Terms of Engagement: Wha’da ya mean fight fair?

Eve Online is a lot of things. It’s internet spaceships, a sandbox, and it’s sometimes a swift kick in the teeth. It’s also, and I find this the most interesting, as true of a state of nature as I've ever seen. When I say state of nature, I’m talking about Hobbes (the man, not the hallucinatory tiger). Hobbes was a political philosopher from the 17th century who came up with this idea of the state of nature. It basically stated that in the hypothetical time before government existed, people were by and large equal. Yes, there were some that were marginally stronger or smarter, but anyone that wanted to best the stronger or smarter needed only to gang up on them or use a bit of cunning. In this time nothing was provided for you; you had to go out and get it. Since everyone was equal in ability, everyone was willing to fight one another for the things they needed. The end result was a constant state of conflict over just about everything.

If you know anything about Eve, that sounds a lot like it. For one you play as a capsuleer, an immortal space pilot that answers to no one apart from other capsuleers. By and large, all capsuleers are equal in ability and any difference in ability can be mitigated by sheer numbers or a bit of cunning. And yes, there’s always some people fighting somewhere in Eve.

There are places in Eve where the state of nature is reigned in a bit. The prime example is empire space with the threat of Concord, the ever present space police that punishes (some) wrong doers. Concord being the unstoppable force it is, one cannot do anything about them. However, there are places in New Eden where Concord’s influence is lessened or even absent. I speak of low sec, null sec, and wormhole space.

Here you would expect a state of nature to exist but it’s not entirely so. I would say that there is a certain degree of lawlessness in the unsettled areas of the cluster but only between different groups of players (corps, alliances, etc.). Within these groups there are social codes that govern their member’s behavior. These codes of conduct may not be overtly enforced; often all that is needed is a bit of social pressure (desire to belong to a group, peer pressure, etc.). I’ll give an example. Many of you are familiar with RvB, the PVP institution that boasts near constant, easy to join fights. Even in here there are rules. They're some that are written down (no ECM being an example) but they're are some unspoken ones as well. For instance, it’s frowned upon if you were to undock in a Rokh, alpha an unsuspecting frigate, and dock up again. Unsportsmanlike and all that jazz.

Another example is the null sec alliance policy of NRDS (Not Red Don’t Shoot). For those unfamiliar, it basically is a policy where a null sec alliance will allow neutral players into their space as long as they take no aggressive action. The largest subscriber to this mindset is CVA and its allies. Again, there’s no built game mechanic enforcing this behavior, just the players policing themselves.

Intra-group codes of behavior are hardly a bad thing. They keep the group cohesive, minimize conflict, that sort of thing. The problem I have with all the fair play talk is when two of these groups interact. A recent example is the compromise between Test and the Goons in order to prevent full scale war. Rather than going at it, both groups decided to reset their standings to one another and have prearranged “thunder-domes”, basically pre-agreed upon battles. I can understand why they did this but it makes Eve so much less interesting. I’d much rather hear about CFC and HBC going at each other’s throats, null sec power structures collapsing, the end of dynastic alliances and coalitions, etc. than the Goons and Test had a fight in a predetermined place at a predetermined time with no consequence pending the outcome. I feel that shying away from conflict diminishes the Eve experience, not only on an alliance or coalition level but on an individual one as well. On that note, I’ll end with a personal experience.

Before I joined Noir Academy, I was a hauler. I did some industry, but by and large I spent my time in-game cruising the space lanes in my trusty Obelisk, the aptly named “Rolling Blubber”. I had been hauling most of my Eve career up to that point and had come to somewhat of a peak in my hauling career, namely that I was hauling for Red Frog Freight, one of New Eden’s major hauling corps. This was back when freighter suicide ganks were extremely common. Every now and then a corpie would link a kill mail of some poor freighter pilot getting alpha-ed by a fleet of battle cruisers for his shiny cargo. The response often was, “He was hauling too much ISK worth of cargo” or “He was probably auto-piloting”. The conversation would then turn to bemoaning the Goons for starting this whole ganking fad and other such complaints. I, however, would think to myself, “Man, I’m glad those gankers are out there. They keep me on my toes and otherwise hauling would be really, really boring.” So while playing it safe and making things fair are all well and good in real life, I think there needs to be a different approach to Eve. We need to be a little more adventurous than we’ normally be, if only for the sake of making things interesting. After all, it’s the players that make the content in this game. We sometimes have to take a leap of faith in order to find it.

