EVE New Citizens Q&A

The game wouldn't be nearly as interesting if for not the isk of tangble losses. That 500m you lost probably taught you a lesson for later so you don't fall for the same trap with a much more expensive ship. Live and learn :c

Thanks for all the comments! Here's writing to you from a word processor.

I want to start by apologizing for my precious post, i felt it was about the only thing i could do with the frustration i felt at the time.

I'm very positively surprised about how many people spent time to write something constructive about my situation! I thank you for all of it, it's helpful and informative. In a time where the media is constantly broadcasting about internet harassment and cyber bullying it's nice to find a corner that reminds me why the internet is a wonderful place.

Having had written all of what i wanted to say down, i noticed that the post has grown to gargantuan proportions. I have done the best i can to make it ease for people to red at least the parts they find interesting.

I want to give you more context to my lost.

I'm quite used to loosing ships, my vacuum cleaner was called Betty II for a reason. What really hit me was the loss of 500 million ISK worth of cargo leaving me with 30 mln ISK in my pocket. Someone here said that there's plenty of ISK to be found in Eve but that has never been the case for me. That amount of money probably took me 6 months of playing in my spare time, probably a sum of hours equal to a month at a full time job. Sure it's just in game money, but the true lost is of the time i have invested into the game, now i only have the experience to show for it.

I don't buy the ”it's just a game” argument.

I spent a lot of time earning that money that i was going to buy shiny things for. How is that different from normal money from a job? Anybody would smart if they lost a months earnings. The only difference is that the things i could have bought for that ISK are viewable via a Eve client only. The more lengthy explanation of this point with examples will be lost to the internet since it got eaten...

Why did i decide to take such a huge risk?

First of all the winnings off this deal were very small, i believe 4 mln total for 10 jumps (is that a little? I consider it not so much). They were in fact so small they none of my ��it's a scam” alarms went off. Another reason might be that it was my second day of playing Eve this year, and i was numb and forgetful of the dangers of the universe.

How did i deal with my trauma?
Seconds after i lost my ship i just sort of stared at the screen for a while. In hindsight i can clearly see that i went through the 7 stages of grief :) I bought a shuttle in the closes station, flew to and docked in my home base and logged off, then wrote the first post on this forum and whined to any of my gamer friends who were online at the time. Then i viciously attacked any household chore i could come up with until i was all out of energy and finally sat down to write another post. It being eaten by the forum added insult to injury and really fueled my anger, so i found some IRL people to shout about it at, and then played some other things, watched TV, all the while thinking about what happened.

Today i can say i feel good after what happened. I listened to a lot of you and i think i can take my loss as a learning experience. I have a renewed interest in playing Eve and expressing myself about things through this forum :)

My difficulties with playing Eve

I have always been a trader, even before Eve, in games like Freelancer or Patrician, Pirates!. My character is focused on trading and production, most of my incomes came from selling ships made for bought minerals and selling goods gotten from planetary interaction. I used to do a bit of mining but i find it really tedious, best suited for when I’m doing something simultaneously. Indeed, i remember once saying that Eve is the only game that requires another source of entertainment on the side while playing.

I never found missions interesting either, they are not challenging nor rewarding. Whilst in most games a good plot line can keep me interested enough to grind through the low levels and get to the fun part, i don't feel Eve provides that. I've never been particularly interested in PVP in any form or game either.

It's fair for me to admit that Eve is probably not the game for me. But I’m just so amazed and seduced by it that i find myself returning to it frequently. And i don't want to quite now because of this bad incident. However, i don't need to prove to myself just how tough i am by keeping playing just to show this setback didn't stop me.

I am a reactionary gamer, i dislike studying games before i play them, with a vengeance. I like to feel my way forward and learn by doing. Only once i encounter i major setback like this one might i turn to some out of game material. It obviously isn't the most efficient way of playing games, but i play them for fun, and this is the way i have the most of it.

Having said that I’m currently looking for a good source of information and people to learn from.

What i plan to do in Eve now

It feels like a good idea for me to take a break from hauling and trading and explore more of what eve has to offer. What i really wanted do get out of that eaten post is suggestion of what i can do in Eve to have fun.

My plan is to explore more of the ways i can have fun in Eve, and I’m eager to hear your suggestions, some great ones already in this thread.

Ideas i have got so far are to join the Galente Navy, preferably if there is a PVE way to do that. I want to learn to fight better so that maybe i can start exploring PVP or at least defend myself.

I also love the way exploration seems to work and want to see what i could do with that. I eventually want to own a POS and join a group of people to play with, but that hasn't worked out for me in the past , people fall out way too fast for the corp to ever accomplish anything substantial.

Clairvoyance.

