vanko's father during the cold war. Meanwhile, SHIELD is still trying to deal with Stark and the emerging Avenger Initiative as well; Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury has a bigger part, as well as Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson.
The big difference between this movie and the original is that while the first Iron Man was more of a character piece, with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark going through an introspective journey for the first two (or maybe three, depending on how to divide it) acts, Iron Man 2 is, by and large, a more conventional action movie, which is somewhat of a disappointment after three much more interesting superhero movies of the last two years (the original Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Watchmen). While there's definitely some good character moments for Robert Downey Jr. in the movie, there's not nearly as much development, and that makes the resolution at the end seem a bit empty to me. While the dialogue is, for the most part, very good, I think the script is just missing the character scenes that made the first one so good -- Downey's strength is that kind of acting, and if you don't give him that, you're wasting him to some extent. I think the improv style of the first one probably made it a lot stronger.
I certainly can't fault the acting; all of the principals are top notch, and even with as many characters are crammed into the movie, it did not feel like they'd been wedged in for no reason. They have a natural presence in the movie, but they also don't get a lot of time to shine. Aside from Downey, Sam Rockwell does an amazing job portraying Hammer; you can tell that Hammer desperately wants to be Tony Stark, but can't quite pull it off. Rockwell gets just the right amount of empty swagger to his step.
Rourke also manages to pull of "bruiser Russian physicist," which I'm surprised as anyone actually works. His opening scenes are very reminiscent of Stark in the cave in the first movie (which I'm sure was intentional) and his opening confrontation with Stark (and the monologue he gives) drips with menace. Later, however, he managed to portray just the right kind of "focused gearhead" kind of personality coming through his gruff exterior.
The other supporting characters work very well (including director Favreau, whose Happy Hogan gets a bigger part in this movie, but not annoyingly so), but none of them quite measure up to the level of the three principals. Considering that they may be three of the best actors working today though, that's hardly a slight. Don Cheadle does an excellent job filling in for Terrence Howard as Rhodey/War Machine, although I think Howard may have had slightly better chemistry with Downey in the first movie. This could just be a symptom of the movie's action focus rather than character focus though -- there's no good scenes where we get to see the two of them just kicking back together like the scene in the first Iron Man on the plane. Scarlett Johansson does a fine job as Black Widow, but only really gets two scenes to show her stuff. She's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not sure that any other reasonably competent actress couldn't have pulled off the role.
The action scenes were pretty good, though I don't think any of them really knocked my socks off; I think part of the problem was that there was just less investment in them than there was in the first movie, where there was a much stronger personal stake in each of them. The first confrontation between Vanko and Stark was probably the best, and the finale, while showy and pretty cool to watch, just didn't have the same weight to it.
On a minor note, the soundtrack for Iron Man seems to basically be AC/DC's greatest hits, and I was kind of disappointed that the score, which I actually liked in the first one, seemed to be missing. I was waiting for the Iron Man theme to start up a few times and I never really heard it (maybe I just missed it though).
Overall, Iron Man 2 is definitely worth seeing; however, be prepared to be at least a little disappointed if you're expecting the same kind of character-focused piece that we had the first time around. It's not a bad movie to be sure, however, and you'll probably enjoy it just for Downey, Rockwell, and Rourke's performances. Hopefully, though, Iron Man 3 will be a return to the first movie's strengths.
The movie picks up six months after the last movie, with the US government trying to get a handle on the Iron Man issue. Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a competing arms manufacturer, is doing his part to try and bring Stark down (and develop something to compare with Iron Man), and Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) is plotting his revenge, as Stark's father destroyed Vanko's father during the cold war. Meanwhile, SHIELD is still trying to deal with Stark and the emerging Avenger Initiative as well; Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury has a bigger part, as well as Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson.
The big difference between this movie and the original is that while the first Iron Man was more of a character piece, with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark going through an introspective journey for the first two (or maybe three, depending on how to divide it) acts, Iron Man 2 is, by and large, a more conventional action movie, which is somewhat of a disappointment after three much more interesting superhero movies of the last two years (the original Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Watchmen). While there's definitely some good character moments for Robert Downey Jr. in the movie, there's not nearly as much development, and that makes the resolution at the end seem a bit empty to me. While the dialogue is, for the most part, very good, I think the script is just missing the character scenes that made the first one so good -- Downey's strength is that kind of acting, and if you don't give him that, you're wasting him to some extent. I think the improv style of the first one probably made it a lot stronger.
I certainly can't fault the acting; all of the principals are top notch, and even with as many characters are crammed into the movie, it did not feel like they'd been wedged in for no reason. They have a natural presence in the movie, but they also don't get a lot of time to shine. Aside from Downey, Sam Rockwell does an amazing job portraying Hammer; you can tell that Hammer desperately wants to be Tony Stark, but can't quite pull it off. Rockwell gets just the right amount of empty swagger to his step.
Rourke also manages to pull of "bruiser Russian physicist," which I'm surprised as anyone actually works. His opening scenes are very reminiscent of Stark in the cave in the first movie (which I'm sure was intentional) and his opening confrontation with Stark (and the monologue he gives) drips with menace. Later, however, he managed to portray just the right kind of "focused gearhead" kind of personality coming through his gruff exterior.
The other supporting characters work very well (including director Favreau, whose Happy Hogan gets a bigger part in this movie, but not annoyingly so), but none of them quite measure up to the level of the three principals. Considering that they may be three of the best actors working today though, that's hardly a slight. Don Cheadle does an excellent job filling in for Terrence Howard as Rhodey/War Machine, although I think Howard may have had slightly better chemistry with Downey in the first movie. This could just be a symptom of the movie's action focus rather than character focus though -- there's no good scenes where we get to see the two of them just kicking back together like the scene in the first Iron Man on the plane. Scarlett Johansson does a fine job as Black Widow, but only really gets two scenes to show her stuff. She's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not sure that any other reasonably competent actress couldn't have pulled off the role.
