April marks my sixth month of having an Eve Online subscription. It has been a blast learning all about the game. I have to tear myself away from the web every night as I try and absorb ten years of an ever evolving Eve. As Eve Online reaches its 10 year anniversary I can't help but get nostalgic about all the time I spent playing WoW. Why for so long, I ask myself, did I play that game when all the time I could have been playing Eve? Well no taking it back now. I enjoyed my time there.
There is no time like the present and I am soaking up Eve as fast as a I can. Most of all the most exciting thing, for me anyways, is blogging. I should have started blogging about video games a long time ago but there is no time like the present. So here we are moving forward with all the fun games we enjoy playing and I get to post a little something about it now and then and maybe somebody listens and maybe somebody gets to learn a thing or two.
In the end its all worth it no matter what road we travel...
So as my little brother always says "Its not what you play its who you play with that makes the game."
May 1, 2013
Six Months Later and Ten Years have Passed
Welcome to EVE, my fellow pilot! Your post struck a chord with me, as we coming from similar gaming histories. I too played WoW for a long time, almost uninterrupted from it's debut in 2004 until late last year.
ReplyDeleteI've played EVE sporadically since 2009, but never really gave it a fair shake and always found myself back in WoW. I often wondered why that was and I think I figured it out, at least for myself.
I was "conditioned" by the atmosphere of WoW. It was the first MMO I ever played with any degree of commitment. There were even times I played it far too much, potentially costing me in the real world. I got a handle on that though and fixed it. Still though, there'd I'd be several hours a day toiling in WoW. I was primarily an achievement hunter, culminating in my "Insane" title.
Over the years of playing it I got used to something without even realizing it; I was mollycoddled. As WoW progressed and was made more and more "newbie" friendly various features were introduced that made the game "easier." Dare I say, it has gotten to the point of hand holding.
I would sometimes reactivate EVE and give it another go only to end up shutting it back down. It never occurred to me until early this year as to why that was. Simply put, EVE is a cruel mistress and has virtually zero hand holding outside of the career path introduction tutorials.
As one of CCP's higher ups once put, the new player experience in EVE is similar to "Welcome to EVE, now go fuck yourself."
He didn't mean it harshly of course, only that EVE is a cut-throat sandbox where virtually everything goes and if you're going to survive you're going to have to be smart about it.
Over my years of WoW I'd gotten conditioned into having my play experience guided for me, the next destination clearly marked on the map automatically as I progressed a quest or achievement. The ability to do almost whatever I wanted with impunity from other players by refusing to initiate the /PVP command. Little sparkles hovering over my quest objectives, glowing circles on the floor in raids indicating where I should stand. The list goes on, as you know being a WoW player yourself.
I'd once again grow weary of the grind, so there I was trying EVE again. There I was, a fledgling pilot trying to figure out the wide open field of infinite possibility that is EVE. I had no city guard to give me a map marker, no "Quest Helper" addon to guide my path, and no more impunity. It was a stark and cold feeling out in the vastness, and it was both intimidating and wondrous.
I knew that if I wanted to make EVE mine I'd have to stop comparing it to WoW and forget all I'd ever known of how an MMO should be. My hand will not be held here, and every decision I make could mean another trip to the clone vat. This was my new virtual world, and it's like no other. I'd finally figured that out, and it was in that moment of realization that I set my course and haven't looked back.
Cheers, and fly safe!