4 ms·

I love the idea of Eve, but man… what a boring game day-to-day. When I was younger and would just hang out in teamspeak with the crew it was a lot of fun and a

I love the idea of Eve, but man… what a boring game day-to-day. When I was younger and would just hang out in teamspeak with the crew it was a lot of fun and a lot of just sitting around or jumping for hours trying to catch a fight only to die in an instant or kill them in an instant.

remram 4y ago
That was my experience as well. The power difference between players is too great. I would get killed by randos in cloaked ships using missiles worth several time my ship and its entire loadout. What's the fun in that? At some point I realized that this is an financial game with a space setting, not a space game with a rich economy, and I never played again.
evandale 4y ago
You really have to be a self starter and find something you like. I've tried so hard to get into PvP but I just can't do it. I might have tried mining once. I've played maybe 5 times in the past 8 years and could never get into it even though I desperately wanted to. It seems so fun! This round of playing I really got into wormholes and exploration and I'm having a blast with that. I only play maybe 7 or 8 hours a week and I find the probe scanning and data/relic site hacking minigames both a lot of fun. I've also started using mapping tools for wormholes which is something else that's oddly fun. There's just something about sitting in space scanning for wormholes and people could warp on you while you're taking the 2 seconds updating your mapping tool that gives me a thrill. It's also mostly work I throw away when the wormholes close because I live in a high sec area too lol but I still find it fun. Sometimes I'll play two days in a row and visit wormholes I mapped earlier to scan new sites in them.
- Arrath 4y ago
  > You really have to be a self starter and find something you like. Too true. And sometimes you stumble upon the fun. For instance, a long, long time ago (circa 2008 or 9...) I thought Stealth Bombers sounded cool so I started to learn the skills, not realizing they were essentially useless. Except that they could be used somewhat productively to fuck around deep in enemy territory and be a nuisance to their mining and logistics efforts. Was a I troll? Basically. Did I have any real impact on the war effort? I doubt it. But hey, I did blow up a few mining barges and annoy people.
  - l3mure 4y ago
    SBs were very strong against massed battleship fleets when coordinated properly. You'd have a scout get a warp-in close to an enemy fleet and bring a bomber wing in cloaked, then everyone uncloaks simultaneously to bomb and warp off. I have fond memories of doing bomb runs and instantly having a dozen killmails pop in my inbox.
    - Arrath 4y ago
      Now I'm kinda sad I never got to take part in an action like that. Sounds like a good time.
- 650REDHAIR 4y ago
  I had fairly infamous lowsec and nulsec PvP runs throughout the years but as newbie-friendly groups popped up it was harder and harder to find fights that weren’t just blobs of T1 frigates rushing you. At some point I made a bunch of outrageously blingy ships and when they ran out I sold the accounts on eBay. I had a great time while it lasted and hope something like Star Citizen can bring back some of that fun with more immersive gameplay…eventually.
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago
  i get too much anxiety investing time into something like this, i feel like there are more productive things i could be doing
  - geraldhh 4y ago
    > i feel like there are more productive things i could be doing this is almost always true, so i argue that it is not a good measure of anything.
  - Cthulhu_ 4y ago
    Do you do anything for fun or to unwind? This sounds like a mindset that will end you up in burnout. Resist the capitalist mindset and have fun. (note: eve online is probably not fun for most people, lol)
    - em-bee 4y ago
      that's the key. does it feel like fun, or work? is it relaxing or entertaining? am i experiencing an interesting story? i also try not to spend money on games unless i am sure it's going to be good, or the amount is small enough to avoid the sunk cost fallacy. i'd want to get my money's worth. whenever i get the feeling that i should be doing something more productive then that means that the game is not enjoyable enough any more and it's time to stop.
- harshreality 4y ago