The action scenes were pretty good, though I don't think any of them really knocked my socks off; I think part of the problem was that there was just less investment in them than there was in the first movie, where there was a much stronger personal stake in each of them. The first confrontation between Vanko and Stark was probably the best, and the finale, while showy and pretty cool to watch, just didn't have the same weight to it.
On a minor note, the soundtrack for Iron Man seems to basically be AC/DC's greatest hits, and I was kind of disappointed that the score, which I actually liked in the first one, seemed to be missing. I was waiting for the Iron Man theme to start up a few times and I never really heard it (maybe I just missed it though).
Overall, Iron Man 2 is definitely worth seeing; however, be prepared to be at least a little disappointed if you're expecting the same kind of character-focused piece that we had the first time around. It's not a bad movie to be sure, however, and you'll probably enjoy it just for Downey, Rockwell, and Rourke's performances. Hopefully, though, Iron Man 3 will be a return to the first movie's strengths.
CrazyKinux's latest Eve Blog Banter is on a topic of some interest to me, as one of the relatively small percentage of Eve players that happens to be female. Admittedly, I'm not necessarily the typical female player of Eve (or the typical female in general, as anyone who knows me well or reads this blog regularly is already aware of), but I would like to think I'm not completely bizarre in my Eve tastes -- I seem to get along well with the other ladies of Eve I meet at FanFest, anyway. So, as an armchair game designer and someone that would like to see Eve broaden its appeal to women, I've decided to take a crack at that this week.
This topic is a difficult one for me. I've thought about it in regard to gaming in general, and generally I'm of the opinion that far too many people at least in the game-playing community, if not the game-making community, think that women will only be attracted to games which are stereotypically "girly." Things like the Sims, Barbie games, or Bella Sera. It's not a very helpful angle from which to come at the question of "how can an existing game increase its appeal to female gamers?" Maybe Eve Online would get more female players if it was focused around who can dress their avatar up prettier, but that wouldn't really be anything like the current game.
Mostly, though, I think that's a load of crap. Yes, there's some things that women like more than guys and vice versa, but I think a large part of why women don't like certain games has little to do with the gameplay or the number of pink horses in them -- it has to do with how these games are made and marketed, and I think that's partly because of the fact that game development is still such a male-dominated field.
In my experience, one of the ways games can expand their appeal among women gamers is by focusing on "soft" game design issues -- specifically, increasing the strength of story and social elements in gaming, two things that Eve has a good head start on, but still has problems with.
Making the Emotional Connection
Why is storyline important? Because it adds emotional depth to your reasons for playing the game. This is something that I think all gamers appreciate on some level, but with women I think it can be a major draw to the game. I have a friend who does not really enjoy playing a lot of "hardcore" games for the most part, but who loves to watch her husband play pretty much every kind of game out there and go through the narrative of the game. The games outside the casual model that she enjoys playing tend to be those with interesting stories (especially adventure games) and those she can play cooperatively with her husband (like Civilization, for instance).
Eve already has a story which, when it comes to games, is fairly decent (and I think getting better most of the time). However, currently the storyline is rather detached from what the players actually do -- characters can't really interact with the storyline in very many ways, and generally just have to sit back and watch things unfold. Then the question becomes, what do I get from playing the game as opposed to watching the game? If CCP wants to attract people (including women) into playing the game with the story, they need to make that story part of your experience as a player.
The old AURORA events were one way this sort of connection could be made, but I don't think something like that is necessarily needed. The recent appearance of Ishukone and Mordu's Legion ships in Intaki, for instance, is one way to show this, although optimally, you want it to allow active participation, not just passive. Making the economy fluctuate in regions based on storyline activity, incorporating current events into missions...making the world feel more alive and increasing the verisimilitude, basically. I think this is a good thing for games in general (as I'm sure anyone who's read my articles on storyline and metaplot before is aware), but I think it's definitely something that women tend to find more interesting than the visceral thrill of blowing someone up. They want the emotional context that the story can provide, in order to pull them through the gameplay they might not enjoy at first glance.
The Booby Trap
However, Eve's specific storyline does have its weaknesses when it comes to women. Those of you who have read my review of The Empyrean Age can already guess where I'm going -- and to be fair, this is hardly a problem that Eve alone falls victim to. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of strong female characters in the Eve storyline. Newsflash, gentlemen. Most women do not want to play tarted-up sexpots that need a big, strong man to save them all the time. What does Eve have?
I am not saying that you can't have strippers or prostitutes or sex or whatever in Eve -- for the most part, we're all adults here and we can handle adult subjects. But for once, I would like to see a female character get the upper hand in a big way and behave like a strong woman. Recently, I finished watching the Rome TV series. That's a show that takes place in a time where women were legally subordinate to men in almost every way, which was rife with nudity and sex, and yet I still thought that nearly all the main female characters were strong, well-developed people who did not exist simply as things for the men to have sex with or collapse into tears whenever things didn't go their way. They had as much of a role in the events that unfolded as the male characters, even if they did it in different ways. That's the sort of thing that will open up the appeal to women.
Expanding the Social Sphere
This is something that Eve already does well, I think, but maybe doesn't promote as much as it could. I think women gamers tend to be more attracted to "social games," where the game is as much about interacting with other people, often in a cooperative way, as anything else. A lot of the marketing for Eve in the past has focused on the shiny ships, big fleet battles, and its wide-open, often cutthroat nature; for sure, these are things that are definitely strengths of the game, but not necessarily the most appealing to women. However, one of Eve's other big strengths can be the extent to which it encourages cooperative effort; CCP has highlighted this somewhat with their "Butterfly Effect" ad, and it's part of this Goonswarm recruitment poster too, but I'm still not sure it really gets played up as much as it could be.
