Before you comment, I’ve already heard the old proverb. “The undock button IS the PvP button.” That’s not exactly what I’m talking about. What I want to know is, is it possible to play EVE without going into PvP intensionally?
I’m more interested in things like exploration and roleplaying. Is that a viable option?
Yes. It is. Just not much fun, IMHO. I am playing pretty much without any serios breaks since 2013 and I was shot down in high sec only when I was involved in FW. 5 years of intense game time is a pretty large portion of experience to say, that there is a way.
Green killboard is a sign of risk averse gameplay, which is a valid, but IMHO very boring. You need to get killed to feel the ‘true’ EVE ;))
Some hints, how to have PvE when you want PvE and PvP when you want PvP and not opposite:
Do not PvE outside high sec.
Use Dotlan map to find less active part of the high sec with reasonable L4 security mission agents. NPC kill amount is just as important as Ship kill amount in last 24 hours. Incursion will require waiting for fleet, Abyss is repetitive afetr first 200-300 sites, high sec combat exploration is no stable source of income. Thats why security missions. But you can have different opinion about what is fun , of cause.
Use blockade runner when going to Jita. Use MWD/cloak if you can not use it. Always warp cloacked near Jita. Your blockade runner should have enough passive tank to survive 2-3 suicide torandos alpha strikes. Large shield extender Prowler, heavy bulkheaded other BR , pick yourself. Tank > cargospace.
Do not mine or travel AFK.
Make insta dock undock bookmarkes.
Make your own little corp to avoid txes and wardecs.
Do not mine in anything but brick tanked Procurer.
Do not PvP outside faction warfare. It will be PvE: waiting for null sec fleet to form (1 hour), looking for anyone who will agree to fight your blob (next 2 hours) and than go sleep.
Do not use Worm or other OP ships in FW plexes. Use non-faction T1 frigate or (rightfully) underesteemated ships like Maulus Navy Issue and you will not wait hours to get enemy into your plex.
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You can fly in such a way as to minimise risk and avoid the bulk of PvP but you will be playing in a specifically PvP sandbox. Your PvP will be based around being very hard to catch and you will accept the drawbacks that come with such a route. You cannot however opt out of all PvP and play in total safety. You will just have to cast some thought to how best to fly defensively, which is well possible and done by many people.
Heya,
As a guy who used to RP when the RP scene was a lot more vibrant and now just kinda hangs with the remaining old farts who used to RP, it’s totally possible to do but very hard to find much content.
As for avoiding the PvP thing, or at least mitigating it as much as possible. I would recommend some things.
-Definitely train into covert ops ships.
-Definitely train into interceptors (some of them can fly through bubbles.)
-Watch local always, keep an eye on who’s around you.
-Don’t fly into nullsec/wormholes/lowsec unless you have something invisible or very fast (see Ceptors/CovOps)
-You can’t ALWAYS avoid PvP, people can suicide gank you even if you’re in 1.0 space.
-Insure your ship if it’s not faction/t2, you’ll get a lot of it’s value back, but the gear inside is usually a loss.
-Don’t fly haulers that cost more than maybe 100m. If you fly a Bestower loaded up with 750m in loot, then there’s no reason not to gank you, it’s economically wise. 
Another thing to keep in mind, PvPers come in a few flavors.
-There’s the GudFites bros, who want to get 1v1s and fair fights and probably won’t be a problem for you if you’re just keeping your head down and hauling ass.
-There’s the SaltFarmers, they want to see you rage at them. They don’t care what you’re in, they’ll kill you. These guys gank, camp, whatever else… except get into fair fights. They can’t stand fair fights.
-Then there’s your typical Nullbear, LowBear, or Holebear. They will kill you because you’re in “their” space, and it’s nothing personal. They’re usually reasonable, but remember they dunno who you are, and they have assets on the field to protect. They probably won’t be merciful.
Staying away from risky areas is a good way to avoid pvp, highsec of course has CONCORD for security, and unless you disregard some of the above suggestions you probably won’t really run into any fights at all. But if you want to really earn ISK to plex your account or explore the cool parts of EVE, then you want to reach out to the nullsec and wormholes and even lowsec parts of the world. This definitely opens you up to PvP scenarios.
I think the biggest suggestion I have is probably to embrace the chance of PvP, manage your ISK so you can afford the loss, learn how to defend yourself a bit with a good teacher maybe? And fight when you have to.
Another thing to note, a lot of the safest parts of EVE is in nullsec. I personally can hang around my home region for hours and not run into anything but friends for hours. The previous poster must have had some weird experiences to list what he has. Feel free to hit me up in game (Deckhard Aura is my ingame name too.) and ask for more info. I’ve been around a long time, I like to PvP, but I also know how to avoid, maybe I can help teach you some tricks.
I suppose if I want to play EVE I have to deal with the PvP. I’ve always been a PvE guy, but, I suppose I can try it out. Nothing to loose this early on, right?
Thanks for the advice.
