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Tovarishch
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Posted - 2005.05.11 08:48:00 -
[1]
I am a writer (as well as a musician) by trade. I am an adult, in fact I am what most players would call æolderÆ. I also play online games with a group of friends that have been gaming together for nearly 14 years now, although I am a newer member of the Shriners... having only been with them for about seven or eight years.
The Tarsis Shriners began on a small MUD called Arctic in 1992. I wonÆt go into our background since most of it has no relation at all as to why I am writing, aside from one fact û nearly all of us love to PK other players. The excitement of fighting other intelligent players has always been a big draw for most of us, and while not many of us are playing EVE, it is certainly what keeps us here.
We generally move from one game to the next when we see that the ænext big thingÆ is looming on the horizon. WeÆll take a consensus among us all and move to the game that appeals to our majority, and with the vast majority of games catering to a broad PVE audience our more exciting prospects have been few and far between.
Recently World of Warcraft was released... which piqued more interest than usual among us since it was offering PVP servers. Most of us didnÆt seem terribly excited about Everquest 2 so we quickly decided that WoW would be our ænext big thingÆ. I followed the crowd since our primary interest is to simply hang out with friends and play games together... along with other pursuits that require bi-curious women, willing participants, and a trip to Vegas.
I will not trash WoW, it is a very good game. While it does not reinvent the genre (or even do anything at all new for it) it is streamlined, fun, and accessible. I enjoyed my time there and will continue to do so on the occasions that I decide to log on and play again. But recently, with the addition of PVP rewards in WoW, I began to miss EVE. I always kept my character trained up since I knew I would be back eventually.
That time has come.
EVE draws different people for different reasons. Some people might be attracted to EVE because of the genre, some by the complexity, some folks may have no clue at all as to what brings them back everyday. However, with my slowly losing interest in WoW I began to think about what it is in EVE that I find so fascinating. EVE presents a couple concepts that very, very few games have ever successfully managed to achieve û paramount among all of these is the concept of loss.
Being killed by other players in World of Warcraft is completely and utterly painless. You lose nothing, and with nothing to lose itÆs difficult to feel excited or afraid when you are out looking for a fight. To quote B.B. King, æThe thrill is goneÆ.
Most people (I hope) are familiar with traveling through 0.0 in a well-equipped ship only to see a gate activate or watch any number of people who you are not friendly with enter local. You suddenly get anxious... even if you are the one out picking the fight. ItÆs called excitement. YouÆre excited, whether it be negative or positive, because you are constantly at risk of losing items, ships, implants, cash, etc. EVE captures that excitement as very few games ever have for me. In fact I often recall my early days on a MUD that I played where you could fully loot any corpse at anytime. EVE conjures that sort of rush for me. This struggle between players directly relates to my next point - interaction.
In EVE, whether you are aware of it or not, you are constantly dealing with other players. You are either a product of supply or demand... and in nearly all cases both. Whether you are buying ammo, selling minerals, moving goods to sell for a profit, running agent missions, or camping gates in hopes for an easy kill... it is either directly involving another personà or it will soon.
One nice side effect of constant player interaction is skill. EVE is not a game where you simply find what works against a given mob and repeat it ad nauseam. You are always dealing with players whose skills have been honed against other players. If you want to come out on top in a fleet battle, a one on one engagement, or just inch out ahead in profits... it takes skill. Players may not always be nice, but you can count on them being smart.
ItÆs difficult to explain to people who arenÆt interested in writing (or reading) why some people feel compelled to write. It would be even more difficult for me to explain why I decided, of all things, to write about EVE. I suppose itÆs a way of verifying, for myself, some of what I enjoy about this game. I would hope most people familiar with EVE enjoy these aspects of it as well. If you have never had your pulse rise while camping a gate, worried about your fitted modules while seeing local fill up, madly clicked on a moon while waiting for your ship to blow up, or even competed with others for a tiny profit margin... come to EVE. ItÆs not always easy here, but games for intelligent people arenÆt supposed to be easy.
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* Insert inane 'leetspeak' signature here, or some idiotic picture that wastes bandwidth. *
The Tarsis Shriners |
Acwron
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Posted - 2005.05.11 08:52:00 -
[2]
Great post. The concept of loss really makes it great. Only UO at in its early days had this concept aswell but OSI couldn't get it to work or at least decided not to do so.
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Typherin laidai
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Posted - 2005.05.11 08:53:00 -
[3]
 Originally by: Tovarishch
One nice side effect of constant player interaction is skill. EVE is not a game where you simply find what works against a given mob and repeat it ad nauseam. You are always dealing with players whose skills have been honed against other players. If you want to come out on top in a fleet battle, a one on one engagement, or just inch out ahead in profits... it takes skill. Players may not always be nice, but you can count on them being smart.
Not true.
Mission runners atm (not for long  ) mission runners (probably at at least 50% of the players) do the same thing Over and Over again ..
other than that.. gd post 
Typherin LaiDai
Typherin LaiDai Care Negotitations Expert level 5
'Give me a position of power and I'l abuse it in an instant' |
Grosvenor Corama
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Posted - 2005.05.11 08:54:00 -
[4]
Quoted from the duplicate thread.