Trade Strategies: Commodity Energy

Just a quickie this time. I’ll be introducing a trading concept I came up with. Enjoy.

 Commodities, when traded, have a certain energy associated with them. The idea came to me when while looking over my market orders. It occurred to me that the items in Eve somewhat resemble a food chain. Raw materials are harvested, processed into intermediate materials, and later manufactured into high end products. Interesting idea but how could it help me make more ISK? At one time I was in training as a biologist and I still have an interest in the subject. There is a concept in the study of food chains called available energy. It essentially tells that as you move up a food chain there is less and less energy available for the next level on the food chain. This concept can be applied to the item production food chain as well.

            There are certain items that have a high amount of trading energy. The most notable are minerals and other production materials. These items trade at enormous daily volumes but the profit margins tend to very small. As you move up the production chain, trade volumes decrease as the profit margin increases. These would be your low energy items. If you look at the price history graph, high energy items will have a high trade volume, indicated by the green bars at the bottom, as well as having a narrow Donchian channel, the brown field indicating profit margin. Low energy items will show the opposite.

            Both types of items have their pros and cons. High energy items have a very fast turnaround, making them ideal for day to day income. The disadvantage is the low profit margin. These sorts of items are also a great starting point for the newer trader, since available ISK tends to be smaller. Low energy items are great because of the large profit margins but they often take a very long time to sell. They are best used as long term investments for more experienced traders.

            In terms of application, I would recommend splitting your orders up between high and low energy items. Having plenty high energy item orders will fulfill your daily ISK needs while a few low energy items will ensure long term profits.

Eenie, Meeny, Miny, Moe: Overload of Choice

            To start things off, allow me to present an analogy. It’s a hot summer day and you’re looking to cool off. While walking around town you spy an ice cream shop and decide to stop in. Once inside, you’re delighted to find that shop boasts over 100 different flavors. After looking of over the flavors you notice a sign near the bottom of the list of flavors. The says that each customer can only choose one flavor at a time and once you choose a flavor you can no longer buy any other flavor for three months. You’re effectively locked into buying one flavor for a quarter of a year. Which of the many flavors will you be the most satisfied with? Will you become tired of your chosen flavor in a month’s time? The myriad of choices that were viewed with excitement now are a source of paralyzing indecision.

            So what does too much ice cream have to do with Eve? The answer is the sandbox. The wonderful aspect of the holy sandbox is that you are presented with a deluge of choices. Which career should you choose? Which ship should you fly? Which skills should you train? Which NPC corp should you run missions for? Which this, which that…. a lot of choices. While this feature is one of the selling points of the sandbox, to a new player it can be incredibly overwhelming. The choice overload is the primary source of the notorious Eve learning curve.[1]

            The excess of decisions is compounded by the fact that almost every choice that you make in Eve has lasting consequences. Time spent training for a later abandoned career choice can’t be taken back. The ISK lost from a bad business decision can’t be reclaimed. A single decision made by a single FC can change the course of an entire conflict. The weight of choices can be quite intimidating, especially to a newer player that doesn’t have experience to rely on. The fear of making a “wrong” choice can be a real problem for some.

            I’d like to address the idea of the “wrong choice”. Honestly it’s a flawed concept. It assumes that there is some final destination that one is aiming for and that there are some choices that will slow one’s progress to the end goal. This idea frankly doesn’t apply to Eve. There may be goals in Eve but there is always another mountain to climb once you’ve ascended your current peak. There’s always another system to conqueror, always another ship to blow up, always another ‘roid to mine. There is now end-game in Eve.

            Every choice you make in New Eden is one more step in the pursuit of fun. There’s no end destination, just a never ending staircase of challenges, defeats, and victories. So don’t let the multitude of choices overwhelm, but embrace them. Every choice presents a new experience, a new opportunity, a new chance to enjoy the game.

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[1] http://cdn.overclock.net/1/12/127a2824_eve-online-learning-curve.jpeg

It's All the Same: Products and Lack of Quality

                Eve’s economic system is pretty awesome. By and large I have nothing but praise for it. But as of late I've noticed a peculiarity of the Eve market. If you look at two of the same product made by two different players, you’ll notice there’s no difference between them. It doesn’t matter if one was made by a 100 million SP player and the other by a player with less than a million. From a game design standpoint, this makes perfect sense. You can’t have players fiddling around with your finely tuned code, regardless of how long they've been playing. However, from an economic perspective this lack of different qualities can be quite restrictive.

