EVE General Discussion

^^^ this a thousand times this

Why do some folk struggle so much with this idea?

I completely agree with this. (I haven't read the entire thread but am definitely working my way there. I love discussions like this and this post made me have to stop and comment) I'm a solo player myself. I have experienced a lot of EVE, from missioning and arcs to alliance leadership (though not in nullsec), and I've found that I personally am MOST comfortable flying solo or with on a small group in WH space. It's my safe-zone, and I feel is far safer than anything highsec has to offer me. Exploration is key in WH space and the content is extremely rich, as are the possibilities.

That being said, like I said before, I enjoy flying in a fleet from time to time. I don't mind a few people bee-bopping around with me. When I'm enrolled in FW I definitely enjoy FC'ing and running around in huge fleets. At the end of the day I want to kick back and unwind, whether that be exploring, mining, or even just toying around editing my character. I'm not against the fact that this is a multiplayer game, and if I wanted a strictly single player game, I'd play FTL.

I feel that over time I've observed a great number of solo players complaining about THEIR particular needs in a game largely driven by a mass of players. As a business, CCP has to appeal to the largest stream of revenue, for themselves and their shareholders. As an MMO, CCP has to appeal to, you guessed it, the largest part of the player base. This isn't unexpected and completely understandable.

That being said, this is a multiplayer game. Playing solo doesn't isolate you from the rest of the population. Playing solo is just as challenging, if not more challenging, than playing with others all the time. The difference is that I have a lot more control of my time utilization when I play the way I do, even though my impact on New Eden isn't great like that of the Goons, for example.

I hope they overhaul missioning and complexes at some point. saying eve isn't a theme park isn't true, it's just a pretty crappy one.

Because that would make things worse than they are, especially for the solo crowd.

The ones with objections to our ''solo'' playing style are those who doesn't understand the concept of sandbox and want everyone else play the game the way they think it should be played.

I'll join the group of people telling you ''play the game the way you want and don't care about the rest''.

The reasons for me to solo play almost all the time are much like yours, we don't have tons of hours to spend and sometimes playing with others make waste much of that time we have, or perhaps makes us feel we are not contributing enough to our corps.

I confess - I pretty much exclusively play solo (can't you tell from my "elite corp?").

Overally, I've never been able to break into EVE's more social side. I've had a number of people actively attempt to gank me... and even one near shave on a corp kill shortly after I chanced an invite. I am sure there are nice, pleasant, and trust-worthy people out there, but space is a harsh and unforgiving place, and I didn't have a lot of faith in humanity to begin with.

Missioning solo is boring, but with my low overall experience (and complete absence of PvP skill), I just don't feel like I'd offer all that much to a corp. I'm an intellectual first, but that doesn't really get you very far in a cutthroat galaxy of scheming, stealing and bargaining. Eventually, I may try to reach out again, but I don't think I will do so until I can effectively fit at least T2 in all slots on an Amarr BS.

Then, I might still be completely green, but I'll at least look menacing.

I am pretty much a 'solo' player, although i also enjoy the social side of things, which I can get from an NPC corp, I'll also post on the boards, and occasionally join a Corp where i participate fully.

In the end I'm content to run missions in my game time or mine with my industry alt as I find it relaxing, I will also put RL first, which puts the back of some corps/alliances up, as I refuse to be at their beck and call which often happens if theres a planned op on and you cant get on. Its one reason I have for not training for capitals and higher.

Imho you are providing a shallow picture of the matter.

There are MMOs out there where it's so easy to setup "task oriented groups". Those groups are very nice because even the most casual guy without many chances to establish himself in a long standing relation with other players, can still perform group activities, have fun and socialize.

Incursions are what in EvE came closest to this. Even without super tight acquaintances or being in dedicated corps, people could quickly join something social and perform a task and then everyone back to their lives.



The crux of the matter is, they DO WANT to partake in social activities, they just have various constraints that prevent them from joining more organized entities.

Therefore the new gen of MMOs that have those "quick join" features are awesome for a "casual". Once I thought those quick join features would not create friendship but I found out it's not true. Out of 10 groups you will find the 1-2 guys you just like to stick around and add to the contact list for later.


Casuals that whine imo are whining because they can't express themselves in EvE as they could if EvE had more Incursions-alike features and less "heavy weight" demanding social features. Lets leave out the implementation, the fact Incursions were imbalanced etc, let's focus to the social aspect of the feature per se.

Imo EvE should add more of that.

It's OK to leave a "gap" between the potential achievements of those who are casuals and the dedicated guys, but give room for casuals too. They are SO MANY potential new players and they would still all pay $15.

solo is good.

its not all about finding 1v1s, its about terrorizing a gang by yourself and getting some fights from them - or if you are super ballsy and have a 10 bil vindi, kill them all your self! :D

Actually I find it kind of a dull read, it's the same old crap.


The first 2 posts in this thread sum up fairly well why people solo in MMOs.


Unfortunately MMO companies sometimes see this as a problem and try to get the solo group to mix in more with the rest of the community, which of course never works.