  I used to play EvE as well, earlier on, and it all eventually got so boring I couldn't continue. Some of the game mechanics, like scanning with probes, are interesting, but once you figure them out it's all tedium. If you want to PvE in a nice ship, you need to be wary every time you undock. If you want to PvP, you need a source of isk to replace your ship and implants, since every time you go there's a significant chance that clone isn't coming back alive. There's so much effort involved in everything, and very little payoff other than the occasional shot of adrenaline or lootbox find. Which is exactly what they count on. Variable reinforcement, rather than consistent reinforcement. I got a carrier, started thinking about supercaps, and gradually lost interest in the whole progression due to the logistical effort keeping such things. I suppose I could have tried getting involved in corporate or alliance politics, or I could have switched to trading. However, like the lootboxes, those human elements too are constrained by game dynamics to be predictably unpredictable, and not in very interesting ways. Few long-term real-life friendships come about due to in-game friendships, since almost everyone quits games within a few years. So, due to all of the above, I left. The best part of the game was hanging out in occasionally good, fun voice chats, but you have to be in a well-organized corp or alliance that runs good ops. Unlike real military-style organizations, though, scheduling makes good ops very difficult. People's ships are in the wrong systems, most of the op is just getting organized, and then, as GP said, you might get ganked at the first nullsec gate you jump through. Oh well, time to rat or mine or trade more to finance another ship and clone, so you can organize another op, which will probably also not be that great other than some fun voice chat moments. At the end of it all, the other people you're hanging out with in corporations and alliances are there either because they've gotten hooked on the game's adrenaline or lootbox reinforcement mechanisms, or because they have a Machiavellian desire to pull the strings of a corp or alliance, and you're cannon fodder or logistical support, there to be kept happy. Or they're there to figure out an angle to scam or gank you. EvE is more fun to read about, or think about doing things in, than it is to play. Non-persistent games, like any good RTS, are more fun because they're lower-stress, and because you can see that you're making progress solely because your skill is improving. In a MMORPG, you're progressing only partly because you're developing more skill at playing, and more because the game company rewards you, in skill or lootbox upgrades, for spending more time in game (or spending money buying isk which lets you buy pre-skilled characters and in-game stuff).
- stwr 4y ago
  You should join Signal Cartel[1], the wormhole ‘rescue service’ it is a lot of fun and they provide some great tools for exploring. Just remembering the good times make me want to jump back in! I’ve been the same as yourself. Probably tried a dozen times over the years. From mining to pvp, red v blue, tried it all but it always started to feel like work in the end. Exploring and Signal Cartel made me stick around the longest. Eventually got a bit bored with it. The most EVE entertaining i’ve had recently is Andrew Groen book series Empires of Eve [2]. Basically all the great big war stories bundled into a very engaging 2 series book. It is a lovely read! [1] https://signalcartel.org/ https://signalcartel.org/ [2] https://www.empiresofeve.com/ https://www.empiresofeve.com/
  - evandale 4y ago
    I've considered them! I joined Eve University for all the classes and free skills. The next thing is I want to join the wormhole community to get a feel for multiplayer wormholing because I've only done solo.
    - hidden80 4y ago
      Hey, if you need some pointers on WH life, I'd be happy to help. I'm a founder and former CEO of Lazerhawks, Hidden Fremen :)
nirui 4y ago
> what a boring game day-to-day Got to do something while autopilot is running... how about conspire a heist? (Seriously through, I almost never used autopilot even when in highsec systems. There are some mad people out there and you don't want to know them)
Cthulhu_ 4y ago
I've played it for a good while and... pretty much, yeah. The bit that made it fun was the community I was in (Eve University at the time, fairly low stakes), weekly events with lots of banter, e.g. going out for fights - but you go into them knowing you'll probably lose your ship (and if not, it's probably faster to just self-destruct to get back to where you came from). There was a period I did what's called incursions, high-level PvE content that has been min/maxed to optimize how fast you can make money. Other times I did exploration, especially after they rehashed it and added hacking minigames and the like, but the competition there was quite firm. Last times I played it I was careless; I lost a Loki (a half a billion advanced ship) from going into low-sec to kill things, running out of ammo, going out, and making the mistake of coming back. And I lost a Stratios (another half a billion ship with equipment) by going into new content where you need to clear it before the time expires, but I couldn't because I was harassed by tiny enemies that my ship couldn't hit. Maybe one day I'll come back to it, but I just don't have the spare time for it anymore.

