Interview: Jade Constantine, Minmatar

Has Jericho Fraction always been an RP corp?

Yes, Jericho Fraction was founded as an RP corp in 2003 by a group of
friends wanting to portray space-age anarchist revolutionaries in the
Eve Online setting. Our first efforts involved persuading gang-miners
to rise up against their Amarrian overseers and stop handing their
mining profits up the hierarchy lines above them.

What inspired you to RP on EVE?

It never really occurred to me not to RP in Eve. The rich space opera
setting is ideal for creating stories and narratives and I can’t
imagine the game without an RP element.

You’ve been on EVE since 2003, what about the game has kept you this
here this long?

Comrades and friends in-game, character development + the reality that there is literally no other game like Eve where you can do what you wish and carve out a legend for yourself.

What has been some of your memorable RP story arcs?

From the original Venal conflict in 2003, to the couple of years
Jericho Fraction spent scourging loyalist RP corps and alliances in
2007-8, I’ve always enjoyed conflict with nationalist entities in the
game universe. I think the Mito conflict against Kimotoro Directive
was one of the best though; Star Fraction deployed against a growing
Caldari national powerhouse in the Mito constellation and declared war
– the hostilities spiralled and spread with everyone from Amarrian
loyalists to Gurista pirates and Sani Sabik cultists getting a slice
of the action what would ultimately conclude with the Fraction
victorious and a terrible wound in the psyche of nationalist
capsuleers that is still a little sore to this day.

What are some of your most memorable pvp battles?

I really enjoyed the sequence of “space and freedom” battles between
the Fraction and our allies in the Minmatar Militia vs Amarr Militia
and the CVA back in 2009-2010. SF moved into Kamela and put up some towers there we were using for Titan Bridging and the 24th Crusade under Garst Tyrell resolved to destroy them. The scene was set for weeks of fighting and some extremely intense pitched battles between the participants that saw our first three Space and Freedom towers obliterated but the final one stand triumphant with the forces of CVA Providence broken. For the Fraction it was pretty expensive in dead capital ships but we learned a lot about asymmetric warfare and more importantly – you can tell a better story with heroic defeats than you can with a walkover victory.

Why did Star Fraction join Minmatar Militia versus the other militias?

Star Fraction has traditionally stood against all nations. As
anarchists we abhor statist hierarchy and the notion of national
sovereignty as a force to be obeyed. But in the Matari people we see
fellow-travellers and a struggle not for power but for the freedom to
make any choice at all. It may well be in the long term that the
Fraction will find itself at odds with the Minmatar Republic but first
we have resolved to see the Matari people free of their Amarrian
chains.

Operationally, it was an easy choice for us to align with the Matari
militia – we have many friends, comrades and allies we have flown with still active within TLF. Quite a few remember the space and freedom fights and we have a great deal of respect for the rag-tag heroism of our matari brethren. Add to that our general familiarity with the Bleaklands and surrounding regions as a warzone backdrop to past campaigns and it all made sense.

Will Star Fraction remain in the Minmatar Militia?

Yes, the council of free captains debated this issue at length and
we’ve resolved to give our alliance of convenience with the republican
militia our full attention and commitment in the coming year. We
intend to play a full part inside the Militia and to do our best to
help out in the war in any way we can. It’s very much a learning
experience and something genuinely new in our Eve gaming, and thus far we’re enjoying the change of focus greatly.

Is Star Fraction recruiting? If so, what would a pilot have to do to apply?

Yes, we are recruiting. To apply you basically need a decent
personality and an interest in the Star Fraction, to be comfortable
with anarchist ideology and personal sovereignty in Eve Online
(basically expect to be your own master and don’t expect to be ordered about or have everything done for you.) Our recruits need to be able to fly some useful combat ships and be prepared to join others of the alliance on patrols and economic activities, should be able to fit in comfortably on voice coms and possess a generally pleasant and adult approach to gaming. Currently flying Fleet Stabbers would be a great.

What does SF look for in a pilot?

As mentioned above, good personality is the main thing. We’re not the
greatest pilots in Eve, certainly not “elite pvp” or super efficient.
But we do attract and retain a pleasant and respectful player group of
friends that is extremely valuable in its own right. Our ideal recruit
is a mature individual with diverse interests, tolerance of others,
and ability and confidence to get things done and turn up to fleets.

Also, link to any SF website/killboards/blogs.

http://www.jericho-fraction.net/sf/smf/index.php?action=forum
http://www.jericho-fraction.net/sf/killboard

What do you think of the proposed changes for FW with Inferno?

