Community Spotlight: Declarations of War

There have been many EVE podcasts over the years. Some have come and gone. Others have endured, but have never quite found their footing. But one of the oldest and most respected EVE Online podcasts we have is the Declarations of War podcast. Run by former CSM representative Alekseyev Karrde, the podcast has been providing players a focused look at PvP and 0.0 for over three years now.

History

Back in 2010, there were several EVE podcasts, but they were not quite what Alekseyev was looking for. Many were not regularly released and there were none truly dedicated to PVP and the 0.0 experience, outside of some who lightly explained them for new playes. He had been listening to podcasts of various sorts quite a bit over the previous few years and decided it was time to fill the void he saw.

He began by teaming up with fellow Noir. Mercenary pilot Jimer Lins, with the occasional third pilot joining them. As they began to grow more established, they started to bring on guests from a variety of sources, including other podcasts, blogs, notable FCs, and the like. The show did quite well for quite some time. They received plenty of positive feedback in the form of mails, donations, and waves in local.

However, all good things come to an end and eventually, Jimer decided to leave EVE behind. As Jimer had been the person who edited the final product, this left Alekseyev in a bind. Learning how to do post production was something he simply did not have time for, so the podcast sadly went on a hiatus.

Luckily for us, his interest in doing a podcast never waned and he decided to pick it back up. He still did not have an editor that could turn around episodes quickly, which led to an erratic release schedule, until he was joined by NinjaTurtle. He was extremely committed to keeping the episode content relevant by having a fast turnaround without sacrificing quality. The team was able to record every other week and release within a week, frequently much quicker than that.

They also moved servers in this time. Originally hosted on a community site that provided free webspace for EVE blogs and podcasts, the host suddenly went MIA and Declarations of War lost much of their old content. Though it has since mostly been recovered, they were still left out in the cold. Thankfully, the Noir. website received an upgrade, allowing them to begin hosting their work there.

Then Alekseyev was elected to CSM7. He decided to begin a segment on each cast which provided updates on the CSM and the issues they were handling. Soon after, he decided to give the podcast its own site, complete with commonly requested features such as an iTunes page, comments section, and a guest page. Shortly after, he was able to secure a sponsorship from EVE Time Code, which continues to sponsor them to this day.

Once his term with the CSM ended, he talked with CSM8 and got Ali Aras to join the podcast full time as the third broadcast member.

Process

A long-running podcast like Declarations of War has its process finely tuned. For an average podcast, Alekseyev looks to book guests 1-2 weeks in advance if possible; if he can't find anyone, he checks his buddy list for people to ambush with a microphone. A Google Doc contains show notes for all the hosts to access and add story ideas in between shows.

The day of the recording, Alekseyev goes in and fleshes it out, then does a final check with the guests to see if there's any topic they want to discuss. This helps give each podcast a bit of flavor.

To record, they utilize Teamspeak. Every member of the podcast makes their own recording and then uploads it to a server. NinjaTurtle then takes the best quality recording and cleans it up for release using Audacity, though he is learning Ableton Live 8 Into. This takes an average of 3-6 days to complete.

About the Team

Every member of the Declarations of War team is either a member of Noir. or has been in the past. Alekseyev himself is the executor of the corporation. The primary host of the Declarations of War podcast, he holds many hats in EVE, from diplomat and mercenary to FC and CSM representative.

NinjaTurtle, the co-host of the podcast since joining the team, is a former director and FC of Noir. He currently flies with AQUILA INC. In addition to co-hosting, he edits and produces the podcasts.

JaredC01 is Noir.'s IT mastermind and currently flies with Black Legion. He maintains the Declarations of War website and provides technical support.

Ali Aras is the newcomer to the podcast. Currently a member of CSM8, she was a former client of Noir. when she was a director for Of Sound Mind. She recently joined the podcast to provide a continued link to the CSM and subsequently joined Noir. itself to start a new life of subsidized ship violencing.

Final Thoughts

Declarations of War is one of the best EVE Online podcasts out there. If you're interested in PVP or the goings on in 0.0, they an excellent source of information and entertainment. With professional-quality editing, they are always a joy to listen to if you want to keep up with the goings-on in EVE. You can check them out on their official website or subscribe to their iTunes feed.

Alekseyev wanted to end things with a "thank you" to each and every fan of the show. In his words, "you guys are awesome."