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[Casiella]

I wanted to riff a little on Ulphus's comment:

Not everyone plays this game just for the PvP, and making that assumption without finding out if this person is one of them might drive her off.

It's a truism that lots of folks don't play EVE for the PVP (though I firmly believe that everyone in EVE should at least understand it). So why do you play? Alternately, why did you, and why don't you now?

[Ashar Kor-Azor]

Thanks for creating an anchoring bias with how you framed the question, Casi :P

I play for roleplay. A lot more of it can be done in this setting and with this set of mechanics than elsewhere; a lot more of it can be clever what with the lack of different species among the playerbase to prevent the senseless xenocentric mess that dumbs such things down in many other settings. Sadly, there's plenty of other sources of silly bullshit, but what can you do.

I used to play for more than that, but it takes kind of a lot to motivate me to engage with the mechanics these days, what with the UI having the texture and odor of shit about it and the springboards for escapism being divorced rather severely from the crunch.

[scagga]

I wanted to riff a little on Ulphus's comment:

Not everyone plays this game just for the PvP, and making that assumption without finding out if this person is one of them might drive her off.

It's a truism that lots of folks don't play EVE for the PVP (though I firmly believe that everyone in EVE should at least understand it). So why do you play? Alternately, why did you, and why don't you now?

Used to play for two main reasons
1) Corp/RP
2) The market

1) Really liked/like my corp throughout its iterations of DELEO/AFC I.  It was an awesome atmosphere where we could live out the 'Ammatar parody' as we saw it, embracing contrasting elements of totalitarianism, fascism, communism, questionable morality, pseudo-religiosity and anti-heroism (and admittedly a bit of personality cult at one time). Indeed, we continue to define our Ammatar idea on our forum even though we don't function as a corporation at the current time.

2) The market. Making bags of isk and 'social networking' across 2-3 characters to get very competitive supply deals. Made isk selling enemy-made hardware to allies, enemy-made hardware to other enemies, central plan hardware to enemies, manipulating enemy territory secondary hubs, seeding mini-hubs...and vice versa. It made a large contribution towards our station purchase. The RP involved in getting these deals was great fun, particularly under the guise of Mr Maikko Tastalahtien at a time  

Previously used to play for PvP, but got tired of it as I found it required a lot of time and effort for an objective that was not worthwhile.

[Vieve]

The RP involved in getting these deals was great fun, particularly under the guise of Mr Maikko Tastalahtien at a time  

Maikko was you?  HEH.

[Casiella]

Thanks for creating an anchoring bias with how you framed the question, Casi

It was all I could do not to editorialize completely.

[Saede Riordan]

1. Internet spaceships
2. Internet heists
3. internet piracy
4. internet evil

[Valdezi]

The way I see it, EVE players fall into two groups:

1) Those who see EVE as a RPG and their character is important. (Generally, this audience)

2) Those who see EVE as a chess-like strategy game and play accordingly. (The LOLrp audience)

Obviously, there are variations, and this is a massive generalisation.

Nullsec politics and the big alliances out there seem largely to be the second group.

As for me, I play for RP. When I first joined, I joined a corp made entirely of people I knew in real life. We all called each other by our real names and carebeared around Dodixie. Then didn't play a lot until I joined the ILF and the RP revitalised the game for me.

I like PVP, and I can even tolerate missions again, because the RP makes the game fun. Without it, I wouldn't be that interested, frankly. The game itself, however good, isn't enough.

[Dex_Kivuli]

The RP involved in getting these deals was great fun, particularly under the guise of Mr Maikko Tastalahtien at a time  

OH MY GOD!! I loved Maik. I also feel like an idiot now, because I always tried to help Maik, because I thought he was a rookie :-(

I guess you RPed it too well!!

I played the game for trade. I know it is ultimately meaningless, but there was a time when I used to use my ISK balance as a metric of success, like a scoreboard. I used to really enjoy it, particularly on days when I made A LOT.

However, that all started because I wanted a Nightmare. When I first started, I just wanted to be able to access the cool ships, and I thought the Nightmare was the coolest. Then I got the nightmare, and just wanted to earn more.

These days I've kinda come full circle. Now I want to fly new ships.

Being part of a good corp, with good people is also important to me. I like logging in and knowing I'm in a corp that means something. That is where RP comes in, I think.

[Benjamin Shepherd]

Played it for the economic and political influences one could make in a dynamic single shard server.

Then I joined Moira, and have done utterly little PvP. Now I can only RP because my computer went kaputt.

[Ghost Hunter]

This, basically.

[Alain Colcer]

Curious thing

I came to eve to travel the "vastness" of space, in the same way wing commander showed this huge universe with hundreds of solar systems and planets.

It was an MMO that provided the ability to travel freely and discover....

Today i mostly play it for the market/social and PvP aspects though. RP being part of the social aspect.

[Graelyn]

I play EVE because the PVP is top notch...it's still the only video game that can leave me winded and shaky after a fight...but that's all just a bonus.

It's mainly because of the scope of the playing field.

Everyone I know plays MMOs, and they all talk about funny or awesome moments within them, the asshats they meet, and the conflicts present. I let them all finish. Then I give them the latest from EVE.
Most of them at any gathering don't believe me. They 'pshhaw' and think I'm showing them up, until some of the more learned of the group invariably say "Yeah, I hear shit like that about EVE all the time. It's more hardcore than any of you."

