Monday, April 19, 2010

Runs Like A Charm, Feels Like A Job

I like to believe that I am surrounding myself with, and constantly seeking, friends first in this game, and corporate members second.  I know it is naive of me, and given the fact that I am looking for friends in of all places, EVE Online, it means that I am already at a distinct disadvantage.  EVE is not a nice, warm, fuzzy place where you sit down and drink a glass of cognac with your favorite companions on a quiet winter's night.

However, for that very reason, I run the AU-F like I would a social club or as the head of a family.  You get in on looks and personality alone, whether you're the most skilled pilot in the game, or you can't find your undock button on a good night.  And based on that personality, you are accepted with open arms, and expected to uphold the family environment I maintain internally within the corporation.  On the outside, it is all business.  On the inside, I would rather talk about booze and women, than be ultra serious and hardcore about the game as a whole.  These things lead to a fairly pleasant dichotomy where on the one hand, the corporation maintains or attempts to maintain the strictest sense of professionalism, business, and diplomacy, and on the other, when it is a quiet night, we are in our corporate channel talking about booze, women, body parts, and the kitchen sink.

But, sometimes this backfires, as we have found in the past week, when tensions ran high, and words were spoken that a few people seem to not want to take back.  Having quit the Senate, raised a fair amount of ruckus at both the corporate and alliance levels, and then retreated from participation in general as if to add insult to injury, members of this corporation have done everyone around them a great disservice. 

Now, the elephant in the room is that everyone involved both at the corporate and alliance levels made some sort of mistake, whether it be pride, assumptions, apathy, disrespect, overzealous nature, or etc.  The problem I see is that everyone but the people in question, continues to be willing to work these differences out, like mature, independent, and responsible adults.  So what's the problem?  I ask for everyone to act like an adult, that is not really much to ask to be honest.  In fact, it is relatively little.  Certainly mistakes were made by all parties, but only a few were absolutely unwilling to resolve these conflicts at all, and instead chose to retreat into the shadows.

Before I myself say things I will regret, I want to clear the air, from my perspective.

I work to the betterment of ALL parties equally, and so long as I feel those parties understand that this is my role here, I will work for them, even if they are in part or in whole responsible for the circumstances that cause me to need be involved to begin with.  I make no judgments, I make no grievances, I make no agendas, I simply try to resolve.  But I have limits that I set, and those limits have been crossed, and once they are crossed, that is the end of it.  Just like the Kematian's, the Zee's, and the Mark's of the corporation, these people who cross that invisible line with me, are never given my faith or confidence again, whether they choose to stay or not and regain it themselves in the eyes of their peers, it will still never again be from me.  In fact, I implore them to do just that, to stay, regardless of whether I myself lost faith in them, as this is my way, not the only way, and I am certainly not whom the only opinion matters.  But they never choose to remain, never.  So, with my usual foresight, that I typically keep to myself, I would like to say now, that they were given every consideration by myself, every possible consideration, and they refused to yield to my role as mediator, and instead I find myself feeling insulted, by being thrown in with the lot as if by association I am no better than the slander thrown wildly against all others.  I am sorry, but I am the last person that one wants to take for granted.  Do not mistake me for someone who bends, I am unbreakable.  This is a family affair, and if you do not want to be part of a family and work your problems out like one, this probably isn't the place for you.

The Dark Ages

Well, this time I can honestly say that my long hiatus from posting here has been deliberate. 


Fatal Ascension has successfully relocated to the Scalding Pass region and my intentional public blackout is now at an end, as we have established ourselves wholly in our new area.

Couple easy things to note, that have been going on in the most recent weeks, be they gloriously successfully or arduously difficult, are the following:

  • Logistics hauling with capital ships, SUCCESS
  • Medium to Large organized combat fleets, POSSIBLE
  • Getting carebear and newbie pilots to come out to Scalding Pass on their own, NEAR IMPOSSIBLE
  • Getting people to NOT warp into engagements in ones and twos, NEAR IMPOSSIBLE
  • Getting people to realize Scalding Pass neither resembles nor even remotely likens to Providence, NEAR IMPOSSIBLE
  • Gaining focus from a core group of a few hundred in the alliance, SUCCESS
  • Securing most infrastructure in our new sovereign systems, SUCCESS
  • Making ISK for myself at a personal level, NEAR IMPOSSIBLE
 Now, I could go into all kinds of details about this or that, but considering this is an ongoing process, and that emotions are so high right now, I may spare the whip, and loosen the chain instead.

The alliance is going through the growing pains any alliance in our position would be.  Having been shucked from the proverbial cornucopia that was Providence, we have found ourselves in what appears to be a relatively inhospitable area of 0.0 space but what is in reality the best opportunity we have been given since my corporation was created, personally. 

With various fleet commanders leading sparse fleets here and there, too busy, like myself, to devote a majority of their time to one thing or another, the alliance is suffering from too much too soon, but in light of this, we cannot help but ride fast and furious, as it is the only way this stuff is going to get done.

Because of this, coming to a fleet near you, will be I, Mendolus, Empire Fleet Commander of the alliance, striking out into the depths 0.0 once more, to lead weekly fleets, and bolster cohesion, coordination, and participation.

I may not be the most experienced, in some respects, but... at the risk of sounding like I am tooting my own horn, I would like to think I extremely capable, give my years of experience at leading group activities in multiple MMOs.  After all, a fleet battle is nothing more than a carefully orchestrated chain of audible, visual, and other sensory reception and command.  And the only fleet commanders I have ever seen in this game, that do well, are the ones that master themselves first, and others second.  So, to battle, we ride at dawn.