                The problem arises when a pilot begins to approach the upper echelons of manufacturing. I’m talking when you have Industry and Production Efficiency to five and are working with 8 or more production slots. If you want to increase profits at this point, there are really only two options. The first is to decrease you costs, an example by buying cheaper materials and BPC’s or investing in a BPO. The second would be abandoning the current product being produced and searching for a more profitable one. I would like to propose a possible third option, increasing the quality of the product. What I mean by that is there should be some sort of system added to the game by which players can produce superior versions of current ships, modules, rigs, etc.

                I can think of a few ways to set up a system for this concept. The first of which would involve there being an item, let’s call it Chemical X, which would be added in the manufacturing stage to increase the quality of the end product. There could several different versions of Chemical X, each affecting the end product in different ways. One could increase the produced ship’s agility, another increasing the shields, and so forth. The next question to answer would be how one acquires Chemical X. It could be some sort of random dropped item from officer spawns and the like, but that just doesn't feel right for Eve. The better option would be that it were produced in a reactor on a POS. The materials required would be quite varied, ranging from high end minerals, PI products, ice and gas cloud products, and moon goo. The essential point would be that Chemical X would need to be created from a wide range of materials, thus creating a logistical hurdle for production.

                Another possibility would be to have several different grades of materials one can gather. As an example of this, let’s imagine you were producing high-end Atrons. The firsts step in the process would be to gather mineral, as is normal. The added step would be that you would combine these minerals into new types of metals, somewhat like alloys (in the traditional sense, no relation to the in game item). This process would require a new skill, something like Molecular Recombination, in order to perform it. Molecular Recombination would have to have a high multiplier, at least 15. Level 1 would allow you to produce the recombinant materials for frigates, level 2 for cruisers, level 3 for battlecruisers, and level 4 for battleships. Level 5 would unlock Advanced Molecular Recombination, allowing for the production of upgraded capitals ship materials. Once the materials were acquired, production of the upgraded Atron would require the manufacturer to have an additional skill as well, Recombinant Production. It would follow the same logic as Molecular Recombination (level 1 for frigates, 2 for cruisers and so forth). With the skill trained to the proper level, manufacturing would continue as normal.

                These two systems are by no means perfect solutions. It’s difficult for an economic layman such as me to predict the effect varying product quality would do to the market. I personally think that the markets would be more interesting and dynamic were there some variety between the same items. This      may be a case of “don’t fix it if it ain't broken” but why shouldn't we attempt to make a great system better.

Station Trading Guide

Okay before I begin I'm going to assume you know how to place a buy/sell order and you know how to use the market UI decently. If not I recommend this link:http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Market

Now, for the actual guide:

To begin, lets assume you have no idea what station trading is. At its simplest, station trading is the process of setting a buy order and selling the item at a higher price. There are however a few ways to improve you odds of making a profit.

Part 1: Identifying Good Trades

The first thing to look for when searching for good trade items is whether or not the highest buy order is a lower price than the lowest sell order. For example, lets say tritanium has a highest buy order at 5 ISK while its lowest sell order is 10 ISK. Go ahead and make a buy order for that.

The next set of things to look for are all located in the Price History tab (it's under the picture of the item, next to the Market Data tab). Now don't freak out when you see it, the thing's a bitch to understand at first. To remember what all the pretty colors mean I use the the Burger Method.

First thing to look at are the green bars at the bottom of the chart. They represent the amount of units traded in a given day. The more items traded, the faster you'll get a return on your buy orders, so look for item with a lot of trade volume.

Next you look at the big brownish shape in the middle of the graph. This is the Donchian channel. Hell if I know who that is but it represents the space between the highest and lowest sell/buy orders. You want this to be as wide as possible. That'll mean larger profit margins.

Next look for the yellow squares on the graph. These represent the median price of all the orders of that day. Generally speaking you want this to be in the middle of the Donchian channel as much as possible. This means that the supply and demand is somewhat stable and won't be left holding onto your items before you can sell them.

Last thing to look at are the green and red lines on the graph. They represent the moving average take at 20 and 5 days, respectively. What you're looking for is a straighter green line, indicating price stability on the long term, and a jagged red line, indicating volatile prices on the short term.

