You sure?
Like, actually talking/discussing stuff? Or trying to get people pissed off so they’ll sperg at you?
Because MMOs in general have gotten much less social since, say… Cataclysm? Players have had more than a decade of treating each other like glorified NPCs, and I don’t see that reversing as a trend.
People don’t want to socialize.
And in EvE you always have to be sure someone isn’t trying to take the piss, or set you up.
Not that you’d ever do that, right Gix?
Both 
Talking in local and messing with other peeps. This isn’t the flex you think it is bruv.
Which people? I love socializing I talk in local all the time
I mean you always assume someone is trying to set you up. Doesn’t mean you can’t talk
I also, was not flexing on you. We both know you’re up for a spot of poke the carebear, but again.
If they keep talking and don’t block you, that’s on them.
This is probably the biggest issue with gaming right now, and is the reason for so much whining in games and why multiplayer games in general seem to be on the decline.
I remember a time when people commiserated with their corporation members in EVE when something went wrong, and used that as a support base to recover. These days, people seem to play alone. The most popular corporations seem to be those like SICO and that player “NPC” corporation I encounter sometimes. So of course people go on the forums and whine about the game so much—there’s no one left to listen to them in person.
I view that as content. I wish more people would actually try to set me up or get back at me for my opinions/beliefs/whatever, but it looks like the most that can happen these days is someone will make a post about how they blocked you, or how they’re always reporting your posts to the mods or directly to CCP support.
This made me laugh! take a like.
Yep. I’d at least respect Drac a bit more if he tried to kill me. I keep trying to find him but he’s always offline or docked 
Average, prime demographic, player with disposable income has 1.5 to 2 hours of playtime, per day, and gets about a single uninterrupted 2.5 hour play session in a week (Yes, even with weekends included).
That right there can be quite limiting with other game design factors of Eve. Mostly the difficulty in getting off fleet ops, while also taking care of other corp task, learning the game, getting invested, etc, etc, on limited play time.
Then there are the perception issues…
Will just get flamed for it, but brutal honesty here…
No, ganking as an allowed game feature is not an issue. Communal celebrating like Rust of how hardcore Eve is on the PvP side is an issue. Basically, game design wise not a lot holds Eve back. Community wise, where do you start?
People on limited play time, and also having natural loss aversion bias with regard to the value of their limited play time just aren’t going to go into a game that, regardless the real underlying game play, has a perceived community that seems to celebrate preying on new players for the lols. Issue isn’t the game tradeoffs of PvE and PvP. Eve does a wonderful job there. But for every one hundred Eve Uni groups, and minded players committed to fostering the Eve community, there is one that is firmly to blame for Eve being saddled with the perception it has in the gaming community of scamming sociopaths that only login to ruin another’s playtime as their main goal like they are in GTA:O public lobby. You don’t get a significant growing player base off that, with a game like Eve. And people aren’t a dumber category of person for avoiding it either. You see a bunch of pigs seeming to enjoy rolling in their own filth, and you keep walking to see what is down the MMO block, I don’t blame you.
Other issue is also a perception one. That Eve is only playable by joining a null sec corp, and that it becomes a second job you pay to do. Well-earned reputation of the game, not true, but when you look at how hard Eve’s YouTube content makers, for valid reasons, push the criticality of joining a corp to learn and progress. Then couple it with the culture people outside the game see of the hostility and toxicity between alliances, who wants to throw away their play time on that? Asking people to sign up, pay, and split their play time between breaking space rocks and having to listen to someone who takes warfare in Eve far, far, FAR too seriously, and is out to ruin their game experience, is an issue. It is a perception, not the reality of the game that CCP is wishing to develop toward. But none the less, you won’t get WoW numbers in a game that basically seems to offer an experience of virtual labor coupled with the social environment of a junior high locker room filled with bullies and victims.
TLDR, the perceptions of the Eve community as predatory, toxic, and hostile, held outside the community, that a small percentage make an identity out of trying to live up to, is to the game’s detriment, and holding the game back compared to a WoW or such for greater sub numbers.
(Also, single shard perception. Certain region players’, that have played other games with globalized player base interactions, like PubG, Conan Exiles, etc, feel stuck playing with cheaters, botters, etc on a single shard. Not Eve’s fualt, but a lot of people will pass on single shard alone given how it has been implemented elsewhere.)
If… if I logged in, and went to null… do you think…
I mean, do you… maybe think…
You would, you know…
Try to… pod me?
I mean, I’m just kidding. Haha, pray delete it. That’d be crazy, right?
Heh.
I mean maybe? I don’t go to null much. I had a JC down there back in the day but I moved it.
I would pod you in low
I only go to null to ninjahack.
That’s a bit too on the nose. I certainly don’t have any idea’s how to change that.
