This game used to be like diving into a river of chaos…
It was somewhere between a comedy roast, an MMO, and true pandemonium… And that was what I liked about it.
Noobs would learn to mine and do basics in a spawn system and by the time they got to the profession systems (where the tutorial agents sent you) they were doing their tutorials while watching fleet fights, smack talk in local, and being romances by criminals of many variants.
It was remarkably social… for both better and worse.
As a noob, I banded together with other noobs to jet can mine… because the mechanics demanded it.
And I dreamed of the day I could help kill the criminals I saw infesting the system.
Here is an article I wrote a couple years ago about the decline of emergent gameplay.
The new player experience is more like training for a job now. It’s straight forward, safe and distractionless.
Boring as crap, if you ask me.
I used to love this game. No idea how anyone plays in highsec these days… nothing happening, social or otherwise, system after system.
Game died years ago for me and my ilk.