Saturday, September 14, 2013

BB#49 A Rich Perception

Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 49th edition!  For more details about what the blog banters are visit the Blog Banter page.

What is "rich" in EVE?  Is it simply having more ISK than most everyone else, is it measured in raw numbers of some other ethereal quality?  Can you actually be poor?  Have you ever lost nearly everything and had to claw your way back?  If you are rich, how do you know and how did you get rich?

I like and dislike this subject for various reasons.  The viewpoint in real life is taken similarly in Eve, and the whole view of "rich" boils down to perception.  Most people when you ask them if they are rich will give the answer "no", because they see someone else who can afford things which they cannot.  I would then estimate a lot of those people would call themselves poor because they can't afford all the things they want.  You then have the few who know they're rich because they see there aren't very many people with more than them.  The actual quantity in the wallet makes no difference in how this is all perceived.  So being "rich" in Eve could be defined as "Everyone else who can afford the things I want" while being "poor" could be defined as "Everyone else who can't afford the things I have".

I know I'm guilty of this mentality, when I first started playing Eve all I had were the couple of free ships you get from the tutorials, and the few mISK which come from running those tutorial missions.  With eyes bright I sought out my first mission hub and started exploring the market looking for a ship I would like to fly, my eyes fell upon the Amarrian Battleship "Abaddon".  That majestic hull would be my tool in annihilating the Blood Raider menace and put down the rebellious Minmatar slaves.  (Yes, I did read every mission briefing.)  I then looked at the 240 mISK price tag and it was quite a shock, but determined I started my first level 1 mission.  Looking at my reward for completing the mission 100-300 kISK, I became somewhat crestfallen.  As I flew around space doing my missions and seeing people in their fancy battleships, those people I considered "rich" because they could afford what I could not. 

Fast forward to when I joined Stay Frosty, I had just left a wormhole and only had a couple of ships.  With 3.5 mISK in my wallet, and a spattering of 30 mISK across alts, it was going to be rough losing ships.  The only thing I dared to fly was meta 1 fitted frigates, and my first month of Stay Frostiness I lost 156 mISK (I borrowed a few ISKies from my brother).  I was having to crawl my way back up, and it was slow going considering my mission runner was confined to low-sec.  Skilling up my scout alt for exploration, I was able to bring in enough to stay afloat (then Odyssey hit and that revenue source died).  I was in poor country because I couldn't afford the things I wanted.

With a donation of 200 mISK from a Frosty I was able to invest in a few things to increase my wallet.  I was able to buy some cruisers, have more frigates and fittings on hand, and not worry so much when I died because I knew I had a ship I could fit and head back out.  I was willing to sacrifice my small frigate to gate guns and point the target until everyone else was able to get point. 

Fast forward again to today, I now have 4.4 bISK liquidated, and 1.4 bISK in sellable assets (not ships/modules).  I decided I could invest in a few assault frigates and had a few Retributions moved to Hevrice.  Some might consider me rich, others would think I'm poor; what do I consider myself?  Neither, I'm not rich because there are people who have more than me, but neither do I consider myself poor, because I'm able to fund the things I want.  I also have more because I save and I am careful with my ISK.  Going out and throwing it away does not work for me, notice how I'm only now considering flying an assault frigate.

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