Incarna may help with this, but it's not going to be the secret key to opening the floodgates to women. Adding some dress-up minigames and social spaces is not going to keep female players, although it may be a good way to get them to dip their toes in the water. In order to retain those gamers they are going to need something more than what they can get from free games or games geared towards that kind of thing more specifically (like Second Life, for instance). Retaining those players will require making those social spaces meaningful within the context of the rest of the game -- something I'm not sure is possible with any sort of game mechanic, but which will only happen if Incarna is seen by the majority of the player base as a valued addition to the game rather than something tacked on or seen a separate game in and of itself.
I also think that Eve's marketing needs to promote stories of cooperative, constructive social play in Eve over the kinds of stories that seem to make Eve's big press -- the GHSC heist, the EIB scandal, and the collapse of BoB and GoonSwarm, for instance. While there's no doubt that those are possibilities that are unique to Eve's single-server universe and they are extremely impressive (and interesting) in their own right, women seem to be much more drawn to constructive, rather than destructive, social events. Things like the ongoing mission of Eve University or the Providence effort (prior to its recent collapse) might be good examples of that. Certainly, to some extent, CCP can't do anything about what outside news organizations choose to cover, but they can at least try to counterbalance it.
The Learning Cliff and Fumbling in the Dark
I think by now everyone has probably seen the Eve "learning cliff" graph. Certainly, Eve has suffered in the past by perhaps not being the most accessible game out there, but they've recently made big strides in revamping the tutorials -- if you haven't seen CCP Eris' presentation from FanFest 2009 about that, it's worth seeing. However, I think Eve is still very intimidating for new players to just be dropped into -- and CCP knows this, which is why when I see them at various gaming conventions they are always trying to get people to start playing with a friend. This is an impediment for getting new players of all stripes, but especially women.
A lot of the material I've read on game design indicates that men and women tend to want different ways to learn new tasks -- men tend to like fumbling around in the dark, so to speak, until they figure them out by doing. Women (including me) tend to like reading the manual, getting coached through things, and then doing them. Eve has come a long way from where it was, but it is still, to some extent, a game where you learn by fumbling around in the dark. The new tutorials and the Evelopedia have done a great job providing documentation for new characters, but the high-level game of Eve is far different from the high-level game of other MMOs. I have never seen the kind of basically scientific research used to determine the boundaries of game mechanics and out-of-the-box thinking for other games that I have seen with Eve; the example that sticks in my mind is the Goonswarm grid manipulation guide.
To some extent, this is never going to really be presented in an easy to learn form (at least, until it is already in wide use). That's something I don't think is likely to change with Eve, especially as CCP often goes back and revises game mechanics fairly often. Personally, I actually see that as a good thing, but this is going to be an impediment as long as things like that exist. Promoting corporations like Eve University is probably the best antidote to this sort of problem, but then CCP gets in the trap of showing favoritism to one alliance. That's a trap they are understandably wary of falling into.
Note that I'm not saying women can't figure this stuff out too -- but I think they tend to be a little more intimidated than the guys, especially when you take into account the culture of the player base, which brings me to my next point....
This Place Smells Like A Locker Room
Possibly, at the highest level, the biggest obstacle to getting more women to play Eve is simply that there aren't that many women playing Eve right now, and the culture is a bit on the intimidating side. When you join a Ventrilo server and three guys tell you "pics or stfu," you kinda just want to reach through the internet and punch them in the face, not hop through seventy jumps to blow up the opposing alliance with them. To be fair, a lot of the women I've known in Eve can give as good as they get, but I think that's because we're a self-selected group. I work with a bunch of guys at work and am used to the same sort of attitude (though to be fair, the folks in CAIN have never treated me -- or any of the other women in the corp -- with any less respect than the guys, for which I'm thankful).
It can get tiresome to deal with that kind of crap if you have to put up with it on a regular basis though, and after dealing with guys making dick jokes and remarking on co-eds' boobs all day, I have to say I think I'd rather not deal with it when I'm in my off hours. That sort of attitude can be hard to avoid sometimes, especially if you deal with the bigger alliances. One of the reasons I was happy in a smaller corporation or alliance was because there was a much friendlier (and less anonymous) atmosphere. Guys seem less likely to let out their inner dumbass when they are more familiar with the person whose tits they are demanding to see. :)
However, this is something that's not really anything CCP can control -- aside from doing what they can to encourage women to play in other ways, so that we aren't such a curiosity. That's something the players are going to have to do if they want to see more women in the game -- which, honestly, I'm not sure a lot of them do. I think that by and large, most of them would be happier if more women played, but they don't really have any interest in doing anything to actively promote more women players in Eve.
Does It Really Matter?
In the end though, so what? So Eve's player base is 95% male. Is that actually a problem? In the grand scheme of things, I have to admit it's probably not. Until CCP has 50 million subscribers, there's probably going to be plenty more guys out there to pull into the game that are more likely to enjoy it and stick with it. It's not like "men 18-34" is a small demographic. They can probably survive just fine appealing to that market.
On the other hand, for a woman who does like Eve, it matters a great deal to me. It does get a little lonely out there being the one woman in 20 players. I'm not going to quit Eve because of it, or throw myself a pity party, but it'd sure be nice to go to FanFest and not have it be a total sausage fest. :)
Edit: In the interest of full disclosure, after reading some of the other blogs on this topic, I have to admit that I originally picked Caldari for Svetlana because Civire appeared to have the best hair. However, that is not what kept me in the game for 5 years, nor what inspired me to write so much on Caldari society and history. Cheap tricks to appeal to girls might get them in the door, but it won't keep them here.
