In EVE Online, a huge battle raged this week between many different factions, but the occasion was a happy one. The birthday of a player was celebrated.
What happened in EVE? On Tuesday, June 23, over 2,000 players gathered in two massive armadas in EVE Online to shoot at each other for hours in a place where the sun never shines in EVE.
PCGamer reports that representatives from almost all major player alliances in EVE were present. Many well-known faces from the community and even some developers from CCP Games made appearances.
Even the servers of EVE faced problems during such a large gathering of players in one system, forcing developers to intervene.
They deployed additional network resources and a feature called “Time Dilation.” This causes fights to slow down so that the servers can manage the massive amounts of rockets, lasers, and projectiles. Although it wasn’t the largest PvP battle in EVE, it was still massive.
Players brought some of their biggest and most expensive ships, which were joyfully turned to wreckage in this mock battle. Hundreds of billions of ISK, the in-game currency of EVE, were lost in the process. But it all served a good purpose.
Over 2,000 Friend Requests in One Night
This was the occasion: The reason for the carnage in space was the birthday party of player Chappy78. Originally, he just wanted to gather a small fleet with his friends and perhaps engage in one or two fun battles.
However, word spread quickly. Chappy was contacted by a community manager from EVE who encouraged him to make a post in the official forums, and soon the number of participants grew into the thousands.
On Discord, Chappy received countless friend requests overnight, and in-game chats expressed players’ congratulations and stated that they would be present for the battle.
However, he did not realize how large the battle would actually be until he arrived at the battlefield and saw it with his own eyes. Chappy himself told PCGamer:
It was incredible. I have seen a lot and fought many fun battles [in EVE], but I have never been in a fight that was so big and monstrous.
“That Made Me Cry”
Although the birthday party was supposed to be a joyful event, it was mixed with bad news for Chappy. A week earlier, he had been diagnosed with cancer, making this birthday likely to be his last.
The support he received from the EVE community was overwhelming. People wished him well and encouraged him.
Even the notorious ruthless gankers “Code” from EVE Online, who attack and rob defenseless players, supported Chappy. When he accidentally landed in the dangerous area of Uemada, they did not attack him.
I arrive in Uemada and suddenly, no joke, around 20 people surround me. I had way too much money [in cargo] with me […] Then suddenly all the private messages popped up. They said: “Chappy, we will be there for you tonight. We will escort you and make sure that your cargo gets to where it needs to go.”
Chappy to PCGamer
And they did. About 20 players escorted Chappy through the system, targeting every combat ship that tried to get close to him. They protected him until he arrived in Tunadan, where the big battle was supposed to take place.
In the reddit and forum threads about the event, which the community referred to as “World War Chappy,” many players expressed that the action brought them to tears.
I cried when he asked everyone to shoot his Phoenix so he could have everyone’s signatures on his kill mail.
iSovereign on reddit
It regularly happens that extraordinary events and huge battles take place in EVE. Players lose ships and cargo worth thousands of euros. However, it is rare for them to have such a beautiful and at the same time sad trigger.
