Ahhhh, Diplomacy...You Make Me Smile

Diplomatic communications is one of a CEO's jobs, maybe the most important job when it comes to a corp like Signal Cartel with our unusual but remarkably widely-known Credo. Those communications can range from the more serious to the more light-hearted. The more serious kind is preferred when responding to inquiries from Providence residents complaining about a Signaleer aggressing someone there, or a worried pilot familiar with our PvP policies who wonders why a Signaleer has combat probes out, or accusations that our EvE-Scout scouts are behaving in questionable ways. Serious diplomatic communications typically need a delicate touch and demand timely, earnest, and respectful responses. 

Although "serious diplomacy" is the most common kind, I sometimes get a chance to have some fun with diplomatic outreach. For example, yesterday, I saw two reports--one from a Signaleer and one from someone else in our EvE-Scout public channel--about a null sec pilot who was posting Signal Cartel killmails in Local along with comments like "Signal Cartel PvP, nice". 

I was curious about this pilot's intent. I'll admit, I had some unfounded preconceived notions about him that weren't necessarily, shall we say, "generous" in spirit. But experience has taught me that in unsure situations, it's almost always better to take a diplomatic tack with a little humor and maybe self-deprecation mixed in rather than letting one's uninformed and probably wrong preconceived notions drive the message. With that in mind, I sent him a mail: 

Subject: Your Pleasantries in Local 

Sent: 2016.03.19 05:42

To: [redacted] 

Hi there, 

I've had word that you've been sharing pleasantries in Local about Signal Cartel PVP, along with linking killmails on which our members appear (for example, this one).  

I admit I'm curious about your intentions.  

Did you notice that I annotate every killmail after its inquiry is complete? Yes...I personally conduct an inquiry of every killmail our members appear on and document the outcome on the killmail. Thank Bob we don't have as many kills as we do losses or I might have had a nervous breakdown by now. But otoh we are at least doing our part to keep the Astero market afloat! 

Anyway, that mail you linked was a perfect example of the timing weirdness in the API that lumps everyone onto the same killmail if they had a same-system aggression timer within a few minutes of an aggressed pilot being killed. In the case of this killmail, our Hugs Fleet rained snowballs and fireworks down upon Mail Lite with extreme prejudice in an effort to get him to smile. I mean, one smile in Local is worth 1,000 words, wouldn't you say? :P When he tickled us with missiles, we tickled him back with ECM in self-defense. Cue aggression timers. It was a separate engagement from the one in which FCON swooped in and killed him but the API said SAME! What does the stupid API know, I ask you?! 

I hope this information helps. Thank you for taking the time to speak with my Signaleers as they go about their business in the vast reaches of space. It can be so difficult to find a friendly face in Local. Please reach out to me if you want more info about our Credo...or if you find yourself with an irresistible urge to become one with the Hugs. 

Snowballs! Fireworks! Hugs!
Mynxee

I wondered what kind of response I'd get. Would it turn out to be an interesting interaction or would the typical EVE Online status quo apply? I smiled when I read the reply:

So...I've got to be honest.

I wasn't expecting my local-smack to go that far, however, it's nice and really refreshing to see you guys having fun and living by your own rules and to fight the meta of generating "dank killmails".

Your pilot also told me about your Hugs Fleet, but I was still curious afterwards if he's not hunting for FCON. However, we had a nice talk and he vanished quickly after that. So please bear with me, as it's kind of frightening sitting in an really expensive ship (at least for me) and have a neutral in local. :)

Thanks for the enlightenment, I will keep that letter in mind next time I investigate the killboard of your members! :)

Have a nice day, Mynxee!

What a delightful response--made better because it wasn't what I was expecting! I may never meet this pilot nor hear from him again but I'm betting he has a much different (and better) impression of Signal Cartel than he did before I reached out. If nine years in New Eden have taught me anything, it is that you never know where your friends and supporters will come from down the road and that capsuleers have very long memories. Someone else might have tried to use this situation to harvest tears, intimidate, or insult that fellow. 

But our Credo shows us a different way...a way of building bridges with words rather than burning them with careless, unkind, or mean-spirited communications. Doing an unexpectedly positive thing and getting a surprised and positive response is enormously satisfying in the cold, harsh environment of New Eden. May the ripples spread ever outward.

The Engine of Interesting Experiences

In 2007 when my first EVE character was a two-day old newbie mining her little Gallente heart out in the rookie system Bourynes, a friendly 2003 pilot named Edohatrem Inur struck up a conversation. He convinced me to join his corp along with a bunch of other newbies he'd recruited. The opportunity to harvest knowledge directly from a veteran player fast-tracked my EVE experience in many valuable ways. 

What goes around, comes around...in more ways than one. Not only do I now find myself leading a corp doing the very same thing for exploration-minded newbies, but in full-circle fashion, Edo recently joined Signal Cartel. A self-styled glittervet (kind of like a bittervet but with more optimism and an interest in helping new players), he is still up to his old tricks in Bourynes and elsewhere engaging "adorable newbies" (as he calls them) with his special brand of tough love and carrot-on-stick recruiting tactics.