Highlights of the Banter so far (according to me):
The Girls Who Fly Spaceships
Space Boobies Are Bad, Mmmkay?
New Eden Doesn't Need To Change For Eve -- Adam Needs To Get Over Himself
Eve Online and Women (sorta)
Think Outside the Spaceship
Don't Change Eve For Me
Where Are The Laydeez of Eve?
Where Are All The Wenches?
Evequality: The Rise of the Female Gamer
Women? IN MY SPACESHIP? Is She From Mars As Well?
The Female of the Species
Eve and the X by X Genetic Succession Unit
Sociability V
What Women Want In Eve
Getting In Touch With Our Feminine Side
It's a Woman's World (They Just Don't Know It Yet)
Women In Eve -- Can It Be Done?
You'd Rather Be Playing The Sims, Right?
Women In Eve
EVE: WTB Girls?
All About Eve
Hell Hath No Fury
The Ladies of New Eden: An Analysis Of How Men Are Not From Mars, and Women Are Not From Venus
The Ladies of New Eden
Eve vs Women
Gender Inclusiveness in CCP's Eve Online
This topic is a difficult one for me. I've thought about it in regard to gaming in general, and generally I'm of the opinion that far too many people at least in the game-playing community, if not the game-making community, think that women will only be attracted to games which are stereotypically "girly." Things like the Sims, Barbie games, or Bella Sera. It's not a very helpful angle from which to come at the question of "how can an existing game increase its appeal to female gamers?" Maybe Eve Online would get more female players if it was focused around who can dress their avatar up prettier, but that wouldn't really be anything like the current game.
Mostly, though, I think that's a load of crap. Yes, there's some things that women like more than guys and vice versa, but I think a large part of why women don't like certain games has little to do with the gameplay or the number of pink horses in them -- it has to do with how these games are made and marketed, and I think that's partly because of the fact that game development is still such a male-dominated field.
In my experience, one of the ways games can expand their appeal among women gamers is by focusing on "soft" game design issues -- specifically, increasing the strength of story and social elements in gaming, two things that Eve has a good head start on, but still has problems with.
Making the Emotional Connection
Why is storyline important? Because it adds emotional depth to your reasons for playing the game. This is something that I think all gamers appreciate on some level, but with women I think it can be a major draw to the game. I have a friend who does not really enjoy playing a lot of "hardcore" games for the most part, but who loves to watch her husband play pretty much every kind of game out there and go through the narrative of the game. The games outside the casual model that she enjoys playing tend to be those with interesting stories (especially adventure games) and those she can play cooperatively with her husband (like Civilization, for instance).
Eve already has a story which, when it comes to games, is fairly decent (and I think getting better most of the time). However, currently the storyline is rather detached from what the players actually do -- characters can't really interact with the storyline in very many ways, and generally just have to sit back and watch things unfold. Then the question becomes, what do I get from playing the game as opposed to watching the game? If CCP wants to attract people (including women) into playing the game with the story, they need to make that story part of your experience as a player.
The old AURORA events were one way this sort of connection could be made, but I don't think something like that is necessarily needed. The recent appearance of Ishukone and Mordu's Legion ships in Intaki, for instance, is one way to show this, although optimally, you want it to allow active participation, not just passive. Making the economy fluctuate in regions based on storyline activity, incorporating current events into missions...making the world feel more alive and increasing the verisimilitude, basically. I think this is a good thing for games in general (as I'm sure anyone who's read my articles on storyline and metaplot before is aware), but I think it's definitely something that women tend to find more interesting than the visceral thrill of blowing someone up. They want the emotional context that the story can provide, in order to pull them through the gameplay they might not enjoy at first glance.
The Booby Trap
However, Eve's specific storyline does have its weaknesses when it comes to women. Those of you who have read my review of The Empyrean Age can already guess where I'm going -- and to be fair, this is hardly a problem that Eve alone falls victim to. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of strong female characters in the Eve storyline. Newsflash, gentlemen. Most women do not want to play tarted-up sexpots that need a big, strong man to save them all the time. What does Eve have?
- Jamyl Sarum, gets half a page devoted to her in the novel talking about how sexy she is and then at the end her suppressed "real" self begs for help from Falek Grange, a man she is hinted at having a sexual relationship with in the past. Her "strong" self is evidently an alternate personality or some sort of possession.
- Haatakan Oiritsuu, CEO of the largest Caldari megacorporation, gives up her position to Tibus Heth without a fight and can't seem to find bodyguards who are loyal enough to protect her. Since then, she's been co-opted by the same man that forced her out of her position (which, to be fair, could be an improvement).
- Karin Midular throws a tantrum in a government meeting and nearly gets raped by (yet another) poorly-chosen bodyguard, only to be saved by Shakor.
- Mila Gariushi (aka Kinachi Hepimeki) runs off after her brother is killed and lets the man that stands for everything her brother hated push Ishukone (and the State) around with nary a peep, despite being his heir apparent.
I am not saying that you can't have strippers or prostitutes or sex or whatever in Eve -- for the most part, we're all adults here and we can handle adult subjects. But for once, I would like to see a female character get the upper hand in a big way and behave like a strong woman. Recently, I finished watching the Rome TV series. That's a show that takes place in a time where women were legally subordinate to men in almost every way, which was rife with nudity and sex, and yet I still thought that nearly all the main female characters were strong, well-developed people who did not exist simply as things for the men to have sex with or collapse into tears whenever things didn't go their way. They had as much of a role in the events that unfolded as the male characters, even if they did it in different ways. That's the sort of thing that will open up the appeal to women.
