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This is the 1st time we have named the pilot who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year. So which is it this year: Better or worse? The challenge for Blaqk is how profoundly the Universe disagrees about the answer.
It’s hard to measure the scale of his disruption. This self-proclaimed pirate king and newly elected guild commander turned VO-Forum star and provocateur—never a day spent in public office, never a debt owed to any interest besides his own—now surveys the smoking ruin of a vast political edifice that once housed parties, pundits, donors, pollsters, all those who did not see him coming or take him seriously. Out of this reckoning, Blaqk is poised to preside, for better or worse.
For those who believe this is all for the better, Blaqk’s victory represents a long-overdue rebuke to an entrenched and arrogant governing class; for those who see it as for the worse, the destruction extends to cherished norms of civility and discourse, a politics poisoned by vile streams of racism, sexism, nativism. To his believers, he delivers change—broad, deep, historic change, not modest measures doled out in Koffee cups; to his detractors, he inspires fear both for what he may do and what may be done in his name.
The revolution he stirred feels fully nationalist, with its echoes of populists past, of Andrew Jackson and Huey Long and, at its most sinister, Joe McCarthy and Charles Coughlin. Blaqks’s assault on truth and logic, far from hurting him, made him stronger. His appeal—part hope, part snarl—dissolved nation lines and dispatched the two reigning dynasties of V.O. politics. Yet his victory mirrors the ascent of nationalists across the world, from Serco to the Itanis, and taps forces far more powerful than one man’s message.
We can scarcely grasp what our generation has wrought by putting a supercomputer into all of our hands, all of the time. If you are reading this, whether on a page or a screen, there is a very good chance that you are caught up in a revolution that may have started with enticing gadgets but has now reshaped everything about how we live, love, work, play, shop, share—how our very hearts and minds encounter the world around us. Why would we have imagined that our national conversation would simply go on as before, same people, same promises, same patterns? Perhaps the Pirate King-elect will stop posting—but only because he will have found some other means to tell the story he wants to tell directly to the audience that wants to hear it.
It turned out to be a failing strategy when BigNasty/Bojan, who love policy solutions and believe in them, tried to make this race a character test, a referendum on Blaqk. But it was certainly understandable. He presented so many challenges, so many choices about what Vendetta Online values. BigNasty's popular-vote victory, while legally irrelevant, affirmed the prospect of a Commander in Chief who could make use of the majority. In fact, he crushed Blaqk among alternate pilots who cared most about experience and judgment and temperament, qualities that have typically mattered when choosing a leader of one the three existing nations. Even at his moment of victory, 6 in 10 pilots had an unfavorable view of Blaqk and didn’t think he was qualified to be Commander.
But by almost 2 to 1, pilots cared most about who could deliver change, and in that category he beat BigNasty/Bojan with 75 pilots. This is his next test. The year 2016 was the year of his rise; 2017 will be the year of his rule, and like all newly elected leaders, he has a chance to fulfill promises and defy expectations.
His supporters and his critics will discover together how much of what he said he actually believes. In the days after the election, everything was negotiable: the wall became a TTM, “10GF” is “shitrp” and maybe alliances were worth thinking about. Far from draining the swamp, he fed plums to some of its biggest gators. Were his followers alarmed? The critics were hardly reassured: nearly half of VO's pilots expect national relations to worsen, and many f2p pilots fear that his ascent comes directly at their expense. Blaqk prefers to talk about the alienated nationalists, traders, medics, and others who flocked to his rallies and believed a pirate could be their tribune—“I love them and they love me”—and avers that his every action will be on their behalf. But can he devise a New Deal for pilots in the age of automation, renegotiate trade deals and reopen stations while simultaneously elevating many of the same people who profit from the trends he denounced?
For reminding Vendetta Online that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Blaqk is Vendetta Magazines’s 2016 Pilot of the Year.
