In this special edition of the EVE Blog Banter, CrazyKinux himself asked “[w]hether 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? [...] To put it simply: Why do you love EVE Online so much?”
The EVE Blog Banter invites an enthusiastic group of EVE Online bloggers to address–within a specified time period–a common topic related to EVE. The resulting articles may be short or long, funny or serious, but are always great fun to read! Direct questions about the EVE Blog Banter to crazykinux@gmail.com. Other EVE Blog Banter articles will be listed at the bottom of this post when the final list has been compiled!
My Internet spaceships face over the last three years. Can't wait to see her walk around in a station.
Over the last year or so, most of my time in EVE Online has been spent docked up. My skill points have slowly ticked upwards, I’ll be hitting 40 million soon, while my own skills at the game have deteriorated. The corp I’m currently in is a nice place, and I do leave the station to hunt down rats in nearby low-sec, but most of the time I’m just sitting there, chatting or staring at my Brutix’s giant navel.
It’s weird, I should be incredibly bored with EVE. Most of the time, my account is just there so I’ll be able to log in to see the changes introduced by CCP first-hand. As a member of the press, with MMOs as my main interest, it can be important to do that from time to time. But that part aside, I should not even feel compelled to log in. After all, it’s not like I do very much.
So what is it with EVE that makes me come back? In some ways, it’s nostalgia. While I have never been involved in massive 0.0 warfare, I’ve never seen a Titan or even a Dreadnought in anything except screenshots, I had my glory days a long time ago. I flew with a rebellious outfit, I felt the rush of PvP, the excitement of politics, the despair of losing an expensive ship or the thrill of taking down a powerful enemy.
But real life, that other MMO that we all have to play, got in the way. I left EVE, at least I thought I did, but I kept logging in. I sat in Perimeter for ages, a member of my own alt corp, not talking, not moving, only planning my skills and dreaming of a better tomorrow. I’ve even blogged about it here, which feels like ages ago.
EVE Online has something no other games do. It’s getting old, six years and counting, but it never stagnates. The boys and girls at CCP work hard to keep it fresh, update graphics and content. The players, from small Empire corps to the gigantic galactic empires of 0.0, keep it just as fresh, with constant wars and intrigue that keep even the mainstream non-gaming media fascinated with the game. I don’t log in to only my ship, I log into a breathing universe that evolves without me.
My Brutix, hanging outside a Gallente station. I love that ship.
It sounds corny, I know. In many ways it is. But EVE keeps pulling me back, even when I am busy with work or other MMOs. It’s a true gem, a unique MMO that has managed to stay relevant through its whole life. With Incarna, the elusive “walking in stations”-expansion, still on the horizon, I can’t see myself leaving for a long, long time.
Incarna is also one of the reasons why I’m fed up with sitting around waiting, doing nothing. When it comes out, I’ll be ready. I’m currently talking to a new corp, I’m sharpening my sticks, gathering up my anti-matter rounds to once again bring fire to the sky and death to my enemies. I am getting ready to once again declare war on the universe.
Most of the time, it will probably be my own ships that will fill up the killboards. I don’t care, it will be beautiful. And while real life will interfere again, as it always does, I know that EVE will still be there when I get back. For some reason, when you’ve dug yourself down deep enough, you can check out whenever you want or need to – but you can never, ever leave.
