I needed to say this. Maybe you needed to hear it today. Maybe you’d like to argue against it, or maybe you thought I would, but one thing is for certain: this game is great.
What is EvE? Spreadsheets in Space. (Super) Serious Spaceships. Dotland. Snakes on a Plane. Total Garbage. Just Like Real Life. Just a Game. A hobby. A lifestyle. A massively multi-player online roleplay game. An economy simulator. A chatbox. A forum. A scam. An investment. Real. Fake. Good. Bad. Frustrating. Kinda easy sometimes. Kinda boring sometimes. Kinda fun sometimes. Lots of reading. Lots of clicking. Lots of F1. Lots of jumping. Lots of back and forth. Lots of proper planning. Lots of spinning in stations. Checking market orders every five minutes. Checking them once a day. Checking the daily login gift. Checking the locals. Making friends. Making enemies. Making strange connections. Making significant connections. In your head. In real life.
I am very glad to have been able to share this experience with others. Sharing it has made it real. If this game was singleplayer, it would suck. Thank you all for making my game great. I cannot and will not play other games. Nothing else forces me to use my wits like EvE, 'cause let’s face it: you kinda have to.
If you don’t use your wits (imagination) in EvE, several of the following will happen: your ship will explode, your pod will die, your stuff will be taken by another player, if you had anything worth pilfering, or you will simply be killed for the sport, so you will cry, or you will choose to use that adrenaline (rage) to your advantage, you will learn to see through the hazy red panic, then you will learn to make better decisions even when previously compromised by similar circumstances, or you will write a strongly worded letter, your efforts will be used to another’s advantage, your time spent, your attention beckoned, your creativity needed to make this anything but HELL.
What is EvE? Mike Azariah did a nice talk in 2017 about EVE, Goals, and Winning. Rough quote: we are all playing a different game.
What everyone observes about this game will vary directly based upon the player. The meanest players you might think of in EvE are simply bathed in your meanest light. I used to think very mean things about people until I realized that was very mean. Maybe I could have learned these lessons in “real life”, but instead I chose to be impulsive and free in a video game instead of acting “a certain way” among my family, friends, and coworkers. I was called-out for many things and have always been allowed a chance to defend myself here, even in Rookie Help chat, where I spend much of my time on EvE. I do this because the message there is simple: if you are not there to help, avoid spamming by being off-topic, since many rookie lurkers use it as their primary resource.
What I’m jumping around is this: be social and use your imagination. If an EvE experience does not revolve around somehow interacting with others: this is just not a good game. I enjoy running up to one Level 4 Security Mission per day, which affords ISK to play around in Abyssal Deadspace, which is practice for me before I go lose some ships in solo PvP. I seek to be an ace frigate pilot one day, then maybe take the boring scanning skills to WH and join a corp there in Scary Space.
I will never do something boring in this game if not for the benefit of another live person, though I will keep all my ISK to myself, aside from a fairly negotiated plan for services rendered. I am in full control of my own experience. If I have a bad time, it is because I have made investments in selfish endeavours, which have clearly failed. I will always be given an ability to avoid downfall, if only I would seek the information and means to become empowered.
Anyways, I don’t know if your experience has been the same as mine, but I encourage you to bombard Rookie Help if you are feeling lost and hopeless like a rookie again. I appreciate the opportunity to make battle with all trolls, who give me endless opportunity to poke at logical fallacies and observe the reactions of those who react emotionally to them. I appreciate the true rookies who, like me, used that chat as their primary resource for their first moments in-game, and who continue to find the best ways to challenge everyone by hopefully becoming worthy opponents in battle. That’s where the adrenaline (fun) is. And I also appreciate the veteran helpers, who get only half the thanks they all deserve.
Everyone has their unique reasons to play. I love people and finding better (healthier) ways at socially interacting with them. Instead of failing at new things in real life, I can fail here and “feel safe” about it, giving me that much more courage to try new things in real life. I post this due to my successes (not in-game, happily poor, thank you). Just grateful. Have a good day.