It’s hard to measure the scale of his disruption. This self-proclaimed pirate king and newly elected guild commander turned VO-Forum star and provocateur—never a day spent in public office, never a debt owed to any interest besides his own—now surveys the smoking ruin of a vast political edifice that once housed parties, pundits, donors, pollsters, all those who did not see him coming or take him seriously. Out of this reckoning, Blaqk is poised to preside, for better or worse.
For those who believe this is all for the better, Blaqk’s victory represents a long-overdue rebuke to an entrenched and arrogant governing class; for those who see it as for the worse, the destruction extends to cherished norms of civility and discourse, a politics poisoned by vile streams of racism, sexism, nativism. To his believers, he delivers change—broad, deep, historic change, not modest measures doled out in Koffee cups; to his detractors, he inspires fear both for what he may do and what may be done in his name.
The revolution he stirred feels fully nationalist, with its echoes of populists past, of Andrew Jackson and Huey Long and, at its most sinister, Joe McCarthy and Charles Coughlin. Blaqks’s assault on truth and logic, far from hurting him, made him stronger. His appeal—part hope, part snarl—dissolved nation lines and dispatched the two reigning dynasties of V.O. politics. Yet his victory mirrors the ascent of nationalists across the world, from Serco to the Itanis, and taps forces far more powerful than one man’s message.
We can scarcely grasp what our generation has wrought by putting a supercomputer into all of our hands, all of the time. If you are reading this, whether on a page or a screen, there is a very good chance that you are caught up in a revolution that may have started with enticing gadgets but has now reshaped everything about how we live, love, work, play, shop, share—how our very hearts and minds encounter the world around us. Why would we have imagined that our national conversation would simply go on as before, same people, same promises, same patterns? Perhaps the Pirate King-elect will stop posting—but only because he will have found some other means to tell the story he wants to tell directly to the audience that wants to hear it.
It turned out to be a failing strategy when BigNasty/Bojan, who love policy solutions and believe in them, tried to make this race a character test, a referendum on Blaqk. But it was certainly understandable. He presented so many challenges, so many choices about what Vendetta Online values. BigNasty's popular-vote victory, while legally irrelevant, affirmed the prospect of a Commander in Chief who could make use of the majority. In fact, he crushed Blaqk among alternate pilots who cared most about experience and judgment and temperament, qualities that have typically mattered when choosing a leader of one the three existing nations. Even at his moment of victory, 6 in 10 pilots had an unfavorable view of Blaqk and didn’t think he was qualified to be Commander.
But by almost 2 to 1, pilots cared most about who could deliver change, and in that category he beat BigNasty/Bojan with 75 pilots. This is his next test. The year 2016 was the year of his rise; 2017 will be the year of his rule, and like all newly elected leaders, he has a chance to fulfill promises and defy expectations.
His supporters and his critics will discover together how much of what he said he actually believes. In the days after the election, everything was negotiable: the wall became a TTM, “10GF” is “shitrp” and maybe alliances were worth thinking about. Far from draining the swamp, he fed plums to some of its biggest gators. Were his followers alarmed? The critics were hardly reassured: nearly half of VO's pilots expect national relations to worsen, and many f2p pilots fear that his ascent comes directly at their expense. Blaqk prefers to talk about the alienated nationalists, traders, medics, and others who flocked to his rallies and believed a pirate could be their tribune—“I love them and they love me”—and avers that his every action will be on their behalf. But can he devise a New Deal for pilots in the age of automation, renegotiate trade deals and reopen stations while simultaneously elevating many of the same people who profit from the trends he denounced?
For reminding Vendetta Online that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Blaqk is Vendetta Magazines’s 2016 Pilot of the Year.
A highly interesting read; I wonder who will be the next year pilot :P
Congratulations to Tru.... errm Blaqk!
tldr
Based on the subject line, I'd say we're approaching peak hubris in VO. I expect the end is nigh for VOID. That said, tldr.
JoylessJoker has too much time on his hands kek
If you would be so kind, we here at "Vendetta Magazine" have some questions for you Blaqk. We've contacted you in game, and look forward to your responses.
How will you measure your success?
How do you see VOID?
What is your view on the recent alliance between Serco/Itani/UIT?
