Confessions of an EVE Online macro'er
You've encountered them before. Those guys. Them. Next to the ISK spammers, they're a plague within EVE Online.
They have gibberish names and sit in ice belts all day in exhumers, macro controlling large mining operations. At the first sign of trouble they gang warp out to safety. Or they're automating courier missions in an endless procession of macro'ed industrials, day in and day out. Or they're part of the infinite army of 0.0 ratting Ravens that automatically warp to a safespot and cloak once someone enters the system. They're all in China, right? The macros are all used by large ISK farming operations where people work in 23/7 shifts... right?
Apparently, that's wrong. EVE-Mag is running an article written by a self-proclaimed macro'er. Only he doesn't work in a sweatshop in a developing nation. He doesn't grind long shifts for ISK. He's an American in his early thirties, with two kids and a family dog. Just a regular guy. He writes under the pseudonym "EVE Player" and poses a question to his readers, "I have macro'ed the holy crap out of certain video games. I've been doing it for more than 8 years now so tell me; at what point did you notice your EVE experience going down the tubes because of me? I'll bet your downward spiral really has nothing to do with me macro'ing, now does it?"
EVE Player recounts how he became an amateur macro'er back in his Ultima Online days, and how he progressed to his current mode of "flying under the radar." But his reason for writing "The Sky is Falling!" isn't just to talk about himself, nor instruct readers how to macro. Rather, he describes the interplay of how he chooses to play MMOs with the responses he's seen from MMO developers.
In the few days since the article went live on EVE-Mag, it's drawn a great deal of response. Even the other writers at EVE-Mag have differing viewpoints and levels of anger with EVE Player for what he does in the game. "The Sky is Falling!" might infuriate you as it has some of EVE-Mag's regular readers (and contributors), but it's still important that people see an issue as completely as possible. Readers may not be swayed in the slightest, in fact they may have their pre-existing convictions bolstered after having read "The Sky is Falling!," but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have a glimpse of this activity from a perspective they wouldn't have, otherwise.
This writer feels EVE-Mag made the right choice in not flinching away from covering an aspect of the game and MMO industry itself which is so often taboo.
