Why I Play EVE Online

Having made this blog 2 days ago and argued with myself over what i should open with i decided to go with a light introduction, what i'll mostly be writing/complaining/rambling about and why i play the MMO - EVE Online .

Introduction

My real life name is Lee Duffin, i'm 22, male and live in the north west of England (UK for those of you not great with geography). I've been playing EVE on and off since its release but only got really into it in 2007, when i started a new character, founded an industrial corporation (IICL) and had a nice healthy number of newbies flying under me. Unfortunatly i had to take a year out of playing for personal reasons and on my return, the corp had been disbanded and remade under a new name. I joined their ranks as a lowly miner and said i wouldnt take on any higher roles just incase i had to stop playing again, which i did, for another 9 months.

Which brings us to 2009, RL sorted out, nice semi-healthy cash flow and the need to build and destroy (mostly my own) spaceships, i managed to get myself back online. After a few days faffing about with no sense of direction i decided to check out the recruitment channel. Sifting through the spam seemed pointless all the corps where looking to get into 0.0, and i just wasnt ready for that, being typically a noob with a bit of industrial knowledge. So i put a random '22mil SP carebear looking for empire corp with direction' in and got a convo request almost instantly. After a nice chat with the CEO of (PUFS) i decided to join this group of miners in their mission to build stuff. So far they've been a great corp, with casual and 'Hardcore' gamers nicely balanced, there's always someone to talk to and for the time being i'm happy.

Writing/Complaining/Rambling

I'll mostly be talking about my weekly life in the sandbox, my losses, my gains and so forth. I'll most likely end up complaining at some point about a game mechanic or bug i've encountered. I'd like to do little bits of fiction aswell, i'm not overly confident in my ability to write but i think i have some nice idea's. So i'll write them down and hopefully with some feedback, know how to better myself.

Why i play EVE Online

Simply put, EVE Online out of all the MMOs i've tried over the years (GW and WoW included) was and still is the MMO i feel most comfortable playing. With it not just being a mad dash to the end game, grinding instances and missions for UBE|2 L33T L00t, i can pretty much do whatever i want. Some days i mine all day, other days i'll run level 4 missions, other days i'll do some exploration (granted i suck majorly, but its a fun change none the less) and some days i'll do nothing at all and just chat. Giving players so much choice trumps giving them a linear path to follow, and i'm sure lots of you will agree.

That said i can see why people can become addicted to this sort of game. With the amount of choices it can be almost described as a 'Life Simulator', working hard mining/mission running/pirating/whatever to finally get that ship you've always wanted can be gratifying and losing it can be heartbreaking. It all adds to the immersion, no other MMO i've played can make you regret your mistakes as much as EVE, make you feel extatic when you've achieved something. It almost feels less like an average video game and more of a game of survival, surviving in the harshest of universes, and for that i love it.