remram 4y ago

That was my experience as well. The power difference between players is too great. I would get killed by randos in cloaked ships using missiles worth several time my ship and its entire loadout. What's the fun in that? At some point I realized that this is an financial game with a space setting, not a space game with a rich economy, and I never played again.

evandale 4y ago

You really have to be a self starter and find something you like. I've tried so hard to get into PvP but I just can't do it. I might have tried mining once. I've played maybe 5 times in the past 8 years and could never get into it even though I desperately wanted to. It seems so fun! This round of playing I really got into wormholes and exploration and I'm having a blast with that. I only play maybe 7 or 8 hours a week and I find the probe scanning and data/relic site hacking minigames both a lot of fun. I've also started using mapping tools for wormholes which is something else that's oddly fun. There's just something about sitting in space scanning for wormholes and people could warp on you while you're taking the 2 seconds updating your mapping tool that gives me a thrill. It's also mostly work I throw away when the wormholes close because I live in a high sec area too lol but I still find it fun. Sometimes I'll play two days in a row and visit wormholes I mapped earlier to scan new sites in them.

Arrath 4y ago
> You really have to be a self starter and find something you like. Too true. And sometimes you stumble upon the fun. For instance, a long, long time ago (circa 2008 or 9...) I thought Stealth Bombers sounded cool so I started to learn the skills, not realizing they were essentially useless. Except that they could be used somewhat productively to fuck around deep in enemy territory and be a nuisance to their mining and logistics efforts. Was a I troll? Basically. Did I have any real impact on the war effort? I doubt it. But hey, I did blow up a few mining barges and annoy people.
- l3mure 4y ago
  SBs were very strong against massed battleship fleets when coordinated properly. You'd have a scout get a warp-in close to an enemy fleet and bring a bomber wing in cloaked, then everyone uncloaks simultaneously to bomb and warp off. I have fond memories of doing bomb runs and instantly having a dozen killmails pop in my inbox.
  - Arrath 4y ago
    Now I'm kinda sad I never got to take part in an action like that. Sounds like a good time.
650REDHAIR 4y ago
I had fairly infamous lowsec and nulsec PvP runs throughout the years but as newbie-friendly groups popped up it was harder and harder to find fights that weren’t just blobs of T1 frigates rushing you. At some point I made a bunch of outrageously blingy ships and when they ran out I sold the accounts on eBay. I had a great time while it lasted and hope something like Star Citizen can bring back some of that fun with more immersive gameplay…eventually.
MuffinFlavored 4y ago
i get too much anxiety investing time into something like this, i feel like there are more productive things i could be doing
- geraldhh 4y ago
  > i feel like there are more productive things i could be doing this is almost always true, so i argue that it is not a good measure of anything.
- Cthulhu_ 4y ago
  Do you do anything for fun or to unwind? This sounds like a mindset that will end you up in burnout. Resist the capitalist mindset and have fun. (note: eve online is probably not fun for most people, lol)
  - em-bee 4y ago
    that's the key. does it feel like fun, or work? is it relaxing or entertaining? am i experiencing an interesting story? i also try not to spend money on games unless i am sure it's going to be good, or the amount is small enough to avoid the sunk cost fallacy. i'd want to get my money's worth. whenever i get the feeling that i should be doing something more productive then that means that the game is not enjoyable enough any more and it's time to stop.
harshreality 4y ago
I used to play EvE as well, earlier on, and it all eventually got so boring I couldn't continue. Some of the game mechanics, like scanning with probes, are interesting, but once you figure them out it's all tedium. If you want to PvE in a nice ship, you need to be wary every time you undock. If you want to PvP, you need a source of isk to replace your ship and implants, since every time you go there's a significant chance that clone isn't coming back alive. There's so much effort involved in everything, and very little payoff other than the occasional shot of adrenaline or lootbox find. Which is exactly what they count on. Variable reinforcement, rather than consistent reinforcement. I got a carrier, started thinking about supercaps, and gradually lost