Expanding the Social Sphere
This is something that Eve already does well, I think, but maybe doesn't promote as much as it could. I think women gamers tend to be more attracted to "social games," where the game is as much about interacting with other people, often in a cooperative way, as anything else. A lot of the marketing for Eve in the past has focused on the shiny ships, big fleet battles, and its wide-open, often cutthroat nature; for sure, these are things that are definitely strengths of the game, but not necessarily the most appealing to women. However, one of Eve's other big strengths can be the extent to which it encourages cooperative effort; CCP has highlighted this somewhat with their "Butterfly Effect" ad, and it's part of this Goonswarm recruitment poster too, but I'm still not sure it really gets played up as much as it could be.
Incarna may help with this, but it's not going to be the secret key to opening the floodgates to women. Adding some dress-up minigames and social spaces is not going to keep female players, although it may be a good way to get them to dip their toes in the water. In order to retain those gamers they are going to need something more than what they can get from free games or games geared towards that kind of thing more specifically (like Second Life, for instance). Retaining those players will require making those social spaces meaningful within the context of the rest of the game -- something I'm not sure is possible with any sort of game mechanic, but which will only happen if Incarna is seen by the majority of the player base as a valued addition to the game rather than something tacked on or seen a separate game in and of itself.
I also think that Eve's marketing needs to promote stories of cooperative, constructive social play in Eve over the kinds of stories that seem to make Eve's big press -- the GHSC heist, the EIB scandal, and the collapse of BoB and GoonSwarm, for instance. While there's no doubt that those are possibilities that are unique to Eve's single-server universe and they are extremely impressive (and interesting) in their own right, women seem to be much more drawn to constructive, rather than destructive, social events. Things like the ongoing mission of Eve University or the Providence effort (prior to its recent collapse) might be good examples of that. Certainly, to some extent, CCP can't do anything about what outside news organizations choose to cover, but they can at least try to counterbalance it.
The Learning Cliff and Fumbling in the Dark
I think by now everyone has probably seen the Eve "learning cliff" graph. Certainly, Eve has suffered in the past by perhaps not being the most accessible game out there, but they've recently made big strides in revamping the tutorials -- if you haven't seen CCP Eris' presentation from FanFest 2009 about that, it's worth seeing. However, I think Eve is still very intimidating for new players to just be dropped into -- and CCP knows this, which is why when I see them at various gaming conventions they are always trying to get people to start playing with a friend. This is an impediment for getting new players of all stripes, but especially women.
A lot of the material I've read on game design indicates that men and women tend to want different ways to learn new tasks -- men tend to like fumbling around in the dark, so to speak, until they figure them out by doing. Women (including me) tend to like reading the manual, getting coached through things, and then doing them. Eve has come a long way from where it was, but it is still, to some extent, a game where you learn by fumbling around in the dark. The new tutorials and the Evelopedia have done a great job providing documentation for new characters, but the high-level game of Eve is far different from the high-level game of other MMOs. I have never seen the kind of basically scientific research used to determine the boundaries of game mechanics and out-of-the-box thinking for other games that I have seen with Eve; the example that sticks in my mind is the Goonswarm grid manipulation guide.
To some extent, this is never going to really be presented in an easy to learn form (at least, until it is already in wide use). That's something I don't think is likely to change with Eve, especially as CCP often goes back and revises game mechanics fairly often. Personally, I actually see that as a good thing, but this is going to be an impediment as long as things like that exist. Promoting corporations like Eve University is probably the best antidote to this sort of problem, but then CCP gets in the trap of showing favoritism to one alliance. That's a trap they are understandably wary of falling into.
Note that I'm not saying women can't figure this stuff out too -- but I think they tend to be a little more intimidated than the guys, especially when you take into account the culture of the player base, which brings me to my next point....
This Place Smells Like A Locker Room
Possibly, at the highest level, the biggest obstacle to getting more women to play Eve is simply that there aren't that many women playing Eve right now, and the culture is a bit on the intimidating side. When you join a Ventrilo server and three guys tell you "pics or stfu," you kinda just want to reach through the internet and punch them in the face, not hop through seventy jumps to blow up the opposing alliance with them. To be fair, a lot of the women I've known in Eve can give as good as they get, but I think that's because we're a self-selected group. I work with a bunch of guys at work and am used to the same sort of attitude (though to be fair, the folks in CAIN have never treated me -- or any of the other women in the corp -- with any less respect than the guys, for which I'm thankful).
It can get tiresome to deal with that kind of crap if you have to put up with it on a regular basis though, and after dealing with guys making dick jokes and remarking on co-eds' boobs all day, I have to say I think I'd rather not deal with it when I'm in my off hours. That sort of attitude can be hard to avoid sometimes, especially if you deal with the bigger alliances. One of the reasons I was happy in a smaller corporation or alliance was because there was a much friendlier (and less anonymous) atmosphere. Guys seem less likely to let out their inner dumbass when they are more familiar with the person whose tits they are demanding to see. :)
However, this is something that's not really anything CCP can control -- aside from doing what they can to encourage women to play in other ways, so that we aren't such a curiosity. That's something the players are going to have to do if they want to see more women in the game -- which, honestly, I'm not sure a lot of them do. I think that by and large, most of them would be happier if more women played, but they don't really have any interest in doing anything to actively promote more women players in Eve.
Does It Really Matter?
In the end though, so what? So Eve's player base is 95% male. Is that actually a problem? In the grand scheme of things, I have to admit it's probably not. Until CCP has 50 million subscribers, there's probably going to be plenty more guys out there to pull into the game that are more likely to enjoy it and stick with it. It's not like "men 18-34" is a small demographic. They can probably survive just fine appealing to that market.
On the other hand, for a woman who does like Eve, it matters a great deal to me. It does get a little lonely out there being the one woman in 20 players. I'm not going to quit Eve because of it, or throw myself a pity party, but it'd sure be nice to go to FanFest and not have it be a total sausage fest. :)
Edit: In the interest of full disclosure, after reading some of the other blogs on this topic, I have to admit that I originally picked Caldari for Svetlana because Civire appeared to have the best hair. However, that is not what kept me in the game for 5 years, nor what inspired me to write so much on Caldari society and history. Cheap tricks to appeal to girls might get them in the door, but it won't keep them here.
