Yesterday I touched a nerve with my post about Eve is Alive! Sorta the antidote version of a negative mantra sweeping the community since dinosaurs walked the Earth - about how Eve is Dying. My point essentially is that yes, of course Eve is Dying, in the same way that you are. In the same way that all things must. Eventually. And that Prophets of Doom are the easiest prophets to be, because eventually (given enough time) they will always be right. It takes ZERO courage to be a prophet of doom and gloom. The real courage comes from taking a stand for what is right. That takes true courage.
I want to expand on that thought and encourage my readers. Yes, Eve will eventually putter off to the great beyond. It will, someday, be pushing up daisies. This will happen sooner or later. As I've said before, I will most likely be there to turn out the lights when it finally does happen. Until then however, let us agree that the end is not nigh. That, in fact, Eve is actually thriving in ways that could not have been imagined only a few short years ago. Because this is a fact.
It is all baggage. Us older players tend to carry around some serious baggage from the olden days. Days when CCP employees were cold, distant, and hidden behind walls of ice. When monster expansions fell from on high. When the search for "Jesus" features was the dominate theme of success. When server's lagged for hours. When the path was confusing, when communication was difficult, and when it seemed that the players lived on the far end of the development stick. Those were dark days. And it is only natural that the baggage we accumulated during those years would linger. It is hard to forget and forgive. It is challenging to let go.
This is, after all, the biggest hurdle a game like Eve faces. As we speed towards the 13th year of Eve its own history becomes a weight around its ankle. A ball and chain that threatens to defeat it, just as it finally enters its own maturity. But the past is dead. The only thing that truly matters is today and the hopes and dreams of tomorrow. And I have to say, I'm impressed.
If you can remove that baggage and clearly look at where we are today, it is rather amazing. There is a staggering amount of content inside this universe of ours, an amount unimagined only seven or eight years ago. A plethora of new spaceships, new activities, new adventures, and an incredible array of possibilities to pursue. Stuff that was only dreamed of before. Is now real. With more rolling out almost on a monthly basis. The machine churns on. If anything the faucet is open wide for the first time in Eve's history. A faucet that is open and willing to listen. To adapt. To change. A complete and utter change in direction from only a few short years ago.
We should be cheering. This evolution is as much ours as anyone. We have player reps on the CSM, we have a vibrant community of bloggers, streamers, podcasters and dreamers. We have an engaged workforce that actually participates on Twitter, Slack and other places were we can engage in conversation. We are together in ways we could not have dreamed of before.
I am a big fan. As a fan I do not always agree with the decisions my team makes, but despite that, I want nothing more than for them to win. To succeed. I may not always agree, and I can be very vocal about it sometimes, but I only do so out of love of the game. A game I actually play. Almost every single day.
I don't have an axe to grind. I just want to encourage. I think you should let go of your baggage and see Eve with fresh eyes. Imagine for a moment that the past is truly gone and you are seeing Eve for the first time. She is a magnificent creation. A frustrating beast of open ended possibilities. A harsh and demanding mistress that will rip your heart out and stomp on it, over and over again. But she is glorious and she has never been better.
For my part, I will be over here in my corner cheering her on. Always ready to defend her, argue with her, and willing to tell anyone that will listen - just how beautiful she can be.
She won't be with us forever. But long may she live.
Comments
It is great to be Rixx Javixx. It isn't that great being anonymous loser #2,308,949.
So stop being a loser... Like Rixxx said without actually saying it... being a winner in EVE is a choice. So CHOOSE to win... when you rage quit or unsub that's also a choice.
EVE and the other players didn't do that to you, you account wasn't hacked, someone else didn't hit the unsub buhtan... You, Mr. Loser #2,308,949... you did.
As for me, I was once anonymous player #47,689. Just like everyone else in Eve. And like everyone else in this sandbox I had the same opportunity every has to forge my own destiny. I am, in so many ways, a great example of how well the sandbox works. As are many, many others.
All I want is to give more people the chance to forge their own path in a game that allows them the chance to do so. Or not.
We know how most EVE players end. They quit, sooner than later. 80% or more players quit soon. I don't dare to call it their fault as EVE is not everybody's game.
Players land on EVE like paratroopers. Some crash on trees or drown in a river. Some just end up in the middle of Panzerdivison IV and are either stomped or adopted as pets.
