July 10, 2014

Summer Slumped

If you're a regular read of this blog, you've probably seen that I used to work for a company that had me working and traveling all of the United States for the past year, rarely having a day off. On multiple occasions I didn't have internet for over a month at a time, sometimes I didn't have reliable internet. I had very few friends in some of those locations (although I was fortunate enough to have friends in every location that I visited), so a lot of my time was spent with EVE, when I was able - which wasn't always often. So you can imagine the excitement I had when I was coming home for good after resigning from that company. More time for EVE was right behind more time for friends, family, and my own bed.

Now that I'm home, I've found that it's just the opposite of what I expected. I don't have any desire to log in to EVE. And that happens sometimes. You have to take breaks from this game every now and then, it's natural. But I didn't expect it to happen now of all times. This should be my glorious time of return. I should be waking up looking forward to getting in my ship and just undocking. But I don't.

Most of that, I think, is because we're off contract in Noir. I've historically always had lower participation off contract than on. I play for the contracts (although I've really been enjoying a new side of "playing" recently, which is as an unofficial diplomat). I get really excited when we have a specific objective that's being paid for by another player. I don't get excited about a random roam with some of our friendly blues. Maybe I should, but I don't. I probably should right now. I could use the practice. But I can't find it in me.

I think another small part of it is that I'm just a grunt now. I spent a year as the CEO of Noir. Academy and I could contribute, even when I couldn't log in, by doing a host of other things. I always enjoy being in charge, and now I don't have anything to really do. I've found that I enjoy the administrative side of leadership a lot more than I do the FC side of it. In EVE, anyway. I don't really relish the idea of reclaiming a position of leadership through FCing, but in Noir. (and EVE in general), that's the most surefire way of doing so.

I'll be logging in more often soon, for reasons, so I'll have to see what happens then. Maybe I've just fallen out of love with FCing because I haven't been able to do it in so long. Or maybe I'll just need to find a new way to play within Noir., something that excites me. What interesting ways have you guys found to play that you didn't first imagine?