Who exactly is that person behind the computer?

Earlier today, Rixx Javix put up one of the better posts he has ever published.  By his own admission, his post had the following effect:

I had not read the post yet, as I had been driving for the first part of my commute.  So, I hopped onto the train and opened up EVEOGANDA to see exactly what was it that made his wife cry.  I was overwhelmed.  You have not read it yet, head over here and take a look.

I myself have recently had the opportunity to have a similar encounter with a potential member to our own corporation and also had the unfortunate mistake of handling his departure from the corporation.

You see, we play this funny game where people will use a keyboard and mouse to do different things in space.  Usually this revolves around spaceships, but not always.  The one constant in this game of EVE is the human (unless you happen to be a bot, but we are not going there in this post).

As humans, we all have personalities, traits, beliefs and some of us have certain interesting characteristics.  Some of you may call these characteristics handicaps, but I like to look on them as opportunities.  My friend Joffy Aulx-Gao does as well.  You see, the large aspect of Rixx's post today was to provide a light not just on a member of -ABA-, but rather to demonstrate that here is a human who plays EVE, but who has one of these opportunities.  Joffy does not use it as an excuse or limit the types of things that he does.  Instead, he customizes his User Interface, so that he can limit the challenges that he has and still enjoy the game of EVE and in many respects excel at it.

My post from last Friday was titled We Can Do Better.  And, I mean it.  You never know whether the person who is flying that ship in your fleet is colorblind, is partially deaf in one ear, or has any other type of physical opportunity.  How we interact with these people says a tremendous amount about our character and general human behavior as well.

So, the next time you are in your corporation chat, fleet comms, or wherever.  Ask yourself "who is the person behind the computer who is interacting with you?"  You might be surprised at who it is, what they do, where they live, and the wonderful opportunities that they have and they may even share them with you.

To Rixx - thank you for sharing your story with us today.  And for Joffy - even though I have only known you for two weeks, I consider you a friend and hope to get even closer to you as a friend in the future.