My very first goal in Eve was to figure out how to get my Ibis to a star gate that supposedly connected systems together. I knew nothing about Eve the first time I undocked in the game and blundered my way through that first day. Ah, right clicking. Menus. Gottcha. The game changed a lot once I understood that essential principle. Not much more has changed in the intervening fifteen years - the knowledge has compiled and accumulated - but setting goals for myself inside the game remains an important part of staying motivated.
Find a corporation. An Alliance. Move to Null. Learn PvP. Start a war or two. Find a better corporation. A better Alliance. Learn how to FC. Skill up. Invade. Gather Intel. Learn more skills. Move into Low Sec. Become a Pirate. The list of goals I've set for myself over the years is a long one. I once decided that I wanted to become so good at the "meta" game that I would fundamentally change the entire game without anyone knowing what I had done. I out meta'd the supposed masters of meta. And still, to this day, very few people know. I once set the impossible goal of building the greatest pirate corporation in all of new eden and was told I was crazy. It'll never work. Or how about building a bridge between the creative community and CCP so that artists could legally license Eve IP and sell art? That was a good goal. Took a decade, but there is yet another one we can check off the list.*
Goals. Small ones and larger ones, are what motivate us all. I think it is important to have them. My goals these days are significantly more focused inside of Eve. I am at a point where larger, more meta oriented goals don't interest me like they used to. These days I am much more focused on my craft. And have been for the past few years. I have micro goals that I like to set for myself, like flying a ship I haven't flown for a long time into combat and trying to make it work. Just yesterday I discovered an old Sunesis I had laying around the shop and decided to take it out for a spin. It had probably been sitting there unused for maybe three or four years now, the fit was pretty terrible. But I did manage to snag an Endurance with it. With the help of Phoenix and his Slicer. Those are micro goals and I find them to be extremely useful to help keep Eve interesting and keep me engaged. It is far too easy to fall into boring repetitive traps of our own making. And then complain that we are bored.
For larger goals I try to set stupid milestones that truly don't mean much, but that help set future marks to achieve. For example I noticed a few months back that I was almost to the point where I would soon have 9,000 more kills than losses in the game. So getting there became a larger goal of mine. Yesterday I finally managed to hit and exceed that milestone. So now the goal is to get that gap to the 10,000+ mark. Which, based on current activity levels, should take about six to seven months to achieve. Depending on my loss rate.
Last year I decided one of my larger goals would be to establish regular weekly roams that I would FC each Saturday. And those weekly roams have become something I look forward to holding each week. Participation is really good for those, so hopefully that means that everyone else is having fun as well. We laugh, we have a blast, and I enjoy running them.
Whatever it is that you do inside of Eve, having small, micro, large, or aspirational goals is critical to long-term enjoyment of the game. In my opinion and in my own experience, it is vital. Whatever it is you would like to achieve - set your goal firmly in your mind and set about making it happen. It could be stupid. It could be personal. It can be whatever you want it to be. You don't even need to share it with anyone.
Now to give this new Metamorphosis ship a try. My friend Darkon is leading the game right now with 77 kills and zero losses in one. Damn impressive.
So, what are your goals?
*Parts of this post may or may not be true. :)