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EVE Online: Eve Online Survivor Guy Part Eight
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Today, MMORPG.com EVE Survivor Guy Adam Tingle wraps up his eight week journey into the universe of New Eden.
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Survival is tough--especially in space. Eve Online is a game of depth and mystery, one wrong step and you will find yourself on the wrong side of a laser turret; go into this game unprepared and welcome a myriad of confusion and tender despair. My mission was simple; survive in Eve Online for eight weeks and report my trials and tribulations. I knew this would be hard but still I was unprepared. This is Eve Online Survivor Guy.
Week Eight: The Finale
On accepting this task of surviving in Eve Online for eight weeks I knew I had a difficult time ahead of me. As an avid fan of anything massive or multiplayer I know of Eve Online as a game spoke of in hushed tones. Forum dwellers illuminate visions of danger, time consuming adventures and cut throat piracy; veterans of the game simply stare into the middle distance, broken, distrusting of outsiders and always alert; finally are the anticipation ridden new comers; people of excitement, courage, adventure- these are the unwitting first line landing on Omaha Beach; the games cliff faced learning curve is the metaphorical machine gun bullet puncturing through the flesh of the unknowing- only a few will survive- jaded, hardened, ready for New Eden.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
I can totally relate to this series of articles that you have posted. I decided to try Eve after hearing about how awesome it was and repeatedly seeing the little advertisements popping up on MMO sites that I visit, indluding this one.
My initial entry was much like yours. I entered the game and was hit with a wall of information and confusion. It felt like I had to read a dictionary before I could leave home base, which just wasn't why I play MMOs. I tried to do a few of the tutorials and then found myself at a space station, docked and sitting. I would then log in a few times a day, look around for information on various things, read the chat for a while and then log off, never even having left port. I followed this routine for around 4 to 5 days before coming to the conclusion that this game just wasn't for me. There were a lof of helpful people, but the learning curve was astronomical and I was warned that wandering out blindly into space was the worst thing I could do.
At the end I just said screw it and blasted out into space to see what I could find. I quickly discovered that space is HUGE and I was hopelessly lost. I had no direction, no idea where to go, no idea what there was to even be seen, and no idea how to really even play.
That was when I signed off for the last time.
Currently playing:
Rift
Played:
SWToR, Aion,EQ, Dark Age of Camelot
World of Warcraft, AoC
Cool story, bro. (Sorry, couldn't resist).
I enjoyed reading your survivor series, despite the first few entries being a bit.. long winded.
I've been getting to grips with EVE (again) myself the past few weeks, it's been a daunting experience but I can firmly say I'm at ease with it now and have a sense of purpose.
Look forward to your future articles.
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
I'm glad to hear that you're still excited about Eve after 8 weeks! I've been playing for several years, but remember how overwhelming the game can be when you're starting out. I think you pointed out the key - if someone tells you what to do, you're going to resist... but it sure helps having Corp mates who can bring you along and teach you the mechanics.
Now come on out to 0.0 and let's see how well you survive in MY space :-)
You've only begun to discover New Eden - when we got sick of running missions, my corp moved to low sec and learned to live again. We did alright there, grew our numbers, and joined a 0.0 alliance. When I tired of that, a bunch of us set up shop in a wormhole and grew fabulously wealthy over 5-6 months. We tried Faction Warfare (and got even more wealthy) before heading back to 0.0 with carriers full of PVP ships. There are a lot of fun things to do in the game, so if you're ever growing restless all you need to do is change up your play style.
Good luck, and see you in the game!
Hey Thaiboxermik, what corp you in? Are you guys recruiting? I've played off and on since beta. Well more off than on. So I have 33mil skill points but still feel like a noob. All i've really done is mine and missions. But I read the magazines and watch the tutorial videos so i'm brining myself up to speed.
Tribes 2 is back!!!! http://www.tribesnext.com/
And from the makers of tribes: Fallen Empire: Legions http://www.instantaction.com/
But that was more an epilogue than (I feel) a worthy last article, with the same exact thing said over but in a different way in like three (or was it four) paragraphs.
I feel it was a anti-climatic ending to a really great series of articles.
But with the negatives I felt towards the last one, I would like to say thanks for sharing your up and downs in EVE.
"I understand that if I hear any more words come pouring out of your **** mouth, Ill have to eat every fucking chicken in this room."
Personally, it took me almost a year and a hald to actually "get into" and "find my place" in New Eden. And I still have much to experience.
Its been interesting reading, but I skipped over this entry as it was more a goodbye post than a blog shame but the high standards of the previous 7 weeks make up for it.
Its been a great read, and has stood out amongst the dross often published, I hope you continue to enjoy your game for a long time.
Thanks for the insight, I wont be playing Eve, but the insight into the game its flaws and its beauty were very nice.
Hmmm. I'm not really sure what the others expected from the final week's entry.
Yes it was kinda epilogish (is that a word?) but unless something extraordinary had happened during that final week, simply recounting a repeat of week seven would have been redundant and anti-climatic. Perhaps if he had found his corporation at last in week eight instead of in an earlier week, or stumbled into and joined an epic battle, or even tried some exploration and miraculously found his first wormhole, then the final entry could have and should have been written in the same manner as weeks one through seven.
