Making Your Own Goals

A three post series exploring the new player experience in Eve Online.
1. The Most Important Commodity in New Eden
2. Making Your Own Goals < You are here. 
3. New Player Choices

After almost two years of playing Eve I think I have finally figured out what it is I like doing the most, blogging and reading about the game. I like to trade and do industry but that's not what keeps me coming back.

I was reading in the new player forums, a few days back, when someone committed to a new players plea why won't any one do XYZ with me, you have to look at Eve as a simulator the poster replied. I find this statement to be very profound. Eve is a simulation game where you have elements of creation and destruction based in real time with real players. Yes there are some NPCs floating around but their functions are limited to a few basic game play elements.

What this poster needed to understand, as a new player, is to play in the simulation you are required to create your own goals based around this cycle of creation and destruction. If you want to play with others, as this new player did, you better convince them that your goals are more important or just as important as others goals(which in this situation they weren't, the poster wanted to go gank some players for blowing up his T1 frigate).

The truly unique aspects of the Eve simulation are its single shared server, nearly complete player run economy and lack of other MMOs theme park style progression. With a single shared environment butterfly effects, like those mentioned in this promotional trailer, become reality day in and day out. When people make mistakes or forget to pay bills big things happen and they impact everyone.

The point being it is your goals as a player that are important that drive the simulation that shape the sandbox nature of Eve. So as you begin playing Eve set some goals and learn how to use the mechanics of the simulation find creative and out of the box ways to achieve them.

This is a follow up post to:
The Most Important Commodity in New Eden