I recently started playing Eve about a month ago and while I really enjoyed learning about all the various aspects of Eve, I’m finding that there isn’t much room for someone who wants to play and specifically, earn isk, as part of a group. Exploration, Mining, Ratting (HS, LS, NS, WH), FW, Industry, Trading, Mission Running, Abyssals are all solo activities. When it comes to activities that require a group (preferably on coms) there’s only incursions and maybe C5/C6 wormholes (but from what I hear WH’s can be done by one player multiboxing so you don’t have to share profits). Not counting PvP in here because that is generally an isk sink and only done to protect valuable assets/resources. I really want to like this game, but it seems to be more of a solo game than an MMO. Am I wrong?
All these activities are farming activities and naturaly being humans we are incredibly selfish and don’t want to share isk from farming so players will use alt accounts instead of friends to get more complex farming done.Also you’ll find doing activities with alts is faster than with other players because you have your own rythm to what you do than wait for someone else.
eeyup
Per the first reply, most farming/grinding stuff is done solo. EVE starts to shine when you start to interact with other players and it’s up to you to actively put in effort and initiative to make that happen.
Here’s an example:
You could say that industry is a solo thing, but you can also find (or create) a group/corp that does the mining for you, come to an agreement on price, location and amount of minerals you want to get/buy from them, to then use that to build your stuff. And then contact people willing to haul your wares for you to bring them to the trade hub of choice, to then sell. Suddenly you’re interacting and using teamwork. You might even find some people or group that is willing to buy your wares outright so you interact with them as well.
Suddenly you’re part of a network of players all doing their thing, all interacting. And if you’re GOOD at interacting with people and you learn the intricacies and possible downfalls of trading, leading or being part of a team and whatnot, you could be part of a really cool group doing funky things and making a name for yourself. At which point you might be picked up by some nullsec group who could very well use a well oiled and well run group of industrialists, so you come to an agreement with them and interact with them as well. And before you know it you’re doing really cool things.
OR you could just sit in some belt in 0.9 sec space, sucking on a rock and being bored, alone. EVE itself is just the framework, it’s up to the players (you) to make something out of it.
Thank you for responding. From your example it seems that the closest you can get to multiplayer outside incursions is sending emails back and forth. I’m sure it is exciting to create and run a virtual business for some, but I don’t really want to work more when I get home from work. One of my main goals when playing multiplayers is to connect with people and make friends. In EVE it seems that friends hurt your bottom line, whereas business acquaintances increase your profits. I agree with your statement that EVE is what you make it, but as you said, you have to work within EVE’s framework, which is massively geared towards people who prefer to play solo.
Uhh no that’s not what I said or implied.
Perhaps you need to come to the conclusion that you’re good at talking the talk, but crap at walking the walk.
As an industrialist I would love to work that way… Tried in hisec also nullsec. But the profit margin is so small that you will have none at the end if you put 2-3 people more in the process.
Then you’re doing it wrong, not much else I can say.
You gave an example that you considered a non-solo activity (in this case industry) you said to setup profitable business deals with others. Because of different timezones as well as time constraints, it is most effective to use email. I don’t see how any other form of communication would be better. And I don’t consider emailing to be a very social activity.
Crap at walking the walk? I was never trying to be good. Or even said I was good in any aspect of EVE. I asked a question. To which you replied with what you considered a social activity and which I then replied to.
You assume things based on zero understanding and you’re not interested in trying to expand your knowledge, and while you TALK about how you want interaction&teamwork you’re not interested, or capable it seems, to even do it.
Hence my reply.
In my original post I asked for activities that involved a group (preferably on voice coms). You have not provided a group activity that requires voice coms.
What have I assumed? Rather than just accusing, why not explain why I am wrong? I have experience when it comes to being part of a business. And I know the best way to communicate in business is email.
While the ratting itself might be solo, creating the conditions in which you can safely rat is usually a group activity. You are not going to be able to take sov and defend it solo.
here’s the sad truth if you want a social voice group you have to join a large group in 0.0 or in Wormhole space the main reason why those groups use it player vs player requires better coordination skills in tools so text chat doesn’t cut it
players that do PVP or more likely to use voice chat then groups that do not it’s something I’ve learned through the years of playing mmorpgs most you might get one or two people in a group it doesn’t specialize in PvP using voice chat if it’s available most rather not you can have a hundred people on the Corporation/Guild that you might get one person for every 10 people if you’re lucky to come on voice if the group doesn’t specialize in PvP
I’m not a big fan of player versus player but I still join those groups anyway for the communication and socializing part of it I do like most groups I joined I was still able to do the activities I loved but occasionally I had to make a compromise and do something I don’t like so I can continue doing what I like
I use voice to text for all my writing cuz I’m dyslexic I also have a bad arm it makes it easier to do everything it’s easier to copy and paste what I have to say into a chat program than it is to write it
there’s a lot of games I wanted to try but because I’m dyslexic if they don’t allow copy and paste into their chat I can’t chat on those games so I’m basically a mute
Our group cleans up space of structures that are not ours. This is group effort and we share the isk dropped from shooting down people and structures based on participation.
I would consider that a group activity. The null alliances would not be as big as it now without a group effort.
There are many terrible corps in the game… you just need to find the right group.
Its difficult for a game to be a MMO if not impossible. The same way its near impossible for a game to be both PVP and open at the same time.
EVE claims to be a sandboxed PVP open world game. From the distance it appears so , its easy to be blinded by the huge PVP battles that make front page news in major gaming websites. By overwhelming the beginner with poor quality tutorials and almost zero information it tried to keep this stereotype of extremely in depth hardcore game.
In reality EVE does not hold a candle in terms of complexity and depth to many of the D&D CRPGs, they have a major reason why they can claim they are really sandboxes and of course that is modding. Most recent example being Divinity 2 probably the deepest and most powerful gaming in terms of customization out there. But we cannot ignore that they are also single player games. Its no coincidence.
The more you play EVE the more you will realize that is a great game and definitely the most complex sci fi RPG that stood the test of time for a good reason. EVE is unique based on the fact that unlike other MMOs forces people to interact , directly or indirectly. Its also a very well made game, graphics wise, balance wise , lore wise etc.
But in the end solo will always be the curse of MMOs and its a curse that EVE cannot escape no matter how many insanely large battles it puts on front page news. The fact will remain that getting people to interact in an open world game is super hard and this is why 90% of this game is basically solo PVE. Group activites are plainly hard to organise. Solo is straighforward and easy. I am not talking only from a player point of you but as a fellow developer , game dev point of you.
The advice I give to people is to not jump on the hype train, take the game step by step , every advice and opinion, including this one , with a mountain of salt.
Like you I joined the game because I was under the impression this is a true PVP game , true open ended orientated around huge collection of people working together towards the common goal of making empires. Like we saw in the front page news. Unfortunately the harsh reality the sinks in and you start to experience many of the technical limitation of the game that makes it harder to engage at such activities. More EVE itself discourages people from engaging into PVP by making it very costly and one of the least profitable ways to play the game (which is why the vast majority of PVPer are forced to do other stuff to play for their expenses).
I can go in detail why a hugely social game looks great on paper but not so great in practice but I think I gave you a good idea why things are the way they are.
In sort if you solo in the game you are not a minority , you are the majority. Nothing wrong with soloing and nothing with joining with other people on common activities. In the end EVE is definetly a very deep game and offers a lot of options its up to you to take those options and make the game your own.
Every fleet is on coms, even mining fleets are more fun with coms.
You should join a corp and just have communicative days in a large variety of adventures.
Well, general advice for communication: Don’t be that sourpuss you were here, try to be positive.
Happy hunting!
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