Given the circumstances - week eight was more of the same as week seven, nothing worthy of recounting again but still fun and exciting for him and his mates - I thought this blog was a nice way to recap, summarize, and reflect on his survival in EVE as a newbie, which he did admirably - he stumbled through the first few weeks trying to find direction, was given and used advice as best he could, hit the wall and found a way past it, gained a corporation where he felt at home and made friends, got excited about the game and set for himself some longterm goals, found his niche for the foreseeable future and will by all likelihood be playing for a long time... he survived.
Well written series Survivor Guy!
I for one am going to miss them. Cya out there perhaps, hopefully as friends, but if not, I swear I won't kill your pod (you believe me don't you? Be sure to return the favor if you manage to get the drop on me. 
).
~ Adder ~
Quick, Silent, Deadly
Cheers mate welcome to the few the worthy the EVE elite
WTF podded again?
I hope you continue your adventures in the world of EVE after your "survival training" is done. I was attracted to the game because of the sheer freedom! You can do whatever you want, no matter what it is (unless you just want to harrass other people). I myself have run a successful corporation for the last 2 years. I've gone from being an empire noob to being in a great nullsec alliance and getting really good at PvP. EVE has never terrified me but the excitement and enthusiasm has never died for me since i started in 2004. I am an EVE lifer and as long as this game is running CCP will have my credit card
Remember, your limitations and experiences in the greatest MMO ever are only limited by your imagination! I did find piracy a bit on the boring side though. Nullsec is where the real fun is and unlike what most people have heard, it really isn't that bad. I've lost more ships and had more problems living in low sec than 0.0 I hope you get out there and give it a try, that's where the real ISK and adventure is.
Just remember one thing Adam, from this three-year veteren:
Yours is the laser that will Pierce the Heavens! Your laser is the heart of your soul, as my missiles are the heart of mine.
And trust me when I say this: after the two year mark, when you look back, you will smile at the wild ride you have had, and all of the experiences that bursting fourth onto the sceen has caused.
Enjoy your unending life
-tankus2
Nice conclusion to an entertaining and well-written series of articles. Where next for the survivor guy?
I think that the problem with some SciFi-based RPG/MMO space is it's very easy to make huge, and this goes all the way back to Elite and other space trader games. But, a limitation of the approach is that at some point or other a lot of players will feel that aspects of the game are a bit RNG, i.e. no real game design, but merely there by computational variables. To some that is the ideal sandbox, while to others merely an indicator of lack of actual game.
I thought the news article pretty accurately sums up the experience of a starting EvE player, either you get into it or you don't, but it is a real long-haul with a very steep learning curve. I was curious, though, about the survival guy having thoughts about feeling like a woman while playing? I guess hard-core RP might be the best way to go with EvE, if you can look past the games deficiencies early on it might make you more likely to complete the long-haul journey that EvE currently is.
Probably one of the worst articles I have attempted to read in quite a while. A great writer this person is not.
They could have condensed that garbage into one paragraph and actually talked about what you learned instead of spending innumberable paragraphs attempting to show your command of the English language.
That is exactly how not to write a conclusion article.
The article was torture to read.
I'd have to agree
wasn't that informative at all
just platitudes
LOL, as if you two could do better.
Article was fine as a conclusion to a human interest piece, we're not talking about a FOX News documentary here.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I guess that means bloggers are not journalists afterall.
That's kind of a shame. The thing that repelled you is what thrills and entices others - the idea of a huge universe where you have to discover for yourself what's going on and how to master your fate. Still, at least you gave it a try, and props for that.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
Nice set of articles Adam, thanks for taking the time to write them up.
If you consider that piece of wordy nonsense "fine" you have a completely distorted sense of what good writing is all about. I was going to quote several passages where he endlessly repeated himself except that there were more than several and I did not want to take up a lot of screen space for what is blatantly obvious.
I showed the piece to a friend who is an editor and he completely agreed with me,
Well I can relate to the author as far as the EVE learning curve goes, and the sheer frustration of trying to "get it". My character must be about 4 years old now and I've rejoined and left the game more times than I can remember. I've never got to the stage where I felt like I was finally progressing or having fun. I'm certainly glad he did and it makes me want to try again.
Excellent story and I really did love all first 7 parts of it but sure the 8th part was a bit short and not as good as the first parts but still I agree with the conclusions that you put forth. In short I loved the piece and look forward to hear more from you later on.
Please wright some more about what happens when you try for your ambitious goals
I have been playing EVE for some years and have 50-70 mil SP atm but I really do not know it all in here and even suck at some parts of it. But I love the game as much as when I started way back and look forward to interplanetary industry, even fighting on the ground later on.
Good luck to you and if I meet you in game later on then good luck to you also even if I am mostly peaceful pilot.
Howatch Johalla
The OP did a great job making mission running and mining seem interesting.
To the people criticizing the OP, its a internet blog. Get over it.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Interesting read. I always like to read new users experiences to a game I've been playing now over 7 years. While there are definitely steep trials and tribulations early on, I miss that part of EVE. Someone mentioned leaving the station for the first time and being bewildered. That was what was exciting to me.
After years in the game, the thing that draws me back is my old corp mates. I've taken a few extended breaks from the game, and I don't invest the sheer number of hours I used to, but I still like to log in and see my ugly toon in the station. The expansions have added enough to make me feel like a n00b again, but in the end it's window dressing. There isn't much they have added that changes the game completely, and I guess it's a good thing.
If anyone takes anything out of this, EVE is an excellent sandbox game and offers years of exploration, but for most pilots, it's only worth it if these things are done as a team. I do break off from corp life once in a while to explore my own niches, but I inevitably always end up back with corp to exploit the game with friends.
Cheers,
Fantus