Julie Whitefeather of VirginWorlds had two posts recently regarding EVE Online which I quite liked:
Consenting Adults and other Eve Online Pvp Myths
and
In space no one can hear you yawn
I think I hated EVE pvp for the same reason that I never level on pvp-only servers in Warcraft: unequal pvp and an environment where the strong can make it impossible for the weak to play. I prefer a middle ground, where I can make a choice: tonight I feel like pvp, or tonight I just want to dink around and not get pissed off.
Because I do, I admit. I get pissed off when ganked by someone with eleventy-gazillion skillpoints and fuckoff great ships. It’s not fun. I can handle a severe death penality in a game like EVE – as long as I have a hope of choosing my fights. No one likes being the scrawny little kid sitting crying in the dirt, with blood and snot running down his face while a circle of big fat bullies laugh at him.
“As exciting as a steep death penalty can make pvp, Eve Online is a game where victory is determined by who can bring a gun to a knife fight, who has the most soldiers or who has the most time invested in training – none of which is fun over a long time when you are constantly on the receiving end. No one likes to have their character die all the time. This is where the other edge of that double edged sword comes in to play.”
Nicely put. And yet…EVE is a gorgeous game. I want to like it, and I want to play. I just want to have fun at least most of the time, and not log off all pissed off because I lost another ship and now need to mine for a while in order to buy another one.
And I know, deep inside, I’m never going to be hardcore enough.
I fly about and get kills in a Rifter rather frequently. So do much newer players. I think it is about choosing targets wisely while staying out of the sights of the bigger fish. Not easy but to me, a fun challenge. Really sorry you couldn’t get into EVE’s PvP environment…it’s like anything else, really, though: works for some, not for others. Maybe something like exploration or the racing team would be more your style. There is plenty to do in-game that is fun and interesting and not missions and not PvP :)
But you generally use TechII stuff, don’t you? I think that might make a difference.
But yes, I think you need a lot more situational awareness than I had. If I flew around looking for the “right” target – not a brandnew player, not too big a ship, no TechII stuff…I’d usually get completely demolished by someone else that I hadn’t seen in less than a split second. It just took too long for me to look at all those factors, and while I did I was blind to the behemoth coming up behind me. :D Like I said, I totally, thoroughly suck at EVE pvp.
Plus, you have to not mind being podded (which I did) and have the ISK to replace your ships (which I didn’t).
I just wish mining and running missions weren’t so damned boring. :)