GrokBlog

Something funny happened on my way to starting up a new character. I had rolled up a brand new Gallente Female and ran her through the various new start up missions, when something occurred to me. This isn’t the same old EVE, where I could quickly roll up a mining/manufacturing based character that would immediately surpass any other combat based character in terms of mining and manufacturing. I’m basically starting from zero here, and if that’s the case, I can do the same on my old combat based character and I’ll still have the 3 mil SPs I’ve already invested in him should I change my mind. So I dug up my old username and password and revived Grok Enders’mark.

When I logged in, I was in a hauler full of mission loot, about 15 jumps from the last Lvl2 mission agent I had been using. So I undocked and headed for home, 2 jumps in I realized I was still in the Corp I had joined briefly before quitting… and we were at war. Seconds later my hauler was gone, seconds after that, I was podded for the first time. I didn’t lose much, and I put absolutely no fight whatsoever. I had never been in a Corp with an active wardec, so I hadn’t taken any precautions when hauling my boat load of junk. Lesson learned.

I wanted to make a clean start of it, and I was in the corp so briefly before I quit that I hadn’t made any friends, so I decided to quit the corp and go back to an NPC corp while I get a better feeling for what I want to do. I spent much of the afternoon reading and researching as well as a little mission running.

After my initial post to this blog Stetin mentioned how important it was to have a goal in mind for my character. So after some research and consideration I’ve decided to try out exploring. Unknown sites seem like a good place to start, as my character already has decent combat skills, but perhaps I’ll eventualyl mov eon to wormhole space if the opportunity presents itself. I’ve decided to target a Helios for this as I prefer it’s design over the Minmatar Cheetah.

So I finally have some direction, an EVEmon plan and an overall goal.

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I’ve played EvE since beta, way back in 2003. At the time I was still in the midst of playing EnB which was my first MMO, and was looking forward to the yet to be released SWG.

I loved the screenshots I had seen for EVE. The ship designs and atmosphere looked far ahead of their time, and nothing could compare to their beauty. Everything seemed incredibly cartoony in comparison. But what impressed me most was the UI. At the time I was just getting my own web design business off the ground and I was a sucker for tiny legible fonts (known as pixel fonts) and faux widescreen, cinematic design. EVE had that in spades. I couldn’t wait to play, and I was certain this would be the most incredible game ever developed.

Like a lot of people I didn’t last long once I got in game. Where were the missions/quests? Where were the roaming MOBs I needed to kill for XP? Where was the loot? What was the point? This wasn’t just a sandbox, it was a barren desert, and I had no fucking clue what I was supposed to be doing or where it was I should be going.

Since then I’ve kept up with EVE’s progress. From time to time I would start up a trial and play for a week or two, just to soak in that incredible atmosphere and feel the cold solitude of space. But each time I would find myself getting a bit bored and frustrated with doing repetitive missions. Uncertain of what I was investing my time in. Each time I would run back to my old standard, World of Warcraft.

I don’t blame EVE or CCP for my inability to get into the game. They had a vision for EVE that relied on the players to be inquisitive and self-starting. As much as I’d like to say that I’m that type of gamer, I’m really not. I got sucked into WoW because there was a kind of security in knowing that I was being led through the game  to the places I needed to be. No matter what I did or where I went I was certain that I would be rewarded with loot and adventure. I didn’t need to think too hard or exert any great effort in order to have fun and that suited me fine.

These days I feel a bit different. WoW requires too much of my time and effort in order to have fun. There are daily quests I must keep up with, achievements to work on and rep to grind. Raiding is really the only end game and that comes with a scheduled time commitment and an obligation to min/max your characters to ensure they do the maximum DPS possible. All of these requirements simply don’t mesh well with my current lifestyle. I commute 3 hrs a day for work. I have a young daughter and a wife that i like to spend time with. The free time I have left simply isn’t enough to allow for raiding and so I quit WoW about 2 months ago.

Since then I’ve wandered from game to game. I’ve played LOTRO, AOC and WAR. All good games, but none have managed to keep my attention for more than a few weeks. There are some promising new games on the horizon. Jumpgate Evolution looks like it has potential and Champions Online also looks like it may be a winner, but both of these are at least a few months away.

The question remains, what should I do with my gaming time? EvE is always worth another shot, but what can I do to make the experience more compelling this time around? I’ve never tried the mining/manufacturing angle before. I was a weaponsmith in SWG and I enjoyed the hell out of it until it turned into a part time job with all of the real world obligations and none of the real world rewards. As a twist, maybe this time I can blog about my experiences. I’ve tried starting up a blog a couple of times, but after a couple of weeks I would struggle to find topics to write about and the blog would fizzle out.  But maybe a blog with a very focused topic is something that will keep me interested.

So here I am. About to start yet another EVE trial, but this time with a bit of a twist and a more focused objective.

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