EVE General Discussion

I woke up this morning, with a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wake up most days with this feeling. A gnawing feeling. I have an anxiety disorder (like many Americans), but due to the severity of this problem, it limits my exposure to RL. Now I say this in all seriousness. however this does not mean I fail to live a normal life. I work, pay bills, fight with my girlfriend (lol sometimes I feel the term "gf aggro" was specifically coined for me), etc. Today when I woke with this feeling, I knew immediately it was not my anxiety. I knew I had to voice my opinion about something that has become truly one of my most important therapeutic tools

I started playing EVE the day I saw the DUST 514 trailer at the Playstation keynote during E3 2011. I am a console gamer first and foremost, and swore I would never get sucked into an MMO. Something had always intrigued me about EVE however, as I had followed it's news, almost like a junkie searching for heroin. I loved reading about the EBank scandal, the BoB Dissolution, the massive fights, and most importantly the freedom. The freedom to do what you want, when you want, with only a handful of rules governing a world almost as massive as the one we all reside in. The possibilities seemed endless to me

Coming up on my first anniversary, I can say that I have never felt emotion in real life similar to the emotion that comes from playing EVE. The excitement of watching your skill queue count down the last seconds of time required for a ship you have been pining endlessly for. The frustration realizing you cannot really fly that ship because you screwed up and didn't train the guns first. The adrenaline rush you get as you slide seamlessly through your warp tunnel toward a target your fleet has pointed. The rush when you get pointed, and you scramble to outthink your opponent before you become a frozen corpse floating in space. Even despair can be felt too. I learned the hard way on an indy alt, carrying my entire first 5 months worth of assets (BP's, faction mods, all of it) in a paper thin Mammoth, simply because I didn't know any better. And seeing the 9 billion isk killmail afterwards. But these feelings have not only streamlined my abilities as an EVE player, but have taught me life lessons as well

What is EVE? CCP touts EVE as real, a persistent single shard universe where anything and everything is possible. They screwed up last year, in an attempt to rush what will eventually happen anyway. One day we will be able to shoot some douche bag in the back because he dicked his mercenaries around, and didn't provide the support they needed. But there is no rush. And I am thankful to Hilmar, because even he realized that. I envy the players who have been here since the beginning, as they are the one's who have watched the world grow. I have heard the tales of bookmarking for landing at 0 on a gate. Or the tales of moO. I sit every day and kick myself in the ass for not playing sooner. To be there, to watch what our persistent universe has become. And while they have had nine years of this magic, I am glad to know after the 2011 fiasco, I can very possibly have many, many EVE years of my own

Therein lies the true question...What has EVE become? To me EVE is the sociopath's escape. It is a place where those of us who have that criminal tendency can come to wreak havoc, without the consequences of RL. Want to destroy someones home? In EVE you can. Want to rob a bank? In EVE you can. Want to fly around, throwing obscenities at anyone in your path? In EVE you can. But there is the other side of that coin. As much as there is in-fighting, hatred, grudges, scams, etc......There is also a side that is often overlooked. Our unity. We are all family here, regardless of corp, faction, alliance. I am not the only person who has met lifelong friends playing this game. Hell, I met a guy in my very first corp, who is still my main wing man everyday. His daughter was born a few months ago, and of all his friends in RL, he chose to share his emotion of being a first-time father with me, the guy who has had his back in our hostile home of New Eden. So EVE is what CCP and we players choose to make it. A home away from home. A life that can be molded truly by the people, while the real world we reside in slowly decays.

So what should this wonderful tool become? I couldn't attend Fanfest this year, so I couldn't voice my opinions at roundtables. This is my future vision of EVE, and what I would like to see as I begin my decade long trek through the annals of the history we make.

1. Fleshed out ship lines for both battlecruisers and battleships

T2 Battleship additions:
Battle Logistics, something to bridge the gap between logistic cruisers and carriers
Siege Battleships, the precursor to Dread

T3 Battlecruisers:
Field Boosters, ships that can truly be used as an OGB (Think Booster Loki, but with tank, and the natural abilities to run 5 links, but no offensive abilities

Faction Battlecruisers:
Like a Myrm that can drop sentries, and provides a turret bonuses for skilling

2. Modules to help the "lone wanderers" and very small gangs

Micro Siege Mods
CCP Manifest already tipped his hat to this else where, promising to bring it discussion

Micro Triage Mods
Again, Manifest I thank you for supporting this idea

3. Drone Fitting

I know a lot of people were excited for the possibility of salvage drones, but think bigger and better. Three classes of drone: Combat, Indy, and Logistic. Each fully capable to be fit the way you see fit. Want salv drones? Fit up an indy drone hull with salvagers. This alone could turn battle into a whole new level of strategy, and would bring immense depth in game.

A place where sociopaths can gather safely. Hmm. I don't think that will be a good marketing strategy.

To a sociopath, family, friends, etc...all just more toys to play with...resources to use. Husks to discard when they stop giving me what I want.

Attempting to appeal to our sense of "unity" as "sociopaths" is I think....counterproductive.

Sitting back reading this after a moment of thought, I truly believe this is being taken the wrong way. Lol in fact, I was hoping to help forge a wishlist so that perhaps CCP will listen to all of us, like CCP Manifest took time to do for me today. However it seems the "sociopath" comment is holding a lot of people up.

So let me explain myself. Humanity, as an animal, is the most destructive force on the planet. We have killed in wars, maimed in the name of religions, destroyed our environments (like cloud forests, which are one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on our planet). If you step back and with an unbiased eye look at ourselves, we are disgusting creatures.

EVE allows us the pleasure of being the truly disgusting creatures we are, with out drain on others, drain on our environments, etc. That is why I touted it as a therapeutic tool. Not only for us, but for the world we live in.

It was not my intention to call anyone a sociopath (which I did). Rather it was my intention to explain that this game we sink hours of our lives into, allows us to deplete the sociopathic tendencies all human beings have. A sociopath is a person who put plainly lacks the filter to function amongst society. They lack moral obligation for their actions. They lack social conscience. Everyday, with everyone of us, that filter slips. Whether is be fighting with friends, family, significant others, whatever..........it happens. And we do and/or say things to make ourselves feel a little better inside.

So that is what EVE helps us do. It helps us act out, so that in the real world, we don't. And everyday I appreciate CCP for that.