So in summary you want an item with:
- High volume traded (lots of green bars)
- Large profit margin (wide Donchian channel)
- Stable supply and demand (yellow squares in the middle of the Donchian channel)
- Stable prices on the long term and volatile prices on the short term (straight green line and jagged red line

Once you've identified a good item set up your buy order and sell the items that come in. You'll also want to update your order periodically, making sure your buy orders are the highest and your sell orders are the lowest. It's up to you how often you update but I find that my orders tend to be filled right after I update them.

Part 2: The Skills

There are 3 categories of skills that can make you a better trader: number of orders, remote trading, and NPC fees.

1. The Number of Orders Trading Skills are pretty straight forward. The higher the level of the skill, the more order you can have at once. Here are the skills:

- Trade: Increases your limit of active orders by 4 per level
- Retail: Increases your limit of active orders by 8 per level
- Wholesale: Increases your limit by 16 per level
- Tycoon: Increases your limit by 32 per level

You'll want these skills as high as you're willing to train them.

2. The Remote Trading skills allow you to create and modify orders remotely.

- Procurement: Increases the range of setting up buy orders
- Marketing: Increases the range of setting remote sell orders
- Daytrading: Increases the range at which you can modify active orders
- Visibility: Increases the highest possible range you can set for a buy order when you set it up remotely. This one's a bit tricky. Here's an example, say you're in Sibot and you want to set up a buy order in Amarr. Assuming your Procurement skill is high enough, the Visibility skill will control the max range you can set the buy order to be filled at.

These skills don't have to be very high. I find that level 4 for each is enough for me.

3. The NPC Fee skills decrease the amount of ISK you have to give to CCP when you're trading.

- Accounting: Decrease the tax paid on sell orders
- Broker Relations: Decreases the broker fees for setting up buy and sell orders
- Margin Trading: Decreases the amount of ISK you have to put in escrow when you set up a buy order. You'll have to pay the difference when the buy order is fulfilled.

You're gonna want Accounting and Broker Relations as high as possible. Margin Trading is nice too, but not as important.

Well, that's the basics. Most of the ability to station trade well comes time and bigger wallet, so keep at it. Now go and create a market crash or something. Thanks for reading.

Crippled: Thoughts on Risk Aversion

               Risk is something that everyone in Eve is familiar with. It’s ever-present, always gnawing at you just beyond conscious thought. Depending how a capsuleer handles risk can make or break their experience in New Eden.

                For many of us, our first run in with the realities of New Eden comes very early in our career. Whether it be an ill-advised trek into low sec, buying that seemingly lucrative BPO, or simply having a run in with a few too many rats, it is very quickly burned into our minds that the universe is out to get you. The classic reaction to this state of affairs is to find the nearest proverbial rock and cower underneath it. Sure, this sort of response will minimize the chances that Eve will deliver a swift kick between the legs but personally I find this course of action distasteful. I don’t pay a monthly fee just to have a heaping dose of anxiety. I don’t need that. I have mental illnesses for that.

                Alternatively, and this is the mentality I subscribe to, we can embrace risk and realize the purpose it servers in Eve. Risk isn't there to paralyze the player.  The permanence of loss and similar mechanics are here to give our actions of a sense of significance. As a point of contrast, think of dying in most MMO’s. There’s little to no consequence. At worst your gear gets damaged and you get a debuff of some sort. Death is reduced to an inconvenience. As a consequence, when you narrowly avoid the reaper’s scythe, much of the joy of victory is lost.

                Back in New Eden, death takes no prisoners. First, when you’re ship kicks the bucket it’s gone. Forever. Nothing short of an act of God will bring it back. That’s anywhere from a few thousand to billions of ISK down the toilet. Next, if you get podded you actually die. Not you despawn on place and respawn another, you literally die. There’s a corpse to prove it. That’s all the implants gone for good and possibly a portion of your skill points. That’s a lot on the line.

                Yeah, it’s pretty scary when you spell it out in such a black and white fashion. I even had a pang of anxiety there. Paradoxically, this anxiety is a good thing. When you have something to lose and you know it, overcoming the odds and achieving victory means all the more. I play video games in order to experience the emotional highs and lows that you don’t ordinarily experience in everyday life. Risk is essential to delivering such experiences. I've put a lot of time and emotion into this game, and when my progress in danger of being taken from me, it matters.

