Another Exciting Sandcastle

EvE is a sandbox and thus your experience in the game is what you make it. A lot of that has to do with the people you interact with, the friendships you make, and the stories you share. I've had the delightful experience of conceiving an idea and working to make it an in-game reality with Hellcats. And as an extension to that, getting elected to CSM5 by campaigning on a mainly "fix low sec" platform. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Draining work at times--which is why I took a couple of years off from the game after my CSM5 term (2010) ended. When I returned last year, I vowed to play casually--just wandering around with no particular agenda, enjoying the sights of New Eden and interaction with the community.

But I swear they put something in the sand in this sandbox. Something that makes it impossible NOT to want to grow ideas into realities.

Thus I find myself at the beginning of another exciting endeavor in affiliation with the fine folks at EvE-Scout ("We scout so you don't have to."). Soon after my arrival in Thera, I started scouting for them. We began talking about exploration as a career and what a fine thing it would be to create a home, a haven, for explorers who just want to wander between the stars on their own agenda.

Much talking later, Signal Cartel was born: a corp devoted to the highest ideals of exploration, nurturing to new players, and many other things besides that are practically foreign in New Eden culture.

We are, as they say, not your average EvE corp.

But I--a former pirate who adores PvP and believes that EvE should always remain deadly dangerous for the inattentive and unwise--am completely excited about what we hope and plan to do, even though it most decidedly has nothing to do with PvP.

Rather, the mission of Signal Cartel is to embrace and promote exploration as a career choice, to provide a haven and home for explorers, to help new players fall in love with New Eden through the lens of exploration, and to provide useful services to all of New Eden through our membership in the Eve-Scout Enclave alliance. All in a corp with a culture of neutrality, respectfulness, non-aggressive behavior, generosity of spirit, helpfulness, and friendliness to all. Such things are antithesis to many EvE corp cultures but we believe that there are a lot of players out there with an explorer's heart who will embrace just such a culture with enthusiasm. If you're one of them, we invite you to learn more and consider joining us.

And to those of you who say, "OMG where is Mynxee and what have you done with her?!", I say "I'm in the sandbox, building another exciting sandcastle!"

Recruitment Post on EvE Online Forums

Discoveries: City of God

While on a wander through Amarr space, I came across a beacon for City of God in Shastal so I went to take a look. I discovered a desolate and haunting testimony to unhinged megalomania, but the view from the ruined monument toward what is left of Caroline's Star and the nebula is beautiful.

There is much waiting to be discovered in New Eden.

What interesting things have you come across lately?

Eve Character Portraits

In real life, I'm an artist who specializes in watercolor pet portraits, mainly dogs. Like these, for example:

When I was in Stay Frosty and the Summer Frigate Smackdown was posted, I decided to offer a character portrait as a prize...there's not that much difference in painting dogs vs. people.They both involve the same things: accurate drawing and rendering, getting the values right, and so forth. Cervantes Marovinjun won the portrait prize. I was originally going to do an ink and watercolor sketch but decided to do a fully rendered watercolor portrait. Cerv was quite happy with the portrait and talked about how meaningful the portrait is to him because (like any of us who have characters we've nurtured for years) he's very attached to his character. Not surprisingly, I hear the same thing frequently from the pet owners when I deliver their pets' portraits.

I was musing about Cerv's portrait in my in-game channel (The Retreat Lounge) and wondering if there was any market for hand-painted character portraits. Niraia immediately commissioned me to paint hers! We agreed on a slight wardrobe adjustment to show off her *cough* assets a little better. I was really glad when she agreed on pink as it's my favorite color. And...another happy customer!

So, I guess this is a thing then. If you want your character's portrait painted (or to gift a portrait to someone else or purchase one as a prize for your event), click the Gallery page at the top of the blog for more info about this creative service. I'll add portraits there as I complete them. 

Crossing Zebras and Hellcats Reloaded

Just a short update on some cool things that have happened in the last week or two.

First, Dian Lung has launched a reboot of my old corp Hellcats under the name Hellcats Reloaded. I'm so happy to see her run with that and looking forward to seeing how it evolves.

Second, Xander Phoena of Crossing Zebras has asked me to write for them. The focus of my articles will be "EVEtrepreneurs"--those players who take the initiative to create or organize something for the community, whether it's a one-time or ongoing offering, whether it's large or small, new or old. My editor at CZ, Niden Sommer, suggested I write about Hellcats Reloaded for my debut article and provide a Hellcats retrospective as background. My first article "EVEtrepreneurs: Hellcats Reloaded" has been published and you can read it here. Please do leave comments on the CZ post and on Reddit.

As a follow-up, Rixx Javix has published an article about his experiences with women in Eve and how they shaped his rookie experience and perception of the game. I am hoping to feature as many women Eve players as possible in my EVEtrepreneur series of articles. But of course, every player who's doing something interesting, useful, or fun for the community is a potential subject and you should let me know about them!

Please send your suggestions to me via Evemail, or email (mynxeeofeve at gmail dot com), or find me on Skype (Mynxee). Thanks and fly safe (or dangerous, as you prefer)!