Do you really want to quit now? Yes.
I just watched an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that sums up my feelings about EVE. The crew of the Enterprise come across an old Earth probe in far space. Onboard they find three cryogenically frozen humans from the 20th century. After thawing, the survivors freak out. It’s a thaw to freak situation: they just can’t accept what’s happened, and there’s too much going on with androids, aliens, potential interstellar war, isolation. This is how I feel in EVE: like I was frozen in the days of World of Warcraft, thawed in the future, and punched in the face with skills, attributes, certificates, implants and factions.
The in-game tutorial tells me “planning is paramount”. What do I plan for? How am I, as a new player, supposed to know what I’ll do in the future? What skills are relevant to me? There seems to be so much emphasis on learning the correct skills (and there are many), that I’m not learning them. Instead, I’m freaking out.
There’s also another Star Trek reference that works, The Voyage Home. Quickly now: Enterprise crew travels back in time to, er, save some whales. Kirk gets jiggy (surprise surprise) with a 20th centrury whale expert. She (surprise surprise) finds out that they’re from the future and hitches a ride forward in time. My point: I’m that female whale expert. EVE is freaking me out, but I see the appeal. I see the potential. With a bit of luck and a certain Star Trek captain in my pants, I might just be that whale expert of the future.
EVE is many things, but easy and friendly it is not. It’s probably a lifestyle or a game to end all games. We’ll see. I’m prepared, almost. Scared, freaking out. A whale expert displaced by time.
…….and this is after its been made a lot easier for new players to get into. I first got into it in 2006, and whilst I had no problem picking it up and was hooked immediately, I do appreciate the learning curve was very steep, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way – but its a game, so of course you die a few times. It just seems to matter a little bit more when you die in EVE, compared to being shot in the head in an FPS, probably because of the learning investment you feel you have made.