I’ve decided to branch Space Tea out a bit, and have sit down talks with some of the members of the fantastic Elite community. There are so many great people out there, with so many fantastic ideas. People like The Pilot, who is my go to for any ship I buy. Grinning Crow, who I’ve talked about in my Space Tea articles. Without him, I would never have discovered the fantastic hidden lore in this game. Mal For The Win, who’s raid videos are just legendary with the Dogs of Lore. I could go on and on about the wonderful people I’ve met in Elite. We’re going to call it Space Blend, since it’s a mix of Elite and interviews, a nice blend of two styles!
But recently, one streamer stood out, one I had heard of but never really seen before. BossLadyB. It was brought to my attention by the wonderful Cmdr_Fembot that she recently raised money for a charity. Not just a bit of money, a heckin load of $1800 worth of charity money for One Tree Planted. We’ll get into that in her interview. So let’s get to it! For context, SB will be me, Space Blend, and BLB will be her, BossLadyB.
SB: Thanks for taking time out of your schedule for this! I’ve heard so much good about you, so let’s dive right into the questions! How long have you been playing Elite:Dangerous for?
BLB: I’ve been playing on and off since 2015. In the last year and a half I’ve double my hours played and really fallen head over heels for Elite. I started streaming solidly in 2019.
SB: As a newer player, I know that feeling well. So a lot of us, myself included, love exploring in Elite. But you can do combat, mining, and a lot of things. What’s your favorite thing to do in Elite?
BLB: Anything with a great group of people! Honestly, I’m torn. I love solo exploration and sight seeing, but I also adore mass mining and spending time with everyone in the bubble.
SB: So I’ve heard people say they’re all friendzoned. I was a bit confused at first, then I realized it was your fleet carrier! Wanna tell us a bit about how that came about?
BLB: The Friendzone started out as a joke in the Beta testing. We were coming up with a name on the fly and someone said you should call it the Friend Zone and it stuck. It’s lead to a lot of funny jokes, and even one person who will never land on the fleet carrier because he doesn’t want to be friend zoned.
SB : I love it. BossLadyB, friendzoning everyone and they didn’t even get dinner first. So on your stream, you play marbles every time you get raided and to start. There are rumors that you hack, what do you have to say to that?
BLB: I totally hack. I try and lose then it goes wrong and I win!
SB: I remember one quote on your stream that your neighbors must think you’re becoming an online auctioneer the way you commentate marbles! What made you come up with Marbles anyways over say, Stream Raiders which is also popular? I personally like Marbles better.
BLB: Marbles came about actually watching one of my favorite PUBG youtubers from Viva La Dirt League on twitch. I always look for ways to make the show more engaging and interactive for those watching. It took off, people had so much fun that a lot of different Elite Streamers started doing it.
The seed of how I commentate on the games comes from WKJezz. We like to make it into a real race with fast narration and fun moments as if the marbles are race horses or cars. Different obstacles have names the Dutch Rudder was named by Soldier Sailor for example.
SB: Outside of your fundraiser which we’ll get to soon, what’s your biggest personal accomplishment in Elite?
BLB: My personal accomplishment is so deeply tied to the community it’s hard to pull it out from that. Every time someone connects and find a friend or someone to wing up with or a new area of the game to explore it’s a win.
The stories of how just being able to drop in made lock-down a little less challenging. Or how we brightened their day.
In Elite itself the goal posts are always moving. So getting my first fully engineered ship finished (80 ly jump range on the Anaconda) or Expanding our little squadron to the first system. Of course the moment I hit Elite for the first time was stunning, it took me 4 real years to get there. (*SB Clarification, “Elite” rank is the top rank in something, either Trade, Exploration, or Combat. It’s a long grind to get there)
SB: You mentioned exploring, what was your furthest exploration without a carrier?
BLB: I headed out to Sag A* (ST clarification, it’s the exact center of our galaxy and is a massive black hole) before horizons, and before you could Neutron Boost in an ASPX. It was quite the experience, and I’ve been back 2-4 times since then, but never further out than that. I’ve been to Colonia about a half dozen times, and the Void Hearts this last month. The Sag A* trip was in a 27LY jump range ship, a very long journey.
SB: What about your favorite ship? Keep in mind the only right answer is “Anaconda”
BLB: I would have to say it’s a split between the Jumpaconda (A term the community uses for a max jump range Anaconda) and the Type 9, a floating warehouse.
SB: There are rumors that it’s bigger sister, the t10, doesn’t even move it’s so massive. The universe moves for it, and it holds still. Anyways, let’s talk a bit about your fundraiser. You took a trip to the Void Hearts. For those of us, myself included, who don’t know where they are, can you tell us about them?
BLB: Sure! The void hearts are an incredible life forms. The size of asteroids they are a twisted ball of spikey what appears very wood like to the human eye. They also glow from the inside in their active state, small fireflies drift away into the darkness of space.
They’re about 22,000 LYs from Sol in Shrogaae KK-A d983.
SB: I think I found my next trip out of the bubble. So who was this Fundraiser benefitting?
BLB: We did a fundraiser for One Tree Planted and organization that helps reforest. Our goal, replant as many trees as possible in my local area that’s been affected 3 years running by devastating fires. . it’s been not only displacing people but wrecking our natural areas and driving wildlife out of their homes.
SB: That’s horrible, I can’t imagine how terrifying it must be to watch fires get closer and closer, not to mention all the displaced wildlife and people. So how did this all come about, this fantastic fundraiser of yours?
BLB: Honestly I was inspired to give back for a long time. After seeing WKJezz’s amazing Special Effects and Game Blast Drives. He helped us as a community to make a real tangible positive impact on peoples lives.
My first attempt never got off the ground. Mid last year I reached out to an incredible neo-natal kitten rescue place I support but didn’t get a response on how to set up a donation link. The logistics are really complex if you don’t have that Tiltify link.
Additionally I want to do something to help locally without completely giving away my home address. All of the fire relief charities are pretty specific and mostly help the people affected or the firefighters. I’m already helping people rebuild with my Landscape Architectural Firm.
With this I wanted my efforts to go into the environment and wildlife that’s gotten put on the back burner. To something bigger than the individuals affected.
I was browsing through what charities Tiltify had and stumbled across One Tree Planted. The minute I saw their mission and their straight forward $1 = 1 tree it was all a matter of putting it together.
We raised over $1800 for One Tree Planted which equates to somewhere around 10 acres of trees. That’s incredible, and I’m so honored that so many people helped me do this!
SB: Last question, because of Space Tea, the thousands in attendance, and the millions watching at home on television…ok the people that read this…want to know, what is your favorite tea?
BLB: Coffee, black or with more sugar than is healthy. However, due to stress/anxiety I’ve had to switch to tea. I love Yerba Matte because it has a really great bold flavor and just enough caffeine to wake me up. Yorkshire Gold is my second favorite but a little too much caffeine to drink all the time.
SB: Thanks for taking time to sit down and have a chat! Oh I mentioned a surprise to you in discord. I made a $20 donation to your charity on your behalf and set it for where the trees are the most needed. I couldn’t be in the stream and it’s such a fantastic charity, so I made one in your name.
If you want to organize your own charity, go to https://tiltify.com/ and pick one! They support a wide number of charities, and all for great causes!
You can find BossLadyB on twitch, all times are PST/EST:
Monday 1pm-3pm PST, 4pm-6pm EST System Chat Podcast
Monday-Friday Stream 9pm-midnight PST, Midnight-3 AM EST
Our next interview will be in 2 weeks with MalForTheWin and the Dogs of Lore!