Highlights of the Banter so far (according to me):
The Girls Who Fly Spaceships
Space Boobies Are Bad, Mmmkay?
New Eden Doesn't Need To Change For Eve -- Adam Needs To Get Over Himself
Eve Online and Women (sorta)
Think Outside the Spaceship
Don't Change Eve For Me
Where Are The Laydeez of Eve?
Where Are All The Wenches?
Evequality: The Rise of the Female Gamer
Women? IN MY SPACESHIP? Is She From Mars As Well?
The Female of the Species
Eve and the X by X Genetic Succession Unit
Sociability V
What Women Want In Eve
Getting In Touch With Our Feminine Side
It's a Woman's World (They Just Don't Know It Yet)
Women In Eve -- Can It Be Done?
You'd Rather Be Playing The Sims, Right?
Women In Eve
EVE: WTB Girls?
All About Eve
Hell Hath No Fury
The Ladies of New Eden: An Analysis Of How Men Are Not From Mars, and Women Are Not From Venus
The Ladies of New Eden
Eve vs Women
Gender Inclusiveness in CCP's Eve Online
Personal Log, Svetlana Scarlet
Captain, Buzzard-Class Frigate Lonely Hunter
Rapid Assembly Plant, Hatakani System
I have finally emerged from the wormhole I have spent much of the last week in, where the system's magnetar secondary was playing havoc with my onboard systems. The magnetic interference and constant high-energy radiation bombardment prevented much in the way of extensive exploration, but it present a spectacular sight I'm not likely to see in any of the inhabited systems of the cluster.
There was little sign of Sleeper presence, but I did find one outpost in the system. Again, the Sleeper drones prevented a close inspection, but from what I could tell, this was some sort of scientific outpost, quite likely to study the unique phenomenon that the nearby neutron star presented. I find it somewhat heartening that the Sleepers -- and perhaps all the old races -- were not nearly as all-knowing as some would have us believe. The universe is a mysterious and complicated place, and it seems like hubris to think anyone could unlock all its secrets. I do not doubt that the Sleepers were more advanced than us for now, but I do not think they were so far ahead that we will not see similar technology emerging from laboratories in the State and elsewhere before the middle of this century, especially now that we have their relics to reverse-engineer.
After two weeks of this journey, however, I still feel lost. When the only wormhole leading out of the magnetar system led to Hatakani, it was as if I was opening the windows of a country home on the first warm day of the year. The constant buzz of radio chatter, the clusters of ships at the gates -- wormhole space may be good for introspection, but you are constantly aware of just how alone you are. Here, along the main route between the State and the Federation, you are always aware of how widespread humanity has become over the last millennium.
Hatakani also brings back memories. The memories I have of the Reserve, and when I fought in wars where I truly believed we were in the right. When we fought to prevent the escalation of regional conflicts and to keep the Federation from supplying violent malcontents here at home. When we fought Phoenix Wing and the Acheron Federation, I had no doubt that what we were doing benefited not only the State, but the entire cluster as a whole. Now, our nation fights for the exact wrong reasons -- out of malice, for territorial conquest, destabilizing the status quo because of one man's mad obsession. It is easy for me to understand why my friends in the Reserve have become disillusioned with this war and with our leaders. No wonder they left to fight in nullsec, where they at least have control over what they fight for.
And yet, I still can't bring myself to leave the State behind. It is my home; it is the land I have fought and died for, and I still believe its values are my values, and the only ones worth fighting for in the cluster. This current war is not about those values, however, and being here in Hatakani only reinforces that. What has happened to those fights? The ones I felt proud to win? Today, even a victory against the Gallente seems hollow; the Distinguished Blade on my uniform feels more like a mark of shame rather than a decoration.
The Provists are foolish to think that we can win a long-term victory against the Federation; our "victory" over the disputed territories last year only drove them to fight harder, and coalesce into a stronger fighting force. Our own forces have become largely discouraged, and do not see the point in defending territory that isn't ours, aside from a few holdouts. As the FDU pushes closer to our systems in Black Rise and elsewhere, I wonder what will happen if the situation is reversed. I feel the need to defend my homeland, but to do it on behalf of a man who has made himself king...
Captain, Buzzard-Class Frigate Lonely Hunter
Rapid Assembly Plant, Hatakani System
I have finally emerged from the wormhole I have spent much of the last week in, where the system's magnetar secondary was playing havoc with my onboard systems. The magnetic interference and constant high-energy radiation bombardment prevented much in the way of extensive exploration, but it present a spectacular sight I'm not likely to see in any of the inhabited systems of the cluster.
The Lonely Hunter drifts in the light of a magnetar.
There was little sign of Sleeper presence, but I did find one outpost in the system. Again, the Sleeper drones prevented a close inspection, but from what I could tell, this was some sort of scientific outpost, quite likely to study the unique phenomenon that the nearby neutron star presented. I find it somewhat heartening that the Sleepers -- and perhaps all the old races -- were not nearly as all-knowing as some would have us believe. The universe is a mysterious and complicated place, and it seems like hubris to think anyone could unlock all its secrets. I do not doubt that the Sleepers were more advanced than us for now, but I do not think they were so far ahead that we will not see similar technology emerging from laboratories in the State and elsewhere before the middle of this century, especially now that we have their relics to reverse-engineer.
A Sleeper scientific outpost, still studying the magnetar perhaps.
