Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Beauty is Skin Deep

I logged on last night to several corp members being online, including one I only vaguely recognized. I guess before the holiday break we got a few new members. It will be interesting to see how long they last—we’re not exactly the easiest bunch to get to know, and our corp is not a very interesting atmosphere for a spy.

I’ve been reluctant to write lately. I can tell you of countless times when I sat down, staring at the blinking curser, unsure what to say. Not that I don’t have plenty to say—but my writing filters have been running full time lately. No Susan, you can’t say that in public. No Susan, you can’t call that dude an idiot, he has a lot more resources by which to crucify you. No Susan, you’re totally going against the Eve blogosphere grain and will probably get strung up by your toenails for saying that.



I travelled half way across the country to visit my brother for holiday. It was my first exposure to some non-mmorpg gaming. Yeah, for a gamer chick I don’t really get out much. We fired up the xbox for some Modern Warfare 3, and I was instantly hooked. I logged into this thing called ‘Live,’ selected what kind of game-play I wanted to try at the moment, and was instantly dropped into the heat of pvp battle.

It was 15 minutes of adrenaline rushing focus as I tried to figure out how to maneuver, how to keep enemies from coming up from behind and blowing my brains out, how to switch guns, how to find my way around, how to detect enemies crouching around and effectively target them.

It was a nice break from Eve—from sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for people to undock, or waiting for a big enough fleet to form up to take on the enemies bigger fleet. A nice break from logging on to an empty or afk corp chat, or an apathetic militia. A nice break from spending large amounts of time for what ends up usually being very little reward.

“But Susan,” you say, “Crucible is here. You should be jumping for joy and celebrating with everyone else at its gloriousness.”

I want to be happy, but I cannot get beyond the stark truth that Crucible is just a few breadcrumbs thrown to us by CCP to appease the growing unrest and dissatisfaction of a very addicted player-base. The pretty sky is nice, but it doesn’t affect my gameplay. The new ships are okay, perhaps I will get a few and throw them into my growing hanger of dusty vessels to rust with the rest of my enthusiasm.

MMOs, and games that run on subscriptions in general have a pretty hard road to follow. They need to create an environment where players want to come back again and again. It’s not like a game you buy off the shelf for one price and play until you ‘win’ it. Because of this, MMOs need to provide places to go, new levels and experiences to reach.

For the longest time, Eve could achieve this by adding bigger ships that required better trained skills and larger quantities of ISK. The ‘vets’ now had something new to go for. Then they added new game features such as wormholes and faction war. All of a sudden there was something completely new in Eve to explore.

And then they hit the brick wall they called Crucible. Sure, having a new ship or two to fart around in will keep me interested for a couple more days. Pretty space kept me interested for a couple more hours. Throw in a few more days for all the other little tweaks and patches.

And then what? How is a player like me supposed to keep up my interest? Someone who has so many skillpoints the only thing left to train are month+ long skills that give me a pittance of a bonus that I’ll rarely use? A player who has tried every type of game-play, and has been waiting for something new to spark additional interest? Do you expect me to kill the same people over and over again, take the same systems over and over again, hear about the same alliances over and over again and expect me to continue to be interested?

There is nowhere for me to go. Nothing new to be conquered. Nothing new to battle through or learn, nothing new to achieve, nothing. Nothing but a few trinkets that I will soon get tired of.

There is nowhere for me to go.

10 comments:

  1. It sounds like you're complaining about 2 things

    a) FW
    b) Player created content

    To a) I would say .. see how it gets iterated on. For b) ... well, things change, they always do.

    You're obviously mixing this up with a general "burned out" feeling, too. Take a break?

    Games like you mentioned are fun, yes, but one tires of them very rapidly.

    No chance could I have played TF2 for hundreds of hours, but I can with eve.Yet, TF2 is infinitely more "pick up and play."

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  2. Well that was depressing. But realistic and honest all at the same time. First of all, if you really feel that way go do something else. I would never want to spend my time doing something that elicits such strong negative feelings, especially something totally voluntary. Game play should be enjoyable imo.

    I recently took three weeks off from Eve and I still haven't totally gotten back into it yet. I find these mini-vacations really help. But that's me.

    The ultimate realization is this, it isn't Eve's fault how you feel about it. Eve isn't going to fix that for you. So, either you can come to your own terms with Eve or you can't. Over the years I've seen many friends come and go from the game and I've said the same thing to each of them. If you aren't enjoying it, then stop doing it. It isn't worth it.

    I hope you can come to terms with it and continue of course. But it is perfectly understandable if you can't.

    Best of luck to you either way and keep the courage.

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  3. Wow.. talk about being hit by a brick ;) Like Rixx said, this is not CCPs fault to be totally honest. You been playing this game for a long time and you like me are PVPers. We got Nullsec or Lowsec to play in and there is a limit to the sandbox and i think you just hit it.