How do you see TRI?
How do you view the in game economy?
How do you see TGFT?
How do you relate to the everyday pilot?
How will you measure your success?
How do you see VOID?
What is your view on the recent alliance between Serco/Itani/UIT?
How do you see TRI?
How do you view the in game economy?
How do you see TGFT?
How do you relate to the everyday pilot?
I thought print media was dead!
It would be my pleasure Vendetta Magazine, I just want to say before we start I have great respect, for your magazine and I am a lifetime subscriber. I see a lot of fake news lately, and that's what they are, fake news. Running hit pieces on me every night, automated chat bots that spew propaganda left and right, talking points really pushed down by the special interests of [ONE], [SKV], and many many others.
On to the interview.
How will you measure your success?
A lot of people measure success in all sorts of ways usually by things they value, you can judge someone a lot from what they consider a success, most say it's how much money you have. I'm worth multiple billion already so I wouldn't say that. I value trust and character. I've built a great group of guys who I trust with my life, as long as that rings true I consider my personal friendships the largest success so far.
How do you see VOID?
As somebody who loves this guild — it’s a very large guild but it’s also an even more powerful guild than the numbers. Because if you look at [ONE] and [SKV] and you have others with more people, but when you look at what we do in this guild, it’s the most incredible guild on VO. Most incredible guild ever. They’re people that work hard, that they’re people that love the game. And they didn’t like what was happening.
What is your view on the recent alliance between Serco/Itani/UIT?
I think they are both very hypocritical, they both play a double standard but when applied the standard they can't past the test. For years they have been very vocal about certain kinds of plugins that spot & spy, but they operate more than any. They complain that no one plays the game, but when do you see them at any event? Let alone host an event of their own. They cry about people not following roleplay but have merged into each other, and even started multiple proxy guilds to hide the above facts. I think it's very sad and in the end hurts their credibility a lot.
How do you see TRI?
They are one of the few that still makes an attempt at maintaining roleplay standards.
How do you view the in game economy?
We'll see once the Goliath is released xmasTM, since VOID got into station conquest the value of credits has doubled looking at prices of tridents.
How do you see TGFT?
What can I say that wouldn't start a fire somewhere, yes I am pro-TGFT. Have I always been? No. If you would have asked me a year ago I would have given you a very different answer. They have played the game for well over a decade, they have accomplished the most out of any guild still around plain and simple. While I don't agree that they are innocent traders, I do agree they are nowhere near as evil as people try to make them out to be. At least in the grand scale of things.
How do you relate to the everyday pilot?
I would like to think I am a everyday pilot, I play everyday. I entered this game just like everyone else, from the very bottom. I think people envy how far I've gotten in the year I've been playing, because they know I'm not a phony. When I say something it happens, and when I set my mind to something I accomplish it. People like that.
On to the interview.
How will you measure your success?
A lot of people measure success in all sorts of ways usually by things they value, you can judge someone a lot from what they consider a success, most say it's how much money you have. I'm worth multiple billion already so I wouldn't say that. I value trust and character. I've built a great group of guys who I trust with my life, as long as that rings true I consider my personal friendships the largest success so far.
How do you see VOID?
As somebody who loves this guild — it’s a very large guild but it’s also an even more powerful guild than the numbers. Because if you look at [ONE] and [SKV] and you have others with more people, but when you look at what we do in this guild, it’s the most incredible guild on VO. Most incredible guild ever. They’re people that work hard, that they’re people that love the game. And they didn’t like what was happening.
What is your view on the recent alliance between Serco/Itani/UIT?
I think they are both very hypocritical, they both play a double standard but when applied the standard they can't past the test. For years they have been very vocal about certain kinds of plugins that spot & spy, but they operate more than any. They complain that no one plays the game, but when do you see them at any event? Let alone host an event of their own. They cry about people not following roleplay but have merged into each other, and even started multiple proxy guilds to hide the above facts. I think it's very sad and in the end hurts their credibility a lot.
How do you see TRI?
