Well folks…another month…another blog banter…the project has been a hit and I must say is proving to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I’d liken it to the experience of eating a Jam Roly Poly with Warm Custard (ie. fantastic).

This month we were presented a task that fitted in with the festive season, in this time of warm fuzzy hugs and copious amounts of both nostalgia and hope. A time where Carebears can be carebears and others won’t be as bothered about it and a time when people get together, exchange gifts of varying price and CHOW DOWN. Come on…let’s all face it…the food is the best part about the Christmas season – don’t lie to me and say it’s the gifts or getting the family together, I can see right through that pretense! Food food food! Anyway…I’m rapidly snowboarding down a steep hill towards the “Off-Topic Village” here, so allow me to slam a virtual ice pick into the ground to halt my virtual descent….

The task given to us this month was proposed by Roc Wieler, half of the amazing “Capsuleer” iPhone app dev team and is worded as follows: “Write a story about a fellow EVE Blogger, or an EVE player whom has inspired you or affected you in some tangible way. After your story, describe why you chose them, and any Holiday wish you have specifically for them.”

This presented me with a pickle…Not literally, as it would be rather exceptional to recieve a pickle in an email and that would then force me to have to figure out how to remove a pickle from the confines of my gmail inbox…Which would be another pickle and then it would become a vicious cycle. IT’S MAD I TELL YOU!

So yes…back to my figurative pickle…Who to choose? Even in my relatively short time in EVE Online there have been several influential figures…What would I do? I pondered. I scraped at my eyes, pulled at my hair, stamped my feet but strangely, none of these actions helped me answer that pressing question. Then…in a blizzard of simple genius (and total capitulation) I decided – why pick just one?

That’s right. I decided to turn this month’s blog banter into a celebration of the many people out there who have helped shape my EVE Online experience!

“What a cop out!” I hear the rabbles moan. Now now…at least hear me out…or…read me out or something – WHATEVER!!! Also, I know that it says “Story”, however I haven’t done any “RP” or “IC” stuff on this blog before and although I have been toying with the idea, I decided that today was not the day to begin. So, to those of you salivating over the prospect of an in character story – I am sorry to disappoint you.

Cutting to the chase like a razor sharp katana (or perhaps like cheese wire) I would like to present to you my first name. Well…it’s not an individual…it’s an entity: The Guiding Hand Social Club. An odd choice for first pick indeed but it was by hearing of their infamous heist via the intertubes that I first got interested in EVE Online a few years back. Now…whether you identify with their definition of ethics is another story but it made damn good reading and certainly sparked my interest in New Eden. The very fact that something like this could be accomplished and was actually an every day hazard for large corporations in EVE made me think something along the lines of “WOW!” and it certainly doesn’t get more profound than that…Well, that’s a lie but I think you get the picture! My Christmas message to the people involved in that heist/assassination – Thank you for doing something extraordinarily evil to open up my eyes to the huge scope of EVE Online!

Moving swiftly on like a rather frightened rabbit (probably running because he is scared of terrible descriptive sentences) we come to my second choice: My first corp! Now I know they like to keep themselves to themselves for the most part so I shan’t mention specific names but what I will say is these guys showed me the ropes. They taught me what was good, what was bad and gave me a good ol’ shove into the pit of “Right Direction”. Hell, these guys are at least 40% responsible for the total badass that is my character (of course the rest is down to my sheer awesome talent). If it wasn’t for my experience there I would not be capable of surviving a day out in New Eden. So to you guys at Christmas….THANKS SEVERAL MILLION (not just one lonely million!)

Now, stopping for a short breath and plunging head first into my third…I would like to thank my current Corp mates for making my in game experience wholly enjoyable. Since we began a couple of months ago we have moved along leaps and bounds and our knowledge of the game expands with each day. We’ve shared some good times, some bad times and if it weren’t for the important social connections here then it probably wouldn’t be worth logging on! So guys, a gift wrapped thank you to you all and a fantastic treat bag of well wishes!

Coming out of sprint and skidding to a halt I would like to rest on a few final names. People who I believe have “completed” my EVE experience and ensure that logging on is always interesting, fun and leaves me with something to think about, laugh about or talk about. Those people are of course the EVE Bloggers! Now, by that I mean all of you, even if I haven’t gotten round to checking your blog out yet. The community is expanding every week and there’s always a plethora of new content to keep up to date with, a host of opinions and guides – it’s easily the greatest and most diverse source of EVE content out there and I confess to a warm feeling inside when I think of the communities growth and my own little corner of it! I would like to mention a few specific names of people who have definitely contributed to my EVE enjoyment this year, so without further ado I would like to thank:

  • CrazyKinux – Your blog opened my eyes to the rest of the community. It has been the gateway through which I have accessed so much content and your speedlinking post has to be in the top 3 in terms of community resources. You opened doors for me with projects such as MicroWarpCast and not only that, but contacting you has been one of the best things I have done this year as it allowed me to speak to a wonderfully kind hearted person who never stops giving and giving to the EVE community. If the speedlinking is in the EVE communities top 3 resources, I would say that you sir, are number one for me.
  • SeriousSally aka Malnor Zerchan – ENN is a fantastic website and a testament to your hard work and driven attitude. It continues to expand and provide excellent content which has quickly placed it up at the top with sites such as EVE Mag and EVE Tribune. It’s been a pleasure contributing (despite me slacking off in that department in the past month or two!) and I do hope to contribute again! Also, let’s face it mate…we’ve flown some damn fun PvP ops together – which had better continue!!
  • SiliconBuddha – FlyReckless has been a joy to listen to ever since I stumbled accross it via iTunes. I listen to every fresh installment and look forward to hearing many more in the future. Your choice of articles is always spot on and the whole podcast just has this awesome laid back vibe that totally hooks me in. FlyReckless got me round to the idea of EVE Podcasting, so to you sir – a big thanks!
  • James Egan – All the hard work you do over at Massively ensures the community is constantly up to date with the latest news and helps to spread the word of EVE accross the intertubes. Alongside the blogs, are there a better set of resources? I think not. Thanks for keeping myself (and everyone else) up to date!!
  • Smakalicious – EVE Mag and EVE Places – Great ideas, great implementation. You provide an essential chunk of content on a regular basis and you deserve respect and credit for this. The work you’ve been doing is astounding and I sincerely hope that this continues!!!

Lastly, I’d like to shout out to some of my favourite EVE blogs – Life in Low Sec, Super Gamer Housewife TURBO!,  A Misguided Adventurer, Black Claw/Sara Conna, A Mule in EVE, The Wandering Druid of Tranquility,  EVE’s Weekend Warrior, Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah,  Diving into PyscheDiver’s Psyche and newcomer The JamesS Journal!! Love reading your stuff guys – keep doing it!! Even though I did say lastly…there’s one more thing – to everyone else out there, people who read my blog, listen to MicroWarpCast or blog themselves – Merry Christmas and thank you for reading!

So there you have it, I copped out of the original idea so my apologies to Roc Wieler on that one but I hope you enjoyed this christmas eve posting nonetheless! Now, I really need to get wrapping presents so…I should probably dash. Although, to be honest I know I’ll end up either killing some zombies, blowing up cars or running accross a wall, hopping a fence and vaulting from rooftop to rooftop…I’ll get it done though, don’t you worry….you scamps!

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