EVE General Discussion

The thing that continually delights me about EVE is how my nervous system and I to react to it as if it were RL (Real Life). I'm not alone in this. We slip between fantasy and reality when we play these games. Its so natural, its like the patter of footsteps. Its how we move through that world. Its how we move through this world.

Listen. This is important. We're onto something here. There are implications. And those kind of good things. No, no I mean it. Slow down, stop doing six things at once. You'll be a better player if you can trick yourself into remembering this. The only reason we forget is that we trick ourselves out of knowing it. Oh its a fine joke we play at together we boys and near boys and men who you'd think would know better... But that's not the point. The point is that this is knowledge that can be reclaimed.

You don't want to be a prisoner of your own device now do you?

To the people who say "its only a game." I say, well, of course. But different people have different things at stake as they play different games. Sometimes its "only" whatever it only is; the times I want to space out and relax. But most of the time I prefer to be giving whatever I'm doing my full attention, to throw myself into it as much as I can.

What is at stake is at the heart of the question of this interplay between fantasy and reality as we play our games. My own experiences might prove instructive.

I've been gaming since the mid 1970s. When playing paper and pencil Dungeons & Dragons, none of the dastardly deeds my evil characters committed ever bothered me. It wasn't "real" enough. We were robbing elves. But years later playing a science fiction based RPG, I remember actually feeling actual dismay at some of our crimes. It was too "real." At the time just a factoid about how my thoughts and emotions worked when I played games and nothing more revelatory than, say, the suspension of disbelief necessary to really get into a good novel or movie. In all honesty I would have to say that certain implications of this passed me by until June of 2011.

Because the suspension of disbelief necessary to read a novel or even watch a movie is not quite exactly precisely the same thing as the suspension of disbelief necessary to play a MMO. But its close enough to fool you even if you've done both, more often than not. Isn't that interesting? Funny too.

The difference between the two is that in an MMO you are making the story up as you go. The joys of reading or watching plays or movies simply do not include this component. That difference makes the MMO more "real." That means you will react to it, more often than not, as if it were more "real." The reason this matters is that this presents us with certain learning opportunities as well as opportunities for entertainment. That's what you can also use EVE for if you want to. To learn things you normally might not have the chance to learn though other media, including the medium of RL.

We players of EVE, who are writing and living this grand novel/movie/play/training simulation together should take note of this and use it to our advantage.

What's your take on it?

Some Other Posts Of Possible Interest

New Players Have More Power Than You Think

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=12305&find=unread

The Neurotechnicon: The Metagame of EVE

http://heartsandmindsalliance.org/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=4&id=39&Itemid=232

The Technocrat: Creation, Expansion, Management and Manipulation of EVE Groups

http://heartsandmindsalliance.org/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=4&id=71&Itemid=232

Never go full re... ehm...

OP... I know you're excited and all... and I know the rush is awesome... but it's pill time.

No way!

I need to stop filling people's prescription bottles with pills taken from the shelf at random.

Slip between fantasy and reality? Well I don't, I stay firmly anchored in reality.

OP, welcome to a very select club of people who can actually see beyond what is, into what could be.

Yes, games aren't real, they are fantasy. But the only way to truly appreciate and enjoy them, is to toss out sensibility, toss out any notions like 'it's only a game', and jump down the rabbithole to see how deep it is. And when you climb out of it, you'll be a richer, fuller person than before.

The reality, is that I am really really bad at pvp.

The fantasy, is that I am good at pvp.

He does?

It sounded more like a long-winded, perhaps chemically enhanced, observation to me.

No other game gives me that pounding rush of adrenalin i get when i engage in soloish combat and it could swing either way.


when you are in an uncloaked ship in lowsec and all the gates are barred and the scanners are out (shake shake)



Note to OP. I cant steal from other players its just not in my nature.

But i will **** your girlfriend and punch you in the face (says the unaccountable internet warrior from the safety of his keyboard)