My First Day in EVE Online
By LordXavierBritish 31 Comments
WHAT IN THE MOTHER OF FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE
I've been passively interested in EVE for the past year or so, but I never took the plunge because I kept hearing how difficult it is to get into. You hear all these cool stories about corporate wars and back alley espionage however it is surrounded by this impentreable barrier of numbers and graphs that only those most dedicated to dedication will be able to even hope penetrating.
That's the perception anyway.
What i encountered in my first day of EVE is quite the opposite.
First, let's just talk about getting into EVE. After you create your character you are immediately dropped into a ship and the first thing you see is a tutorial. This tutorial teaches you how to navigate space, how to fight, and how to perform various other basic activities in EVE along with giving you some free items to boot. After docking at a station for the first time and figuring out what's all up in there you may notice something else.
Oh what's this at the bottom left side of my screen? It appears to be a chat box.
But this is no ordinary chat box. This is the world's best fucking chat box ever. It's like all the other MMO's out there, it's basically an in game IRC. You put in the channel you want to talk in and boom, viola, you are there. That's not the cool part though, that would be the Rookie channel it is automatically tuned in to. There are actually player volunteers recognized by CCP, along with other regular players, that just sit in there ready to answer questions. I entered a question only to have the exact answer I needed within twenty seconds.
It's fucking great.
Now i've heard, through the grapevine let's say, that joining a corporation reigns in the same benefits of having a veteran support group to call on as well as, you know, fiscal assets. For someone like me though, someone who maybe isn't ready to just toss my loyalty over to whoever is hiring, having this instant support hotline is fucking great.
Did I mention that there is an in-game internet browser as well? The tutorial links you right to a fucking wiki page for extended detail on certain items. Shit is crazy as hell.
But now let's get to the part you all came for.
EVE is actually a fantastic product, you just have to be in the market for it. There really isn't that much difference between EVE and, let's say, a World of Warcraft. The only significant difference is that players govern everything.
Now I did just start playing yesterday, so of course my view is going to be a bit skewed towards the naive, but I think I've gotten the basics of how this world operates. The mechanics are incredibly similar to any other MMO on the market, it's how they are used that make it all seem so foreign. For instance, you still farm. You can go hunt down hostile NPCs, or hunt down other players. You still grind, but you are now grinding your mining laser against an asteroid for resources. You still craft, but now you are crafting goods to trade on the intergalactic market.
Yeah, it goes a bit deeper than that. There are things like territorial control and planet development and shit that I'm no where near getting into, but that isn't the point.
The point is that you don't have to be concerned with teaching yourself those things to enjoy the game.
EVE is a game all about player communication and interaction. if you aren't willing to do that, you are going to fail. Everything you need to know to get you started down a specific line of class development, and I use that term loosely, is readily available to you. You can get everything you need to start building yourself up as a soldier, a miner, an industrialist, or anything else. It's all unscripted, how you make you want to make your riches is up to you.
And make no mistake, this is a game about wealth acclamation. If you aren't doing it for cash, you're doing it wrong.
But to get back on topic, the resources to start down a career path are available to you. You need to use that as a launching pad to get into a corporation, many of which seem willing to accept newcomers with open arms. I think the misconception some people make is that getting into a corporation, or really a guild in any MMO, is going to be difficult if you don't have something of perceived value to offer to a group. This is EVE online though, so you already have something to offer.
Money is power. Resources are power. People are power. Those are the rules of EVE.
When you boot up the game you already have one of the most valuable commodities in the entire game. You. No one is going to conquer the universe on their own. Even if you do get a few trusted allies together and start a corporation you aren't going to get very far unless you have someone to do the dirty work. People need couriers, escorts, miners, scouts, everything and anything you can think of. What people need most are bodies, people to bring in the revenue.
Because bodies are such a vital asset, corporations aren't going to let you go to waste. A lot of them will, upfront, say they will train you in your specific field of interest. You want to mine? Here, buy this ship from us at half the regular price and let use teach you how to get the most out of it. PvP? Even better! Let's take this into private chat and discuss your role on the front line.
Now, once again, I'm speaking somewhat from ignorance here. Perhaps my perception of EVE is slightly more fantastic in it's scope than the reality, but so far it really doesn't seem like it.
What I see in EVE is what so many other MMOs try but repeatedly fail to create. Possibilities. I look at this game, this world, that CCP has created and all I can see are the places I could go and the shit I could get up to. This is a game in which what you do next is entirely up to you. There is no A to B. You aren't being lead from zone to zone, following the ghostly carrot of levels with no real reward.
I chased that carrot once, but then I bit down on it only to get a mouth full of sand.
EVE is just different. Fresh.
It really brings into perspective why all these other MMOs have come and gone over the years. They keep chasing that level train, the WoW train, but to what end? WoW succeeds because it offers up the best perceived reward, but that's because Blizzard is Blizzard. You want to see more of what Blizzard has to offer, you want to exist in that world. When other people step up to deliver that kind of experience, they can't. They aren't Blizzard.
What EVE offers is something tangible. You can own something, something with actual, albeit virtual, worth. In WoW you can have your rare items, but there is always going to be someone with the same or superior gear. In EVE you can own space. You own a part of the actual game world. And not only that, but you own a part of the game world that every other player in EVE can no longer own. The very fact that this piece of territory belongs to you and your corporation means that you've not only made an impact upon your own wealth and resource pool, but you've made an impact on the world. Every person that plays or will play EVE will now exist in a world in which this patch of territory belongs to you. This is your fucking land, and that means something.
Well, that is until someone decides to take it from you.
Now this has all been fun and whatever, but the only reason I even took the time to write this down was because CCP was doing server maintenance.
They are no longer doing server maintenance.
Bai.
