EVE Online

I think the game has some cool stuff, but my thing is whenever i play it, it seems like I am the only person in the entire game....I feel like I am not getting that key social aspect that an MMO is supposed to bring. The other thing I dislike is you don't have control of how fast you progress.....I am a pretty hard core player when it comes to games, and the fact that I basically just have to sit there for skills to go up sucks. Am I missing a lot?

Well, even with 40k people online at peak times, space is pretty big. Huge, even.

Apply to join a few corps, or contact their reps at least, to get your foot in the door for player interaction. Don't be afraid of getting a bad experience, it happens sometimes but it's worth it when you find the right bunch of people to play with.

And don't be afraid to open your mouth in the NPC corp chat, you might find a group there who're forming a corp or at least willing to do joint operations.

Join a player corp or the Militia for the Faction Wars. The game is totally different.

For a good starting corp I would recomend looking up the player corp called EVE University.

They will help train you on any area you want.

hey, i sentyou a PM with my IGN if you want to do some missions or other bits and pieces...

Anyway, about the skil system, its actually realtime and you don't need to grind oreven be ingame to learn, hell, I took a month off playing to learn a 35day skill (Battleship lvl 5) and played Age of conanand we all know what a fiasco that game is right now and its a breath of fresh air to get back to the feedingtubes of my pod again ;)

Originally posted by griff66

I think the game has some cool stuff, but my thing is whenever i play it, it seems like I am the only person in the entire game....I feel like I am not getting that key social aspect that an MMO is supposed to bring. The other thing I dislike is you don't have control of how fast you progress.....I am a pretty hard core player when it comes to games, and the fact that I basically just have to sit there for skills to go up sucks. Am I missing a lot?

well, if you want a treadmill to feel succesful you can try the isk grind. so grind up some isk, and when you have enough you can bypass the skill training time by buying a character with isk.

it is legal within the game to trade characters with in game credit.

About being allone, get into an active corp. If you want to PvP why not try faction warfare, there are active gangs at all the times i have logged in since it's implementation.

Originally posted by griff66

I think the game has some cool stuff, but my thing is whenever i play it, it seems like I am the only person in the entire game....I feel like I am not getting that key social aspect that an MMO is supposed to bring. The other thing I dislike is you don't have control of how fast you progress.....I am a pretty hard core player when it comes to games, and the fact that I basically just have to sit there for skills to go up sucks. Am I missing a lot?

Ok.......you're missing just about.......everything.

While it's true that in EVE it can get awful lonely out there in the black, there is a social aspect to this game that's very subtle, yet vital to ones ongoing success in this game.  

In order to get anywhere meaningful and do something that maybe leaves a mark, you are going to need people you can trust and that will trust you.   Not just buddies and allies, there's a lot of merit in having relationships with people who can trust you to be an arse or even a complete.

Though, establishing relationships (and trust) with other players is what will get you ahead.  Trust, in this game, is earned the old fashioned way.  Not by grinding "trust points".  There isn't a series of "trust quests" to get through.  You build real relationships with real people.  Well....anyway, as real as it gets within the limits of an online game.

Furthermore, I suspect what you seem to be missing and what many used to traditional online games seem to be missing, is the lack of forced grouping.  This is a very independent game.  There is no "Find 39 other chumps that will put up with me and my propensity to sing Celine Dion songs at the top of my lungs on Vent for 6 hours while marching through dungeon X to get to monster Y in hopes of getting cool widget Z." 

Yet, there are numerous reasons to team up, combine efforts and cooperate with other players.  None forced by insane game mechanics and all valuable or mutually beneficial.  Unless you're a chump and someone is just taking advantage of you.  Then it's just beneficial to the other player(s).

As for your last complaint, not being able to grind like a madman to level XYZ, to get to the point where you can do forced group quests A through G over and over to get widget set #1, so you can then do forced group quests H through....well, you get the idea.  So you can get to The Endgame (tm).

It's true, you can't grind your butt off in the hopes of eventually gaining the acceptance of those exalted vets that already did it before you.  There is absolutely no way to "catch up" in skill points to anyone that's been playing significantly longer then you and maintaining their skill training.  That's the bad news.

The good news:

No one with any brains at all is expecting newer players to "catch up", since it is indeed a totally unrealistic expectation.  It's not possible, period.  Furthermore, total skill points is only a minute factor in any action or interaction in this game. Especially in player combat, where the total skill-points of any players involved are just about meaningless.  If you can fly one ship and fit it properly, you're good to go.  Even someone has been playing for 5 years and can fly every ship in the game, they can still only fly one ship at a time.

More good news:

The total number of  skill-points does keep adding up, so in a way, skill-points do sort of represent continual character advancement. The difference is that instead of making a player be "uber", after a certain point of getting good enough at something, this form of character advancement simply will allow that player to diversify, to get better (all the up to good enough)  at something else.

In conclusion, learn how to get good at something (preferably something you think might be fun), establish some relationships more meaningful then being herded through a dungeon with other online cattle.  Then explore your options.  Asking other players questions is actually a good way to start.  Just be aware that the real skill is getting those other players to really open up and perhaps eventually trust you.  Also, don't trust anyone either, not right away.  Though you may eventually need to take some calculated chances on that.  Worst case scenario there is, it'll be a "learning experience".

Originally posted by griff66

I think the game has some cool stuff, but my thing is whenever i play it, it seems like I am the only person in the entire game....I feel like I am not getting that key social aspect that an MMO is supposed to bring. The other thing I dislike is you don't have control of how fast you progress.....I am a pretty hard core player when it comes to games, and the fact that I basically just have to sit there for skills to go up sucks. Am I missing a lot?

you're lucky to have 40k at peak.  when i first started there was 5-6k max!  holding one system was tricky, let alone a whole section of space.

I played the trial to this game, I just wish I had understood it more.

It wasn't a bad experience just a tad bit confusing to get a grip around.

Finding people in this game to play with and group up with for common goals is vital to surviving eve.  Otherwise, you are right, it is very boring.  I would go with greyscouts advice.  It sure seems like he understands the concept of eve, so there is no real need to repeat it.

I know you probably don't like the fact that you can't grind yourself to a level in a week or 2, but think of it this way.  You were born, and you grew.  Slow yes, but you got smarter, wiser, and learned things, and understood more.  Well that is basically what eve is.  You start as a young person, and grow to wherever it is you want to go.

If you should happen to need help or anything, you can message me here, or in game as Rustayne Talrus.  I'm in eve most of the time, if not, my sig can help ya out. :)