What Makes Eve Tick

@Skogenik encouraged me to start a blog about being a newbie to Eve Online. When I asked for advice on how to begin, he said "Eve has good & bad so be honest! For me, EVE isn't perfect so be honest for good & bad." We all know what Eve is all about. We all know what's good and bad about it, why it's not perfect. It's us, the people who play it. There are villains and heroes aplenty in the Eve 'verse. There is no black and white. People could do things you never expected. To trust someone even in hi-sec is to tempt fate. To say "it's a dog eat dog world out there" is to take understatement and lob it out the nearest airlock. If you had a friend that got you to join, then you're one up on me. You have someone with ISK, ships and perhaps most importantly, experience with which to guide you. I first heard of Eve when the BBC news site wrote about Goonswarm destroying Band of Brothers via a disgruntled manager, stealing everything not welded down and then disbanding the corporation itself. When the BBC takes the time and effort to write an article about a game, us nerds tend to sit up and take notice. I did. Bobs demise and Goonswarms triumph are old news now, but the story still fascinates me. The stories and the people who create them drives Eve. I noticed overtime that I started to follow more and more blogs about the goings on of Eve, my twitter started to fill with news about the latest null sec wars and scams and one of my most often visited sites would be Eve News 24. Eve had me hooked without my even realising it. But following all of the blogs, news stories and twitter messages warned me of the kind of world New Eden is. I had images in my mind of suicide gankers and scammers, of players offering to help only to con me out of what little I had and of not knowing what the frell I was doing. Just as it had reeled me in, it had made me paranoid. And I would have it no other way. I've tried Everquest II when it hit free to play as well as a bit of WoW. I spent around 3 - 4 hours in both games combined. I spent my time whacking animals and gaining pitiful xp and next to no loot. And even if I was given a level a kill and 1000 gold, it wouldn't matter because nothing would really change. The quests you complete were given to a thousand before you and a thousand after, the NPC would stand there repeating his lines ad nauseam until the day the server is switched off for good. To be static is to fall behind. WoW, although it massively outnumbers almost every other MMO out there is bleeding subscribers. The occasional expansion pack boosts the numbers for a time before it peaks and begins to retreat again because in the end the core game doesn't change. So far in Eve, I've mined for resources, fought pirates (admittedly NPCs) went exploring anomalies and for fun and giggles, decided how far could venture into 0.0 sec before I became a pretty little explosion (Spoiler I got two jumps in). My knowledge of the other MMOs is very limited, but most MMOs ask you from the off what class you want to be. You could be the Warrior, taking and dishing out the hurt or a priest, healing your friends. A Rogue if back stabbing is your favourite hobby or a Hunter if you view yourself as a sniper. Now that sounds like choice at first, but once on that path, can you really change? Perhaps you could meld two classes together, but you would still be restricted by those classes. As far as I've been able to see for myself in Eve, you can be a warrior one moment and then after a quick re-ship, become the priest, repairing and supporting others. You'll need funds to buy the ships, so you can be a miner for a while or be the rogue and strike those miners, looting their hard earned spoils. This may read as WoW or EQII bashing, like I hate them. I don't, they simply don't entertain me. With all of the intrigue, politics and freedom to truly *do* something, you can create a story. It doesn't have to rival BoB vs. Goonswarm, but it'll be your tale to tell, not the games.