Wednesday 26 November 2008

Blog Banter 2 - November 2008 Edition

It's time once again for a few lines from everyone who is participating in the Eve blogging community to get their voices heard on a specific subject - i.e. its time once again for blog banter.

This months question asks: What drew us into EVE, what keeps us playing the game and what brought us back if we've ever left?


All 3 points seem to apply to me (having left and come back), so I'll answer them all in sequence.

1) What drew me in? I'd have to say it was a desire to have a good Scifi based game that reminded me of Elite / Frontier after finding one or two 'Elite Clones' just couldnt capture the vastness of space that I was used to with that. Along with the fact that a fair few of my WoW playing friends also played Eve gave me some people to ask for their opinions on the game, and also good starter pointers when I did get there. I can remember going to a friends house on our yearly get-togethers and seeing the game, listening to Eve Radio in the background and just generally liking the look of it. I really liked the 'train whilst offline' approach to skilling up, since I was still in WoW at the time as well, and didn't really want to get involved with 2 sets of boring repetative grinds.

2) What keeps me here... It's still a question I struggle to answer. After all, I've not logged in except to change skill training over for the best part of 3-4 days now, but the thing that keeps me interested is the potential. I love the idea of everything being player-ran where possible, the politics involved, the way that someone completely random can become a big figure in the community. I've not felt anything like that since the last 'open world' game I played - Ultima Online.

I like to keep in touch with friends too, but except for one guy who has recently returned, all my old WoW buddies have left Eve to never return shortly after I left last time (about a year and a half ago now) so I lost touch with friends there, and to compound the issue, I recently left the corp I had been in since I started in Eve because it was coming more and more deserted as time went on, and I found that I was finding less and less reason to log in. I joined Eve Uni about a month ago now to try and rekindle my love of the game, teach those newcomers who want to learn and generally make some new friends.

Unfortunately, I have to say I'm struggling with that at the moment, everyone in Eve Uni is civil for certain, but I'm struggling to find the cameraderie I had with my old corp, since Eve Uni is all about people who could leave at short notice, and only long term residents tend to get to know each other - especially those who do make friends all tend to leave together, so unless you can get into a 'clique' its hard to get well known. Add to the fact that no one ever openly reveals information in there due to the constant threat of spies, it's hard to get to sit down and just chat with people to get to know them. I'm hoping with time, I can find the same feeling with Eve Uni that I used to feel when I logged in during the good times with my old corp.

3) What brought me back... I mentioned this on the last blog banter - I was tempted by Ambulation. It was something I had always hoped would come about after it was mentioned before I left last time, and when I noticed that it was on the horizon (after seeing it mentioned on a few gaming forums I visit) the 'hunger pangs' came back. I thought after a year away, perhaps I would give it another go.

There we are - a bit short and to the point I'm afraid for this one, I've been a bit too busy with other things than to concentrate too hard on Eve at the moment, it's always the same near the end of the year, but I hope it's been a nice read for those who are interested.


Participants:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hear what you're saying. Sounds like the corp you play with is a very important part of your game. It is for me too.

Don't be afraid to corp-hop if you are not happy where you are. You will find something you like, and stick there, with a new bunch of people.

Bahamut said...

Good post.

If you're unhappy with your corp, I extend an invitation to the Ushra'Khan.

Anonymous said...

As someone who has read your blog and watched your bleeding carebear heart twist in the winds of boredom and quiet desperation...The Dead Parrot Shoppe is right up your alley.

They are the corp that founded BRUCE, and have some roots in the EVE uni community as well. They are in Gallente Factional Warfare, and they love to talk about how astute and refined they are. They don't pirate or shoot neutrals either, so your soul can remain at peace.

To sum it up, if you must insist on consensual PvP, FOOM is probably your best bet. I find you both equally annoying, but nonetheless hate to see anyone leave this wonderful game over being bored or lacking camaraderie.

Karox Lominax said...

Thanks for the words of encoruagement folks, but I'm not particularly looking to change corp at the moment. If im honest, I'm hoping that once these current set of wars that Eve Uni are in get finished with, it will give me a bit more time to get better set up in there, but either way I'd not be looking to move corp again until at least for another few weeks, between preparing for christmas and the end of year work commitments, find that I'm not really heavily busy in online worlds in any way.

Until then, I'm happy enough staying where I am, and at least fulfilling one of my eve goals, teaching others.