“Minutes of the Thirty Ninth Capsuleer Philosophical Round Table.”

or~  Blog Banter 39: “Home” Summary

and… This is My “Official” 100^th post and the longest post I have ever done ... Ta DA!!!  [in Word, 14 pages 9,560 words...]

   Welcome to the 39th Blog Banter Summary – and my personal first ever ‘take’ on all the tl;dr that we EVE bloggers put out on the web.  =]

   After tackling some heavy topics in recent banters, Stan this time wanted us all to take a more relaxed trip through the thoughts of the blogosphere. The genesis of Blog Banter 39: “Home” was a suggestion from EON Magazine editor Richie "Zapatero" Shoemaker.

The Burning Question of the Day was…
"Some say a man's home is his castle. For others it is wherever they lay their hat. The concept is just as nebulous in the New Eden sandbox.” 

“In EVE Online, what does the concept of "home" mean to you?"

This one seemed to strike a real chord in our community as a total of 44 bloggers responded. I was moved very strongly by A Scientist’s summary of BB 38 “Dogma”… the metalore aspect and RP elements were fascinating… and so, I am blatantly stealing the idea... sorta… remember,  Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery…  =P

This is the tl:dr version…  if you wish to skip my FOURTEEN PAGE ‘wall-o-text’, (much less actually read the FORTY THREE WHOLE BLOG POSTS… one was mine so meh) please scroll to the bottom for the “The Summation of The Summary”… though I do strongly suggest you read through at least Eelis Kiy’s post summary before skipping the rest… extremely good post that.

[Preface: I have tried to look up the Chars and corps of our esteemed bloggers for RP purposes as re this post, if I have tagged anyone incorrectly please let me know and corrections will be made. TYVM]

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[The scene:

A man sits alone in a large luxurious darkened room, the very spacious combined private office and study of a powerful corporate executive and a Capsuleer Starship Captain, in the uppermost levels of a Planetary Orbital Station. The semicircular windowwall of neucleonic reinforced armorglass he faces encompasses a sweeping view which includes a slice of the moon the station orbits off to one side and many of the assembly and refining arrays for the ships, drones, ammunition, fuels & PI products that support this station. He gazes out, past the shimmering forcefield that protects them, into the nebula that encompasses this W-space system…]

   It is late, and I sit in the dark, at the head of a unique conference table, a single thick slab I laser cut whole from a particularly clean and defect free asteroid… hand polished to a glossy blue-black shot through with large dark blood red crystalline veins of pure Arkonor. The lights are low and in the gloom the dark, deep grain of the rich Kallewood paneling glows, reflecting the warm mellow light from the G5 yellow sun that is the lifegiver here, in the C3 wormhole my corporation calls home. I savor a snifter of 150 year old Ruum, gazing into the black… waiting...

   A chime rings… SARA, (Semi-Autonomous Rational Array, the AI that runs everything for me here in our POS, “Serenity Station” and on my ships) informs me that those guests that elected to fly in have just transited our Static Lowsec wormhole, and that we have solid and secure comms with the NEOCOM network via Stealth Bombers cloaked on each side of the hole, and that we starting to receive hails from those joining us via virtual NEOPresence.

   “Thank you SARA, proceed… and project our virtual guests in random seating as they log in, except for my special guest, please seat her to my right.” I tell her as I watch one of HBHIs Prowler class stealth blockade runners land inside the POS and shimmer into existence as her cloak is broken by transit through the forcefield. The pilot maneuvers the Prowler into tractor range of one of the Control Tower’s docking ports.

   “Very good sir, the first are logging in now.” I glance over and watch as holoimages of seated guest begin to appear in several chairs around the table. I turn my gaze back outside..

   A few minutes later SARA chimes in again, “Sir, the HDF =Illusion= has docked and your guests are on their way up.”

   “Good, have them shown in please… and raise the lighting fifty percent.” I said.

   “Very good sir.” She responds in her warm contralto. The indirect ambient light rose to a level where one could read easily but not enough to glare-out the view. A few minutes later the doors to my study swing silently open and my guests begin arriving as our virtual guests become animated.

   I stand and turn to the doorway, “Welcome, welcome… please everyone take a seat.” “There is water on the table and SARA will take drink orders, please make yourselves comfortable.” I offer with a wave of my arm across the dark oval table.

   ‘Thank the gods I made this fifty two seat table.’ I think to myself as well over half of the seats were being filled by those physically present, at the same time I realized that this would be the first time more than maybe ten or fifteen people had actually sat at this table in all the years I have owned it… and tonight… forty-two of those plush Slaver Hound leather upholstered chairs, including mine, would have either a physical or virtual occupant.

   Once everyone was seated and drink orders had been filled I said quietly, “SARA, call to order please.” The sound of a gavel rang three times. “Thank you.” I said into the ensuing quiet, “Welcome to ‘Serenity Station’ and thank you for allowing us, ‘Hiigaran Bounty Hunters Inc.’ to host this, our Thirty Ninth Round Table.”

   “I wish to thank all of you for your time and, to those physically present, thank you for your patience and for putting up with our need for… security. W-space is negative sec and we must guard our entrances.” “I know there are some here who well understand this and I am grateful for the patience of those of you who are not familiar with our wormhole ways.” “For those who have not met me before, I am Captain TurAmarth ElRandir, and I am honored to be your host.”

   I pause, looking around the table at the forty-one powerful and influential immortals who gaze steadily back at me… “As you all know, we are met here to discuss philosophical and practical topics of importance to us all... and to New Eden.”

