EVE New Citizens Q&A

Give it time. Even the jerkwads are often only jerkwads to folks they don't know.

Other than that i generally find plenty of good normal people to hang with. That's not to say they won't kill you and burn your mom on your grave, but that doesn't make someone a jerkwad in eve and more than checkmating someone in chess does.

Just give it a while anyway, you'll find a good crew im sure.

Are you trying to talk in Dodixie local? (Or any other trade hub local?)
Other than those, I find people quite friendly.

It will, of course, also depend on your attitude. Many people do react quite hostile to any suggestion to change EVE, especially if said suggestion would make it harder to attack someone unwilling to fight. And many will laugh at your tears if you whine about something being unfair. But if you ask a question on how things work and how you can improve, I've almost always seen positive (or at least neutral) responses. But then, I don't talk that much in local.

Except for the guys who try to enrage you so that you'll engage them in a fight where you lose.

Unlike any other MMORPG you have ever played or heard of EVE has always had less rules and less supervision from the people running this game than any other. Things in this game tend to be determined much more by the players than by the people who develop (ed) the game.

Stealing, lying, ganking noobs, harassing types of play are not only allowed but encouraged. Infiltration of other peoples guilds just for the purpose of spying, stealing, ganking, or harassment is common. Griefing in many forms are not only allowed but encouraged. Paying isk for the privilege of war decking 10 guys who mine all day in hulks is the norm not an exception. Flipping cans in high sec to get noobs to shoot at you so you could kill them were the order of the day up until fairly recently in the history of this game.

These kinds of things are what make EVE different than other games. It makes it interesting. But it also tends to draw a certain type of player in abundance to the game. Some of them are anti social. Others are just jerks. Lots like to talk smack.

That being said....

If you join a corp you will likely find folks who you do like and who you get along with. Talking in local tends to draw out the guys who can hide behind their keyboard and say anything they want to because there is little penalty for them to do so. You tend to get a more sociable element in corps in this game than you do from the guys who are just going about their business in high sec systems/

There are many people in EVE that appear to be assholes, simply because its a part of their online persona, and especially in EVE being a "jerk" is approved and in some cases almost expected.

However, this does not mean that the people are actually assholes, and this is what you have to keep in mind.
From experience i have found that in many cases those hard core, carebear hating, smack talking low life pirates are actually some of the most decent people i have ever encountered in EVE.
While the people who you think should be the friendly ones (carebears) are actually the ones that will have a bad attitude, threaten you with this and that, and generally just leave you with a bad taste in the mouth if you get to know them.

Please note im not saying that all pirates are nice, or that all carebears are bad, just pointing out that someones "profession" really wont give you any indication on how they are as a person.

You also said that you have seen people who go out of their way to harass new players.
If this is something that happens in rookie systems (which includes the career agent systems) you can report the person/people who are doing it since this is a bannable offense.
If this is just random people you know who happened to get blown up in low sec or similar, trust me, a characters age rarely has anything to do with it and even if they were 10 year old players someone would do their very very best to blow them up as soon as they set a foot in a wh/low sec/0.0

What NC said.

In game personality and real personality dont always have to be the same.

Some people are nice both in game and in person (hint to the Quoted person).
Some are playing the "Dark" route in game but have a great personality (hints to Cannibal Kane).
Some people are just totally and completely of the "Jerk" scale both in and out of game (will hint to the first person that matches this category)

why is there war in the world?

why is there suffering?

some people are just not very nice.

Nothing personal, but I disagree with all of this extremely.

I won't start second guessing your EVE experience, or your personal assessment of the player base.
That is yours to interpret as you wish.
I think its just best we drop the subject. You think/experience as you wish, and I as I do.

Removed a spam post. Recruitment advertising is prohibited in NC Q&A.

Cant do much more then agree with this.

In my 32yrs of experience, genuinely good and kind people are very few and far between.
They are as valuable and precious as they are rare.
This extends to EVE as well, since its the same people playing here, as are out there in day to day life.

Many people like to think of themselves as "a nice and good person", but in actually, they aren't.
They just tell themselves that to feel better about themselves. To elevate their own opinion of themselves, and to, in their own mind, separate them and raise them above all those "other bad people of whom I am not one".

Thats easier for them, rather than actually looking at how they REALLY are treating other people, or taking responsibility for that.
Its simpler to just assume that "Im a nice person. Why? Cos I am", without ever actually putting their money where their mouth is on it.

Being a good, kind and considerate person, is not an automatic thing. Its not a granted simple thing. It takes sacrifice and great effort on the part of those who actually embody those qualities. That is something many of the "Im a good person, really, once you get to know me" types will never understand.

And its infact the people who have such illusions about themselves (whereas their actions and intent show otherwise time and time again) that you need to be most wary of. Atleast with a blatant a$$hole you know where you stand and there is no hypocrisy.

But these self-proclaimed and self-entitled "im a good person"-types are almost always just talk. and no walk.

End Rant.

Anyways, in answer to OP. Why are people so hostile in EVE? Because thats what many people are everywhere, online or offline.
The best defense against them, is to not put yourself in a position where you are vulnerable to them.
As to the few good people, cherish them and take good care of them when you find them.