I have some ideas how to make it easier for newbs to find their niche and get a rhythm going, but there’s impediments. I get my enjoyment out of my virtual labor routines and building my industry. For whatever reason I really don’t want to add corporate management into my queue. I put in between 8 - 12 hours a day (most days) and have spent literally thousands of real currency to get a modest foothold in HS.
Being interrupted by chat (voice or text) Just doesn’t fit into my day. Especially as I am multitasking with a real job. Yet I want to do things to help new players grow, and/or support a larger corporation with out giving up my independence. So far I don’t see a path so I’ll just keep growing my characters and refining and building my industry.
Schoolyard behavior has never prevented multiplayer games from becoming massively popular. The players in EVE are comparatively nice compared to the crowds in more popular games, so that’s not it, unless those players want that toxicity.
You don’t even have to interact with anyone through EVE’s interface, beyond the game mechanics (shooting at them). Then you just talk with your friends and corp mates through Discord and you’re gold. Little point in talking to anyone outside of the alliance or coalition you belong to. The rest might as well be bots.
It’s the virtual labor part that’s pushing most people away.
Isn’t that part of the problem? Hard to find like minded players in such an env. Hard to develop mutually beneficial goals when attempting to do so more often than not just paints yourself as a target. Even by participating in forums like this.
Yes, it’s a problem when you haven’t found a good group you fit into. It’s sufficient for players who already do.
But there’s also a lack of perception. Nobody knows how wealthy you are…you could be down to your last ISK, or be a trillionaire. Nobody knows how many, or what kind of, ships you have. You could have a single Velator, or a fleet of Titans. So, one of the prime reasons for playing any game…the brag factor…is cut short. Sure, you get people who take their big blingy ships out for a Sunday drive…and everyone knows its a ‘look at me !’ sort of parade. But that’s about it.
To me this curtails the sense of ‘getting anywhere’ in Eve. Yes, there’s people who do things for their own sake, and sense of accomplishment, but surely the ultimate goal of a MMO like Eve is to be ‘better’ than everyone else. Yet that better-ness is seldom visible. I sometimes think that’s the reason why so much of it gets displayed on these forums instead.
Of course, one can join a corp, and share in the glory. But then, the larger the corp gets and the more alliances it is involved in, the more you become just a smaller cog in a huge machine.
There’s very few people, except maybe Aiko Danuja, who’s names are known throughout Eve. One has to admire that level of impact. But for most of us, we’re just insignificant cogs and the game would go on without us. The sense of not having much impact, especially on one’s own, is to my mind one of the things holding the game back.
Mans got a point.
Gankers do like to paint an image of a … mythic golden period where they’d gank a newbie, the newbie would react favorably, and the gankbro would take the guy under his wing, reimburse him, impart wisdom and thus would a beautiful friendship begin and …
Yeah. Not quite buying it. I mean maybe on time it happened. And I’m glad it did.
But youre talking about an entirely one sided offer of the exalted multi-player experience that MMO players seek, and an entirely uncommon one at that.
Not that you’d have better in another game.
There are always people who believe that any attention is good. James is one such person.
Understood.
So… Maybe there should be alternative ways to find a group?
Just trying to think outside ‘the box’
Going with the sandbox analogy; It really does feel like I’m playing in a large shoolyard sandbox, but I’m the odd duck who’s building something cool by themselves in a small corner of it… you know where the cat used it. My biggest concern is some punk kicking it. Fair enough? Not really, but that’s life… especially in Eve.
But that being said there should be some way I can find others that want to build on my cool thing in the corner without telling the bullies… look what you can kick. Or attracting a bunch of dweebs that have to managed into helping and hoping they don’t just ‘roll’ you for your lunch money cuz they can.
Every game I’ve ever played has had its ‘golden age’. My first ever gaming was Doom, on the LAN at work in the late 90s…glory days…until some mug decided to play it while the CEO was showing a client round the premises, lol. These days, Doom seems very dated. I still play Team Fortress and Counterstrike sometimes…they had their glory days too.
You still get folks who rattle on about how Morrowind was the best Elder Scrolls, and how later versions ruined the game lore. And you get folks like myself who think the original Half Life was better than the supposedly hugely improved Black Mesa ( which I bought and I hate it ).
But in all these cases, its really just rose tinted sentimentality.
I think that depends on where you hang out though. If you are primarily in hi sec doing AG stuff, then everyone knows her. People doing nano gang stuff know if you run into Kelon Darklight and The Tuskers, you’re about to get space murdered. People doing ESS defense in null know that Grunt Kado’s Hyperion is a whole pile of trouble. I would argue that Eve gives you more opportunity than any game I’ve ever played to be famous in game. I played ESO since beta and didn’t know the name of a single other person other than a streamer or two. It also gives you the ability to influence literally the entire game if you set yourself up for it. There isn’t a single part of Eve that The Mittani couldn’t influence tomorrow if he wanted to. That’s wild for an MMO.