   “As capsuleers, we are immortal, and as such our place and the lives we live are fundamentally different from the lives mortals lead. We view life and death in ways even we don’t fully understand yet.” I pick up my tumbler of Ruum and take a sip…

   “There is a great cost being paid for our immortality… and not just by us. We all have agreed to occasionally meet in these Round Tables and discuss these and other topics that impact us, our lives and the lives of others in New Eden. We each need to take a serious look inwards and try and understand our place in this ‘verse.”, “To start us off, I would like to introduce Capt. Eelis Kiy who, I feel, has something of interest to say to us all.” I nod to Capt. Kiy, virtually sitting to my right, as I take my seat.

Eelis Kiy of the “Shadows Of The Federation” virtually present, stands… “Hello. My name is Eelis Kiy and I’m an Eve Online quitter.” She stated she was asked to join our group but had not set out to make a philosophical treatise. She went on to summarize her time in New Eden, why she had left… a mix of game mechanic complaints, in-game politics and real life drama. She then told how the other paths she had chosen afterwards had left her, “…constantly at odds with the other players around me, including most of my own guild mates.” “…in Eve Online we would HTFU and find a way…” “…[this] became a common phrase for me…” She began to realize she was an Eve player who no longer played Eve. So she came back.

   The Learning Cliff made her feel just like a noob again and she ragequit once more… but she had not counted on her other half becoming a capsuleer. After much emo and rage and soul searching she decided to return, only this time, “…with a better attitude. I am coming back because I miss the game and my corp mates...” and “…this time around I have my other half on hand…” She summed up her experience this way…

   “Starting Eve Online for the very first time is hard work. But to come back after a long break, when you’ve forgotten so much and have no ignorance about how terrible you now are, is a very high hurdle to jump. But this time I know I’m on the way over it. And this time around I can’t help feeling like I am back where I belong.” She smiled briefly, nodded to a few at the table and took her chair.

“Well, I feel that sets the tone for this gathering rather succinctly… What does ‘Home’ mean to each of us…” I said, “Shall we just go around the table?”

Parisma Calles, of the “Kadavr Crimson Guard”, sitting next to Captain Kiy, leaned forward and made a brief statement that for her, Home was her current base of operations and the regions where she began her life as a capsuleer, “…Essence and Sinq Laison in Gallente space.” She eloquently summed up with, “So for me “home” is where I park my ships and where I first learned to dance among the stars.”

Drackarn of “Quantum Cats Syndicate” was next. He placed a quantum memory stick on the table then looked to me. I spoke up, “SARA please scan and secure the data on Captain Drackarn’s memstick.” SARA responded for everyone to hear that there were a number of holopix on the stick and that it was clean. “Good, present the images please, at Capt. Drackarn’s command.” I said.

   Drackarn nodded and then ran through brief a summary of the systems and stations he had considered as home and the ‘Road Trip’ locations he had spent time in from Noob to Carebear to finally FacWarbear. He summed up thus, “Home is where I am "permanently" based from. However, as you can see there is very little permanent about my homes. May be that is the way of low-sec PvP. You move around looking for the fights. I guess I'm nothing more than a Gypsy!” he finished with his usual wry grin pocketing the datachip and leaning back in his chair.

Sugar Kyle of “The humbleless Crew” quickly stands, smiles and says, “Home in space is as comfortable as slipping into your favorite ship.” Then she gives us her thoughts on Sov Null and its relationship to the concept of ‘ownership’ and how, “…the reward is having a 'house' that is all yours. It has your name, it has your things, it is laid out as you want.” How the same goes for wormhole dwellers… she says gesturing out the windowwall with a flash of a grin towards her host. How Hisec dwellers and professional traders have homes in the systems and stations they base out of even without actual ownership.

   She goes on to say, “Even though only Sov space [and W-space] holders 'own' their house, ownership and a sense of physical place is very important in Eve.” She sums her feelings up with,

   “Home is comfortable. Wars may rage and stuff may explode, but there is a place where a player can settle down. It may not be safe it may not be smart but… …it will always be home or that place that you live.” Captain Kyle gives a very slight bow and takes her seat.

Lukas Rox of “Aideron Technologies” glances up and down the table. He says, “IRL people will call home the place where the loved ones are. In EVE you can find good friends of course, but it usually gets down to a common base of operations.” He talks about how he keeps the majority of his ships in stations around Gallente space. “I could say this is my true home in EVE now: the place where my ship hangar count is in hundreds.”

   “But,” he says, “I would like something more.” He has given us two definitions and he likes neither. He wants, “…a real home in EVE. A station perhaps, or a small hangar array, something I own, something more personal.” He doesn’t want a POS, it burns fuel and the ISK cost it too high ‘just’ to store ships. He suggests an underground, moon based hangar. A ‘Walking in Moons’ concept as compared to ‘Walking in Stations’, about which he says, “Establishments in fully working Incarna environment could also be considered our own home in EVE.”

   He wraps up leaning back with a grin… “I'd really like that underground hangar.”

Rhavas of “Future Corps”, virtually present, leans forward on his elbows staring into a vein of dark red Arkonor… he hesitates… then begins to share with us how he, as a Vherokior Drifter, felt a kinship with the Thukker tribes and their nomadic life. Yet he says, “Instead of truly feeling the way of the nomad, I have defined “home” in many ways.” He gives us a précis of his early years, and the systems that are home to the Shattered Planets, Arek’Jaalan Site One, “If there was one place, however, that Rhavas could call home and live in study for the rest of his life, it would be T-IPZB, Delve.” “The place where the story of planet-shattering started. The first firing of the superweapon. I think Rhavas would feel he “won EVE” if he owned that system…” He agrees that the most common perception of ‘home’ in EVE is a corp base of operations.

   He shared with us the corps and systems he has lived in… the ways in which they were home to him… Then, he looks up and out of the windowwall… and says, “…in the end, we are both fascinated by the potential of a home that stays in one place while the opportunities for profit and war shift, open and close – around it.” a ‘Home’ that roams… he stops speaking… after a pause, he looks down the table at his host, nods once, sitting back.

