Why does EVE captivate me so?

Welcome to this special installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by myself, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to me. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

When you’ve been roaming New Eden as long as I have, it almost feels like home. That’s how familiar it has become over the last 5 years. Not that I have done everything or touched every aspect of this most amazing of virtual world, far from it, but it just feels as though it’s always been there. And always will be.

Whether you’ve logged into the game every day since its launch in 2003, or you’ve taken one or several sabbaticals from your capsuleer career, you’ve always come back to New Eden don’t you. Why is that?

We know the EVE Online Community is unique in so many ways, and that EVE Online is like no other MMORPG out there. But what makes the game special for you?

What is it that makes this particular virtual world so enticing, so mysterious and so alluring that we keep coming back for more. Why is EVE one of the very few MMOs to see a continuous growth in its subscriber.

To put it simply: Why do you love EVE Online so much?

The Contest

Write an article letting us know why you love this game so much and get a chance to win one of these 10 amazing prizes courtesy of CCP Games!

* 1st Place: $100 in EVE Store merchandise
* 2nd Place: $50 in EVE Store merchandise
* 3rd and 4th Place: $25 in EVE Store merchandise each
* 5th through 10th Place: a 14-day EVE time pass each

The Prizes

$200 in EVE Online Store merchandise and six 2-week EVE time codes

The Rules

I’ll be judging your articles based on their quality, structure, approach, originality. Other criteria are as follows:

* Contest is open from now until Sunday January 31st 11:59 PM EDT, 2010
* Submit your article (title and URL) in the comments below, before the contest expires. I will be using the date and time of your comment as the time stamp for the contest.
* No offensive or racist language will be allowed.
* You will need to link back to this post in your article introduction, as in typical EVE Blog Banter fashion.
* The winners will be announced on February 5th, 2010.

Why does EVE captivate me so?
It hardly seems like it was nearly six months ago that Kirith graduated as a Capsuleer and set out to make a name for himself out there in the big black void of space. His sponsor through the academy an established Capsuleer who shall remain anonymous who is also a good friend OOG had convinced me to give the EVE 21 days trial a shot.

Equipped with a small amount of isk a great desire to be an elite Frigate pilot I started out in Rifters mostly Meta 2 fit. With only the basic skills to fly and fit a Meta 2 pvp fit Rifter I moved onto Learning Skills for what seemed a very long time. I tried out Faction Warfare as I deemed my skills too low for solo pvp but that fell flat on its nose as it was loads of talk in chat for next to zero action. I wasn't in Faction Warfare for more than a few days before deciding to bite the bullet and attempt to sail the seas of Low-sec space.

The day I made that decision I entered an area of space I had idenfied as a good base of operations, only a single large pirate alliance (M34N) in the locality and otherwise pretty quiet with a number of adjoining high sec systems. Kirith hasn't left Low-sec since, so that will give you an indication of how much I felt at home here. Sure I send the hauler alt out for supplies into high-sec but Kirith now is a permanent Low-sec resident. My first day was a baptism of fire, and brought about my first ship loss. Undaunted I reshipped and set out to build some combat experience.

Initially while I trained my learning skills kills were very hard to get, but not impossible and at the same time those I got were incredibly rewarding and served to give me huge gains in tactics, ranges and target acquisition skills. Once I started to build my combat skills the kills came in thicker and faster and my confidence built where I would go after bigger fish. Today I don't have huge numbers of SP, only 8-9m, but those that I have are all focussed around Minmatar Frigate combat and mean that I have a good chance against characters far older than I, take a chance and you never know what you can accomplish. Sure I lose ships but that all part of learning.

It's this ability for a character who is very young and by other MMO standards "low-level" to take on someone older or "higher level" in ships that may be bigger, better equipped and far more expensive than my own and stand a chance and indeed many times walk away with a victory that is one of the facets that makes EVE so brilliant and utterly different from other MMO's that I have played.

Recently I took the decision to apply to the The Tuskers and I was very pleased to be accepted, I have not looked back since. Without a doubt the community and team spirit and cameraderie within the Corp take the game to a whole new level from flying Solo and is something that I haven't experienced in any other game on any platform. I am sure that this of course is the same in other Corps but is yet another reason why I feel I am here to stay with EVE.

Yet again comparing EVE to other MMO's, at least in terms of pvp in no other game is pvp so brutal in terms of its consequences, sure in World of Warcraft you die in pvp but then your repsawn and get back into the fight and there is very little consequence, Get killed in EVE and were talking the potential loss of ships it's taken you weeks/months or even years to buy and fly. If this concept was applied to Warcraft I guess the equivalent to an EVE pvp ship loss and podding would be losing all of your gear and dropping back 10 levels.

All my experience in EVE to date has been in Rifters. There is whole raft of ships for me to fly and this doesn't even scratch the surface of the many other aspects of the game I haven't even tried or perhaps thought about or even know exist.

The scope of this game is enormous. Yes sir, EVE is here to stay and I plan to stay here with it!

o7