Skip to main content

To Not Forget the Fun Part

I started to write a different blog post. It was one where I was thinking about how often we snip the fun out of Eve for the sake of balance or what makes sense. I often look at beautifully laid plans and ask, "What is in it for the people actually playing in this game?"

I may write about it later. It is an important question. That's the hard part of the entire thing. We have to know what makes us want to play a game. We have to figure out what makes us want to keep playing a game. That does for fixing and adding content to the game and that also goes for the day to day reasons that we play.

Somewhere, in all of this, there is a game being played. I don't mean it in the dismissive form where if someone date have an emotional reaction they are told, "It's just a game." I mean in the simple fact that we are playing a game in our free time. It happens to be this computer game that is played at the same time with other people. It is a game nonetheless.

Why am I playing? Or why am I not playing? That may be the big question that I find I have to ask. I am fascinated by what we put ourselves through int eh game. The complex social mechanics kick in. Why do I do what I do? Why do I not do what I do? And what do I want to do?

I have some ideas. Some projects are finishing up. I dismantled my POS today. I'll be taking a break from building boosters until I sort out another market and thin out my overstock. Right now I want to put my playtime into other things. I've spent a lot of time thinking about my Crisis Intervention project and what I may need to do or change to create it.

Plus, I have the CSM. I've told my mother that I'm an internet spaceship politician and that it means a lot to me. Today we were hanging out and discussing relationships in the game and thinking. I said with a bit of amusement but no embarrassment that I write a lot of words about thoughts that I have in relation to the game. Is there a place in the world for thinkers? Do I qualify as one if there was?

Not that it matters. Today, however, was a day for thinking. Mostly self reflection. My game life has changed more than I had ever expected. It's mostly been good. However, change is often painful to go through no matter how good the changes. And today, I discovered some things and had some things said to me that make me realize that some things spill over in all directions.

And about fun. One of the hard parts about a social game is figuring out where working with others is a necessity and when it is impacting your game play. Not everyone likes me. Imagine that. Some people like me even less the longer they know me. It is even more amusing when you don't like them ether. Yet how often do we let things like this pass for the greater good of our game play?

Is that fun? Or is accepting it for the greater goal where the fun is? Do we accept that we will place ourselves in unpleasant situations the same way to accept unpleasant game design aspects? For the greater good?

I found myself questioning that today. I wondered why I was dimming down my fun in Eve. I have a lot of fun. I log in every day because I like to. Some of it is the weird type of fun that is hard to explain to others when you giggle over market sheets. Some is the satisfaction of logistics and getting everyone set and together for the day. Some of it is just logging on and talking to one of your oldest and move loved game friends for a few hours and remembering all of the good things that you like about the game.

It was a reminder that things that are not fun can creep up on you. When things are not fun one makes them fun. It applies for mechanics as well. Sometimes we have to mask the not so fun stuff with some pretty wrappings. And sometimes we just have to change them completely.

Comments

  1. I had previously expressed on Ripard's blog comments - that the more exposure I have to the meta-game the less I actually enjoy the actual game. This was recently reinforced when visiting Eve-O forums. What I thought was an innocent question received three pages of trolling. This is the public face of the game - but it looks like a victim of domestic violence.

    Ripard said his tank didn't last. Well here's some logi - I voted for you. Because you presented as a sensible person I believe that the game needs for representation.

    Oh, I keep asking myself why do I still play. It's a struggle to answer that some days. I parked my barge and took out a scan frigate. Climbed aboard a BC for anoms - and try my luck. Did something risky that didn't reward. Whilst patiently counting down to Crius. Maybe it will be Christmas or maybe it will just be coal in the stocking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is very easy to get caught up in others negativity. And one ttuenfightnwith someone can just sour things.

      Sometimes you put all of that aside and sit back and remind yourself of what you like not what other people do. In a way we give ourselves so.many social responsibility we wear out.

      I'm not interested in wearing out. ;)

      Delete
  2. :) thanks for stiumlating me to think about this... I sometimes log in just to have the one 10min convo with that one friend, pal or aquaintance that turns out to be the highpoint of the game. :) sometimes it is a convo that makes me laugh sometimes its hearing their oops story, and sometimes it's to relate my oooops story so they can get a laugh from me. So even with all the jackasses, hard cases, scammers, asshats and general people that want to violence my spaceship, it's they people I hang out with that often times make my EVE day awesome. I sometimes wonder if "bittervet" is just an EVE player whose friends dont log in anymore and who hasn't had or made the opportunity to create a new batch of "friends" yet.

    Sly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've always found most the fun in Eve to be the small every day things. Bug huge acomplishments are great to but the day I and day out is where the smiles are.