Nah, I just looked you up on a public killboard: https://zkillboard.com/character/173265600/ The only loss was that Iteron. I'm not sure how you lost 500m ISK worth of stuff, though, since there is nothing on that kill even remotely close to that price.

I don't know how you've been making your income, but there are many ways in Eve to supercharge that, so you can replace even a ship worth 500 mil with little effort. I'm sure others will have advice on how to do that, but the easiest that I know of is participating in faction warfare, which can get even a minimally skilled pilot over 100m ISK per hour with a little luck.

Whatever you decide to do, finding and joining a corp is always a good step.

It is interesting to hear your take on things. It sounds as if you are sort of determined to play EVE as a PVE game, but yet you don't really enjoy PVE activities. The boredom that you express with missions and mining is familiar to most EVE players, and is a big part of what drives us to play the game more aggressively. The sense of loss you feel about your boat and cargo is familiar too, although in your case it seems pretty extreme and exaggerated.

You have to accept that it is just a game though. That 500 million isk wasn't money earned through hard work, it was pretend money won through play (and easily had by buying a PLEX). If your gameplay feels like work, take that as a sign that you are doing it wrong.

As for my suggestion for what to do next, I'd say analyze how you were scammed, figure out how to do it, then go scam somebody else the same way. The best cure for the big-loss blues is to inflict an equally big loss on somebody else.

Ha, what a fantastic thread.

You've experienced the same thing many EVE players have, Cousk, but you've approached it with an attitude and style that almost every class of EVE player can respect I think. Good posts and great replies.

Not much I can add to the replies thus far. But just thought I'd mention a couple things ...


^ This, this right here. Could be part of the problem. You're putting all your eggs into the one basket, in the context of your playstyle. Maybe you need some back-up sources of entertainment in your EVE experience.

For me I enjoy every aspect of EVE, but simply to different levels. I love pvp, I enjoy pve, I don't enjoy industry but can do it if I'm uber bored. I enjoy exploring too. Can't stand mining, but would probably do it again if there was nothing left for me. I also enjoy simply socialising with my EVE-friends in chat. And as a roleplayer I enjoy roleplay, which is a pretty good risk-free way to spend my EVE time if there's nothing else I feel like doing.

So if one thing falls down for me there's always other things I can spend my time doing ingame that I find really enjoyable.

But then again I fund my EVE experience with plex/RL money. I don't spend much time farming, trading or trying to earn 'profit. If I lose an expensive ship my woe is more like "Well ****, no more PVP until next payday." rather than "There goes the last two weeks worth of ingame work and grinding."

You mentioned however that many of these other aspects in EVE don't interest you. But then again your exposure thus far may have been limited. My advice - join a corp. Not only can many corps help financially when things like your ship-loss happen, but they can offer a ton of advice and opportunities to enjoy the other awesome aspects of EVE that currently don't appeal to you, but with a group of friends by your side.

Best of luck to you in your EVE endeavours. I might come say hello sometime and see how you faired.

Oh, and shamless plug - Wormholes. You never mentioned wormholes.

Maybe try them sometime too.

It's because you posted here and not GD. Here we harass people for not being nice. There they harass people for being nice.

As others have said, join a corp.

The benefits of joining a corp for a new player cannot be overstated. If you're not too old, Eve University is good. Agony will give pvp classes. Red vs. Blue, Rifterlings, are both newbie friendly popular corps. Just make sure the corp plays during your time, and has a focus that you can enjoy. Nightcrawler made a good guide, that has dropped to page two. It is worth reading.

my aproach...get pissed (drunk) then laugh at yourself for getting so wound up about it...buy a plex...or 2.blow it on a faction ship and bling it out, loose that, laugh like lunatic the whole time.

you have a good attitude man, keep it up.

Best is to find a good corp.. yes I keep saying that.. but its true.. Feel free to give me a shout if you need some help getting back into it....

The bold part cant be said enough.

EVE is a game. A game where there are 'real' risks in what you do.

If you dont like the odds on a certain risk, dont take it.

Since moving to wh space I can't really do much day tradding (I hate alts) , but a couple of months ago I was making 100m isk a week trading meta modules in Dodixie and was hardly even trying. Would just update my orders two or three times a day. The only reason I can think of that someone like yourself who was focusing on trade would only have 500m is that you said you like to learn from inside the game instead of consulting outside resources.

By posting in this forum, you've decided to look outside the game for advice. Now that you've crossed the rubicon (\o/), why not google up some advice on trading? There is tons to be had along with some tools to help streamline the activity.

The thing with Eve and being a sandbox is that there is very little useful documentation in the game. That isn't a slight against CCP its just that the devious playerbase routinely does things with the tools we're given that CCP never would have imagined. So outside resources are about the only way you're going to learn things before you derp them.

"Experience is a harsh teacher. She delivers the consequences first, then the lesson."