Kind of a quickie, but one that kind of makes me smile.
Have you ever noticed that the CFC is constantly trying to push the narrative of itself as the down-trodden underdog new kid that is just trying to succeed in the galaxy despite everyone being against them? Meanwhile, we play EVE in a New Eden where:
Hell, the only reason I know these things is because I bothered to look them up years after I started to play EVE. At the time I started to care, all three were already mostly or completely irrelevant. But I’ll bet 95% of active EVE players know who GoonSwarm is. If not 100%.
I like to throw history into this blog from time to time because most people don’t care about history and it’s entertaining to me to try to make it fun to read about. But by default, people care about their own experiences, not the experiences of people in the past. And the same holds true for EVE Online.
Like the large majority of currently active EVE players, I didn’t start playing in 2003. For me, the Great Northern War happened in 2011 (yes, there was a prior one). By the time I took any interest in sov whatsoever and another “Great War” happened, I had to be told it was actually the “Second Great War” and again, I had to read about the first one. Hell, my very first personal experience with Goons — the first time I
ever heard of them — they were the aggressor. I watched them help push Ethereal Dawn out of their space in the drone lands.
For as long as I’ve been playing EVE, if I were to order the power blocs in order of perceived power, I would put GoonSwarm and their allies first. For as long as I’ve paid attention to such things, they’ve always been the strongest power in New Eden. They’ve never been anything but the strongest power. It’s been everyone else that’s had to wage guerrilla wars against them.
And I doubt very much I’m alone in this. Hell, I suspect this is the case for the vast majority of active EVE players.
As recently as four months ago, the CFC blasted aside Pandemic Legion, knocked N3 to their knees, and held a knife to their collective throat. The only reason N3 isn’t all but dead right now is because the CFC kicked N3 over, handed the knife to StainWaggon, said “have fun”, and walked away. The perception is they couldn’t be bothered to actually land the killing blow against such a weak enemy. Anyone besides me remember
We end the war between the RUS and N3 by stabbing N3 in their heart over and over and over again until they stop moving.
? Anyone besides me remember
When Goonswarm was founded, we based our diplomacy on one principle: to be the best possible friend and the worst possible enemy. N3 declared that they exist to destroy us: if we merely slap them on the wrist and take three regions from them, we are hardly the worst possible enemy. It is time to live up to our founding ethos.
? These are hardly the words of an underdog. I haven’t noticed Deklein getting invaded lately. I’ve written before about how ironic this narrative is.
And yet, I’m still reading stuff from CFC authors whining about the big bad N3 that is way stronger than them and way richer than them, and how the CFC has to scrape pennies together to get a bare few super-caps to defend themselves against these horrible ruffians. As I said, it kind of makes me smile. On top of being the strongest coalition at everything else, they’re still the strongest coalition at propaganda, too.
– Ripard Teg