                In the end, I can’t tell you how to play Eve. All I can recommend is to push beyond your comfort zone, try that one thing that you’d never do. It’s only by doing this that you can experience everything Eve has to offer.

The Crayon Wars: Strategies and Analysis

                Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for that past two weeks, you may have noticed that the North has heated up a bit. The residents of Venal, primarily Black Legion. , Scrap Iron Flotilla, and Confederation of xXPIZZAXx, have started taking CFC moons, mostly belonging to Fidelas Constans (FCON) and SpaceMonkey’s Alliance (SMA).  Having grown bored of the peace and quiet after the conquest of Tribute, The Mittani officially mobilized the CFC forces[1] and began to march to the defense of their allies. And thus, the Crayon Wars have begun.[2]

                

                Rather than give a blow by blow recap of the skirmishes to date, I’d like to focus on the overall strategies each side should adopt were I calling the shots.

Black Legion and Friends

                The BL and friends have stirred up one mother of a hornets nest. Were this a real life campaign that the BL were undertaking, I would call the whole thing foolhardy.  But as we’re talking about internet spaceships, the odds that the BL face only make things more exciting.

On paper, the Venal residents are bringing around 1500 members to this space war. The CFC, on the other hand, is a bit less than 30,000 strong. Sure, there are probably a fair number of alts and multiple accounts on both sides, but any way you cut it the BL guys are a bit in over their heads. Given these numbers, our David in this scenario would have to be suicidal to take Goliath head on. If BL is going to have any shot at even putting a dent in the CFC, they need to focus on guerilla tactics. As a rule they would need to never engage the CFC on their terms; always initiate the battle, always strike fast and hard, and always leg it before the CFers can mobilize. Sniper boats will be key to this strategy. With their relative speed and long range capabilities, Tier 3 battlecruisers will be (and have been) the primary ship in BL fleets.

As for the specifics of strategy, I would suggest a two prong focus. First would be to decimate the CFC’s infrastructure, namely POS’s. The key would be doing it repeatedly and over a large area for maximum effect. I would even suggest not even anchoring much of anything in its place, perhaps just a single tower armed with neuts, warp jammers, E-War mods, anything that would make it more difficult for the CFC to take the moon back. The first goal of this tactic would be to cut off the CFC’s substantial moon goo income. The second, and the next prong of the strategy, would be to demoralize them. The BL. needs make this war so expensive, so frustrating that the larger alliances of the CFC will leave the like of FCON, SMA, and Lawn to fend for themselves. It’s a very tall order, but honestly it’s the Legion’s only chance. Blueballing and demoralizing the CFC is the light that will guide the BL. to victory.

The CFC

                The goal for the CFC is the same as that of the Black Legion: demoralize the enemy. The difference is that the CFC can bring greater numbers to bear, thus different tactics are open to them.

                The first tactic the CFC needs to employ is infiltration and sabotage. They’ve presumably managed to do this in one of the Legion’s alt corps[3] but the efforts will need to continue. After all, there’s nothing that will fracture an alliance better than when you don’t know which of your friends is holding a knife behind their back.

                The next two tactics are straight forward number games. The first is locking down the Legion’s home systems. Gates need to camped, station undocks need to be traps, the Legion needs to not be able to move unless the CFC allows it. And when they do allow it, the CFC needs to bring such a large force to bear that the only sensible thing the BL. can do is not engage them.

                There are a few disadvantages to this plan, however. First off, this will require an ungodly amount of time. Rome wasn’t won in a day and neither will you crack Venal in a night. Compounding this, the CFC is going to need all hands on deck for this to work. The greatest advantage the Goons and friends have is their numbers. Having more warm bodies will be the difference between the CFC curb-stomping the BL and having to wade through a long and protracted conflict.

***

                Only time will tell who will come out on top in this battle between Goon pets and pirate squatters. Both sides bring a lot to the table. I wait with batted breath for the killmails to roll in.

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[1] http://themittani.com/news/poking-bear-venal-hostilities-underway

[2] http://www.kugutsumen.com/showthread.php?41714-The-Northern-Thread-Concentrated-Autism-And-Technetium

[3] http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15851623

The Unholy Trinity: What Drives Eve Pilots

           Eve is the grand spaceships sandbox. If you can think of it, odds are you can do it. It’s a place to live out your dreams and express your darkest desires. With its unique mechanics regarding loss, victories are made all the sweeter and defeats all the more bitter. On my last trip on the Pod Express I was pondering what drives us Eve players. What is it that keeps us going in this pitiless and play-for-keeps universe we spend so much time in? After some thought, I came up with three categories. These are hardly all inclusive but I think they cover a vast majority of capsuleers.

