But something somewhat little, but still surprising popped into my head, triggered by the thought of this tournament in question.
I was sitting on comms tonight and talking to a few of the guys and mentioned how quiet it is in our Lobby channel. There was a bunch of people there and not a sound except for the odd 'hi' when someone new enters and greets the room- FYI: This is normal for Lobby. But it occured to me, that the last few weekends, we've had a more talkative and conversational comms, due to the event called the Alliance Tournament.
As those of you who have been watching know, Shadow Cartel is partaking in this PvP orgy, for the third time. We have an elite team that has been training and testing and talking and planning and fitting for weeks.
They even made an advert (which I think is awesome, and very appropriate :P):
But with all the focus on the team, the rest of the alliance sort of falls by the wayside, and unfortunately, this leads to less content for those not on the team, less focus, less funding (not that many people in SC need money help :P), less ops and in general, far less attention.
This is the moment you find out who are the content creators when the big, bad, awesome usual FC's are off doing their thing and representing our awesomeness.
For me personally, this is the first time I have been in an alliance that has been part of such an illustrious competition. It adds a new aspect to the event that I didn't quite anticipate. I'm actually quite invested in what happens! As is a whole bunch of people that I regularly commune with! What a wonder! I can groan, scream, shout, freak out and laugh along with other people while I'm watching a very tense match with our team. (For the record, the SC matches this year have been incredibly exciting... and tense. And close. lol). It's great! It makes me feel a sense of camaraderie, which I greatly appreciate, particularly not being able to log in, and also makes me feel less stupid watching the CCP twitch stream during a match with my hands over my eyes, watching through my fingers and finding it harder to breath. :P (In the case of the PL vs SC match- seriously, if you haven't watched it, do so.)
It's sort of fun all converging on comms in our 'Watching AT' channel, which at any other time is called 'Not Watching AT', and commenting and laughing and shouting at whatever is going on at the time. But then, inevitably, somewhere among the stream of people filtering in you hear it (if you have your alert voices turned on :P) 'User was moved from your channel'. A stream of good lucks follow as the great comms swap takes place. Then suddenly, it stops. The team has moved to their channel, and are getting ready to show the other teams exactly what they can do. The A Team indeed!
It's then that silence falls, the next few matches are watched and then... the countdown. The intro starts, the ads play and then suddenly, it's Shadow Cartel vs Some Other Great Opponent in The World of Internet Spaceships! Whispers are made in channel, bets are taken on who's going to derp first. Some that are feeling lucky will try and predict how it's going to go for us. Then, another few seconds, time.... and GO!
Suddenly, everyone is on the same page. There's maybe the odd comment if something astonishing happens, an exclamation when someone boundaries, and then a little yell as things explode! A tense moment and suddenly comms is bursting with nervous energy, people begging and cheering and ranting! And then.... all things gone well... a cheering! You can almost feel the relief and the excitement of your fellow members, people start laughing and joking and pointing out the biggest derps to each other.
A few minutes later and the team files back in, heroes returning from the field, laughing along with us and reliving the fight and the tense and sharing with us their stories of what happened- the real inside look. They all get a pat on the back and a 'well done', and then there's a quiet satisfaction of a job well done. This random group of people from all walks of life all over the internet, some of whom have nothing else in common other than a computer game come together and create something awesome.
Everyone makes a big deal of the AT, and sometimes, though it seems like the be all and end all, in a way, it is important, both for morale, the confidence and the pride of the alliance in question. Fits are ridiculed, piloting choices are scoffed at and comp decisions are praised by one and all around this one tournament.
But the AT, as far as I see it, in a good, close knit, solid alliance, brings it together, allowing pretty much everyone, for once, to be on the same page. Yes there's less normal fleets and no roams and, god forbid, poco's fall by the wayside.... (unless you're in fact, in Shadow Cartel, in which case Bagger will remind you exactly what SC's number one role is in the universe of New Eden. (See: Poco Defence/Reinforcement), but it's all totally worth it.
And who doesn't love being able to make fun of their alliance mates when they derp in front of thousands of EVE players? :P (See: Good Natured Mocking that Allows Bonding Between Testosterone-Filled Men)
Also, for those of you who didn't notice....
Best channel in our comms :P
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