Let's slingshot you into the future, where empires span hundreds of solar systems, spaceships abound everywhere, cloning technology is available to an elite cla

Let's slingshot you into the future, where empires span hundreds of solar systems, spaceships abound everywhere, cloning technology is available to an elite class called capsuleers, and human beings still act human. You're a capsuleer. A capsuleer is someone who can pilot certain specially designed ships. As someone who has ascended into virtual godhood by the benefit of effective immortality, you have entered a new plane of power dynamics. And because you're a gamer, the galaxy is an oyster to exploit for your amusement. The simplest play is to fly around and shoot things. There are pirates, other players, other factions. They all shoot back, probably. Some of them do it better than others. Eventually, you run out of ammo, or your ship is destroyed, or you want something bigger and badder. That gets you to start thinking about how you shoot things and how to do it efficiently and effectively. That gets you thinking about which ship to fly, which guns to put on it, and so on... and how to get all those things cheaply, or at least for a smaller cost than it takes to make money with it. The ships, the guns, the ammo: these all come from somewhere. Other players make it. They do it by stripping asteroid belts of resources, holding territory where they can conduct R&D, and build every bullet you expend, every ship you pilot. Some of those resources are more elusive: they come from gas clouds which are hard to detect, or components found in uncharted systems. There are ways to get there and exploit those resources, too. And naturally, with so many moving pieces, so many different agents, you get hierarchical organizations, larger infrastructure, traders conducting arbitrage and moving freight, bigger and badder ships and bigger and badder groups to hold vaster tracts of territory. And with that comes opportunities to scam and con others, opportunities to be a leader or a spy, and so on. And all of that is supported by the game. You're constantly going to have to deal with the social repercussions of whichever path you take: a lone pilot won't have support infrastructure from their corporation; an alliance leader has to maintain the interest of his members; time spent shooting things is time not spent mining asteroids; and so on. What sounds cool? What do you want to do? Can you stomach what it'll take to be in that role? Can you understand mechanics and people well enough to make it happen? Then you can probably do it. That's EVE.