EVE General Discussion

This. A thousand times, this. If there was a way to inject my consciousness into the EVE Universe, i'd cast off this physical shell and wave bye-bye to everyone i know *immediately*.

I find EVE is an incredibly unique jewel amongst games. First of all, for me personally, I'm a sci-fi fan from way back. When I was a kid, I used to transpose the Dungeons & Dragons rules onto a spaceship game I designed, and had a stack of cool starship designs myself that I'd draw on graphics paper and written up stats and abilities for them. I've never had friends who were in to the same stuff as me - actually, as an autistic kid, I never really had many friends at all, but it didn't matter cuz I had my game.

I haven't been capable of changing much in the way of socialisation, that is, until the internet came along. Because of social networking online, I've been able to develop a social life that I'm just not capable of in "the flesh". Sure I've got a very small circle of very good friends, and I've even been able to hold down relationships with girls occasionally, but I'm not really interested in that anymore. The greatest achievement of my life, the ability to interact with other people on a social level without having to make eye contact and still actually have legitimate social discourse, was made possible because of the internet.

And now the game I created for myself as a kid, using dice and self-written rulebooks and paper, is here on the internet, where I'm kinda making more friends. Now don't get me wrong, I do have a real world life - it's taken a while to establish myself a bit of a niche (which was made difficult by my developmental shortcomings and the fact that I've moved more times than I can count therefore never been able to build myself up in one geophysical location). I'm currently studying journalism via online correspondence (which is yet another way the internet has saved my ****), and I intend to work in investigative journalism when I'm through. I'll be looking for my first internship this coming year, which with my grades thus far won't be too hard.

But this game is my downtime. This game is my real world when the real real world isn't important. This game is an alternate reality, and in a sense, for me personally, it's kinda become my primary reality, and everything I do in the other reality, studying and working, is done out of necessity only.

But I live in EVE. Not because I have no life or friends, though, but because it's where I choose to be. CCP have created something that I've always wanted. I really couldn't ask for anything more. And I really don't. My life is satisfied, and I will die a happy man even if nothing else ever comes my way.

Here, the internet combines with my love of the science fiction fantasy that I've always been living already, in between doing what's necessary with my life. I do play other games, though - I love Halo and Mass Effect (though more for the stories than the gameplay), Forza Motorsport (the only car collection I'll ever need - I'm easily satisfied), and Fallout are my primaries. I love air combat simulators, too - I wanted to be a fighter pilot growing up. I got the grades to go to ADFA, but my developmental issues kept me from getting in.

I used to call myself a gamer, id buy most new releases as they came out and spent a large amount of time playing games all across the spectrum from Railroads to Halo. I was proud to call myself a gamer, kept up to date with the gamin industry for years and got genuinely excited about games coming out until recently.

Over the last year the joy has gone. I just cant enjoy anything any more, i stopped buying new releases a few months back because i found id play them for one session then just call it a day and end up with a wasted £35. The only games to have even slightly entertained me recently are Dishonoured, Hotline Miami and Bordelands 2. I fail to even get properly enthusiastic about Mechwarrior and Planetside.

The only game i can enjoy playing now is EVE, im not sure if it the social side or the actuall game but i think EVE has done something to me. Am i just getting old? am i the only one? are games these days just ****?