Catherine Laartii
Providence Guard
Templis CALSF
272
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Posted - 2014.09.14 02:33:00 -
[1] - Quote
Deen Wispa wrote:I'm going to say some stuff that will probably make some of my militia pilots and corpmates irate, but it needs to be said.
There is simply no need to continue beating up on an opponent that is not as coordinated and experienced as we are. Everyone around here already knows that Gallente is superior in virtually every facet of FW. We are overachievers, in fact.
I'm just coming back into the game. I no longer have the sort of time that I used to have for this game. When I log on, I just want to create fun content or be a part of it. Logging on and seeing 30-50 pilots plexing a system with no competition. Moaning on comms about why the enemy hasn't shown up. That's not fun. Being a cog in the machine. Trying to get a word in with 5 other people talking over each other. Not fun. Being in a large group where I can't get to know my fellow gamers. Where I can't teach and/or learn from my fellow pilots. Sucks.
The ethos of FW was always about a place where you can have an impact. Where you're not just a number. Where multiple groups of pilots can have an impact. A place where our personal actions truly matter and will have a ripple effect throughout the warzone.
Man. Things have truly changed over the last two years I've been here. Nowadays, people are more interested in trying to get 500 kills a month rather than find meaning and impact in some of their battles.
We blame CCP for the current mechanics without taking any responsibility. We grief the competition and constantly kick them out of their space because we can. We tell them that it's not our fault we're highly organized and that they need to step up their game. But to accept personal responsibility for the current ecosystem we've created. Never.
An interesting narrative that we tell and convince ourself of nowadays.
This narrative sounds familiar to another large group of pilots in another region of space....
After being in calmil on and off for roughly 5-6 years, I can say with a decent degree of certainty that you are right in regards to the overall personality of each of the factions, and it has been astounding to me how overly complex politically calmil alliances try to make things. I joined FW more or less towards the tail end of dominion and the beginning of tyrannis, and hopped on board with DCE and we fought the good fight. When WZ came out as a feature, some sharp divisions on the nature of what it was, how we were supposed to work it etc., people started bickering about it and unlike you guys, quite a few monolithic blocs fragmented and haven't come together since just over the simple fact that, yes, while we're all calmil, nobody can agree on what that means or what "direction the militia is going" with alliance head meetings and such.
Look; I'm sure you know just as well that I do that while there are a number of excellent alliances in calmil that drive a hard game and put up a good fight, Templis and Heiian conglomerate chiefly among them, there isn't a larger coordinated between them all that you guys have. What I can say though is this: Either approach doesn't really matter in the long run if we're talking about who "wins" and who "loses" as the de facto notion of an endless war means that despite territory gained there is never a victor or a loser. There is no end date or path to victory, there are only the trenches of plexes and the flocks of fleets to fight in. So the notion that one side is inherently better at the job they have to do is moot, since neither side can actually complete it.
So the question then becomes, "What's the point of fighting if we can't win or lose?" I've wrestled with that question on and off over the years and it has sometimes become agonizing considering the twin motivations of loyalty and insatiable curiosity I have for this game; specifically where those two have taken me over the years. The point in the end for both of us is that we're pitted against each other in a vast gladiatorial arena, full of vicious rabid dogs, pirates, and drunk russians. The floor shifts beneath us, the waters of flux and chaos swirl and wash over us daily, and those of us who have invested time, blood, sweat and tears into it all come up from all of that and realize that glory is found in the fight itself; and for us in calmil who have awoken to that fact in one form or another find that the philosophy behind it is a distinctly caldari one: That strength and meaning in life are found in the swirling chaos; where all things are in flux and evolving to adapt to become something new and different, and finding common bonds in the storm we are thrust into.
I think that the question should never be "Is X side better than Y side for Z situation", it's "How much fun is Y side having throwing together a fleet and fighting against X side who has been investing their time in Z activity." We all lose ships, we all make money; the real game comes from the enjoyment derived from content. How that content works, how the items within it are balanced, and where that content is going is where my mind always is in this game, not necessarily the next system bash or the next plex capped. It's why after coming back to the game after several weeks when I log on and fly a cruiser into low, my hand shakes from excitement, my heart pounds when I fight someone, and I feel a massive rush when I survive. I love every detail of this game; every minute spent on a plex or bit of lore picked up. I live and breathe it and no matter how the war goes or what form it takes, I will always be motivated by the simple fact that it is FUN.
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