Edo is fond of pointing out contradictions and questioning assertions. I learned long ago to be amused rather than annoyed by this, since it can lead to interesting discussions and reflections on how we change and grow as players. Case in point: I grumbled recently about the time demands that leading Signal Cartel imposes on me. He immediately pointed out the contradiction of the situation with assertions I posted just over a year ago upon my return to New Eden regarding what I wasn't interested in, to wit:

• Leadership responsibility
• Restrictive corp rules
• Non-PvP, non-low-sec corps
• Newbie corpmates

HA! Guess I'm eating those words now, as my peaceful, credo-bound corp is at 275 members not quite 3 months after public launch...

The contrast between a year ago and now is amusing. But I can roll with it because I've been around EVE long enough to know that nothing stays the same. Anything can happen. Being open to new things--like EvE-Scout founders G8keeper and Johnny Splunk approaching me to lead a peaceful exploration corp--leads to new friends and new experiences. As I've said before, the Signal Cartel experience has given me a fresh perspective on the game, a sense of purpose, and interesting new challenges. All of that is made even better when old friends like Edo decide to come along for the ride...and he is by far not the only one who has done so. Quite a few friends and acquaintances--many who were or are pirates, amusingly--have joined Signal Cartel and contribute significantly to the camaraderie and success of the corp.

Relationships are clearly the engine of interesting experiences in New Eden. Whether those experiences are dramatic and sweeping (e.g, BRAVE's recent troubles) or result from taking a path less traveled (as in Signal Cartel), they all create ripples--sometimes with far-reaching and unanticipated outcomes. The unpredictable way that those ripples, even the tiny ones, intersect with others and evolve will trump assertions every time!

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

IC: Steve's Remains

Journal Spread

Left Page

Right Page

Transcript (because Mynxee has scrawly handwriting):

I arrived in C9N-CC after a few uneventful jumps from HT4K-M where I got into null from a wormhole.

 The baleful and sullen red glow of this system's star casts an appropriately gloomy pall over everything. A suitable grave for a Titan.

Although broken and scorched, automated systems with their eternal power sources still issue garbled information over audio channels and keep red lights on deep in the guts of the wreck. It is eerie; considering the thousands who died here, one can easily imagine legions of ghosts presiding over what was once surely their pride and joy. 
The resources to build such a monstrously huge ship must have been staggering--and yet despite the efforts of salvagers over the years, so much still remains. 

Someone on Sugar Kyle's blog suggested she post source images that inspired or informed her #podjournal posts. It's a good idea so I'll start doing it here, too.

IC: Biding Time, Coincidences, Paradox

Note: For the creatively interested, I am using a small watercolor sketch kit made from a repurposed watchmaker's case (Lee Valley Tools). The small tins are filled with artist quality pigments from tubes and allowed to dry. The pigment rewets easily with water. Other items in the kit include a cheap Pilot varsity fountain pen refilled with Noodler's Lexington Gray ink (waterproof), a couple of Kolinsky travel brushes, a lead holder, eraser (not shown), and Sharpie. Add a small container of water and a napkin or paper towel and I have all the tools necessary to sketch to my heart's content. I often take this small kit and sketchbook with me in case the opportunity to sketch presents itself when out running errands or taking a coffee break somewhere pleasant. 

I imagine that even in far future New Eden, traditional methods of making art will persist. As a capsuleer, Mynxee is both dependent on and integrated with extremely advanced technology. This offers an interesting contrast with her human need to express herself creatively using non-technical tools. In her years planet-side while on hiatus, she spent time close to nature in a low-tech wilderness cabin where she had time and inclination to develop her artistic skills. No skill books needed, just practice, practice, practice!

IC: Titanomachy

Note: Mynxee's expedition journal is being created in a Moleskine small watercolor journal using a pencil, ultra-fine Sharpie, and watercolors. As I explore, I am either sketching directly from what I see on the screen or from screenshots referenced later. There is a long tradition of explorers preserving their observations and thoughts in journals. Even now in our heavily digitized age, illustrated journaling and urban sketching are becoming ever more widespread as creative observers of the world seek to record their experiences in a highly personal way. Through drawing and writing about a place or event in the moment, one can capture memories, emotion, and essence far more accurately than any camera--even when the nitty-gritty details may be less than accurate. Journal pages can usually stand alone without any further commentary. So it will generally be with Mynxee's journal. Feel free to ask questions in the comments if you wonder about the process, subject or anything else to do with this project.

IC: The YC116 Expedition Begins

Note: My old blog Life in Low Sec contained posts written both from a player and character point of view. I'll be doing the same thing on this blog. To make it a little easier to recognize when I'm speaking in-character, those posts will have the prefix "IC" in the title, be tagged IC, and written in third person. Enjoy!

"Sure you're ready for this, Mynx?" Rixx asked.

She smiled and nodded, idly watching crew members prepping Lasher. "Oh yes. After three years wandering planet-side, I guess I'm just not ready to settle into one place yet."