    I tested Star Wars last week and been playing WoW before that.. but there is no MMO like EVE out there.. not even close to the sandbox we got. It might be fun for a couple of days.. maybe even couple of weeks/months.

    Questions is.. what do YOU want..what could CCP do to make you happy? Fixing lowsec or nullsec would be a good thing but would it help that much? The reality is that there is a limit to the sandbox..

    So as Rixx said.. i think you need a break. Then when you come back you should probably try to find a new corp or alliance or what ever and meet new people and get that good feeling back.

    I know when you hit that wall of the sandbox.. you stand there and you want more.. you need a better fix.. but dammit.. there is none.. EVE is like a drug.. the drug stays the same but your need for it will change and at some point you will be almost be immune against its effects but then you stay off for a while and then you get that sweet kick again.. lol.. this is getting to deep now..and i might want go get drugs soon..

    I hope you will find you way..

    Fly safe

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  4. The game is fine. Plenty of people are enjoying it.
    I've been playing for a bit more than a year now, and EVE is the best game I can play at the moment. I enjoy every moment.

    Your situation isn't unique though; you've lost interest in the game. You feel like you no longer have a purpose inside the game.

    The solution is simple; switch to a different game or change the way you play the game.

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  5. I was in your shoes, and then I started playing with a group of people I actually knew. Sure, you make some awesome connections on games and really get to know them via Teamspeak, but it's a lot different and awesome being able to hit the bar with some buddies, then come back for some The Old Republic, or Left 4 Dead, etc. Most of my EVE comrades are online acquaintances, but for TOR beta and BF3, i play with some real friends. having a game night really keeps the fun in the game-just an idea. for all i know you may already practice this. hope you find something to rekindle your interest in the game!

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  6. It sounds like you're where I was about a year ago. Take a break. Do something else with your time. Play some other games (I'm working through Skyrim and Arkham City at the moment).

    It does a body good to get away from EVE for a while. Even just to watch from the sidelines. There will always be a part of you that loves this game, you just need to give it a rest for a while.

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  7. Welcome to me when I was last in FW.

    How did I solve it? Short answer - I didn't.

    When isk stops mattering, you have the skills and SP to properly fit and fly EVERYTHING, and you've done almost everything in the game - ensure that you do JUST THAT.

    I'm not sure if you're quite on the same level of isk or skills....but I have set myself a condition on if/when I'll leave the game(not gonna elaborate but prob not hard to guess).

    I pick a different ship class or ship and try flying it. Recently I flew only recons in fleets, then only logistics. I've been using drakes and myrmidons for solo/small gang losec roaming.

    My shiny toys are just that - toys. I have a ragnarok and it's expensive? SO fucking what..its just a game and if I feel like bridging myself for 2 character hotdrops oh well. Same goes for dropping it randomly on subcaps.

    Step back, release it's just a game, and even if you don't think you'll like it - try different ships and playstyles - and ABUSE THE FUCK out of anything you find fun (esp if its expensive - the rush can be a bit bigger even tho u know it's just space pixels).

    Intentionally do stupid stuff...this phrase gets tossed around a lot: "live like you were dying" - do that in eve. Throw ships into fights you know you cannnot possibly win - fly random ships with stupid(or out of the box) fits. It's all just internet spaceship pixels and if you're near where I am, try to experience everything you can.

    Also - I'm not sure how tight your corp is, but there have been times where the only reason I didn't quit was because I didn't want to let my friends/corp down. Half the reason I play eve now is for the people and connections I've made during my crazy time in it.

    That is what has kept me going in this game despite being VERY :bitter: about it for a while. Take all the risks you can, and do stuff noone else dares to do and you CAN squeeze out a few more months. =D

    DNGIAF - Do Not Give A Fuck - Best motto to live by :)

    -Lord's Servant

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  8. I find having a steam account with a couple of decent games on it helps with the burnt out feeling.
    Myself I have been playing a lot of Total War recently because I am finding things a little slow in low sec but this keeps me from burning out completely.

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  9. you obviously just need to fly with me more since i am awesome. vOv

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  10. Yes Susan, you can say that in public.

    Yes Susan, you can call that dude an idiot, as long as you can substantiate it. And idiots need to be called idiots once and a while. Keeps us idiots humble and gives us perspective.

    And if you get strung up by your toesnails for totally going against the blogosphere grain, wear each attempted crucifixion as a badge of honor. A blogosphere full of group-think is a dull blogosphere.

    The down-side of all PvP all the time, sans any larger meaningful goal or activity, is the sort of burn-out you seem to be feeling. As you point out, there are a finite number of ways to make things explode.

    The lads above are right in that an Eve vacation is often a good way to recharge the batteries and come back to the game refreshed, happily podding your fellow capsuleer with a will.

    If after that you still find New Eden a dull and colorless place with nothing new under the sun, it might be time to take all the knowledge you've acquired and play the game within the game.

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