Anshu Zephyran of “Knavery Inc.” stands… and tells us of his life, how home for him seems to have been the same as for most, the system or station he was based in… at first. Then it became the corp he was with and wherever they based out of. How he tried life in holes, but found his commitments, commitments he wanted to keep with friends he did not want to lose in Empire forced him and others to give up their W-space ambitions.

   They ended up in a hisec ‘pocket’, that, “Despite the fact that it was highsec, it felt like living on the frontier – and in a way, I suppose it was.” They got an offer to move to null, “…but even there I never got quite the same sense that we were building a home to live in.” Back in Hisec now he summed up by saying, “…while I could point to a system I might now call “home,” I think the real truth of it is that home is where my friends and corpmates are...” He bows slightly and retakes his seat.

Rixx Javix of “The Tuskers” nods to Capt. Zephyran then stands leaning forward and placing his hands on the table. He looks up and down the assembled immortals with his one good eye… “It is easy to say that "home" in New Eden is wherever you happen to be at the time. Where you hang your hat, or in most cases the primary station in which your precious ships are stored. That's easy.” he states in his gravelly voice… He talks about his travels, the transient nature of his ventures in New Eden. How his early forays into null may have affected his, “…belief in a home as more than simply a spot on a map. Whatever it is, my home in New Eden is where I live. Where I share the blood of my brothers in arms, where we die and more often than not, where we kill.”

   He discusses null and the feelings of home with the attendant responsibilities for defense and protection. The thousands of mortal lives that we immortals affect, and have a responsibility to. “…it is this feeling of a greater universe that pervades my thoughts and feelings about my home. Even today, living in Low Sec far away from the politics of Null, I still feel the same way.” He ends with “…my home is where I hang my hat. And where I wear it. And that will never change.” …he sits heavily down .

Druur Monakh of the “24th Imperial Crusade” leans forward and tells us “You don’t know what your real home is until you lose it.” She states that “…it didn’t really matter where [our HQ] was: what mattered was where the bulk of our people were: 0-sec, wormholes, our little hi-sec area next to lo-sec - you name it.” But it is the loss of a home that hurts, such as her loss of the corp, “Frequent Flyers”, and how “…it [is] telling that the majority of my ship hulls were back in our former stomping grounds, unfitted.”
   She says Petidu is supposedly her new home, yet all she has there is some loot, and a Harby. Her actual current home is her Purifier “…flitting from system to system, ever searching for the elusive prey, and I could count on one hand the number of nights I had spent in Petidu.”

Corelin of “The Fancy Hats Corporation” tips his Bowler back to a jaunty angle and tells us that he has been in Fancy Hats for a total of a bit under 900 days with just one corp hop since forming it and he can’t remember the RL address of the last place he lived for more than 670 days… “Fancy Hats has become my home and I can claim to have built it myself.” “Home in EvE is people you know.” People you trust, people who do things that keep you involved, helps you weather the storms, losses and rage and share in your successes… “I am blessed to have my home and doubly blessed to be able to claim I’ve done so much to build it myself.”

Kirith Darkblade of “The Tuskers” eyes Corelin’s hat with one raised eyebrow and a wry grin… then tells us of his first home in lowsec from his first cloning until joining The Tuskers. “I have thought of it as my home for the best part of two and a half years…” but change occurs… “…now feel that Hevrice is Kirith's home, it's taken a long time for it to become my home more than just a base of operations.” He gives Capt. Javix a nod and sits back.

Emergent Patroller, a shrouded and enigmatic figure virtually present, remains seated and tells us of her love of space and exploration. “…the exploration of [EVE] in my ship is where I feel at home.” That, “it was the journey that really mattered.” As a wormholer she loves the random exploration opportunities the WH lifestyle offers. “…when I return to our home-wormhole, I get the feeling of having returned... … back to the homestead as it were.” She told us of the core systems of Sinq-Laison or Essence where she spent her early days, of Lisbaethanne or Old Man Star where she first encountered pirates. “However, where my home truly is, that would be the ship in which my pod is cradled at any given time. Warping through space, moving, exploring…”

Oreamnos Amric of “Z3R0 Return Mining Inc.” sits forward and tell us that he has a somewhat fluid idea of what he calls home from his RL, fluid in that he can feel at home in several locations. This translates to EVE in that he has more than one ‘home’ even if he only truly ‘lives’ in one place. “In EVE my wormhole is my home.” To him it is more than home, his friends are there… however he has more than one ‘home’, Auvergne V - Moon 5 is where he stores all his ships which aren't in the hole and… “This is my old stomping ground; the place where I grew up.” Plus he has changed holes over time… though the first hole he lived in did not engender the feeling of ‘home’. He sums up his feelings thus, “I only have two places I call home - the place I grew up is statically defined and won't change and I will always go back to Auvergne to go home. The other home is where I spend most of my current time and is ephemeral in nature. Today home is my class 4 wormhole, next year it could be a class 5.”

Mabrick of “Hiigaran Bounty Hunters Inc.” enters the room, “My apologies, I was mining out a very sweet gas cloud and wanted to finish it.” He says with a grin … “SARA has kept me up to date so if I may?” I nod at my corpmate and friend and say, “Thank you for joining us Mab, this is an open forum please go ahead.”

   He takes a seat and tells us of his early life and of starting “Mabrick Mining and Manufacturing”. He talks of the systems and places he has visited… He talks of his venture into W-space, joining HBHI in the very station we are met in now, but this too, is not ‘home’…
   He talks of the concept of ‘home’. Is it a place? Whether temporary or permanent? He feels that is not the answer… then he relates an experience he had recently, he was in a cloaky Indy in Jita and how our corp and a friend fleeted up to get him safely back in the hole past an Alpha camp on the Tama gate. “That's when the true definition of home began to trickle into my brain.” “I landed inside the shields, off loaded my cargo and realized I was home.”He summed it up thus,

   “Home is belonging. It is camaraderie. It is being with a group of people willing to lay down their implants to aid my safe return. It is sharing danger and sharing profit. It is sharing knowledge…” “It did not matter where it was. It only mattered that we were there together. We were home.” Mab nods to me, smiles and leans back.