I watch my roommates and best friends play their WoW and AION and Lineage and Age of Conan. We all run guilds and websites and ventrillos, we're all RPers, but I see the day to day stuff in their play, and I can't help but feel like an F1 driver watching a go-cart race. Running a corp in EVE is nothing like it, and doing RP in EVE is a whole other beast.

Mainly, it's a maturity level. Stupid roleplayers in other games get bogged down in whiney he said-she said bullshit that is just plain retarded. Sure, it happens in EVE too, but when a friend asks off-hand for some advice with a problem member, my responses of "Take their shit, kick them from your guilds, start a campaign with your fighters, hire some mercs for timezone coverage, and drive them from the face of your realm" fall on shocked ears. "Oh, sure, that's how you'd do it in EVE..."

And sure, I'm talking all big and tough here, but it works on the other end too. Who am I in EVE? If someone with real power wanted me destroyed? I would be hunted, watching my every move. When I'm out and about on my lonesome on various projects around New Eden, I know I have enemies, and I am not some invincible juggernaut. Anyone with a brain, some patience, or just a fleet and some luck can put me out of commission. That lone frigate pilot with a set of balls can happen upon me and wreck my entire day. I can never let my guard down. A healthy level of paranoia makes for an extra-long clone-life....and it's nothing like any other game that coddles you with safety, that removes that rush of 'making it another day'.

Because EVE is the only place you can do anything besides inconvenience someone with a long respawn.

EvE is not just P-v-P.
Player vs Player is an idea with attached ideas of consent and 'harassment'.
Everyone vs Everyone is a whole other dish, and if you can't handle it, you're booted out on your ass.
E-v-E is EVE.

And no matter how many times I get sick of it, I always end up back, because nothing else comes close. Looking at the long-term projects of the gaming industry, nothing will come close for many years. MMOs are frightened creatures from birth, wrapping their players in bubble-wrap, and shoving them into instanced, pre-written content with no consequence to anyone. When that content runs out, and the grind peaks in a certain set of gear or 'levels', then the game is completed.

You cannot complete EVE.

I play EVE because gaming as a whole is too pussified to do any better.

[Bong-cha Jones]

I used to think that I didn't play Eve for the pvp.  I have never shot another player.  I've been caught in a bubble once (made it out unharmed) and that's really it.  I spend a little time in nullsec every week, a little less in low.  I've missioned more than everything else combined.  I've invested a lot of skillpoints in RnD and in Science & Industry more generally.

But then, when I managed to finally get in on a Sansha event, I remember people complaining about Izzychan being in local and them saying 'well, nothing we can do, don't want to get CONCORD'ed' and I thought 'why hasn't she been wardecced?!'  And I nearly decced her that day, before realizing I'd probably never make it to another incursion (and I haven't since).  That's when I realized that while I may not be a pvper, I like playing a game where meaningful pvp is a daily reality.

It means I have to think before I mouth off on the forums, and that other people have to do so too.  It means that setbacks are a real possibility,  and that running through low/null sec is an exciting experience, where moving through most pvp zones in other games is just annoying.

I like the pvp universe.  I like the single shard enviroment.  I like the setting.  I like the rp.  I like the level of immersion the game provides.  And honestly, I like the ships.

[Ashar Kor-Azor]

Grae-grae, can I interest you in some black-tar heroin?

[Ken]

About sixteen months ago I read an article about the multi-trillion ISK EBANK heist and was surprised to find "that spaceship MMO" was still out there and apparently thriving.  This got me on a sci-fi game kick, but I frankly didn't want to sink a hundred hours into X3: Terran Conflict just to end up with a great big space empire that I could show off to... all the NPCs in X3. 

I figured EVE offered the same spaceship fun but in a MMO/sandbox game where there were other people to play with.  I could zoom around and shoot layzors or whatever it was that you did in EVE for a couple weeks to sate my craving...  I shortly discovered that whether you win or lose, every action and event in EVE matters on some level.  What was more, the EBANK thing didn't break the game.  Sure, it broke the EULA, and the perpetrator was banned from EVE, but the victims had little recourse.  If he hadn't sold all that ISK for cash, he'd still be in the game today and maybe the richest bastard of them all.  Though not a perfect example, EBANK highlighted the peril that underlines all EVE gameplay no matter how long you've been at it.

What was going on in this game?

Apparently, in EVE you could accomplish relatively little on your own, but at the same time could trust no one.  Risk, treachery, and loss were business as usual.  Success depended on RL skill.  Twitch and time only got you so far in EVE (and not all that far tbh).  True windfall and true annihilation were possible and protected by the game rules.  So I got hooked because "Being Istvaan" was a real and viable profession yet somehow there were still functioning corporations out there consisting of hundreds of people.  Internet spaceships, yea I got that, okay.  Check out these internet cutthroat politics played out on a permanent knife-edge in deep space.

When I discovered that the same rules extended to the RP side of things, that you could do all that stuff in-character, and that the story was so carefully crafted (and continues to be) by the developers and enriched by the players, I realized I was here for the long-term.

Ken <3 EVE