Victoria Madison
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Posted - 2003.12.06 06:02:00 -
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I have to agree with John. I've been fortunate to have actively avoided many of the big frustrations of the game so far (laggy combat, JIP camping, CTDs) and have quietly had a good time trying to carve a small amount of ISK out of the EVE Universe.
I've had an interesting experience lately that I'd like to share with everyone. I originally found out about EVE after I played (and LOVED) Freelancer earlier this year. I was SO hopeful that the flight and combat in EVE would be just like Freelancer, only inside a massive universe with thousands of other people flying around.
So I looked at every preview I could find and tried to make sense out of what I read on these boards...and finally figured out that I couldn't really "fly" my ship in EVE. Oh, and combat would be more "tactical" in nature. Oh, and there were bugs...LOTS of bugs.
So I forgot about EVE for awhile. Sure, I checked out the reviews after launch and came back to the boards once or twice...but I pretty much had my mind made up as to what type of game this was, and I was confident that it just wasn't what I was looking for.
Then, for some reason, about three months ago I decided, "What the heck, let me plonk down $20 and give this a shot. If I don't like it, I'll cancel during the first month". Well, my first experience in this game (that I didn't think I wanted to buy in the first place) was spending three hours getting my character portrait "just right"! 
From there, I got sucked in. I endured the painfully out of date manual. I lived through the horrors that came from the last patch. I got stuck (more than once). I learned how to use the Big Map. A nice guy named MattTrader sold me a Tristan for a really cheap price cause I was new.
I looked at the pretty and (sometimes) clever signatures so many people had. I saw sites like EVE-I.com, EVE-DB.com, and EVE-GATE that did SO much to fill in the gaps of the manual and "official" CCP info (biggest kudos to the guides of EVE-I). I saw Heff's Playboy Enterprises and his "playmate of the month" fiction (still mad I never got to be Miss September...all that corp theft controversy spoiled my dreams ).
You see, it simply amazed me how involved people could get with this game...and I felt really happy to be part of all this.
Now for all of you kind enough to read this far, I will finally get to the point. Remember how much I said I liked Freelancer (cause of the sim nature of the flying and combat)? Well someone in another post mentioned a game called X2 that sounded like it was REALLY the answer to my prayers. There was the game I was really looking for! I could trade, do missions, fly and fight with my ship, haul cargo...everything that I can't do in EVE!
So I went to their site and checked out the game. Let me tell you that the experience is nothing like it is here. Everything about EVE is top-notch. The back-story, the website design, the forum design, the people...everything! Everything about X2 just seemed...well...stuck together with bubblegum and bailing wire.
It made me realize just how hard CCP has worked to put this much polish on the game at this point. Look, there are still problems, but we have such a great foundation here! Believe me, I have some bitterness towards CCP (well, towards the forum mods for not following their own rules) but I've come to realize that these guys have put together something nice.
Oh, and if you want to cure any "THE DEVS DON'T LISTEN TO US" feelings (I've felt them before) go take a look at patch review where they talk about the new agent system. Papa Smurf is all over that post. And Zrakor has communicated well regarding agent missions and has been very helpful in the missions forum.
Simply put, I finally figured out how very proud I am to be a member of the EVE Universe.
My thanks to you, CCP. More importantly, thank you to the wonderful members (pirates, carebears, manufacturers, miners, and everybody else) of this unique and dynamic community.
PS: DustPuppy, I think the tag line in your signature is hilarious.
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