After two weeks of this journey, however, I still feel lost. When the only wormhole leading out of the magnetar system led to Hatakani, it was as if I was opening the windows of a country home on the first warm day of the year. The constant buzz of radio chatter, the clusters of ships at the gates -- wormhole space may be good for introspection, but you are constantly aware of just how alone you are. Here, along the main route between the State and the Federation, you are always aware of how widespread humanity has become over the last millennium.
The Lonely Hunter emerges from a wormhole into the Hatakani system.
Hatakani also brings back memories. The memories I have of the Reserve, and when I fought in wars where I truly believed we were in the right. When we fought to prevent the escalation of regional conflicts and to keep the Federation from supplying violent malcontents here at home. When we fought Phoenix Wing and the Acheron Federation, I had no doubt that what we were doing benefited not only the State, but the entire cluster as a whole. Now, our nation fights for the exact wrong reasons -- out of malice, for territorial conquest, destabilizing the status quo because of one man's mad obsession. It is easy for me to understand why my friends in the Reserve have become disillusioned with this war and with our leaders. No wonder they left to fight in nullsec, where they at least have control over what they fight for.
Hatakani's Rapid Assembly plant, once headquarters to the Reserve.
And yet, I still can't bring myself to leave the State behind. It is my home; it is the land I have fought and died for, and I still believe its values are my values, and the only ones worth fighting for in the cluster. This current war is not about those values, however, and being here in Hatakani only reinforces that. What has happened to those fights? The ones I felt proud to win? Today, even a victory against the Gallente seems hollow; the Distinguished Blade on my uniform feels more like a mark of shame rather than a decoration.
A pair of Charon-class freighters approach the Kassigainen gate in Hatakani.
The Provists are foolish to think that we can win a long-term victory against the Federation; our "victory" over the disputed territories last year only drove them to fight harder, and coalesce into a stronger fighting force. Our own forces have become largely discouraged, and do not see the point in defending territory that isn't ours, aside from a few holdouts. As the FDU pushes closer to our systems in Black Rise and elsewhere, I wonder what will happen if the situation is reversed. I feel the need to defend my homeland, but to do it on behalf of a man who has made himself king...
Personal Log, Svetlana Scarlet
Captain, Buzzard-Class Frigate Lonely Hunter
Location Unknown, Locus J110108
I have spent the last four days surveying the system I entered through the last wormhole, which has proven to be extremely intriguing, at least from an astronomical point of view. The eighth planet is unusual in that its orbit is wildly out of alignment with the rest of the system, but despite being more than 18 AU from the system's primary, it appears to have liquid water and at least primitive life.
It seems likely that this is not an entirely natural course of events, but if this is the work of the Sleepers, they were far more advanced that anyone has even tried to suggest. It's possible the planet is a captured body; that would account for its orbit, at least, but how the planet's surface can be warm enough to have liquid water this far out -- or why anyone would terraform a planet so far from the primary star -- is a puzzle that I don't think I have the astronomical knowledge to figure out.
Unfortunately, the rest of the system does not offer a great many clues. From repeated intensive scans of the system, the Sleeper presence appears to be limited, what one would expect in a system at the edge of their sphere of influence. Resources are in abundant supply, especially of the more common ores and fullerene gases, but I have only found a few outposts and what might have once been some sort of resource harvesting operation. The Sleeper drones still patrolling these ruins made a closer inspection rather impossible for my ship, unfortunately. I toyed with the thought of attempting to make some sort of contact, but every attempt to do so I have heard about has ended in violence. While I have fought Sleeper drones before with great success, doing so in an unarmed and lightly shielded frigate will probably bring a swift end to my explorations.
I thought that perhaps a survey of the other planets in the system might turn up some information, but aside from an extremely geologically active "lava world," none of them offered anything particularly unusual. The lava world did not appear to be the result of a massive kinetic impact; if it had, it's possible that it could have been related to the eighth planet's orbit. Nor does the proto-garden world appear to have any sort of artificial structures; I detected no energy signatures or other signs of civilization, at least in the recent past.
Is it possible that this planet was terraformed by a race who lived here before the Sleepers? I still don't understand why this world, and not one of the ones closer to the system's primary, where solar energy would be in a far more abundant supply. Unfortunately, my knowledge of astronomy and planetology is somewhat limited, so I suspect I will not be able to unravel this mystery. I've recorded my findings and will forward them on to Dr. Ikkola in Uchoshi the next time I can link with a comm buoy.
Speaking of that, I've been unable to find a suitable new wormhole to move on to yet; so far, the only wormholes I can find have led into high-security Federation space, which, to be sure, is not a place I think I would be particularly welcome. Until I can find a more suitable way out, I appear to be stuck here. I actually made contact with another pilot who maintains a space platform in the system today, and spoke to him for a bit. While he was suspicious at me at first -- he seemed to think I had attacked his platform for some reason, which I assured him was quite impossible -- I think I managed to convince him I'm not a threat. Still, his worry seems justified; it looks like a pilot from the Cry Havoc. alliance, who are rather notorious for their capital ship-busting exploits, has also taken up residence here. Hopefully I'll be able to move on soon.
As for where I will head, I don't know. It seems like wormhole space may be a bit limiting; I'm somewhat constrained in what I can actually do here, as Sleeper activity seems to be much higher and wormhole availability much lower than what I had originally anticipated. Part of me longs to return to combat fleets, but my heart is not with what the Reserve is doing these days, and joining the State Protectorate -- I don't know. I regret supporting the war effort of an incompetent madman like Heth as much as I did before, and cannot bring myself to do so again, even as the Federation draws ever closer to our borders.