interest in the whole progression due to the logistical effort keeping such things. I suppose I could have tried getting involved in corporate or alliance politics, or I could have switched to trading. However, like the lootboxes, those human elements too are constrained by game dynamics to be predictably unpredictable, and not in very interesting ways. Few long-term real-life friendships come about due to in-game friendships, since almost everyone quits games within a few years. So, due to all of the above, I left. The best part of the game was hanging out in occasionally good, fun voice chats, but you have to be in a well-organized corp or alliance that runs good ops. Unlike real military-style organizations, though, scheduling makes good ops very difficult. People's ships are in the wrong systems, most of the op is just getting organized, and then, as GP said, you might get ganked at the first nullsec gate you jump through. Oh well, time to rat or mine or trade more to finance another ship and clone, so you can organize another op, which will probably also not be that great other than some fun voice chat moments. At the end of it all, the other people you're hanging out with in corporations and alliances are there either because they've gotten hooked on the game's adrenaline or lootbox reinforcement mechanisms, or because they have a Machiavellian desire to pull the strings of a corp or alliance, and you're cannon fodder or logistical support, there to be kept happy. Or they're there to figure out an angle to scam or gank you. EvE is more fun to read about, or think about doing things in, than it is to play. Non-persistent games, like any good RTS, are more fun because they're lower-stress, and because you can see that you're making progress solely because your skill is improving. In a MMORPG, you're progressing only partly because you're developing more skill at playing, and more because the game company rewards you, in skill or lootbox upgrades, for spending more time in game (or spending money buying isk which lets you buy pre-skilled characters and in-game stuff).
stwr 4y ago
You should join Signal Cartel[1], the wormhole ‘rescue service’ it is a lot of fun and they provide some great tools for exploring. Just remembering the good times make me want to jump back in! I’ve been the same as yourself. Probably tried a dozen times over the years. From mining to pvp, red v blue, tried it all but it always started to feel like work in the end. Exploring and Signal Cartel made me stick around the longest. Eventually got a bit bored with it. The most EVE entertaining i’ve had recently is Andrew Groen book series Empires of Eve [2]. Basically all the great big war stories bundled into a very engaging 2 series book. It is a lovely read! [1] https://signalcartel.org/ https://signalcartel.org/ [2] https://www.empiresofeve.com/ https://www.empiresofeve.com/
- evandale 4y ago
  I've considered them! I joined Eve University for all the classes and free skills. The next thing is I want to join the wormhole community to get a feel for multiplayer wormholing because I've only done solo.
  - hidden80 4y ago
    Hey, if you need some pointers on WH life, I'd be happy to help. I'm a founder and former CEO of Lazerhawks, Hidden Fremen :)

nirui 4y ago

> what a boring game day-to-day Got to do something while autopilot is running... how about conspire a heist? (Seriously through, I almost never used autopilot even when in highsec systems. There are some mad people out there and you don't want to know them)

Cthulhu_ 4y ago

I've played it for a good while and... pretty much, yeah. The bit that made it fun was the community I was in (Eve University at the time, fairly low stakes), weekly events with lots of banter, e.g. going out for fights - but you go into them knowing you'll probably lose your ship (and if not, it's probably faster to just self-destruct to get back to where you came from). There was a period I did what's called incursions, high-level PvE content that has been min/maxed to optimize how fast you can make money. Other times I did exploration, especially after they rehashed it and added hacking minigames and the like, but the competition there was quite firm. Last times I played it I was careless; I lost a Loki (a half a billion advanced ship) from going into low-sec to kill things, running out of ammo, going out, and making the mistake of coming back. And I lost a Stratios (another half a billion ship with equipment) by going into new content where you need to clear it before the time expires, but I couldn't because I was harassed by tiny enemies that my ship couldn't hit. Maybe one day I'll come back to it, but I just don't have the spare time for it anymore.