Leading 2 Lives, Teaching the PvPers of Tomorrow

For anyone that was following this blog when I created it in February, you're probably aware that I started writing for TMC, which stopped this blog cold in its tracks. Lately I've been having some ideas that aren't quite big enough to be writing up on TMC, or they're on topics that someone else has jumped on to cover before I had a chance. I'm thinking this is a good time to fire things back up. I'll still use TMC for the larger issues that need writing about, but rather than worry about double covering something or having to ask myself if something is meaty enough, this should still be a good outlet.

For example, with what's on my mind today, I'm quite sure no fecks would be given with regards to the majority of TMCs audience. As many people are at least partially aware, my more public Eve persona of DJ FunkyBacon is, in fact, an alt. If I have something to SAY publicly, he tends to be the voice that I use. He's got barely 1 million SP, hardly ever logs in, but has a good reputation, and is recognizable to a lot of people.

Unlike seemingly everyone else in Eve, I only maintain a single account. I've never had much use for alts, and I'm a terrible multitasker, so when I signed up with Eve Radio in 2006, recognizing the need to keep my main out of the Eve Radio Corporation, I created DJ FunkyBacon, and carried on with life in Eve as normal. That main character is not really a secret or anything; the folks I fly with most frequently, all know exactly who I am, but its not someone I go out of my way to advertise either. The way the whole thing came about, I suppose I could be thankful that I get to enjoy Eve in relative anonymity unlike some other well known players.

What I do talk about from time to time on the radio show, through twitch streaming, and just about every platform I get on that is not TMC, is the alliance I am in. Everyone should know by now that I fly Faction War for the Gallente, some people may not be aware of with who. That's the Monkeys with Guns. Alliance.

It's a small alliance as far as the standards go, less than 300 pilots with a complete PVP focus. Battle clinic has us ranked at 45 on their "recent" rankings of PVP alliances though, so for all our lack of size, it seems we're doing fairly well. That stat becomes even more impressive when one considers that over half our numbers are made up from one of Gal Mil's largest and most accident prone newbie corps, Noob Mercs [PHAIL].

One of our goals as an alliance has been to provide a public service within eve by properly training new players and carebears interested in reforming in the ways of the pew. In a FW environment where new players are viewed with suspicion at best, and as a spy or liability at worst, the Noob Mercs buck the trend by giving almost anyone a chance. Spies? As long as they promise to bring fights. Alts looking for something exciting to do? Sure.

While it would be simple and easy to write these guys off as another knockoff to RvB or Brave Newbies, the organization is in fact much older than either, and has churned out a number of quality PvPers who make their way around Eve to this day. Even my main was a member back in the early days in 2008/2009.

Rather than encouraging bad PvP practice that covers incompetence with large numbers, we encourage the Noobs to learn PvP through trial and error, fitting advice, and small fleets geared towards their SP range. An advantage of including our newbie corp in with the rest of our alliance (even though it drags down our killboard stats a bit) is that it gives them access to many of the core members of the alliance, a group of PvP veterans with years of experience in almost every PvP environment available in Eve. These are guys who know how to fit a ship, how to fly in various styles (brawling, kiting, sniping, etc), and who by and large enjoy passing their knowledge along to the newbros.

They are all almost universally bad at first, sometimes getting blown up 10 or 20 times before even scoring a first kill. Then that first kill happens, and something starts to click. We teach a practice of flying cheap, but effective fits, raising in expense as confidence and skill grows. We also only help those that show a willingness to help themselves, the rest are left to sink or swim in their own machinations.

It's not a perfect system, but it works for our purposes. We figure that out of the 160 or so members of PHAIL at present, we might convert 20 or 30 of them into upstanding members of Eve's PvP community. Some will choose to stay with us by moving into one of the more experienced corps in the alliance, and others will strike off into the sunset to find their own way.

Now If we can just get them to stop flying gank prone industrials moving their stuff out into lowsec, and use the alliance JF service instead, we might not all go completely crazy.