Life Is a Game, where the pieces never comes back once gone

2026-06-28 · Ho Chanh Nghia

Originally published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/life-game-where-pieces-never-comes-back-once-gone-khanh-pham-9d38c/

Life Is a Game, where the pieces never comes back once gone

so pandemic horde lost the goonswam war, and goons revived?

Yes, your understanding is essentially correct: Pandemic Horde effectively collapsed following its departure from the PanFam coalition, while Goonswarm is very much in a position of strength.

Here’s a breakdown of what happened, based on recent events.

The End of an Era: The PanFam Collapse

The major turning point was the dissolution of the PanFam coalition. This was triggered when Pandemic Legion withdrew in mid-2025 due to strategic disagreements . The final blow came on November 5, 2025, when Gobbins, the leader of Pandemic Horde, announced the alliance was leaving PanFam to team up with The Initiative . This move was a shock, and it caused the coalition to completely fall apart.

Pandemic Horde’s Current State

The Horde’s post-PanFam plan did not go well for them:

*Immediate Chaos and Losses**: Goonswarm forces quickly capitalized on Horde’s vulnerability, locking down their staging systems. Multiple Titans and Supercarriers were destroyed, and their main Keepstar was effectively bottled up by Goonswarm forces who deployed their own Keepstar on top of it .

*Collapse of the Alliance**: The poor handling of the evacuation led to Gobbins stepping down as executor . This was followed by a mass exodus of corporations. The alliance, once a powerhouse of over 48,000 pilots controlling 414 systems, has been reduced to just a few hundred members across a handful of corporations .

Goonswarm’s Revival

Unlike Horde, Goonswarm appears to have weathered the situation and emerged stronger . They successfully defended against earlier Horde assaults and have been actively on the offensive . Their leadership proved decisive, and their structure allowed them to remain cohesive and capitalize on Horde’s collapse .

In short, the events of late 2025 shifted the balance of power decisively. Pandemic Horde is a shadow of its former self, while Goonswarm has reasserted its dominance.

I knew what was going to happens, because there is a predictable trend before every empire collapse. This is not the first time I witnessed or caused a major power to collapse. Arrogance, and internal sabotage always win. You can take this play book to any game, and it will work 100% of the time. Irregardless of its size and power.

Eve Online is a virtual world, much like the Linkedin, or Tesla, and now SpaceX world. There’s a group of people that create a virtual reality within the ultimate reality. and through their collective reality warp disrupting power, they alter the fabric of reality, for a period of time. They can always be defeated. Ofcourse they can never see it themselves. I have at least 10 years history inside Eve Online, as an invisible node. But I joined the Pandemic Horde because some Vietnamese asked me to go play with them inside Pandemic Horde territory. After some internal sabotage, I told them that they will self destruct, and they did. Between when I saw and and when it happened, took 4 years.

Between when I saw the collapse of the USA in 2014, and 2026, it has been more than 10 years. Watching it is like watching the september 11 towers fall in painfully slow, slow slow motion. Watching the body falls out of the building. the falling human bodies. It is hard to not be solemn or depressed when you are able to understand and have to watch your country collapse. It is definitely not a game. You cannot just click quit.