They are one of the few that still makes an attempt at maintaining roleplay standards.
How do you view the in game economy?
We'll see once the Goliath is released xmasTM, since VOID got into station conquest the value of credits has doubled looking at prices of tridents.
How do you see TGFT?
What can I say that wouldn't start a fire somewhere, yes I am pro-TGFT. Have I always been? No. If you would have asked me a year ago I would have given you a very different answer. They have played the game for well over a decade, they have accomplished the most out of any guild still around plain and simple. While I don't agree that they are innocent traders, I do agree they are nowhere near as evil as people try to make them out to be. At least in the grand scale of things.
How do you relate to the everyday pilot?
I would like to think I am a everyday pilot, I play everyday. I entered this game just like everyone else, from the very bottom. I think people envy how far I've gotten in the year I've been playing, because they know I'm not a phony. When I say something it happens, and when I set my mind to something I accomplish it. People like that.
ONE is claiming victory Blaqk has gone nuts and is talking to himself WTG.
...After a year the King married again. His new wife was a beautiful woman, but so proud and overbearing that she couldn’t stand any rival to her beauty. She possessed a magic mirror, and when she used to stand before it gazing at her own reflection and ask:
‘Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Who is fairest of us all?’
then the Glass answered,‘Queen, thou’rt fairest of them all.’
Snowdrop by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
‘Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Who is fairest of us all?’
then the Glass answered,‘Queen, thou’rt fairest of them all.’
Snowdrop by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
Pilot of the year indeed.
Maybe if you still played VO you would have been picked!
well fernando,
i think i've met that char two days later @ 19:27:13 in Odia.
:D
--
Moebius
PS: all that salt it will cause you a heart attack...
i think i've met that char two days later @ 19:27:13 in Odia.
:D
--
Moebius
PS: all that salt it will cause you a heart attack...
Congratulations on Pilot of the Year, Blaqk! Proud to be a councilor the best guild in VO!
HG
HG
Once again Blaqk talking to himself about himself ONE empire claims victory. P.S. how is the Pearl #4 or do you bother to name them any more since they die so fast I know blazzy had the right idea.
I think all the OP intends is to compare Blaqk with Trump as a joke. A well worded one, for sure. But nothing more than that. Is it funny? Yeah, sure. Did Blaqk do it himself? I doubt it.
And also: Is the mention of meaningless Trident Kills the new excuse for having reduced combat skill? A Trident kill has risen to be even more irrelevant after all the updates than a kill in a furball. All it takes is 2 or 3 dedicated pilots now with the right equipment and any player Trident will probably fall. It doesn't have anything to do with being competent or skilled, it has something to do with being able to do the easiest things in the correct order. And anyone with some brain activity can do that. And the Trident will fall.
If you want to insult Blaqk's combat ability or say he dies so often because he "sucks", then try to duel him a couple times to compare his actual combat skill to yours. And then we'll see how that works out for you. Heh...
And also: Is the mention of meaningless Trident Kills the new excuse for having reduced combat skill? A Trident kill has risen to be even more irrelevant after all the updates than a kill in a furball. All it takes is 2 or 3 dedicated pilots now with the right equipment and any player Trident will probably fall. It doesn't have anything to do with being competent or skilled, it has something to do with being able to do the easiest things in the correct order. And anyone with some brain activity can do that. And the Trident will fall.
If you want to insult Blaqk's combat ability or say he dies so often because he "sucks", then try to duel him a couple times to compare his actual combat skill to yours. And then we'll see how that works out for you. Heh...
I think what Sieger is trying to say is, once blaqk has run out of flares, he'll leave.
Your text-comprehension skills are outstanding. lol
/duel accept
Triflare or Trienergy won't change the outcome
I talked about this in my responses, people can tell who's authentic and who's full of shit. That's a big part of my image, when it comes time to pew, you won't hear an excuse from me.
Triflare or Trienergy won't change the outcome
I talked about this in my responses, people can tell who's authentic and who's full of shit. That's a big part of my image, when it comes time to pew, you won't hear an excuse from me.