Rixx nodded. "Any idea how long you'll be away"? 

"Not really," she said, and held up a small black journal. "As long as it takes to fill these pages with sketches and musings about the trip, maybe?"

"Charmingly low tech," he said dryly. "Keep in touch, we want to know how things are going. Need anything, you know who to call."

"Of course...and thank you. I'll chat and share my journal when I can. And hey, depending on how the wormhole connections work out -- or for that matter, my luck in keeping my ship and crew in one piece -- you'll probably see me making pit stops in Isho from time to time." 

Rixx  smiled and said, "I'm a little jealous, you know. Running off on a long-term expedition without any agenda or plan has a certain appeal." 

They both laughed. They both knew Rixx was far too responsible to do any such thing. 

"I do have a plan, though," Mynxee said. "The plan is to explore...and profit if the opportunity presents itself. You just never know what or who you might find out there."

Rixx indicated the crew. "Looks like they're done. Be seeing you around, Mynx."

With a warm handshake, he turned and walked away. "Take good care of my cat!" Mynxee called after him. He raised a hand and gave a good natured wave without looking back. Taking a last look around herself, she headed for her ship, journal in hand.

Wormhole Wandering

I recently spent a few days wandering through wormholes in a stealth bomber with a sort-of objective of getting close to B-R5RB so I could go see the destruction there. I found a few null sec exits but they were too far from B- to be interesting. 70+ jumps through null seemed a bit suicidal, so I continued my wormhole-hopping.

Then I got stuck. Not thinking ahead, I had brought only a few scan probes with me--five to be exact. Plenty to scan down wormholes quickly so I didn't really think about it until a RL thunderstorm and power loss disconnected me for a couple of hours when I had those probes deployed. They expired and I had no backups. So I left my nicely fitted Hound at a planet for someone to find (I wonder if anyone has claimed it yet!) and took the Pod Express home. Oh well.

Back home I prepped my beloved Rapier for another expedition. The cargohold is loaded with piles of scan probes this time plus ammo, spirits, and a few fun items for amusement's sake which will hopefully survive if I get killed.

I think it'll be an extended trip this time. I truly love wormhole-hopping by myself. I enjoy the scanning process, the surprise of seeing where newly found wormholes emerge, the solitude of solo travel, the sense of being lost in vast reaches that gate travel fails to provide, looking around for unsuspecting victims, and poking around to see what people have left in w-space. I'm surprised at how many offline towers there are. Perhaps I'll eventually find one with something interesting to liberate :P

If I ever do manage to get close to B-R5RB in this circuitous way, I plan to have a nice long look around and takes lots of pictures (as well as not die at the hands of locals). Then I will continue my wormhole wanderings with some new destination in mind. Maybe I'll just blindly stick a pin in the map to choose that destination and then see how long it takes to get there. Maybe I should document my route and the things of interest I find along the way.

It doesn't sound like the most exciting way to play Eve, I know...especially compared to the energy and excitement of pirate shenanigans in and around Ishomilken. But for me, for now, it's a relaxing retreat and as a bonus, is recalling some of the earliest feelings of wonderment I had when I first started playing Eve. Which is, perhaps, what I am really looking for after all.

Impact

While there were always a few Eve players who felt compelled to assert their negative opinions and even outright hate of me, Hellcats, the philosophy behind a women-only corp, my community activities, who I was flying with, and my work in CSM5, the majority of interactions with other players back in the day was positive. As I have discovered upon reconnecting with folks since my return, much of what I did and said as leader of the Hellcats had a strong impact on how others played. Quite a few women have told me that Hellcats inspired them or gave them the courage to take up pvp.

I couldn't ask for a better legacy than that. To be honest, the good press and fans that Hellcats enjoyed always kind of surprised me. We were, after all, a very small corp (I don't think we ever had more than 35 members) that didn't do much but cruise low sec and look for trouble. Yet even after years of being inactive, the corp still inspires wistful nostalgia and positive memories among fans. Something resonated with people, I guess. Which I suppose is why I am now getting earnest requests that Hellcats be rebooted and hearing good ideas for how that could be done.

That would be an interesting effort, but it won't be my effort. I wouldn't mind seeing it happen (especially if done in the same spirit as the original corp) and might even "advise" if asked. But the time and work required to spearhead such a project is for others to invest in who have more energy, time, and interest than I can muster. Yet, I admit that the idea of Hellcats coming back to life makes me smile. It's a good feeling to know that content I helped bring to the sandbox during the Hellcats heyday has had an impact--however small--that persists to this day.

Although I log in these days with a certain sense of remove and casual nonchalance compared to before, the stories created by players continue to fascinate me. If it so happens that the legacy of Hellcats inspires something new and evolved, more power to whomever takes the idea and runs with it. Therein lies the eternal allure of Eve Online...the ability to create an impact at some level of the game and have it endure for years in the memories of players. Such impacts been happening for 10 years across the width and breadth of New Eden and its community. When you think about that compared to any other game, it is quite remarkable*.







* Regardless of mis-steps by CCP along the way and the long list of things in game which still need improvement.