Safe Return Doubtful : Why I chose Exploration in Star Citizen

When it came to choosing what profession stood out the most for me, I hit up the usual suspects on YouTube for information. Viewing video after video from the many great content providers out there like BoredGamer and TheNOOBIFIER1337 on the subject I found my decision easier than I expected.

Exploration.

Ever since I was a little kid I have always been fascinated by the prospect of going to and seeing "something" before anyone else. I was always more of an Indiana Jones fan than a Star Wars fan so when I saw the possibility in a game to find lost civilizations, and document them...well sign me up! I grew up reading a lot of adventure books, I read about explorers, conquered, and failed expeditions. I read about leaders. Leaders that inspired me, and ones that given the opportunity even at my young age I would have signed up to work for, in a heartbeat.

So when I was digging through what was planned for exploration in Star Citizen I was shocked. Over 70% of the universe will be unknown, unmapped, uncharted, and unseen. One of the biggest problems being born in this century is that most of what I have always dreamed of doing has been done. Lewis and Clark mapped the West which paved the way for Jim Bridger. He opened up new trade routes for fur-trapping and trading in America. So that has been done. John Glenn already went around the world in orbit and walked in Space for the first time. Chuck Yeager already broke the sound barrier first. These were just a few examples in a legacy of "first timers" who set records, went further, explored deeper, and pushed the envelope harder.

As I grew up the only thing I ever wanted to be was a man of adventure. When you get older you find out that in order to be a man of adventure, you need to be wealthy. Expeditions cost a lot of money, planning, and time. They eat up so many resources that one truly needs to be loaded with extra cheddar in order to make it happen. I made attempts to capture the glory and feeling of being part of an expedition by going to Africa. When I came home, the hunger and thirst for adventure were now satisfiable. I ended up moving off-grid in the mountains of Idaho. Every day needed to be an adventure.

  

Well, remember when I said you needed to be rich in order to be a man of adventure? I was not kidding. We ended up so broke that we couldn't get out of sight if it cost a nickel to go around the world. The adventure stopped being fun when it started to be about survival. Back to reality for me, and I put many years of adventures behind me so I could work on having a normal and somewhat stable life. 

Then comes Star Citizen. A game that is so immersive it truly feels like the adventure is not only real but its more epic and amazing that I ever thought possible. I know, it's just a video game. We are not actually charting out journeys into the unknown. Or wait...are we? I mean if you really stop and think about it, Star Citizen is the unknown. They are creating a virtual universe full of endless possibilities and opportunities. Only now I have the means to be wealthy enough to make my virtual dreams come true.

Now I have the ability to mount an expedition into uncharted space. I will get to lead, with my friends, a fleet of ships and crew into the endless black sea of the void. We are going to locate, navigate and map jump points to locations that will take us beyond our very imaginations. We are going to see virtual distant worlds teeming with life, barren and dangerous, unpredictable weather, indigenous life forms that may be hostile, we might even get a disease. We might find some lost and ancient Alien Civilization...maybe we will discover another living and breathing civilization. We might find gas giants that yield fuel that makes us Billionaires in game. We may find some sort of mineral that once refined makes hulls stronger and lighter, making us innovators. We may discover a new way to heal, a new way to feed, or a new way to hydrate. No matter what, we will be some of the first.

These are not going to be worlds that feel like instances but rather instances that feel like worlds. The accomplishments we make in the game as explorers will be forever etched into a virtual history that in it of itself, is historical. When we find and name systems, worlds, gas giants, animals, plants...we will be sharing a virtual headspace with those that have gone before us all over the world and done just that very thing. They were the first and with that responsibility comes the reward of knowing that you paved the way for others to progress.

So that is why exploration was a clear choice for me. Like the universe, Cloud Imperium Games is creating there is a seemingly endless list of jobs available within Star Citizen. My choice was clear but it was not easy. There is still so much to see, do and experience as a citizen in the verse and exploration is not for everyone. I know I will spend a lot of time hunting pirates, mining, going on other adventures so my friends can live out their fantasies and dreams. I will have a blast doing it all but nothing holds a candle to the anticipation building inside me over the thought of being the "First".

I cannot wait to take Shackelton Enterprises on their maiden voyage into the black with a few ships, some brave souls, and an undying spirit. 

 Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.