MinorFreak of “Ordo Ministorum” virtually present, tells us how she has always hung around the Fua and Hoosa constellations. She asks herself, “Why did I reject null sec play on grounds it felt too nomadic? Why do wormholes cause me to break out in hives?” Her virtual self says looking out the windowwall with a visible shiver…

   “I guess it's because I like a place I can call home...forever.” She talks of her choices of home space… based on Industry and her desire to, “…try to be very much like the strict eve roleplaying corps of the day...” Now she runs missions for the access to a level 5 low sec combat agent and access to the first agent in the level 4 Amarr Epic storyline. Plus she mines, runs PI in the Fahruni system, does exploration and may possibly start probing out wormholes, “But, I don't think I'll ever leave home.”

   She rejects the temptation of the nomadic life… she feels she is a rarity for staying in one location for so long. She sums up her feelings this way, “Home in EVE is the place that fits a player's motive for subscribing to this mmog.”

Kuan Yida of “Huang Yinglong” shares with us that HUANG was formed six years ago and “…HUANG [is]the only corp I’ve ever belonged to, …from the beginning it has been my New Eden family.” He talks about how they are a small elite group ranked 487^th in New Eden, proud of their record and corp. “…we have proudly flown as a member of Tribal Liberation Force, basing out of the war front in Auga.” “Minmatar Faction War has been my other home.”

   He tells how HUANG has been involved in FacWar from the beginning. He sums his feelings up thus, “My home is my family, and my family is my corp, and my mates are the warriors of Late Nite.  He also has a place in Osoggur and one in a Kourmonen which is “…a great place to get authentic Vheriokior pan-fried dumplings.” He closes with a grin.

Splatus, virtually present in grey cloak and hood, quietly notes how, so far, he is hearing “…mostly – that you make your home where your ships are, that home is a temporary feeling of belonging and that it induces also quite a protective streak – I defend my home against invaders... Curious.”

   He explains he has been in W-space for over a year now and how that affects the concept of home, “There may be many like it, but this one is mine…”, the investment in effort, IKS and most importantly, TIME, begets a strong feeling of home and a need to defend it. He recently had a wormhole open to his old stomping grounds and felt a strong sense of nostalgia, “…just having been here for this time made it “my own.” His time there lead to the corp and lifestyle he has now. He sums it up this way,

   “So, “home” is a virtual representation of space – real or pixelated – that I spent resources to differentiate from others.  It also is a place where I can hang out with friends and share laughs and thoughts.”

Sered Woollahra of “No Fixed Abode” stands, clears his throat, and says “Home' means two things to me: a physical place to live, and a social place where I meet those I feel connected with.”  He tells us in order to call a place ‘home’, there must be a sense of ownership. New Eden allows one “…to carve out your own niche in this virtual world.” He tells how he had felt ‘at home’ in null and in hisec. He knew his neighbors, locals not in his corp would sometimes say “Hi” in local just because…

   Sov is ownership and therefore more ‘home’. He pauses glancing at me, nods to Capt. Mabrick, then looks out the windowwall… “…my guess is wormhole dwellers also have a stronger sense of ownership than someone living in a busy highsec system.”
   Home can mean, your tribe, clan, family, your corp… your friends. How many corps have a core of ‘permanent’ members, long term friends who stick together? In talks with allies he found most felt the group and the corp were more ‘home’ than any place… He talks of ‘Bittervets’ who stop playing EVE, still logon to the client to chat, or TS or Mumble so they can keep up with their friends… he feels ‘home’ to them still applies. “When this happens, the ties that were forged in this game transcend its borders.” “The game itself may not be ‘home’ anymore, but the social unit still is.” He sums this up, and poses a very interesting query, thus,
“…on the next level of bittervettedness, one may not even login any longer; they may only read blogs and forums.” “…it would be interesting to hear a bittervets’ opinion on whether these remaining out of game ties with a gaming community still have that ‘home’ feeling.” Capt. Woollahra bows and takes his seat.

Kirith Kodachi of “Kadavr Crimson Guard” leans forward and tells us of his early homes…

where he missioned and ratted and learned… where he roamed lowsec, ran L4 mishes… where he learned Industry… where m3 corp based out of and learning PvP… where “Paxton Federation stood their ground as CVA folder like a tent under the assault of AAA and friends.” And of Heydieles in Essence where he now seeks the Caldari militia, pirates or anyone else to shoot at….  “EVE is home.”He nods to Capt. Javix and relaxes back into his chair.

Mike Azariah of “Tolerance Training Academy” shares with us a story that starts, “He threw his bag on the couch and called out “Honey, I’m home!” as he enters an empty CQ in a station somewhere in New Eden… He tells of a man who looks back on the places in his life as an immortal and finds no sense of home there. Places where he used to live, the places he lived now, engendering no sense of ‘home’.

   “Maybe . . . home wasn’t a place.  Maybe it was the people where you were.” “With comms being what they could be home no longer was a geographical entity put a state of mind.” “He was with friends when he was in fleets, incursions were home, now and again.  Gallente Hero and Eve Blues were home.” “New Eden was his home, when he was with friends and it was cold and lonely when they were not about.” He sums it up saying… “Home was not where you laid your hat, it was where you left your heart.”

