Community Spotlight: The EVE Onion
News and propaganda are a vital part of the EVE metagame. Not only are there numerous blogs giving their opinions about the happenings and politics in the game, but also several sites dedicated to delivering news in a journalistic format. It is, as an old meme goes, serious business.
But when there are people that take something seriously, there are those that just have to lampoon it. EVE does not escape this truth. Inspired by the classic satirical news site the Onion, the similarly-named EVE Onion aims to skewer the personalities and politics of the EVE universe in hysterical fashion.
EVE's Finest News Source
One day, Tubrug1 was browsing his favorite EVE news site and happened to open a browser window to the world's premiere satire news site, the Onion, in another tab. He was suddenly struck by inspiration. “I thought it would be a great idea to combine the two,” he puts it plainly. “So I did.”
He began coming up with ideas for articles, which he describes as the hardest process. “Once I have a title, writing them is usually straightforward,” he says. His first article was published on June 27, 2013, titled “Exclusive: Why the CFC Invaded Fountain”, referring to the then-recently begun war between the CFC and HBC.
The article, satirically stating that the CFC had grown bored of shooting other people and instead “would rather shoot structures and take hundreds of screenshots of Dreads shooting a POS”, quickly began to spread around the community, being reposted on Reddit and the official EVE Online forums.
More articles followed, some of them drawn from Tubrug's own creativity, others proposed by third parties. One of the site's most popular articles, for instance, was proposed by Angry Mustache and Hendrick Talladar. He also occasionally has casual writers who contribute articles from time to time.
No Holds Barred
Like any good satirist, no one is free from being lampooned by the EVE Onion. Tubrug has a wide scope when it comes for topics to skewer. “I keep an eye on politics and wars in null-sec and other events throughout EVE,” he says. “I'll also look at news regarding upcoming features from CCP.”
The articles cover everything from the light-heartedness of a wardec'd corporation being station camped for 11 months, to the nonsensical idea of EVE merging with another MMO, to the prophetic declaration that the CFC was opening a rental program. Even CCP is not spared, with articles such as CCP Announces PLEX for CSM Minutes Campaign mocking the missteps the company has made.
Final Thoughts
In EVE, Tubrug is a member of Zebra Corp (who are recruiting!) in Gentlemen's Agreement. Together with Crossing Zebras, the EVE Onion forms the Zebra Corp Media Empire. He thoroughly enjoys AFK ratting in his Vexor Navy Issue, except when it gets killed by rats, and loves both solo PVP and large fleet fights. He was present in some of the largest battles in the recent Halloween war, including HED-GP and B-R5RB.
In addition to writing the EVE Onion, he is also a contributor for themittani.com. In real life, he is a 16 year old who has been playing EVE since the age of 9 during the Trinity expansion, though he could not play beyond the trial because of his then-lack of a debit card. He enjoys playing and watching football and rugby.