Sweet Victory: The Good Fight Feeling

            Having been involved mostly in PVP and null sec warfare as of late, this motivation was the first to come to me. Of the many MMO’s I’ve played, Eve by far has the best, most intense PVP out there. The rush I get when I’m a solo dogfight or a massive fleet battle is unlike anything I’ve experienced, in a game or otherwise.

            This high after a good fight is what I would consider the most basic of the motivations. It’s emotional, visceral, and intense. So intense, in fact, newer PVPers often experience what I call “the shakes”. Once you overcome the initial anxiety, this rush can be quite addictive. Whether in the thick of battle or in all out market PVP, this is an ever present aspect of New Eden.

            There are two essential aspects of emotional high. The first of these is the element of risk. Eve is fairly unique in that there is no guarantee that your possessions today will be yours tomorrow. Ships get popped, POS’s get bashed, ISK is lost and tears are shed. This fact is ingrained in new players almost from day one, often quite spectacularly. Whether it’s being ganked in low sec, scammed by the denizens of Jita local, or having your corp stolen, you don’t soon forget the first time you got burned. Frankly this sort of thing sucks, often royally. However, the distressing lows make the victories all the sweeter.

            That’s what many pilots live for: winning that fight that would have broken the bank otherwise, where you averted the loss of hundred of million, even billions of ISK. It’s the difference between coming to the rescue of an Atron and saving a freighter full of Sleeper salvage. It’s the difference between saving your high sec POS and defending your null sec home from invaders. The more you have to lose, the more satisfying the eventual victory.

            The other aspect of the “good fight feeling” is uncertainty. The unexpected triumph is almost always more entertaining, more satisfying for the victor. Take a look at killmails for example. I will guarantee you that a majority of the most popular mails are an example someone overcoming extreme odds. They’re the sorts of situations that, on paper, you would never expect to go the way they actually did.  What’s more interesting, a lone frigate getting alphaed by a battleship or this? I’m gonna guess the second one.

Greed: I want it all

            The want of more, more ISK, more ships, more moons, more corpies, anything. Many of us come from increasingly materialistic cultures and I believe it shows in Eve. Whether it’s the lowly miner wanting more ore or the mighty HBC and CFC wanting more tech moons, there is a value associated with having more. It’s debatable as why this value is placed on collecting more and more stuff, and frankly it’s a subject best left for another day. Suffice it to say it’s there.

            The main requirement for this goal to spur people forward is not possessing the object in question. This is hardly ever a problem in a game as expansive as Eve. There’s always one more system to conquer, one more asteroid to mine, one more ship to pop. The more likely scenario is that you end up losing those objects you managed to gain.

            Once again, we come back to risk. Risk is a funny thing for our average hoarder. On the one hand, risk is the single greatest threat to parting you with your stuff. You can’t lose that officer fit battleship if it never leaves the station, right? However, in New Eden nothing is gained without some amount of risk. Risk is the gateway to greater riches and ultimately more stuff. Ultimately, every packrat, indeed every capsuleer, must come to a balance of accepting risk and taking on the amount they’re comfortable with. As the Eve mantra goes, “Don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose.”

Influence: Becoming Space Famous

            The last motivator I will touch on is the desire to be space famous. Those who have achieved this position are often showered with praise and derision just as often. Simply put, this is the desire for attention.

            The natural question when looking upon these celebrities of New Eden is what makes them famous in the first place. Of the myriad of reasons one can come up with, I believe there’s a common thread. These are the people that provide content to the rest of Eve. To use the sandbox analogy, the space famous are the kids that came up with the cool games when you were young. They’re the ones that are doing things and getting things done. People are going to naturally gravitate to them because, frankly, making things happen in New Eden is hard work.

            The downside to this motivation is that your time in the spotlight may come to an end. There may come a time when someone better and new comes along and takes your place. Even worse, you may lose that special something that drew people to you in the first place. There aren’t many things more demoralizing than finding out you’re replaceable.