Xander Phoena of “Zebra Corp” says that for her ‘Home’ in New Eden is a very simple concept, in her time in EVE she has flown almost exclusively with Zebra Corp. Irregardless of past frustrations, disagreements and such and so she has some old friends in Zebra Corp. “I can’t imagine ever flying with another group of players. We share a sense of humor and an identity.”

   Zebra Corp is a bit of a nomadic corp, changing alliances with the nullsec political tides… “‘Home’ is where Zebra is deployed.” Flying with the guys she has known for years, she is home. “Being in the same space as these guys is a warm, fuzzy blanket of piss-taking and lulz that I wouldn’t ever want to lose.” She sums up her feelings this way, “…experience and camaraderie is something to cling to and cherish.”

Morphisat of “Millard Innovation Inc” reminisces on his seven years as an immortal. His time in “EVE Uni”, in “Rakeriku”, missioning, mining and Industry, his first war, in Sivala, running L4s… most of his ships and gear still there after all these years. Renting in Wicked Creek in null, “It never felt like home though...” Joining Hidden Agenda didn’t require him to move his stuff and mining and missioning and other ops weren’t always at the same spot, so he had gear scattered around.

   About a month ago he moved into a wormhole… “It’s amazing how fast that started to feel like home.” He is settling in and liking it more than he thought he would… “But I still have the need every now and then to truck back to Uedama, do some industry stuff, and head back into our little hole. It’s nice to have two homes actually!”

Scientist, an enigmatic figure, virtually present, tells us she didn’t think of EVE as more than a game at first… not in terms of ‘home’. Her first corp did become ‘home’ to her. She learned mining there. On a trip into lowsec she discovered moon mining, science and industry in general.

   Recently home has been in Vale of the Silent… her corp may be ‘based’ out of null, but she spends the majority of her time in Hisec at their R&D facility, “So, maybe hi-sec is my home.” However with several alts in different systems spread across Hisec thru null, so, “Where is my home?  I’m actually not completely sure whereabouts in space it is, but I can safely say that my home is with the people who I see in the chat channel when I log in.”

Orakkus of “Providence Directorate” begins, “Home in a virtual world is a funny thing really. Think about it.” He says how ‘home’ in RL is usually with your family… and how he had many homes in many games… virtual locations that were “His place”… but, “Eve... Eve is different.” “…there is no place to display trophies. No place to leave your mark. No place to call your own.” It is simply human to find a ‘safe’ place, but in EVE there are no safe places… so we pick the next best thing. Places we feel ‘safer’, places we are familiar with… “Those places become our home…”

   He talks of picking their fights smarter and fighting harder “…and helped make that bit of space a little safer for those who also called it ‘home’.” He talks about their desire to get into null, but being blocked by politics. After that for a while ‘home’ was not ingame, but IRL and on the forums. He tells of finally joining CVA in null, and of fighting other Sov Alliances and the pirates there. “Home became our castle. Not CVA’s castle, but OUR castle.””Home” at that moment was about as real as anything in Real Life.  I didn’t want to leave because I LOVED it there.”

   He sighs and says that after they left, things just weren’t the same. “Even now, I still wonder if I will ever have those same feelings about a place like I did for Provi 1.0.”

Cheradenine Harper of “Tatooine Sand Reclamation” Leans forward with a big smile (this is his first Round Table and he was eagerly looking to joining us). He shares with us how he feels a sense of relief when he returns to Caslemon. “There is a palpable sense of relief at this point. It’s nice to see the glare from the small blue sun, nice to see the familiar names in Local…” “I’ve just altered my location in a game. I can’t even see it from where I am sat now. I’m in the station. What is it that provokes this sensation of home?”

   “I know this place. I can fly here from Algogille without setting the destination beforehand.” He has left his mark anchored cans in a belt, all of his gear is here, everything is familiar. “…it is familiar and because of it, comforting and a refuge from a harsher outside world.” “A Space Noob lives here.” “This is where I chill out, plan, and return to...” “I’m home.” he sits back with a sigh and a grin.

Shinya Shazih of “Bene Gesserit ChapterHouse” tells us how before he was a Capsuleer, in Anarchy Online they hung out with their old Alliance where they would relax and chat between raids and missions, do tradeskilling and trading. In EVE this is more spread out between the 4 or 5 solar systems their Alliance uses for research, manufacturing and mining. “Generally we are in the same two regions though.”

   “For me personally “home” is where my biggest pile of items is, naturally that’s also our manufacturing station and general base whenever we conduct roams and corp operations.”

Helena Khan of “Ministry Of Reverse Engineering” says that ‘Home’ in EVE is a nebulous concept. There are many things that can tie one to a given system, mostly where you keep your ships and make your ISK… but you can also have jump clones in several systems… the point, “Any pilot in EvE can literally go anywhere they want.” with a probe fit CovOps or Cloaky/Interdict fit T3 that is.

   In many respects wormhole life exemplifies this. If anything could be called a castle, a POS in a wormhole is probably it… she says gesturing out the windowwall pointedly… difficult to get to, especially in numbers, and if they have Cap Ships, very tough to fight. A high sec pocket in low or null sec can be similar.

   Then there is where you park your pod, your favorite ship. She sums up with ‘home’ is a “...combination of those three things. Where you park your ships and make your ISKies, where you have a home field advantage, and your go to ship.”

Blastradius, another enigmatic virtual guest tells how that he thinks ‘home‘, “It’s definitely not a place.”

His inclinations are more nomadic, as are his corps… he feels they get bored easily. They have moved in low and null, so it’s not a place. It’s also not an Alliance, “…they’re more like neighbors; alright for casual interaction but annoyingly different to us and liable to get up our noses on a frequent basis.”

