EVE General Discussion

As with many players in eve I have had a long lasting love and hate relationship, a relationship spanning more actual time in game than I ever put into an mmo before in my life.

The best of eve is its sandbox, the worst of eve is also its sandbox, in theory we all love the idea of doing anything we want within the game world but this also means anyone else can do exactly the same and you better believe there idea of fun may not be yours.

Even after three characters and 6 years of play eve still challenges me but for how much longer ?, I am not talking about becoming jaded or seeing nothing else to do, I am talking about the death knell for eve the moment the dev's listen to the whining carebears and make hisec or parts of hisec truley safe..

I myself started as a carebear, mining/pve missions etc, I am not a ganker, not some one who goes in to hisec looking for defenceless people to kill, I prefer my prey to have teeth, to make me fight for my food..but I respect the right of goons to do what they do, of all the people in jita who gank people, of those roving bandits who scan your every ship at gates...

Nothing in eve should be without risk this is not wow, this is not riskless living or riskless pvp, we need no dungeon finder in this game..

Most of the bad things that happen to you in hisec can be mitigated by adapting, using your brain and situational awareness and that trip you made with your bpo's, that mining run, that mission they are all the more sweeter because you succeeded where there was risk..

Recently one of the best pvp events I was part of involved my corp doing some level 4 missions in isikemi, some hisec pirates came in to the mission and tried to get my people to engage, which they did:) we lost a drake and caracal I believe, later on that day my guys refitted there pve ships with points and webs that and me who had jumpcloned back to hisec sitting in my neut domi 1 million km off the next mission, the pirates came in again, we bagged the covert ops scanning alt, then they brought in 2 phoons and an abaddon, battlecoms was called and as my people engaged I warped in at 0 launching my ogres and nueting the hell out of all I could, it was pretty much a draw in losses on both sides but kudos and respect were given:).

Stop trying to turn the game I love in to any other mmo out there please.

Whether in hisec null or low every single one of us playing eve on matter the side should realise a sense of achievement from living, existing and succeeding in a game where risk is part of daily life and for that I bow to you all.

Human nature is too self destructive to operate for very long in a world without any rules.

:)
EvE has never been without rules, my own personal opinion would be drop insurance from agressors in hisec but that is a personal opinion, pvp/risk in hisec should always be part of EVE life, we are all told this when we join the game, sandcastles are amazing and if you manage to finish one before the sea or local youths tear it down then respect to you :)

Sandbox is basicly just a metaphor for non-linear gameplay and a sandbox game is one where you can do most of the activities and content available in any order you wish. Don't try to take the metaphor further than it's intended to go or the denition becomes largely useless for all practical purposes, since you can count all the games that your definition purely applies to with the fingers of your hand.

You shouldn't say "Oh, hisec should be gankable, or there's not enough risk". Meanwhile, the gankers have no risk at all, because they're using alts & being douchebags with Lvl4's.

That, and you don't know what a "Sandbox" is.

OP, you need to paint both sides of the fence before you can call it complete.

Hmm but the fence is up against the wall, a wall build after the fence went up, how can I paint the other side of the fence without taking it down and that seems way too much work.

A sandbox to me is something that allows choice within a box a box full of sand/options/tools a maleable material shaped and changed by everyone who uses the sand, I just do not want ccp to pour cement in to my sand box

Why don't you go play minecraft or something?

Why don't you go flip another ship upside down and call it a new design.. Oh wai...




Iam just kidding.

Why would you ask if EVE is still a Sandbox?

Are they introducing some form of mandatory Linear Game Play that I do not know about?

I mean your OP talks about Hi Sec PvP which has nothing to do with being a Sandbox.

That is an excellent description of what a real sandbox would be, and it shows both its lure and its inherent problems.
Since EVE replaced sand with ore and shovels with starships, players should be able to assemble into groups with a common vision and erect stations, fleets and empires together, establishing a ecology where creative and destractive forces are in balance.

Except that they don't. Since it's easy to discount other's creations as "not real" and thus worthless, too many players embrace questionable rationalisations to behave amorally, unethically and unemphatically. Oh so delicious are the tears of the bereaved, yet they are not really bad because, you see, those others did not lose anything worthwhile, just a bunch of ships in an electronic game.
And so, life in the sandbox would emerge and devour itself again almost instantly.

It falls to the Creators of this box to keep it alive and the works of the creative protected enough from the deprivations of the others to remain somewhat stable. Limited as we are with a laser and some blueprints, we have to rely on more complex provisions in between the sand to thrive. Not so much those who feed on others, but they serve the latter by culling the weak and the stupid, and they would find little enjoyment if not for them.

Part of those "complex provisions" that make and keep life our sandbox both sustainable and worthwhile for all are indestructible stations, concord and NPCs. The better they make them, the more we can imagine we're not actually sitting in front of a pc and neither in a box of sand but as demigods in a capsule between the stars.

Of course, the Creators have not created the sandbox perfect. The need to forever be watchful, lest the balance tips and life threatens to become either stagnant or extinct.

So - is EVE a sandbox. Yes, but there is much besides sand in the box, and there are adults sitting around making sure the childern don't **** it up. And that's not so bad for all of us.