***

            So you may be asking what the take away from all this is. Put simply, I would encourage you to evaluate your own motivations for playing Eve and seriously ask yourself are you getting the most out of it. Try not to be motivated simply by one factor, as that factor can easily be taken away. The last thing we want is you to quit because the reason I play this game is for the story or game mechanics, it’s because of the players.

Bitter Vets vs. New Bros: The Gerontocracy of Eve

Eve, simply put, is a gerontocracy. Now before you race to your dictionary, I’ll explain. In Eve, the older and more experienced a player is, the more capabilities, influence, and credibility they wield. It isn’t too often that you’ll see a less than 10 million SP character FCing a major fleet or controlling a large null sec alliance. On the flip-side, I dare you to show me a veteran capsuleer that doesn’t have a large amount of credibility among the newer pilots they associate with.

When thinking on this social paradigm, I wondered to myself what the cause of this disparity is. There was the obvious answer that the older you are, the more SP you have, and the more things you can do well, but anyone with half a brain and a little Eve experience could figure that out. There had to be something more subtle at play. Eventually I narrowed it down to two additional factors, reputation and interpersonal skills.

It’s often said that Eve is a game that revolves around reputation. There are those in Eve that have become space celebrities, the likes of The Mittani, Chribba, Alekseyev Karrde, just to name a few.  Of the myriad of qualities that space celebrities have in common, one is nearly universal: experience, i.e. how much time they’ve put into this silly internet spaceship game we all love/ hate. You don’t get to be on Mittani level influence without a lot of invested time. New players can’t get around the fact that you have to put in a lot of hours to gain any amount of credibility. As such, they’re often looked over when it comes to responsibility and decision making.

The other thing that most new players lack is the interpersonal skill that Eve requires of those in the upper echelons of power. I don’t know about you, but I don’t come into Eve knowing the ins and outs of decision making that would have an impact on hundreds, if not thousands. Outside the realms of business and politics, people are rarely asked to make choices on that scale in their everyday lives. That’s something one doesn’t develop overnight.

Dispensing with the social philosophy, let’s look more to the practical side of things. The first question any noob will ask themselves is, “How the #@^& do I compete?!” What am I supposed to do outside being relegated to the role of tackler, bait ship, mining grunt, and the other myriad of task we place on the new bro? My answer to you, intrepid new bro, is to focus on the so called “soft skills” of Eve. These are the sorts of skill that aren’t linked to a skill point number. Notable examples are FCing, scouting, spotting the good trade, and my favorite, espionage. The last example is particularly suited to newer players. You would be surprised how much information you can be told about the inner workings of a corp or alliance with seemingly innocent and noobish questions.  Unfortunately for you, new bro, most of these soft skills do take time to become competent in, let alone master. The perk, however, is that you aren’t bound by attributes in how fast you can become competent.

So new bro, you may be thinking to yourself, “Those soft skills are all well and good but I don’t really want to get into such high profile roles this early in the game.” Firstly, I say to you “grow a pair”, but in the meantime the Retribution expansion has come to your rescue. With all the T1 ship rebalancing, it’s easier than ever for a new bro to noticeably contribute. A notable example is the logistics role. No longer the exclusive domain of grizzled vets, you too, timid noob, can try your hand at the subtle art of keeping the rest of us from dying in a fire. If that’s not your cup of Quafe, there’s always the 900 dps Vexor. Aside: I mean, really?! FFS, it’s a T1 crusier! Back on topic, always remember, new bros, that even you can take out a Titan, you just need to bring 2000 of your closest friends.

Now enough with the noob pandering, lets shift our attention to you bitter vets. The average bitter vet, I would say, values the gerontocracy and rightfully so. If you’ve played Eve for any significant length of time, there have been numerous occasions where you’ve had your teeth kicked in by this cruel internet spaceship mistress. But rather than throwing in the towel and calling it quits, you picked yourself up, dusted off your implants and charged back into the thick of it. You’ve earned your position. You made it through the days when the tutorial consisted of you being handed a gun, a mining laser and being unceremoniously thrust into space with the advice “Don’t die.”

The gerontocracy is a fixture on Eve’s social landscape. I can’t imagine it going anywhere anytime soon. There will always be the new bros craving more and the bitter vets having responsibility thrust upon them. So bitter vets, help out your new bros now and then. And new bros, listen to your vets, they probably know what they’re talking about.