That is excellent to hear! It means the game is not trying to deceive any new player, and they know what kind of game they are getting into up front. That to have a relaxing gameplay experience, they must make tradeoffs. Perhaps mining next to Jita is a bad idea. Perhaps mining in a 0.5 system is a bad idea. Perhaps maxing your low slots with Mining Upgrade IIs is a bad idea. Perhaps flying an untanked T1 hauler is a bad idea (or worse – a cargo expanded T1 hauler).
For if the shock is 10x bad for being a newbie, how bad would it be if someone were deceived and, later, found out the hard way the true nature of the game: PVP all the way through?
There are even the 8 Golden Rules of Eve Online. No one has to like the rules, but that’s the nature of the unforgiving universe: the rules every player must take at face value. They can embrace them and overcome them, or wish for a different rule set. This is like wishing for a different game. Rather than try to make Eve Online a clone of every other MMO out there, players are encouraged to seek an MMO that matches their expectations.
Eve Online being niche is not surprising nor a bad thing: It’s 20 years old, no one is surprised by this revelation.
Do you have statistics? Because many people have claimed this, but no one has hard evidence.
Such people would be operating under false pretenses. The game is PVP at its core, and CCP states this in their New Pilot FAQ:
In EVE Online, any player may attack any other player if they choose to, no
matter where they happen to be. This is because EVE Online is essentially
a PvP (Player versus Player) game at its core.
The only thing worse than being blown up and losing a ship is setting one’s expectations wrong and spending money on the wrong game!
Every loss in Eve is a learning and growing opportunity. There is no “losing” Eve Online, only “winning Eve Online” (a euphamism for leaving the game for good). You’re an immortal god, a capsuleer. ISK can always be re-earned. Anyone can go out and mine rocks, haul goods, shoot others. The question is: do you have the mental attitude to handle everything the universe can throw at you?
It sure would suck to have the wrong attitude, dump a bunch of money in the game, and find out later that one’s mentality is incongruent with the dark, brooding, moody atmosphere of a game as a whole.
People who don’t “enjoy losing” (which is not losing, it is failing) should not play Eve Online. It’s never going away. The core gameplay is as follows:
- Research and plan
- Prepare
- Attempt
- Fail, eventually
- Learn
- Take learnings and go to step 1.
If someone thinks step 4 is simply wrong then they are wanting to change the core gameplay loop of Eve Online. This game is not for them. Other games let players accumulate resources endlessly and progress bars go only up and to the right. Many Eve Online players find those games shallow and meaningless because the successes are so much more meaningful when genuine failure (which is not losing) is an option.
This is already happening thanks to CCP changes the past decade. Many good players have left, and high sec is a barren wasteland now compared to then.
Remember, High Sec has laws because the game is designed to have both law-abiders and law-breakers. It is a balance totally skewed to law-abiders at this point in time, given the history.
It is my hope you stick around, embracing the universe as-is (which is liberty and freedom) and not wanting to force everyone into your desired universe (which is authoritarian).