I really like them. I hope that CCP don’t chicken out and weaken the
vision too much. I love the idea of consequences for occupancy and
making occupancy sovereignty change from an RP perspective. Proper LPs for PVP is great – and I like the idea of investing LP’s to upgrade lowsec systems. Hell, I even like the cyno jammer concept as maximum upgrade for lowsec systems because it will mess with non FW interests and help erode the artificial boundaries between FW and the rest of Eve. My position has always been that FW is a truly great concept and that if CCP have the courage of their convictions it can provide everything a non 0.0 bloc pvp’er / rp’er could want for involvement in eve online.

From your perspective, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the
Minmatar Militia.

I’m still pretty new to the Militia so won’t say too much. But I think
the good thing I’ve noticed is that it’s extremely friendly and
inclusive. I love the Matati backstory obviously and having evil
Amarrian slavers to shoot at 24/7 is delightful.

You were chairman for the first CSM, tell us about your experiences
and how you think the first CSM differs from the one today.

The first CSM was very much a social experiment in seeing if it was
possible for 9 different personalities from diverse communities to
make it work at all. Against the odds we managed quite a lot and set
the foundation for a lot of what followed. I was elected by a popular
wave of independent votes and found myself fighting voting bloc
candidates over game changes a lot. Basically the Goon candidates
opposed anything that might damage their dominance in the game. Add to that, many of the things I advocated in CSM1 did come to pass: Black ops improvements, cyno-jammer nerfing, POS removed from Sov system, and some things finally happened this year. Alliances in Faction Warfare! Yay, I wanted to happen since 2008, was nice to finally take advantage of it.

What advice do you have for current CSM members based on your experiences?

Be extremely distrustful of 0.0 bloc candidate interests. Their game
is not our game. What is good for some deep 0.0 power bloc with
thousands of fleet members and income based on static moon-mining is not good for small unit pvp or faction warfare in general. I think CSM is generally a bit too starry-eyed and worshipful of 0.0 influence on the game of Eve Online – and independent non-bloc CSMs need to work very hard to keep the agenda of small unit combat in the forefront.

Would you consider running for CSM in the future?

Probably not, it is almost a full time job to do well. And it
definitely takes away from quality eve playing time. In addition it
does place the individual in the spotlight and sights of some very
nasty people in the community who will attempt metagaming attacks on one’s out of game personality and professional interests. All things concerned, I think I did my time and led the first CSM and completed my term with most objectives successful.

What are you most proud of in regards to your corporation and alliance?

I think it’s the fact we are still here, without having compromised
our rules of engagement or recruiting standards in nine years of
playing Eve. Revolutionary anarchist individualists, NRDS stands of
engagement, fighting bad guy and shooting tyrants in the head.

If CCP gave you free reign to change EVE to suit yourself, what would you change and why?

I’d make system sec levels and sovereignty flexible (so that national
control and overall sec level could change under certain
circumstances) I’d love to see .4s turn to .5s and .1s go to null and
back again based on player activity and actions. It would terrify
people who are used to their hisec being fixed forever but I think it
would make the universe far more alive. Also, I’d remove all
moon-mining income retroactively since introduction! (Seriously moon
mining is about the worst mechanic CCP ever invented).

Who do you most admire in EVE?

It’s a difficult question really and I’m loathe to name names.
Probably fairest for me to say that I admire every corp or alliance
CEO who has managed to keep a separate identity for their organization that I can refer to in-character and provides content for the game at large.

How many Fanfests have you been to? Tell us of some of your
experiences at FF.

Just been to the one and it passed in a bit of a daze because I was
doing the wrap up of CSM1 and doing a whirl of roundtables and various events with my corp. Doing an alliance presentation after a CVA guy who delivered his in a hooded robe totally in character was pretty surreal!

What do you hope to see within the next ten years in EVE?

Massive iteration on every clunky gameplay mechanic we still have!
Plus an entire expansion themed on mobile infrastructure for space
gypsies to be competitive in null, I think there should be multiple
ways of becoming successful in the “end game” of Eve, not just one
route of sitting down to the nullsec napfest.

What kind of advice would you give to a new player just starting EVE?

Join a good corp with mature adult members prepared to answer your
questions and teach you how to play the game. Learning lots of Eve’s
gameplay techniques solo is no fun at all. Don’t ever trust a goon.

Thank you for the interview, any parting thoughts?

Don’t forget to shoot all tyrants in the face!

Favorite:

FW System: Kamela

Space Station: Don’t really have one

EVE Chronicle: The Vampire

EVE Related celebrity: Samuel L. Jackson

Pirate Corp or Alliance: Space Invaders

EVE Related Website: Failheap Challenge

Way To Make Isk: Making Eyes at Yvonne Pyros

Ammo: Republic Fleet EMP

Ship: Raven

Wartarget To Shoot: Race Traitor Eran Mintor

Corpse: As above

Food & Drink While Playing EVE: Glenfiddich single malt

Song To Fly To: Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit
Patti Smith Land