EVE New Citizens Q&A

EVE is a real time strategy (RTS) game that is played from the point of view of a single "unit", with the meat of the game consisting of large alliances building units and gear and going to war to conquer the map. It allows smaller skirmishes too, and all the PVE (including mining and missions) is intended to be a source of money and gear to pay for the wars.

The people who enjoy RTS'es, large scale wars, small skirmishes, etc., are having a blast.

EDIT: I mean, literally, you're picking a single unit in Starcraft or Sins of a Solar Empire or whatever, and you're roleplaying that it has a life and a purpose and friends, and you're controlling that single unit and its interactions. And then you're asking where the fun is, or wondering why everyone else is so focused on conquering the map and killing your unit in the process.

I just wish we would stop using the term PvE around newbies. It's not the same term as it is in other MMO's and it's relative only to itself within EVE. If we keep reinforcing the idea that EVE is ALL PvP, then there's no confusion about it. Later on it's okay to introduce the relatively lower ship/ISK risk aspects of the game as being called "PvE".

I think the clearer it is, up front, that this game is not only complex but wide-open and you against the universe from the start is probably about the best antidote we have against losing newcomers from total shock.

As a noob that played anything but MMO, and does not have the "socializing" in a game as a priority, I do not think that "you against the universe" is the "shocker". Most shooting games (if not all) have the same approach.

I just think that in its attempts to market the game to potential new players CCP fails to understand that they do not provide enough of a bait for players like me (no friends in Eve, no MMO experience, not much loyalty and investment into the game, but with some interest in Space stuff). To go through the "pain" of learning the complex world of Eve the modern new player needs to see the "gain".

Most people trying out Eve do not understand why do they have to break their mind with countless spreadsheets in a game when they have enough of it at school, work, well, RL.

If anyone at CCP would listen and care, I would have made a suggestion:
1. create a separate environment (like Singularity) for noob access only for three days (a week maybe)
2. give them access to unlimited fitted ships, with unlimited (trained) skill points
3. give them step by step missions: fights (FW, PvP) with good AIs, encourage them join fleets with FCs that would simulate those of real players from Tranquility
4. Give them step by step missions for exploration.
5. Tell them there are options of mining, manufacture, hauling, etc. and let them know they can try those later on Tranquility if they wish so. (No offense to players who like these, but even these occupations might or will require flying and shooting).

In short, give them access to whatever options a three-five year old active player would have access to. Help them feel what they can achieve if they put in the time and the sub money.

6. Tell them at the very beginning it is a DEMO ONLY and they will not be able to bring anything they achieve here to Tranquility.
7. Tell them at the end that now they are ready to start their rookie training in the Real Eve World where they will have to grind for those skills and ships and had access in the demo.
8. Tell them that in Real Eve World they are easy prey for older players and that they should be expecting to be hunted.
9. Teach them how they can avoid the most foolish rookie mistakes (there is enough statistical info on the forums to identify those).
10. Kick them out of the DEMO at the end of the period telling them that their access to it is blocked and they can use their login info to access their account on Tranquility.

Someone might point out that I (talking about myself) did not have that and am still here. Yes, I am, because I can be stubborn and miss StarTrek too much ! My original post will tell you that even that is barely enough.

No one is forcing you to play EVE and there are nowadays many offers on the net for the "modern players"
You miss other space games you have played before, and you criticize EVE for not being like them. Once again, no one is forcing you to play EVE.
The fact that the game is not easy for the newcomers and the fact that the game is different from the mainstream ones are two separate things : I agree that we can improve the newcomers' experience, but that doesn't mean that i agree to dumb down the game to become an easy console game for lazy or superficial people, because 99% of the games on the market are already like that.
If this game becomes like WoW in space, then what's the point to have choice between so many games if they all are clones of each others ?

I did no say CHANGE THE GAME, I suggested a friendlier newbie intro! What/who does not evolve, dies out! It is a rule of life!

Sorry if I did not make that clear enough!

If you read attentively my posts, I do not suggest changing the game, I ask "how is it supposed to be", "am I doing it right", "do I understand this or that correctly", "AM I in the wrong game"?

I never said the game is wrong and needs to be fixed according to my preferences (or anyone else's). You like it, you play it, you don't then "GTFO" and find something that suits you and stop whining. That's how I perceive it.

This is why I am asking questions, when in doubt. No need to tell me that no one is forcing me, I know that.

And I do not have to criticise Eve. The existing player base is doing a great job at it without me. Just read the feedback for the latest patch ! I have not been with the game long enough to know it well and criticise its features.

They dont. Ive been playing 8 years and ive never used a spreadsheet for eve. Ive only looked at other peoples to LOL.

