I was fitting the ships that I am supposed to go have destroyed as ordered by He Who Wants Hysterical Loss Mails (hereafter known as HWWHLM). I'd not managed to get very far with it when I received an invite from someone I occasional chat with.
The person whom I helped wished to 'pay it forward' and wanders through the new player areas and randomly assists whomever is willing to take acceptance. He and I were chatting during this and that is how I wound up in a conversation with a day old player.
It worked. Maybe helping people is ego stoking for me. I'm not sure. I do so enjoy it. This particular player was a WoW veteran who had come back to WoW after an extended time a way and found it to 'easy' and boring. He had wanted to try Eve and he was enjoying himself so far.
"Why me?" he asked at one point.
"No reason," I responded. "People in Eve do random acts of kindness to new players. It is not unheard of."
"You don't mind my questions?"
"Not at all. Eve is often not straight forward in what it offers. Its lack of restrictions perhaps its most confusing aspects. But early on, there is a bit of a path for you to walk."
"I've not been insulted or belittled by anyone. It's surprising."
"Oh, for all the meanness and nastiness and evil vile darkness, the residents of Eve can be remarkably helpful to a new player. They can also screw you over and giggle as they do it."
And thus it went on. The third party bailed and I spent hours that night idly answering his questions in chat as he waded into the game and attempted to restructure his understanding of how a video game works.
"Is it okay to message you again?" "As long as you don't turn into a terrible person or a jerk, it's all good."
He messaged me the next day. I wound up planting him in our public chat room. There, those that have started to socialize within its confines and various members of my corp who are more willing to engage in social conversation helped him out. I have no idea if he will stay or if he will become another that vanishes once he has been placed on his feet and set free into the game.
He has been drinking in the plethora of information Eve offers. The wikis and forums the websites and blogs, he is amazed at the amount of information that is out there to be had. He said at one point he had stopped playing for hours consumed with all of the knowledge that he kept finding.
Yesterday, the person that found him and wound up giving him to me told me thank you for joining the discussion the previous night. I mentioned that I still had the new player and that I had dumped him in our public chat room.
"I wanted him to join Eve Uni."
"He has the information if he wants to. I didn't tell him not to and he has the public channel pulled up."
I'm not a bittervet. And while the trolls gnash their fangs and insist that CCP is dumbing down Eve, for those of us who do not suffer from bittervetitis, it is still an exciting vivid and complex world.
Of course HWWHLM will tell me to go out and have ships blown up and stop spinning them in my hanger. :P
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