   “For me, my home in the Eve universe is most definitively my corp.” This is important to him. His current corp is large and it has taken a while to get that ‘home’ feeling, but it is there. It is a very diverse and rowdy group, just the way he likes it. “Now, this corp could move from null sec to low sec, wormhole space or even (shudder) high sec and I would still be at home, as far as I’m concerned.” They have bittervets who still get on TS3 to hang out with the gang. Would a physical home be a good feature in EvE? “…whether that happens or not, I think my corp would still be my home in Eve Online.”

Keilidh of “Satyrwood Industries” shares with us that, “Home is where the Hulk is.” She tells us about her corp and fleet mining ops and the different personalities in her corp. Thoughts of the home she left to become a capsuleer… but “…she couldn’t help but muse about how she didn’t really miss her [original] home.” She joined her corpmates in a Station club after a day’s mining… she listened to them and watched them… “…and couldn’t help but laugh.” “No, home wasn’t a place at all. Home was right here, where ever her Corp was.”

Adhar Khorin of “Black Rise Escape Hatch”, virtually present, says he has roamed everywhere in New Eden, “…but a wormhole…” he looks pointedly out the windowwall, then glances at his host, “…still.” Some have been home, not all. To him it is not the things we own or the places they are, “When it comes down to those places we call home, it's the memories.” He tells about his early life and experiences… Ventures into ‘zero-zero’, what Nullsec used to be called, their first POS… “Was Null-Sec home?  No, not really.  Sehmosh – that felt like home for a long time, because of the history.”

   Time spent in lowsec, battles, pirates, mining… “Hiremir felt like home – for a while.” Time spent in Hisec ops, ice belts, research and manufacturing… this also “…became a home.” The common factor is memories… experiences, shared and personal, that make these places “…different from the thousands of other solar systems in New Eden.” He sums up his feelings this way, “…New Eden is what you make of it; that there is no predefined "home" for anyone…” “ …we forge, and return to, our own homes amongst the stars.”

Poetic Stanziel of “Fweddit” begins, “I've moved around quite a bit. So I've had a number of homes.” Her first home was with EVE Uni. After that she drifted around learning PI, PVP, hauling… never dependant on one location. Then moved to NPC null in Stain, but moved on after about six weeks joining The Littlest Hobos. But being in a nullsec Alliance wasn’t for her with the time commitment etc. She left Stain right before Hulkageddon V “…joining [Capt]. Corelin and his Fancy Hats…”, she says with a nod to him, but that too was never home because she knew she would be moving on. “Hek is sort of my home away from home.” It is centrally located and convenient.

   After HAG’V’ she joined “Autocannons Anonymous” in Huola, but the Minnie/Amarr FacWar there grew stale so she joined “Fweddit” staging now out of Ishomilken. She sums up her stand on home as “Nothing grand. Nothing particularly heady or introspective. Home for me is simply where I'm staging all my activities from. And that location can change as the situation fits.”

Marc Scaurus of “Amok” stands slowly and says, “I come from a broken home. No, really.” Many here have talked about the places they have lived, many have taken the, “…warm, fuzzy “My corp is my home approach.” “For me, neither of these things apply – and yet, in a way, they both do.”

   He talks about changing corps over time, but “Clearly, a corporation is not what I would call a home.”

For him there are people who create a feeling of ‘homecoming’ when they all were subbed and active at the same time… “For a glorious period of time – the best time I’ve ever had in any game – we shared corp tags, drunken jokes and life’s tragedies with each other…” however, “Today, that home is broken.” The changes both RL and ingame bring have spread them apart, growing distant. Having moved around so much he does not identify with any ‘place’ as home, at best “…in a geographic sense, home for me would just be lowsec – all of it.” “Lowsec as a whole has always been the real draw for me when it comes to Eve Online.” He has spent time in hisec and null, but always finds himself back in lowsec. However he now feels a growing distance with lowsec also, similar to the distancing of his core group of friends. He is not sure things will ever be the same again.

   He sums up his feelings this way, “…if pressed… … I would say I don’t truly have a home right now.” “I just feel listless, ill-at-ease, and altogether disaffected… …with Eve right now.” But he presses on because, “…for all its flaws Eve Online is still the game for me.” he sits down in his chair with a sigh…

Kaeda Maxwell of “Black Rebel Rifter Club” leans forward and tells us that it may sound silly, but running multiple accounts it matters to her that they are not too far from each other, the overhead starts to add up. She doesn’t see the justification in owning multiple Indies just because she has multiple pilots… besides, “…moving industrial ships around lowsec isn't ideal, evil pirates tend to want to kill them, damn meanies.” She says with a grin and a nod at Capt. Scaurus. She says the same is true of her combat chars… efficiency matters. Her corp is mostly soloing nomads so that does not tie her to any one place in EvE. The social aspects are free of any ‘place’ constraints. So, for her, “…home is where most my characters and thus most of my virtual stuff is.” She does keep stashes of ships spread around New Eden so she can reship fairly easy in the event of a loss, but they are more garages than homes.

   She says she finds it interesting that her main activity is PVP, but the ‘place’ her combat pilots live is “…just a consequence of where my industry alts do their thing.”

Ripard Teg of “Selective Pressure” virtually present, starts off, There is great power in words… especially “…the power of a loaded word.” and “…there are few words in the English language more loaded than the word ‘home’.” He is surprised at how so many of the thoughts and feelings shared here today are literal, “…a specific station, system, region, corp, alliance, Teamspeak channel, or EVE itself.”

   ‘Home’ evokes a sense of “…ownership, community, and belonging.” and is associated with four main constructs, physical location; physical space; family; then tribe or community. Some here feel a connection to their ‘birthplace’, be it a station, system or region. Some relate to where their stuff is, the ‘place’ they lives or lived. For some it is the corp or Alliance, their ingame ‘family’ or ‘tribe’ and those who say, EVE as a whole, are connecting with the larger ethnic ‘community’.