Some people enjoy that part of the game. They like making eve more complex than it is. But thats the beauty of eve. You can make it as complex or as simple as you like.

Your main problem is going to be the learning curve. Eve has a very steep learning curve and people will try to gank you on that curve. Its part of the game. Eve actually works in reverse of most games. It starts out hard and gets easier as you gain skills and experience.




This kind of sounds like doing career agents( f12 while in game). Eve has always been rough on newbies. But i think its better for the game because it weeds out a lot of people we dont want playing anyway. You will find, despite some appearances, that eves player base is much more mature and more intelligent than other games as intelligent people are drawn more to complex games( hence why you see people analyzing spreadsheets, coming up with ways to use game mechanics to their advantage, etc)

CCP does pay more attention to players than other games. The devs and other ccp staff frequent the forums far far more than other games. Customer support is far better( even if they arent always the most helpful at fixing my problems). And players do influence a lot what gets put into the game.

You will also find there is no handholding in this game. CCP encourages us to play as we please( mostly) with tools they give us. Eve is probably the most hardcore game on the market. There has been much debate on how to encourage newbies to stay long enough to really get into the game. It is a fine line between making it more appealing to newbies and watering the game down, which is something players here fight hard against.

And thus you might be suitable for eve. If you said "game is to hard, to complex, etc., im not playing unless you change it." We would tell you bye. And we would tell you this because you are likely an undesirable player. What is an undesirable player in eve?

- Someone that whines all the time about how hard the game is and demanding it be changed to be easier.
- Someone that complains about being ganked, killed, scammed, etc. and demands it be changed, rather than simply learn the game mechanics and pay attention.
- Someone that wants the players or more specifically CCP to hold their hand so they can do their pve without interference from other players( this is a social MMO. one of the key components of gameplay is to socialize)
-Someone that has played all of a few days and comes to the forums and wants to make sweeping changes to suite their playstyle rather than change their playstyle to suit the game.
- Someone that tries to water the game down into what we like to call "World of Warcraft in Space"
- Generally immature people ( though many of us may act immature at times) that makes you feel like you are in daycare.


Eve caters to a very specific type of player. These players tend to be quite loyal as this is there game and there really arent any mainstream games that cater to them like eve does. Eve players nor CCP wants to be like "everyone else" Both want to be different. And both like it that way. Either a new player likes that difference or they like the standard MMO done over and over again with different graphics, hero, and backstory IE: clones.

You obviously have a brain & a conscience (unlike many people in EvE) so I won't regurgitate some of the earlier advice, other than to say the first response by Tau is probably the most helpful.

For me the ongoing attraction of EvE is the social aspect. My best times in EvE have been doing "things" with other people & helping younglings. That said finding a like-minded group of people will be your challenge (if you decide to stay in the game).

Good luck for the future.

Some of the stuff that you're asking for in post 25 above takes quite a bit of effort on CCP's part. Realize that they've set up the game for minimal effort; they just create a bunch of ships and we create all the "content" with them. Also, 3 days of newbie-only stuff on a test server that gets wiped out regularly (for testing), in order to attract the 1000 or so newbies that may be trying the game... may be wasted effort coding stuff for that small of a % of the playerbase.

In addition, they don't really know what attracts newbies (and older, discontinued players), other than new graphics/ships/features, or news of some major player war. They've switched from a patch every 6 months to a patch every month in order to increase the new graphics/ships/features, and player wars are somewhat out of their control (the alliance leaders have grown accustomed to insults to their girlfriends and don't go to war so easily anymore).

As a sandbox game, EVE has a big issue: only a few people continue to be kids into adulthood. You give a kid a doll and she can play with it for years, inventing her own stories / personality / etc. As adults, we read books, watch movies, participate in stories written by other people; I could try to invent my own story, but it would be boring to me, and even if it's interesting to others, it's still boring to me because I already know how it goes.

So you need to be in a good corp., so that your corpmates or the officers or the corp itself can have goals (and stories) that you can participate in. That's the secret to this game.

Thank you, everyone!

I got my answers.

I really appreciate the time and thought that you put into your replies!

I can only echo your thoughts about the game. This is my 3rd attempt at EVE in a decade. I'm doing better this time than my previous attempts but I would like to see a "friendlier" environment for new players. It hasn't happened in the last decade and I doubt it will change at all. While other mmo's spend god knows how much on expansions, updates whatever you call it, fundamentally EVE is the same game (or appears to me) as it always was. Something still appeals to me about EVE and I guess that's how you feel.

Maybe Star Citizen or No man's sky will be a better alternative for us than EVE..who knows