EVE General Discussion

There are so many contradictions in EVE. I am trying to reconcile not trusting people with joining a corp. I don't know anyone in RL who plays EVE. Any corp I join will be total strangers, and I won't trust them, nor will I expect them to trust me. Now I guess this is another case of taking a limited risk in order to gain. I should probably stop thinking about it so much and jump in. I am a loner by nature, both in RL and in game, and that can be costly in both places.

So I'm back to square one. Again. Because of repeatedly making expensive mistakes. Don't get me wrong - I am not crying about the losses. Well, I guess in a way I am, but I don't blame anyone for where I am except me, and I accept that newbies will make expensive mistakes. The question is whether this is an unusual level of stupidity, and whether I should try once more or am I likely to keep repeating my failures?

9 years in, i still make stupid mistakes, and learn new things almost every day.

Having nothing means you have nothing holding you back ...

I actually agree that the margin trading scam is a broken mechanic, but this statement is utterly ********.

Any serious trader will train margin trading. That makes for TONS of margin trade orders, only a small handful of which are scam-related.

I seriously need to know if EVE is beyond my capabilities. I have been playing for several hours each week for three months now, and I currently have almost nothing to show for it. I am trying to find my niche in the game, but so far the only thing I am good at is losing. I do want to like the game, but I can't help thinking that I am "doing it wrong" and I'm not so sure I can be cured.

How long does it generally take to get the hang of the game?

I started out well enough, running all the tutorial missions and getting the free ships. Then I stupidly lost my destroyer in a mission, sold my other ships to replace it, and then lost that one as well. Maybe I could have done better with practice. Since I had to start over, I thought I'd give mining a try, as even though it is boring, it seemed safer. That went slowly, but I kept at it and managed to make a little ISK, and eventually worked my way into a retriever, which cost me everything I had. I was much more productive, but within a few days I was blown up by a ganker (in high sec), and lost the ship and my pod. All I had left was a few days worth of ore I had mined before losing the ship. I know, I know, don't fly what you can't afford to lose. But moving into a mining barge as quickly as possible seemed like an intelligent decision for a miner, except in hind sight. I was upset at myself for risking and losing everything I had - for the second time - and didn't play again for a week.

I decided to try a more peaceful career as a trader. I scraped together all the money I could and started looking for items I could buy cheaper and sell higher. I found that I could pretty easily make a little profit of 5 or 10%, but soon ran out of capital and order slots. The stuff that I could afford to buy was not very expensive, so even a 10% return wasn't giving me as much as I had been making mining. I decided that was just a temporary problem, and that once I accumulated more capital I would be able to make bigger trades with my limited slots for more profit. So I kept working at it, and also started moving items between stations to take advantage of price differences. I discovered Eve Central, which let me find the best deals and the best markets. I thought I had figured out how to play, and was making a more decent amount of money. Within a month I had a wallet with over 400 million in it. And then I found a trade that beat all the trades before by turning my 400 million into 500 million - 25% in one trip. If you know how this part of the story is going to end, then congratulations to you, because I did not. It turns out the 500 million buy order was a fake. When I tried to sell, the order was immediately deleted. Only then did I find out there were no other buy orders for even 10 million. After doing a little research, I found out this is a common scam made possible by the fact that the market allows orders to remain visible even after the money put up to fill them is gone. I fully accept that the loss is on me, because I stupidly overpaid for the item. But it was an expensive way to learn that the EVE markets contain fake orders. I knew I had to watch out for other players, whether in ships or on the other side of trades and contracts. I just didn't know that the market mechanism couldn't be trusted, either.

So I'm back to square one. Again. Because of repeatedly making expensive mistakes. Don't get me wrong - I am not crying about the losses. Well, I guess in a way I am, but I don't blame anyone for where I am except me, and I accept that newbies will make expensive mistakes. The question is whether this is an unusual level of stupidity, and whether I should try once more or am I likely to keep repeating my failures?

I know I'll probably get replies that say "Yes. You are too stupid to play Eve." And to be fair, I asked for it. But if what I have experienced is par for the course and is just part of the learning curve, please let me know that, too. I know how to start over and I am willing to do it, but only if I think I have a chance to keep what I earn.

All criticism is accepted. Constructive criticism is appreciated.