   Then he forwards the idea “…that EVE Online and being a capsuleer is a ‘post-home’ concept.” Immortality and blood-jumping (jump clones) combined with NEOCOM access ANYWHERE to ones financial assets is not compatible with the fixed ‘home’ constructs. By lore, we are “…near-omnipotent immortal demi-gods…” in eternal competition with all the other demi-gods… the capsuleer is past the concept of ‘home’. He makes analogies to the Matrix movies. Neo and his life inside the Matrix, then in the “Nebuchadnezzar”, later in Zion deep underground, as part of the crew of the Neb... or as part of the human race itself. But he drifts from one to the next never really tied to just one. “He's post-home.” But he ultimately lays down his life for all of these ‘ideas’.

   He sums up his feelings thus, “…that's more or less how I feel about EVE.  Home?  No.  Within EVE, I'm beyond these constructs.”

Jace Errata of “AirHogs” states flatly, “My answer: home is where you had all your shit for the longest period. Simple and un-romantic, I know.” He says there’s not a lot else to define home with in EVE. Corp stuff is corp stuff, your stuff is YOUR stuff. “If you hang around a place long enough, it grows on you.”

  He goes on to talk about his desire for a “Mini-POS”, a ‘personal station’ of sorts. POSes he feels require a corp or a billionaire to own and run. He likes the idea of a small, one man station, anchored in deep space, not tied to a planet or moon, low cost to setup and maintain, and modular, capable of expansion. “…that would really be home, I think. You built it. You own it. You run it.”

   He wraps up, “In closing, home in EVE right now is something that you can easily designate, but there need to be more ways to make it truly yours. Mini-POSes could do that.” But we… “I”, need something better than a ship and a ‘can’.

EveHermit, always enigmatic, cloaked and virtually present tells us “Probably unsurprising [given this topic]… …I have hermit inclinations.” You can hear his wry grin… The practical realities of his RL force him out occasionally but he greatly prefers the “…sanctuary of home. I work from home. I play from home. Home is where I am most comfortable, familiar, ordered and safe.” He felt this would be an easy topic to answer to, yet…

   He tells us of his ventures in New Eden, the places he has spent time and likes but, “The reality is that I enjoy my time roaming and living out of an Orca or Carrier more than any one particular region.” He has several locations where he stores his stuff… his industry alts tend to a specific station, system, as does any POS of his... except his main rarely bases out of any of them. He feels the concept is objective. For many here it is not the ‘where’ but the ‘whom’ that determines ‘home’. But none of the corps he has been in felt like home. He used to be more social and collaborative, but time and the inevitable changes in RL and ingame left him such that he “…no longer invest(s) in the game in such a way that would cultivate a social home.” “In the end I was a little perplexed by this supposed simple banter. Given how long I have played the game – why can’t I pin point my place within it?” Maybe EVE is more an escape, a distraction, an indulgence, a source of entertainment than a ‘home’. But, the more honest answer is… that experience has proven to him that there is no permanency or safety in EVE.

   He finishes, “I don’t have a home in EVE as I find it too dangerous to invest in one.” he says with a sigh…

Anabaric of “Kadavr Black Guard” relates to us how he sorta got, handed, the leadership of his corp when Nashh, the old CEO, up and left… (temporarily he ‘said’) He faced the challenges of running the corp, the unpaid bills, impounded ships, repairs, new recruits… all needed to be dealt with, but for now, as he looked out over the KBG hanger he thought to himself, “Home is what you make of it…” “…of all the stations Anabaric had lived in over the last few years this one felt the most like home.”

   It wasn’t the hanger or hunting in the local belts, it was the people he shared it with. The ones who'd put the holes in the walls, spilt the Quafe on the floor, were hard at work screaming at recruits, hauling ammunition and equipment for the next roam… his corpmates, his friends.

Cozmik R5 of “Chez Stan” reminisces that he has called a few places home, from the safest depths of Empire to deep wormhole space. He tells of the places he has lived… Eram (Metropolis); Berta (Derelik); Jorund (Curse) his first nullsec home; Azer (Everyshore) where he started exploring W-Space; Poitot (Syndicate); back to Hemin (Curse); Rens (Heimatar) where “Dock 94” his OMCorp was born and HQed; then off to Kheram (Domain) for The Provi War; then Chaos Central (Jxxxxx, W-space)…

   “But THE place I would go back to tomorrow if I had the chance. The place that to me had it all, and then some, and when you thought she couldn't give you more she just went ahead and did...” is 5E-VR8 (Paradise constellation, Curse)… “By far, THE BEST PLACE I have ever called home in the entire New Eden cluster.” He has lived four times in Paradise (Curse), “…man those were the days! I could fill page upon page of all the funny stuff that happened in here…” “Ah yes, Paradise. This constellation could not be more aptly named!”

Bravetank, another secretive Empyrean, virtually present begins “I’d been here two weeks but the holiday period was over.” She left Pator Tech and “…started looking for a place  to call home.” She had interests in Distribution, Research. and Trading… for a start. She talks about her ‘false starts’… defined as “a failure to begin an undertaking successfully”… she is on her third.

   She began working to get a Research Agent… only to find she was missioning for the wrong NPC Corp. She changes locations and starts running the right L1 missions… only to find that she needed an ISK 10M skillbook, and that was not going to happen soon on L1 mission pay.  Then she discovered the R&D agent she is working with produces datacores that are.. well, NOT going to make her rich. So she looks up one that will give her access to a higher priced datacores and once again she packs up and starts over. She sums up this way, “So have I finally found my home? Duvolle Laboratories.” ”It seems like it could work.” She will see…

Lelouch DeGilead of “Handsome Millionaire Playboys” says that he has been involved in war since his beginnings. He has been a militiaman for Amarr; a freelancer in Molden Heath and the Great Wildlands; a roaming merc in Noir; a freelancer in Feythabolis, Syndicate and Stain then a militiaman for Gallente Federation “…where I am at right now.” As a career soldier with “…deployment orders taking me from one end of the New Eden Galaxy to the other, I always had a place to call home.” At one time in Noir, he had all his assets in one station, but “As of now, my home is where the war is.” “After my hiatus/anti-Incarna protest months [away] from EVE, I jumped straight back into nullsec.” but this time, “I wanted a home where I’d be forced to fight for my own front and backyard…”

   He says, the idea that your home is under attack, can get you emotional and “You want to be in the defense of your own home, and partake in the fights…” He sums up his thoughts, “When you have to defend something that you hold dear in the game, it’s not just a duty to defend it… …It becomes, quite literally, your bloody responsibility to defend your home.”