So no, I don't think there are losers in EVE.
But Eve is not at all random. And it is a mistake to think of it that way. Perhaps that perspective is what ultimately pulls those that stick with it and those that do not, apart?
Long ago a player told me this, that when you realize you are in control is the moment you truly understand what Eve is. I know exactly when that moment happened for me and it is the exact same moment when I stopped being anonymous and took control of my own destiny.
The EVE community pulled me in rather than the game which is I suppose not normal for most games, I do not wish to move on, even though I know the game will do , eventually! But before then I hope to have found a place in space, and I hope to mark it in some way, but eventually I hope to enjoy the game as much as the 'thought of the game' and as much as the 'community of the game'.
I also have noticed as Rixx mentioned in the previous post, a very self destructive vein of players, or at least they voice this (I always suspect that ingame that they are less negative!) I have also commented before on the unwelcoming nature of EVE Online, which partially maintains its cult status but I think is actually far more damaging than need be in the effort to recruit fresh blood, and yes EVE online is quite vampiric in nature and fresh blood is required monthly.
Another eggshell I have crossed is the billing structure of EVE where its P2P nature is sacred but many long time players have such wealth they need not ever subscribe or reduce the cost substantially by converting ingame wealth to gametime via PLEX... Why should the new blood bear the burden of such a brutally difficult to get to grips with game?
I feel that until I find that area of sand to foul I have reservations in paying full whack for a game that is as yet not as rewarding as expected.
Anyways, being anon loser 2 million, like everyone is saying, that's your choice. I'm anon loser 1,999,234 and guess what, Eve is still fun, still engaging, still gets the old ticker going. If you let yourself be dissuaded by crap pointed out by the naysayers, or, alternatively figure out the game is not for you, then YOU are giving up. Eve isn't failing. It's funny because some years ago other people, like P**** and others, said the same thing about Eve. "IZ DYING!"
Well Eve sure died for them, still seems to be people playing it with me. Perspective is everything and super important. If Eve is still fun for me, despite the general grump I am around when I play, then there is little reason that anyone else can't still find reasons to enjoy the game. CCP are trying to improve the game, If you don't like the direction, then peace out. Don't claim that just because you and your 10 best friends are leaving the game that it's all over (boo-hoo-hooo).
It must be nice to be able to see all the same old stuff as though it was new and shiny again. I look around and the last new thing I saw was planets. After that it's simply all recycled stuff that works for the masses, but are still based on tried and tested mechanics.
The game is still gather / build / trade / destroy / repeat until boredom, just with a new coat of paint added on now and then. What it really needs is more people like Rixx Javix who make it actually feel new.
We don't need more new things, we need more new people.
Btw, I wish there were more of me too. :)
Now, does this make me a 'loser'? I'm not sure. Undeniably, I'm a skilled Logi pilot, Scanner and Tackle Pilot. But to you, if I'm not the captain of my fate, I'm your 'loser'.
Now, who's 'right' here? Is there really a 'loser'? Being part of something greater than yourself is, undeniably, an anonymising experience. Is it unsurprising that two players with long solo PvP records and skills reject the idea that anonymity is part and parcel of the game for others?
Still, it is pretty great to be Rixx Javix, pirate king. :P
Rob K.
Rob K.
It's quite like college to be honest... Trying to stay to get the degree (success) so you can be more successful while everything and everyone there is trying to make you go away because they don't want you to get the degree, they only want to get your money (stuff).
And that is all I have ever tried to do.
I just started playing EvE again but only through a trial account mostly because I've been dreading the idea of reactivating my old account and risking getting bored in a matter of weeks.
Your perspective on this great game happens at the right time. It's both enlightening and stimulating.
Indeed, EvE has always been about what players put in. CCP has crafted a wonderful toolbox that is surprisingly resilient. It is up to us to craft great memories through interactions and skilful exploitation of mechanics of the game.
13 years! And yet the game is beautiful as ever and still light years ahead of so many recent titles. It's resilient when so many other games have tried, crashed and burned.
So yes, let's celebrate EvE.
And you know what? I'm jumping back in!
As we've seen, Rixx is clearly very much of an internal locus of control person both in Eve and in (what I've read) of his real life. It also seems pretty clear that some of our commenters here are more external in their locus of control.
stutraffrili