Originally by: Vel Kyri
Nicely said.
I have to agree with you - the risk of loosing makes winning possible.
if the enemy doesn't loose anything, how can you win? In eve it is possible to win - sortof.
I still long for those old days when there was no insurance. When they introduced the 40% insurance to all it was astounding... and now i've read some complaints about people wanting MORE insurance. With insurance as it stands, its very hard to really hurt an enemy - they just keep on coming.
The harsher they make the death penalty, the more they will be rewarding those organised players with good corps, and the more important it makes the "carebears" (hate the term) who do all that industry.
If anything, the industrialists and market people should be calling for a nerf to insurance more than the PvPers
sorry about my rant... i'll stop now.
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lythos miralbar
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Posted - 2005.05.11 08:59:00 -
[5]
Dont think anyone could have put it better.. very nice post and indeed it describes for alot of people what makes eve great.
Quote:
ItÆs not always easy here, but games for intelligent people arenÆt supposed to be easy.
100% spot on
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Graelyn
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Posted - 2005.05.11 09:04:00 -
[6]
Great post.
Minister - Public Affairs
AEGIS MILITIA
ATCR Forums |
ollobrains
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Posted - 2005.05.11 09:29:00 -
[7]
im just addicted to the game lol. Keep up the good work and wlecome back older players
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Crato
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Posted - 2005.05.11 09:39:00 -
[8]
great post :-)
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MOS DEF
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Posted - 2005.05.11 11:37:00 -
[9]
Really, really great post. I think you summed it up pretty well.
I left eve 2 times now and went ot another MMO. I allways came back.
Everytime i play a new MMO i seem to compare it to eve and i allways come to the conclusion that eve did it right.
This game has a so great concept that a few tweaks (some may call em nerfs) wont change if i have fun or not.
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Rod Blaine
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Posted - 2005.05.11 11:45:00 -
[10]
Good post, pity that a big part of the recently enlarged playerbase did not come to Eve with understandiong of it's basic premise of possible loss.
_______________________________________________
Yes yes, blogging is passÚ I know.
Rod's Ramblingz on Eve-Online
Solutions to your issues. |
IamBen
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Posted - 2005.05.11 11:48:00 -
[11]
I agree, the concept of loss is what makes this game so enjoyable.
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Gerome Doutrande
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Posted - 2005.05.11 11:57:00 -
[12]
good post.
welcome back.
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Ezri
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Posted - 2005.05.11 12:00:00 -
[13]
Edited by: Ezri on 11/05/2005 12:00:50
Few games can give the same rush I get when doing agent running in low sec space, knowing all the time there is (pirate) trouble in the sytems ahead. Even when you lose your ship it's always worth it.
No game can beat EVE in that respect. Not untill EVE2 that is.
Ez.
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Seleene
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Posted - 2005.05.11 12:04:00 -
[14]
Excellent post and spot on!
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T2 Weapons Testing in progress! Volunteer today! |
Dahins alt
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Posted - 2005.05.11 12:35:00 -
[15]
at last a shriner that knows of is history!
You should teach your newcomers of your heritage, because we as maza have the lullabies of tzatzikias and all the arctic mudders to remind us why we have to wardec you soon(tm) 
Now I gotta go smoke some of that cute green stuff and be combat-ready...
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Dahin
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Posted - 2005.05.11 12:36:00 -
[16]
Doh... my untracable alt was preselected in the reply
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Droidster
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Posted - 2005.05.11 13:02:00 -
[17]
Allow me to translate the poster's twelve-paragraph dissertation:
[activating translatoron.... beep beep beep]
I'm addicted !!!!!! pant... pant... pant...
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I am motivated by various things, mostly ISK. |
Tyrannas
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Posted - 2005.05.11 13:19:00 -
[18]
Best...post...ever
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Smacktalking pirates from before you were born (yup 1647 :P) |
Sanaen Eydanwadh
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Posted - 2005.05.11 13:20:00 -
[19]
welcome back
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H0ot
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Posted - 2005.05.11 13:39:00 -
[20]
Great post, I remember the Shriners from my Mordred pre-ToA days. Good bunch of players, I didn't even realize they moved to EVE.
(\_/)
(O.o)
(> <) This is Bunny. Copy Bunny into your signature to help him on his way to world domination. |
ElCapitan
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Posted - 2005.05.11 14:46:00 -
[21]
ArcticMUD ruled. If you think geting ganked and losing stuff is hard in this game, go play that one. Nothing like losing battle there and losing a bunch of items which are limited to 1 per whole playerbase or having one of those expire on you and "decay".
I myself played arctic for 6-7 years begining 1996 and remember shriners quite well, geting killed by them and fighting against them. Eve is the only other online game that i got hooked on like i did on Arctic....
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Aodha Khan
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Posted - 2005.05.11 14:59:00 -
[22]
Edited by: Aodha Khan on 11/05/2005 14:58:55
Originally by: Acwron
Great post. The concept of loss really makes it great. Only UO at in its early days had this concept aswell but OSI couldn't get it to work or at least decided not to do so.
Yes, UO and Eve. The only 2 online games to keep my attention for over 6 months. Eve since beta and UO for 5 years.
So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. |
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