EVE General Discussion

Recently I've noticed a bit more emphasis on the forums about players who play eve 'solo'. From my impression from the forums people tend to dislike soloers (I've read 'eve is a multiplayer game, go back to...' quite a few times lately) so I'm interested to get a bit of a feedback as to what people do and don't like about soloers or solo activities in the game.

*Skip to below for tl;dr*

I'll start off by saying that I definitely have a vested interest in the topic. I am what I think most people would consider a solo player in eve. I pretty rarely group up with other people to accomplish things and having recently moved out to low sec spend most of my time running sites, ratting and generally managing PI on my own.

To me this doesn't mean I have no interaction with other players. I'm not playing a single player game. I'm duking it out on my own in a world full of other pilots that might be able to help me, that I might be able to benefit from or (more likely) are out to get me if I give them a chance. This makes my 'solo' experience far more exciting than anything any single player game could ever give me.

I'm a bit too much of a risk averse carebear at the moment to really get into PvP, but I love the excitement of getting chased around lowsec trying to dodge pirates etc. The way I'm on edge when hauling stuff the few jumps back to high sec. I love raiding WHs knowing that there's a good chance I could die to another enterprising pilot who knows their dscan well enough to drop probes right on me and land on me before I know whats going on. To me the 'solo' experience is so much enriched by the fact that other people are out there.

*tl;dr*

I understand that 'eve is a multiplayer game', and the best way to thrive is to join forces with others. But I like that even if it might not be the 'best' way to go, I can carve out my own piece of eve on my own if I want in a world that is affected by others.

So what are people's main objections to people like myself playing solo?

It's not so much the solo gameplay that people dislike, it's the mindset that people generally get from playing solo. I do a lot of solo activities in game as my time permits, but I also involve myself in the community. I would say that the vast majority of solo players are the miners and industrialists out there and they tend to complain about being killed by gankers and use the 'highsec should be safe argument'.

The other major thing is that they feel solo players don't bring any emergent gameplay to the sandbox, so they don't contribute anything to the game.

That and some people just like to hate on other peoples gameplay styles just because it isn't their own.

I have no objections whatsoever to people playing solo. It's a viable, if somewhat limiting, play style. I have characters that run solo as well as corp characters and I have equal amounts of fun with either one.

Sandbox right? Play the way you like.

Mr Epeen

I don't have an issue with solo play per se...

What pisses me off is when solo players expect to be competitive with groups of players and/or feel that they deserve special consideration/mechanics/ships over others who put the effort into dealing with other mouth breathers (which is no small feat).

People always seem to forget that corps and alliances are basically collections of "solo players" who have simply decided to pool their individual resources with those of others. Ergo, anything done to aid a "true solo player" will always be to the greater advantage of those willing to work together.

Though still a newcomer to the game, I currently have very similar attitudes to the game as the OP (if less ambitious, from lack of skills and money). So, I want to have to worry about other players ganking me, but just at the moment I'm not after joining a corporation.

On the quote - if anything, I'd like Hi-Sec to be a little less safe for me, to make it more interesting. This should not a game for people who want safe by default, though "pretty much safe with continuous care and attention in Hi-Sec" is nice. The step down in security from Hi-Sec to Low-Sec in terms of safety feels too great at the moment.

I enjoy fleet ops as much as the next guy, but there's something to be said for taking some time to yourself.
Solo PvP can be quite satisfying, actually. So far, I've got 18 solo kills under my belt, and I'd like to have a lot more in the future.
PvE can be tedious and mind-numbing, especially when you're on your own, but many times, it's worth the grind if you do it right.

I don't understand players who completely avoid the social aspect of the game, though.

+1

As much as i like that there is a lot of real people that i can interact with. I'd like to do things on my own - when and how i want, maybe sometimes with a others i'm in a mood for it, and leave them if they'll happen to be some unenteresting chodes.

Main objective, do what I find interesting and appealing.

/c

Yeah the bit about time management is a big one for me. I have pretty sporadic playing times depending on what's going on in life. One week I'll be on every night for 4-5 hours, then I might be away for a week, or only on 4 or 5 times in a month if I'm away for work etc. so I found it hard in the past to stay active in corps. The part of eve that makes it hard to trust people too much makes the stereotypical MMO 'PUG' pretty much a non-option, but I'm ok with all of that, it's part of the charm of eve.

I'm more than happy for CCP to 'incentivise' group play, but yeah when its made really obvious that you're losing out because you're solo it doesn't feel great. The new *not being able to loot all the cans from hacking* seems a bit like a dangling candy in front of a baby and then snatching it away, but I spose I'll work with what CCP give me, as long as I get at least some of the candy.

I solo to earn isk, but I will band together with others to have fun doing pvp or helping others do some pve. Not possible to avoid solo play completely. And your really missing out if you only do solo.