I have considered going to Intaki to assist with Ishukone's efforts there; returning to the fold of my parent corporation alongside Mordu's Legion, who I spent so much time in 5ZXX-K with years ago, is a tempting thought, and I have long felt that the Intaki deserved better than what the Federation had given them after our secession. Unfortunately, I fear that my presence would not help the pro-Intaki forces there; no doubt the FDU would take a decorated Caldari combat pilot assisting as a sign that they were nothing more than Caldari puppets. It is unfortunate that the Federals have such a black and white view, but I cannot say I would feel differently in their place. I do not want to damage the strides Ishukone is making in the system, nor do I want to encourage the kind of brutality the Federation showed our people during the last war. Already I see them slipping towards that kind of unreserved malice, and I admit I am frightened -- not for myself, but for the people caught in the middle; I have no doubt Heth would retaliate in kind, and we would end up with barren and burned-out worlds the length of the border zone.
I am also considering joining Eve University; I've always had great respect for their work, and I think my experience might be of some service. It is too soon to make a decision however, and if I do join another capsuleer organization, I want it to be for at least a respectable length of time, several months at the least. We shall see. For now, I need to find a safe path out of this wormhole to continue my explorations.
Captain, Buzzard-Class Frigate Lonely Hunter
Location Unknown, Locus J110108
I have spent the last four days surveying the system I entered through the last wormhole, which has proven to be extremely intriguing, at least from an astronomical point of view. The eighth planet is unusual in that its orbit is wildly out of alignment with the rest of the system, but despite being more than 18 AU from the system's primary, it appears to have liquid water and at least primitive life.
The Lonely Hunter over the anomalous garden world.
It seems likely that this is not an entirely natural course of events, but if this is the work of the Sleepers, they were far more advanced that anyone has even tried to suggest. It's possible the planet is a captured body; that would account for its orbit, at least, but how the planet's surface can be warm enough to have liquid water this far out -- or why anyone would terraform a planet so far from the primary star -- is a puzzle that I don't think I have the astronomical knowledge to figure out.
The orbit of planet 8 (click to enlarge).
Unfortunately, the rest of the system does not offer a great many clues. From repeated intensive scans of the system, the Sleeper presence appears to be limited, what one would expect in a system at the edge of their sphere of influence. Resources are in abundant supply, especially of the more common ores and fullerene gases, but I have only found a few outposts and what might have once been some sort of resource harvesting operation. The Sleeper drones still patrolling these ruins made a closer inspection rather impossible for my ship, unfortunately. I toyed with the thought of attempting to make some sort of contact, but every attempt to do so I have heard about has ended in violence. While I have fought Sleeper drones before with great success, doing so in an unarmed and lightly shielded frigate will probably bring a swift end to my explorations.
A Sleeper drone prowls asteroids and gas of a long-dead mining operation.
I thought that perhaps a survey of the other planets in the system might turn up some information, but aside from an extremely geologically active "lava world," none of them offered anything particularly unusual. The lava world did not appear to be the result of a massive kinetic impact; if it had, it's possible that it could have been related to the eighth planet's orbit. Nor does the proto-garden world appear to have any sort of artificial structures; I detected no energy signatures or other signs of civilization, at least in the recent past.
The "lava world" of J110108, third from the primary star.
Is it possible that this planet was terraformed by a race who lived here before the Sleepers? I still don't understand why this world, and not one of the ones closer to the system's primary, where solar energy would be in a far more abundant supply. Unfortunately, my knowledge of astronomy and planetology is somewhat limited, so I suspect I will not be able to unravel this mystery. I've recorded my findings and will forward them on to Dr. Ikkola in Uchoshi the next time I can link with a comm buoy.
Speaking of that, I've been unable to find a suitable new wormhole to move on to yet; so far, the only wormholes I can find have led into high-security Federation space, which, to be sure, is not a place I think I would be particularly welcome. Until I can find a more suitable way out, I appear to be stuck here. I actually made contact with another pilot who maintains a space platform in the system today, and spoke to him for a bit. While he was suspicious at me at first -- he seemed to think I had attacked his platform for some reason, which I assured him was quite impossible -- I think I managed to convince him I'm not a threat. Still, his worry seems justified; it looks like a pilot from the Cry Havoc. alliance, who are rather notorious for their capital ship-busting exploits, has also taken up residence here. Hopefully I'll be able to move on soon.
A Sleeper outpost remains here, a relic of their forgotten empire.
As for where I will head, I don't know. It seems like wormhole space may be a bit limiting; I'm somewhat constrained in what I can actually do here, as Sleeper activity seems to be much higher and wormhole availability much lower than what I had originally anticipated. Part of me longs to return to combat fleets, but my heart is not with what the Reserve is doing these days, and joining the State Protectorate -- I don't know. I regret supporting the war effort of an incompetent madman like Heth as much as I did before, and cannot bring myself to do so again, even as the Federation draws ever closer to our borders.
I have considered going to Intaki to assist with Ishukone's efforts there; returning to the fold of my parent corporation alongside Mordu's Legion, who I spent so much time in 5ZXX-K with years ago, is a tempting thought, and I have long felt that the Intaki deserved better than what the Federation had given them after our secession. Unfortunately, I fear that my presence would not help the pro-Intaki forces there; no doubt the FDU would take a decorated Caldari combat pilot assisting as a sign that they were nothing more than Caldari puppets. It is unfortunate that the Federals have such a black and white view, but I cannot say I would feel differently in their place. I do not want to damage the strides Ishukone is making in the system, nor do I want to encourage the kind of brutality the Federation showed our people during the last war. Already I see them slipping towards that kind of unreserved malice, and I admit I am frightened -- not for myself, but for the people caught in the middle; I have no doubt Heth would retaliate in kind, and we would end up with barren and burned-out worlds the length of the border zone.
I am also considering joining Eve University; I've always had great respect for their work, and I think my experience might be of some service. It is too soon to make a decision however, and if I do join another capsuleer organization, I want it to be for at least a respectable length of time, several months at the least. We shall see. For now, I need to find a safe path out of this wormhole to continue my explorations.