Stay in highsec for a while, get comfortable with a steady income. Then take risks. 
That’s basically the ‘by design’ way of things. It’s not so bad unless you hang yourself out on a line with a shiny target on your butt.
To echo what has been said so far…
It is possible to avoid almost all ship-on-ship interactions with other players… but keep in mind that there will always be a possibility that ship-on-ship violence will find you. Or that someone will take advantage of a gap in your knowledge of the aggression mechanics.
Anyways… here are some quick and dirty rules you can follow:
Always keep your “Safety Button” (that little thingy off to the side of your capacitor HUD) set to “green.” This will prevent you from most doing things that would mechanically make you a target (in high-sec space that is).
Stay in High-sec (1.0 to 0.5 space). Here you will have a degree of deterrence from unwanted PvP in the form of CONCORD (NPC police). These NPCs will nuke any player that attempts to gank you.
If you go into Low-sec (0.4 to 0.1), Null-sec (0.0 to -1.0), and Wormhole Space (0.0 to -1.0) you will effectively be on your own.
Learn how Suicide Ganking works: While you may not want to learn how to PvP, it is fairly important that you at least gain a cursory knowledge of the threats you may face.
In your particular case, since you do not want to PvP, learning how other players can make a profit from your destruction despite being nuked by the NPCs is fairly important.
Try not to use the Autopilot function unless you have made a clear and reasonable risk assessment (see previous point). As painful as it is to sit around for 20 jumps in a fatass hauler, as tempting as it is to set the destination and walk away… simply don’t. Autopilot comes with a few built-in penalties for its use (see: it will take long to reach each gate) and that increases any potential risk you may face.
Corporations offer up advantages and some degree of camaraderie (if they are “good” that is)… but bear in mind that corporations come with the risk of wars being declared on them.
Don’t join a corporation unless you are; A) Willing to fight / hide from / frustrate your attackers, B) willing to drop back to the NPC corp, or C) play shenanigans with corporation jumping.
Don’t shittalk, threaten, posture or generally make yourself a public figure. Fame (or infamy) draws attention and there are those out there who will either take offense or oppose you outright… and this will make you a target.
Is it childish? A bit, yeah. But we are playing internet-spreadsheet-spaceships in a dystopian setting.
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Overall… keep your head down, be diligent, and most importantly… LEARN.
There are so many mechanics in this game, there is no shortage of what you can dabble in. And always remember that no one, even those who have played the game for years, knows everything.
You can avoid PvP for the most part but you are limiting yourself. However, it’s a self-imposed limitation that many players accept.
If you remain in high sec and in an NPC corp, the only PvP that can be forced on you is ganking. You cannot be war dec’d in an NPC corp. That leaves only ganking as uninvited combat.
Do not fly loot pinata ships, avoid active ganking systems, and avoid trade hubs whenever possible- and you can spend years in Eve without ever being shot by another player.
Be a nobody and nobody will bother you.
You will PVP to not PVP,
It is Eve paradox, till CCP or PA change basic attitude in Eve, PVP will be “Holy Grail” and inevitable ingame …
I know you want to troll again, but this statement is spot on.
OP: You can only be reasonable safe in space if you know all relevant game mechanics first hand, and are able to use them to your advantage.
Shooting someone is one type of PvP, avoiding being shot is another one, as well as having a clue about risk and reward.
buy astero, fit coops cloak, you are invulnerable to pvp for the rest of your life
To add an extra layer of security to the comments above, may I suggest you switch your playing to the Singularity test server? Singularity is the same universe, but only has a few hundred players, typically located in a few test areas.
Following the advice above (safe points, cloaky blockade runners, watching local and d scan, etc) in a quiet hi-sec backwater on singularity should allow you to play the game with little to no risk of PvP.
EVE is all pvp. The market is PVP etc. in a pvp game you can play as the prey if you choose to. Many enjoy this.
Not so many enjoy that and that is a reason why CCP and Eve is going dooooown.
Your tears sustain me, prey
Time will tell …
Stay in high sec. Unless your suicided ganked or do something stupid you should be ok. Also stay away from systems that border low sec and null sec.
Hmm, first of all we have to define what is PvP? Any interaction in a competition situation including the market? Or just the act of attacking with weapons?
You can’t avoid PvP, and it is not healthy to avoid pvp, because the more you avoid pvp, the less you play the game and hide and wait instead. So instead of avoiding PvP I suggest to learn countermeasures by heart. Be bold, mine in low, scan in wh, go ratting in null. You will die several times, but hoepfully you learn how to react to attackers and learn to read signs AND still have fun.
Being blown up out of the blue is a real thrill btw. But to escape deep in red hull is a thrill and a triumph Don’t miss that!
Noone today care for this BS. People today wants fun not 24/7/365 work.
Your “PvP” will just be doing PvE in such a way that you make yourself a poor target for the people trying to kick over your sandcastle. We still call it PvP because you are competing against other players (they want to kill you, you want to PvE in peace) but you won’t necessarily have to shoot anyone.