Children of (Space)Men
Warning: The following blog post, although Eve-related, is fraught with scary thoughts on Responsibility and looming discussions on Real Life; it is quite possibly the most adult post this blog has ever seen.
As I get closer to M-Day, which is to say, the day I get married to my fiance, the talk has turned towards the idea of, wait for it, children. While this thought or even the very idea of even having a discussion like this used to terrify me, as I get older I now find it kind of exhilarating; this idea of mini Aidens and Aidelles bouncing around the world creating their own little lives. That sounds fairly narcissistic I guess, reading it back out loud, but I’m willing to bet that a healthy dash of narcissism goes into pretty much every decision to have kids. That or alcohol. (On a side note, a good friend of mine once broke the news to his in-laws that he and their daughter were trying for kids by phrasing it “so, we’ve decided to pull the goalie”; simply amazing.)
The idea of children gets your brain cranking in a different direction than normal. You start to have bizarrely abstract yet poignant thoughts like, “I’ll really have to start buying more than 1 box of cereal a week” or the more self-serving “holy shit, being a parent probably means a substantial, if not permanent, withdrawal of wild Thursday nights drinking beers until 5 am”; these are equally scary thoughts I assure you. Of course, being an internet spaceship nerd, one of my thoughts (no, not the 1st or even 5th, but it came eventually) was obviously, “how does this effect me playing Eve?”.
Its an interesting concept, I’ve found myself going back re-reading old Kirith Kodachi posts talking about the intricacies of children and Eve. And while I used to think Szyzyg’s videos of his 4 year old daughter Skye playing Eve were really sort of weird, they’re actually kind of funny to me now; still sort of weird, but I get it. Its about sharing and experiencing a hobby you love with a loved one; behold, the power of spaceships.
Eve Online is 9 years old, and as it gets older, CCP’s sword-on-shield chant of “Eve is Real” is going to become more and more surreally, well, real. Szyzyg might not be so weird as he is just ahead of the curve. I’m picturing two nerdy fathers discussing not soccer, but their kid’s weekend pirate spaceship league; “yeah you should’ve seen him! Podded 4 other kids on Sunday and he’s at the top of his corp’s KB ratings now!”.
Its a pretty nerdy expectation but I’m actually excited to see whatever comes next for literally a whole new generation of capsuleers in Eve. Will we someday arrive at a reality in which there’s a legitimate population in Eve who learned internet spaceships from their fathers or mothers, and play alongside them? I can see it now: “Red Frog Shipping; proudly serving New Eden for 3 generations”.
Again, we’re not quite there yet, but its one of those “on the horizon” ideas, and that horizon is getting closer.
-Aiden
Finders & Keepers 
Ignoring the first month or three, EVE can fit in with babies as they sleep lots. It is about the point you start to think you can concentrate on the game more when the real impact hits – interuptions. It is not the constant workload which makes EVE hard with children, it is the fact you can never string 15 minutes together without have to get up and walk away from the game. My 7 year old doesn’t seem interested in EVE yet, but anything with a sword or magic in it he is harping on being involved. Good luck is all I can say… 🙂
What he said^^^
My 8 month old boy sits on my lap when I play and loves the flashy lights but means any long play is nigh over, sneaking in half hours here and there in between feeds is the best I manage, but well worth it.
As for the kids playing with, my old CEO’s boy played, he was like 12 I think, he started out ruining the killboard but after 6 months the boy was a fucking machine, topped the board for 6 months before getting bored ad leaving, he was good because his dad would replace all his losses, fear of losing a ship makes more decisions then you think.
I went from no kids to step dad with a 7 and a 9 year old. The learning curve was massive to say the least. Barely have time for being online these days. Or at least, not if I want to be a good parent…
I started playing EVE three years ago, BECAUSE of my daughter (then 2, now 5 – the other one now 2) because EVE let me advance in skillpoints without being online all the time and without having to farm for ‘gold’ = isk hours over hours. EVE is the perfect game to play when having kids since when they’re asleep you have the time to make something out of the daylong skilling. And if there’s no time to make isk, I buy some PLEX with r/l money so I can fully enjoy my – short but intense – EVE times. Produce kids, it’s all worth it!
“I’m picturing two nerdy fathers discussing not soccer, but their kid’s weekend pirate spaceship league; “yeah you should’ve seen him! Podded 4 other kids on Sunday and he’s at the top of his corp’s KB ratings now!”.” (Aiden Morn)
Loools!
This wretched little world –the real one, I mean– will have become an infinitely better place the day this happens!
Since my kids were born, I rarely pvp any more. All my characters are now skilling for afk command ships and industry, since it’s the only way I can be helpful while afk.
Kids change the way you look at life, suddenly things that weren’t important become important. My computer time has seriously diminished and I wouldn’t have it any other way.