      Delete
  3. PS - Sugar and Ripard, my logi 5 toon is ongrid, hardeners on, cap transfers up, reppers primed and ready to overheat

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am absoutly only having a bad day. I just wrote about them. I try to be easy to get with. I sometimes fail. And I write about feelings on this here blog to. :)

      Delete
  4. It's not said enough, but thank you for what you are doing both on the CSM and this blog. I'm one of the large swathe of people just like you who play this game for fun, who want to build, explore, trade and fly with friends. We don't say it enough but thanks for providing some great reading and reminding us all of what makes this game fun.

    As Rippards experience proved, this is not said enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well thank you for reading! This blog is very much my personal outlet for things in the game. My thoughts and adventure. My good days and my bad.

      One of the hardest things to do is write about bad days and hurt feelings. People often ridicule and laugh at you. But I'm a person with a lot of emotions and feelingsand I'll accept the mocking and ridicule that may come because sometimes someone else also needs to hear its not just them caring.

      I think holding it all in makes someone bitter more than experiencing it ever will.

      Delete
  5. Why did I start playing EVE Online?

    Due to a mental condition, I am a social misfit in real life. Yet I like videogames and like sci fi and to my surprise I learned to like online multiplayer games. And there was EVE Online. Tried it and fell in love during trial.

    Why I don't play EVE Online any more after many years trying?

    Due to my mental condition, I am a social misfit in EVE. And EVE is not a place were you go far without being socially apt.

    EVE can be *too* real, heh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I often feel if I am a social misfit as well. I am terrible at keeping to the status quo.

      Delete
  6. Of course you’re a thinker. Yes thinking matters. Not only is there room for thinkers in the world, there’s great need of them.

    Thinking out loud is one of the great pleasures of your blog; both your out loud posts and our out loud comments.

    Malaise creep is strange infection. I’d pontificate knowingly on cure but, alas, all I can do is nod my head knowingly, sip my coffee and say, “Perhaps cranberries?”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But of course. And while I have your attention, what’s the deal with picking the raisins out?

      Delete
    2. rofl, enough said :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe one day!

 [15:32:10] Trig Vaulter > Sugar Kyle Nice bio - so carebear sweet - oh you have a 50m ISK bounty - so someday more grizzly  [15:32:38 ] Sugar Kyle > /emote raises an eyebrow to Trig  [15:32:40 ] Sugar Kyle > okay :)  [15:32:52 ] Sugar Kyle > maybe one day I will try PvP out When I logged in one of the first things I did was answer a question in Eve Uni Public Help. It was a random question that I knew the answer of. I have 'Sugar' as a keyword so it highlights green and catches my attention. This made me chuckle. Maybe I'll have to go and see what it is like to shoot a ship one day? I could not help but smile. Basi suggested that I put my Titan killmail in my bio and assert my badassery. I figure, naw. It was a roll of the dice that landed me that kill mail. It doesn't define me as a person. Bios are interesting. The idea of a biography is a way to personalize your account. You can learn a lot about a person by what they choose to put in their bio

Taboo Questions

Let us talk contentious things. What about high sec? When will CCP pay attention to high sec and those that cannot spend their time in dangerous space?  This is somewhat how the day started, sparked by a question from an anonymous poster. Speaking about high sec, in general, is one of the hardest things to do. The amount of emotion wrapped around the topic is staggering. There are people who want to stay in high sec and nothing will make them leave. There are people who want no one to stay in high sec and wish to cripple everything about it. There are people in between, but the two extremes are large and emotional in discussion. My belief is simple. If a player wishes to live in high sec, I do not believe that anything will make them leave that is not their own curiosity. I do not believe that we can beat people out of high sec or destroy it until they go to other areas of space. Sometimes, I think we forget that every player has the option to not log back in. We want them to log

And back again

My very slow wormhole adventure continues almost as slowly as I am terminating my island in Animal Crossing.  My class 3 wormhole was not where I wanted to be. I was looking for a class 1 or 2 wormhole. I dropped my probes and with much less confusion scanned another wormhole. I remembered to dscan and collect my probes as I warped to the wormhole. I even remembered to drop a bookmark, wormholes being such good bookmark locations later. My wormhole told me it was a route into low sec. I tilted my head. How circular do our adventures go. Today might be the day to die and that too is okay. That mantra dances in the back of my head these days. Even if someone mocks me, what does that matter? Fattening someone's killboard is their issue not mine. So I jumped through and found myself in Efa in Khanid, tucked on the edge of high sec and null sec. What an interesting little system.  Several connections to high sec. A connection to null sec. This must be quite the traffic system.    I am f