Zedrik Cayne of “Freespacer Confederation” leans forward and tells us “Home is...complicated.” For him, home over the past few years has been, “…wherever there was can mining, I would be there.” “Where there were stupid people doing plexes in 0.0 with an obvious wartarget or at least a neutral in local. I was there.” He always “…made myself as much at home as was possible.” In his roving pass time of punishing the stupid. He kept a cache of ships, probes, haulers, etc., nearby. Over 250 stations with a PVP ship and a Hauler, over 90% of Empire covered and visited at least once.
   “Home was everywhere. And then I went into retirement. And I've anchored myself to a new 'home'.” For the first time in a long time he has “…folks of like minds to do something with on a continuing basis.” “And that my friends, is where home is really. I suppose Home is where you can fulfill your purpose.” No matter what it is “Your home is where you can *do* that thing.” “…it is *yours* because that is where you can fulfill your needs, the *why* of your eve existence.”

TetraEtc of “PanMac Airways” shares with us that the “…concept of home for me, is a place where you feel comfortable…” where you are not ashamed to be you, he place you miss, the people you miss, the people you will light a cyno for, and not get  annoyed when they don’t use it… “Sure, I haven't done anything with them for a few weeks, but they're still my home. I shall always return to them.”

Mark726 of “Project Compass Holdings” virtually present, begins “Home. It’s an effusive concept that seems to vary depending on my mood.” Home is where he grew up in Luminaire. Also “’Professor Science’, my first true travel ship, is my home.” “In terms of sheer emotional attachment… …Professor Science and its successors have no equal in where I can call home.” “Legacy” his Drake is also one of his homes, “…the one place in the universe where I feel safe, where I feel like I can tackle anything, it’s my Drake.” More traditionally, he bases out of Pelkia, fairly central to all Empires, Amarr and lowsec. When he moved into Genesis for Project Compass, it was Pelkia he wanted to return to. “Coming back after an extended excursion is like slipping into my favorite sweater.”

   But, “Maybe “home” is not so much as a place, but a feeling. In that respect, New Eden is my home.” He feels he is a citizen of the broader stellar community. He sums his feelings up this way…

   “From the depths of null security space to the heart of Yulai, each and every one of us are bound to each other, be it through ties of alliances, ties of friendship, or ties of the marketplace. Each pod pilot is my neighbor, and each system is just a part of my home that I have yet to thoroughly explore. For four and a half years now, the stars have been my home. It thrills me that there are still more wonders out there waiting for me, and I can’t wait to see what else my home has to offer.”

I stand “Well, looks like my turn, I am Capt. TurAmarth ElRandir of ‘Hiigaran Bounty Hunters Inc.’… and if I may…”, “Mal said it best… ‘Love’. You can learn all the math in the 'Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.”

   My first home in New Eden was “Arnon” where I completed my Capsuleer training and munked about rattin’ in the .5 belts nearby and havin’ ‘adventures’ before creating HBHI w/ my son and a RL Marine corpmate of his. We based HBHI out of “Soshin”, where we missioned, joined our first Alliance, weathered our first war and found Wormholes. We eventually setup our own POS in a C2 Wormhole shared with the Allied corp that owned it. “HBHI had its very first, bought and paid for, HOME. This was a very ‘real’ (in the virtual sense) home of our own to us. We Paid for it. We OWN it. We make or buy the fuels to keep it running. It is OURS.” ‘Serenity Station’, the station we are all met in today, is the very same Control Tower we first anchored almost two years ago. But more importantly, “HBHI is my family in EVE.”

   For me, “Home, is that place where your family and friends are. It is where you are accepted for who you are, warts and bad temper and all. It is the place you can keep your stuff and feel safe…” “This is what ‘home’ means to me… in RL as well as in EVE.”

The Summation of The Summary

[Scene:

Same room, some hours later… ]

   My guests have left, and Mab has gone back out to work a Grav site… ‘silly miner’ I grin to myself…   I watched the Prowler undock and warp out to take everyone back out to Empire space and their waiting ships docked in a station several jumps into Hisec. “SARA, bring up a transcript of the meeting please.” I ask, “Very good sir.” She responds as a holoscreen appears before me above the conference table.

   As I read through the minutes, we consistently see two definitions of home, one, home is where you store your ships, your current base of operations and, two, home is where your corp, Alliance and friends are. There are a few ‘home is my ship’ (4) and ‘home Is all of EVE’ (4) and one, “home is a post”, (oh wait… “posthome” whatever that means Jester…  =P ) from the more nomadic, or esoteric, souls, but on the whole a few more (20) claimed the “place” they lived over corp or Alliance (15) and is, therefore, the majority definition of “Home” for immortals in New Eden.
   I must admit to being personally a little disappointed in my immortal brethren… I would have thought the social aspects were more important than that to the majority... but read them yourself and see what you think.
   My favorite posts, the ones I feel say the most about the connections, both to place and people, that we can have here are Mark726 and Mabrick's, if you don't read any of the others, you should take the time to read those two.

Fly Safe and see you in the Sky  =/|)=

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