There is a lot of solid advice out there for Eve Players. "Don't fly what you can't afford to lose" is a classic. Tutorials. Blog posts. Videos. Streamers. Forums. Even Facebook groups. The list is endless and the advice is typically good, solid, and it usually means well. This post isn't intended to invalidate other advice, but I'd like to take a few minutes to point out something that most people tend to overlook. Something that lies at the heart of what it means to be successful at this crazy game.
Eve is a game played in sessions that is only won over time. Classic battles compared to wars mentality. What that time period means for each player is going to vary, but essentially and fundamentally, for you to be truly successful - you can't stop. No matter what. And before I get taken the wrong way here, let me be clear. I'm not saying that everyone who plays Eve needs to play forever. Forever is not a term I'm using. You might play for three months, three years, or eventually - three decades. But no matter how long you decide, or end up, or accidentally end up playing - the advice is critical. Because ALL other advice stems from this one cornerstone. Never give up, never surrender.
Let me use the classic "Never fly what you can't afford to lose" advice as an example of what I mean. Of course you are going to fly something you can't afford to lose at some point in your Eve career. We all do it. And when you lose it, it is going to hurt real bad. You might even be broke. It'll be painful and you won't know what to do next. You might even be mad, salty, or angry enough to post about it on a thread somewhere. And you could be compelled to quit the game and play something else. Unless you remember what the Pirate Lord told you that time you wasted a few minutes reading his blog. Never give up kid.
There have been at least four times in my own Eve career when I considered quitting. Way back when I had finally made my first 10m isk, I spent most of those earnings on three Cormorant Destroyers and the horrible fits for each one. I lost all three in the span of a single session. I was almost completely broke. It was the first time I hit that wall and it almost broke me. Almost.
When I look back at that moment now I think of all the things I've managed to do in this game and in this community and I imagine not having done them. If I had quit, none of them would have happened. But I didn't give up, in fact the lesson of that day still resonates with me today. As do all the other lessons I learned in the twelves years that have passed since that day. I wouldn't trade anything for those past twelves years and the adventures, friendships, and amazing things that have happened since then.
The core idea of Eve is to soldier on. To fight through adversity. To outlast your opponents. To outwit, outplay - to survive. That is the only way you win in a game without winners. Every other piece of advice comes from that truth. And while Eve can be harsh, confounding, and often mean in ways you can't imagine right now - it also cannot defeat you - unless you allow it to. Survival is built right into the mechanics. Pop - reborn. Start over. Rebuild. Get revenge. Change course. Find friends. Destroy your enemies. Hide somewhere. Build something. Whatever you decide to do it is totally in your hands. As long as you keep going.
And sure, someday you might quit. Or you might leave for a time. Things happen. This is not a judgement. It's just sound game advice. The soundest game advice you will ever get.
Keep plugging away. Who knows what might happen next?