Rabid Bloggerations: Welcome to Freebooted

Welcome to Freebooted, the community-focused EVE blog for capsuleers with style, intelligence and a sense of humour.

Within these pages you will find entertaining and irreverent blogposts, regular community discussions, a glimpse into the true art of playing EVE Online (snigger) and some genuinely insightful information.*

EVE Online is a rich sci-fi tapestry woven from barbed wire and string theory. What follows is an overview of Freebooted's scattershot interpretation of this dark MMO universe and its arguably darker communities. Take a look:

*One of these statements may be untrue.


Amplifying the Echo Chamber

A long-standing blogging community tradition, Blog Banters harness the hive mind of the blogosphere to discuss the big issues of EVE culture on a monthly basis. The result is focused and intelligent conversation on a scale not possible in forums and a summary that includes every participant's voice.
For more information on previous Blog Banters and how to take part in the current or future banters, check out the link at the top of the page.


Peculiar Podcasting for Podders

Over the last year Freebooted has had an eclectic podcasting journey, starting off with a few comical skits, through taking part in traditional podcasts (EVE Commune, Claims of the Normal, Voices From the Void) to conceiving the fully scripted audio-editing behemoth that is Tech4 News (more on that later).

The following shorts are probably my personal favourites and another timely opportunity for some to learn a little more about leading our CSM candidate. ;)





More Freebooted-flavoured downloadable audio randomness can be found here.


Exclusive "EVE" Content (Extinguisher Not Required)

In a desperate attempt to retain the interest of a playerbase with melting graphics cards, I was commissioned (by the voices in my head) to provide an alternative to last Summer's Captain's Quarters feature with a showcase of the full gameplay potential of a solitary, enclosed environment. Haha.

Incarna: The Text Adventure was the result of an insomnia-inspired caffeine-fuelled night's work. It was just a joke, but it proved to be surprisingly popular. I should probably do a sequel, but despite 80,000 pageviews in the first weekend, as far as I can tell only two people completed this episode. Bah, and I thought EVE players were proficient gamers.

If you want a challenge, try finding all four ways to escape from your Captains Quarters in Incarna: The Text Adventure (now optimised for smartphone use). I promise your graphics card can handle it.


Tech4 & Tech4 News

In my ongoing crusade to push what I believe to be one of the finest science-fiction universes out from under the shadow of the e-sports fleet PvPers, a conversation with CCP Dropbear at EVE Vegas last year resulted in Tech4 News, a fully scripted and voice-acted in-character podcast with supporting webzine articles.

Pitched at the newcomer to EVE Lore, Tech4 focuses on life in New Eden from the perspective of the little guys who don't have the benefit of capsuleer technology to save them from death. Read and hear about life from the perspective of the dock workers, the ship's crews and a poor unfortunate Slaver hound called Empress.

An entirely voluntary, community-driven effort with contributions from over thirty individuals, with another (outrageously overdue) audio episode in the works and a regular stream of quality articles to read, the Tech4 website and the Tech4 News podcast are both things that everyone involved should be proud of. Thanks and credit to all.

Bonus points for identifying the 'celebrity' voice in the following audio trailer.



If this trailer has piqued your interest, there's much more where that came from along with the latest news articles on the Tech4 GALNET portal. The story of how Tech4 came about is covered in more detail in The Accidental Podcaster.

If all this lore stuff still confuses you, fear not, I know a guy. Mark726's brilliant EVE Lore Survival Guide is hosted here on this very blog and will tell you everything you need to know about New Eden but was afraid to ask. Don't believe me? This is what others thought of it.


Not Serious Business

Despite claims from some quarters that "Internet Spaceships are SRS BSNS!", I value my health and what's left of my sanity so I prefer to explore the lighter side of EVE. It's good to laugh and despite popular thinking, EVE-related humour doesn't have to be generated by ruining someone else's day.

Some of my favourite articles have included a battleship review in the style of a Top Gear episode, a look at Sansha's Nation lifestyle influences (which ultimately inspired the Pimp my Pod audio as heard above),  the weirdest frigate competition you'll read about, or what happened when CCP broke clothes on Singularity.

If your health does become a problem, I've also got that covered in Dr. Stan's Capsuleer Clinic. Oh, and whilst you're here, please join the campaign to get CCP Soundwave to sing "Rocket Man" at Fanfest. If you don't the threat of Brokeback Stations might come true.


Important Stuff Here

 Hilmar is serious. Now own up, who broke that blind?
Freebooted is mostly about keeping it light, but there is an occasional swerve toward serious content. Previously covered "serious business" includes:

Putting the Fact into Fiction

Whilst I no longer own my own wizard hat, I do still have a light-sabre somewhere (and a medieval broadsword, but that's another story).  I also have a genuine affection for the backstory of EVE Online and can see that it, like the game mechanics, has so much potential as it continues to grow.

Every once in a while I like to write a little bit of EVE fiction, something that might add a little to the bubble of disbelief required to feel immersed in New Eden.
With the help of Angus McDecoy, this story has been adapted as radio play and I hope to record it at some point in the future, possibly as a pilot for a regular series. Watch this space.




All in all, welcome to Freebooted.  Established in 2009 and now in its fourth year, there's much more to discover.

Just don't feed the ducks, they're fake.

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