Is EVE possible without giving away all your time?

m1xmag

m1xmag

m1xmag

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Interested to know whether it is actually possible to play EVE without playing for huge numbers of hours a time - with a young child and fairly busy life I just dont have the time at the moment, but this is really a game I would like to play.

So is anyone else in the same boat and still manages to enjoy it?
 
You can just pop in and out, but it does require at least a few hours at a time to play.

Ive been playing on and off since 2004, and have finally decided enough is enough, no more. It does become a time pit and you often walk away thinking "why did I waste so much time doing X when I could have been with my kids!"
 
AHarvey said:
You can just pop in and out, but it does require at least a few hours at a time to play.

Ive been playing on and off since 2004, and have finally decided enough is enough, no more. It does become a time pit and you often walk away thinking "why did I waste so much time doing X when I could have been with my kids!"
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Justify it to yourself by passing on the important lesson learned to your kids. Internet spaceships is serious business.

They would do well to remember that.
 
To really enjoy it on a casual basis IMO your best off getting in with a laid back mostly high sec group with experienced members, mining links, etc. without CTAs and so on.

Otherwise you'll likely have to sink quite a bit of time into it as most things in eve you only get out what you put into it.

Personally not happy with the way the developers are approaching the game in that in a game ostensibly about playing the long game if you do that you'll end up more often than not wasting a load of effort due to developer based changes rather than player/gameplay results. If your happy chasing flavour of the month or much less invested in the game/really playing it casually you might enjoy it more though personally I don't see enough in the game to keep my attention on a casual basis and can't stand flavour of the month.
 
It's possible to start playing Eve, thinking that you'll only be a casual gamer. Then before you realise it, you'll have multiple accounts and characters, all specialising in different things.

I mean, you need a miner and he'll need a dedicated hauler and while you're at it, he may as well be trained in science as well for refining. Then you'll need someone to do missions and.......

etc etc etc.

That's why I gave up after far too long, sold everything and walked away.
 
m1xmag said:
Interested to know whether it is actually possible to play EVE without playing for huge numbers of hours a time - with a young child and fairly busy life I just dont have the time at the moment, but this is really a game I would like to play.

So is anyone else in the same boat and still manages to enjoy it?
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Please spend those hours with your child, you will never get them back.
 
Feek said:
It's possible to start playing Eve, thinking that you'll only be a casual gamer. Then before you realise it, you'll have multiple accounts and characters, all specialising in different things.

I mean, you need a miner and he'll need a dedicated hauler and while you're at it, he may as well be trained in science as well for refining. Then you'll need someone to do missions and.......

etc etc etc.

That's why I gave up after far too long, sold everything and walked away.
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^^ Indeed by the time I stopped playing I had/had access to alts:

-3x purely cyno alts (1-2 had mining capabilities)
-Freighter/orca/widow trained character
-Purely widow trained character (plus POS guns)
-Main that was heavily trained in capital skills (dreads and carriers upto supers plus rorqual) + marauders and blackops (Also mining capable *cough*)
-Defensive carrier/logistics/orca trained pilot with full ganglinks/fleet boosting, command ships, etc.
-Minmatar specialised character especially trained for blockade runners, webbing loki, naglfar dread and freighter - also trained for mining and had most industrial skills trained. Also trained for some ganglinks.
-Specialised scanning alt who could also fly transports, orca and was jf training.
-2x alts trained just to sit in mammoths for logging assets off in space (plus cyno capabilities)
-Carrier holding alt in training
-Super specialised character

All but the last 2 I trained from scratch myself.
 
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Feek said:
It's possible to start playing Eve, thinking that you'll only be a casual gamer. Then before you realise it, you'll have multiple accounts and characters, all specialising in different things.

I mean, you need a miner and he'll need a dedicated hauler and while you're at it, he may as well be trained in science as well for refining. Then you'll need someone to do missions and.......

etc etc etc.

That's why I gave up after far too long, sold everything and walked away.
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Exactly, I have only 2 accounts, think the one has 45-50 mil SP, the other about half that, each has 3 characters on but the spares are only around 6-10 mil each.

So many hours wasted mining, running missions etc. Think it's why I am deleting all my games from the hard drive, more quality time for everything else.
 
WiZZyWiGG said:
I believe children sleep? At least all mine do :)

That being said, Eve will suck you in and you will no doubt end up playing more than planned.
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Yeah but a lot of things in Eve (if your really invested in the game) require you to be committed to the keyboard - your corp mates aren't going to thank you for popping off to check on the child if for example you are one of a logi pair or flying the triage carrier they are depending on :S
 
Yeh you can get carried away with Eve and spend silly amounts of time on it. But there is no reason you have to. If you have self control you can play a few hours here and there, casually doing some missions or roaming with friends without and real pressure.
 
Really really not.

You'll start off that way, but gradually you'll start doing extra things. Leaving EVE open whilst your character autopilots 58 jumps to buy some stuff for really cheap might seem harmless at first. But then you'll realise you can sell that stuff for a profit at another system 32 jumps away.

Before you know it you'll have 2 or 3 spreadsheets open at once tracking various profit margins and then your life is over.

EVE can be an amazing game but its just not worth it.
 
Does EVE still have a large player base? It's been going for about 12 years now.

I tried it once a few years ago but I think I was a little immature to fully appreciate the scale of the game.
 
Still fairly large player base - ebbs and flows a bit - some of the recent patches have resulted in some long standing players quitting but other ex-players coming back.

Unless stuff has changed a lot since I last read up on it "fozziesov" will likely artificially inflate player numbers as it tends to play into the hands of zerg/lemming tactics with a lot of lower skilled alts from what I can see. (Dunno what would have been so wrong with making nullsec have a bit more potential for getting off the beaten track without going as far as w-space - always going to get entrenched empires where someone can command the player numbers - making it a bit harder to have everything road mapped/more chances for smaller groups to slip through the cracks if they are careful would have gone a long way to solving the problems with nullsec).
 
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m1xmag said:
Interested to know whether it is actually possible to play EVE without playing for huge numbers of hours a time - with a young child and fairly busy life I just dont have the time at the moment, but this is really a game I would like to play.

So is anyone else in the same boat and still manages to enjoy it?
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It's perfectly possible to play EVE as a casual and enjoy it, as long as you accept that you won't do anything with maximum or close to maximum effectiveness. If you like min-maxing or if you are interested in the social/political aspects of the game, I don't think EVE is for you.

I suggest to try the game for a month or two and focus on activities such as missions, exploration or even mining. I focused on exploration when I played, I liked it but I wanted more, I wanted increased effectiveness, which requires time which, like you, I don't have. It was fun while it lasted and I don't regret the purchase.
 
Yes, it is there are a few of us OcUK members who play this way. Contrary to what people have stated above you can do things with maximum effectiveness you just can't do everything with maximum effectiveness.

I have several accounts - all funded by ingame currency - so in that way I am not casual. The hours I stick in however are casual. Will you be able to afford to fund multiple accounts in the first few months and play casually - no you won't - but then you won't need another account straight off the bat either.

If you are interested let us know and we can help you along teach you a few things and then after some time you can either spread your wings and go elsewhere or chill out with us. Your choice and the offer is there. The group I play with are mainly new people and "retired addicts" - I fall into the latter category!

I've got young kids too - it's a good game to play tbh if you need to get away at short notice if they wake up in the evening etc.
 
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