I mean I know why, because Eve is a true sandbox and feels so impossibly deep that I always get pulled back towards it.  Then I get there and realize I don't like the GRR nature of the community and can't treat Eve as a job.  So I end up doing my own things, which I enjoy.  Usually running L4 missions but sometimes trading or buying ships in one spot and moving them to another, last I played I was into mining missions.  Not mining, the actual dumdum NPC corp mining missions, haha.

Don't ask me the point of this post, apart from I wish more games would follow Eve's style and strive to make something more based on player driven content and remember some of us like things complex.  The more complex the better in fact!

So now I ponder, do I return to Eve casually or not, hrmm.  Has to be casual since I play too many other games :P

I do the same thing. Recently, however, I've gotten with a good, laidback, group of people. So we do whatever we'd normally do, and it's a no-stress environment.

This is what MMORPGs should be about: The community.

That's probably why you keep coming back. I know that's why I come back; the people.

It's funny you mention this. I've never been an 'EVE Player', more an 'EVE Tutorial Player'.

I always play this game for a week or week and a half (Maybe 2 at the most), yet I always feel like I missed out on something because I see how much people like this game. Don't know if I really do like the game or not, I feel like the appeal comes more from knowing it's a more 'mature' game, and that it has good ratings so I keep giving it a go, but everytime I play it goes something like this:

1) join a corp after first couple days (once I got into a really good one, and I still didn't last)

2) Decide to be a fighter, miner, mission runner, etc.

3) Do that for a couple days and slowly start to feel tired of the repetitiveness of it. 

How do people stay hooked to this game? If I'm missing something, I'd truly like to know

Cowboy,

Diversify.

It's my experience that the best thing a new player can do is everything, untill they find what they like best. And even after they find that, do more things on the side. Of course, if you want to compete with vets, you'll want to specialize your skilltraining, but that doesn't mean you can't do something else!

So yeah. Diversity and do pvp, I think. Or take a break when things get boring. I take occasional EVE breaks where I just need to do something instead of EVE. But besides that, I try to make sure I don't burn out on doing just one thing.

Eve is the only game where I can be a filthy pirate one day and a respected businessman the next. It's almost like RL politics! ;)

Originally posted by ManSh00ter

Eve is the only game where I can be a filthy pirate one day and a respected businessman the next. It's almost like RL politics! ;)

Not really, in RL politics you can be a filthy pirate and a respected businessman at the same time ;p

One of the biggest features that drive people to play EVE and keep playing is Nullsec. The complete lawlessness and the ability to literally take over the world is pretty intense. Ive lived in nullsec with a corporation for about 2 years now and I truly love it. When you find a tight nit corp and you start working towards a goal, its pretty awesome. Nothing like literally fighting for your life And home.

Wormholes are another facet that is pretty indepth and awesome as well. Hard part about nullsec and wormholes is you tend to need to play a lot. Fighting to protect your space. Building things to fight in. Earning isk to maintain the space itself. Its a lot of effort but when you get involved its very hard to let go.

My corp and I have found that playing other free to play games together is pretty good for breaking things up as well. Nothing like chilling out in a League Of Legends match after a grueling fleet fight. We have a few games that we play to keep things interesting and it adds a lot when EVE is stressing you out. The biggest thing Id have to say is finding a corp with awesome people and just hanging out with the on Comms. Teamspeak etc. Many corps require it. 

http://worldoftanks.com/

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/

https://account.hirezstudios.com/tribesascend/

These are a few of the games we play. None of them cost real money and are free to play. LoL and Tribes can be played completely free without spending a dime. Tanks can be kind of pay to win because of the Gold ammo etc but its still fun.

Spice is the key to keeping life interesting!

Best wishes

Saint

ive been playing even since 2005, on and off. pretty much done it all. and yes, i keep coming back to it. but recently i realized just how time consuming this game is. hours to earn isk to replace my expensive pvp ships. sometimes takes an hour to organize a fleet, and hours to find an engagement. 30 minutes to get from point A to point B. i just couldnt do it any more with my irl schedule. it still calls to me often, but then i realize there is no on-demand pvp. this is the problem with the sandbox, and im very much looking forward to GW2 for this reason.

If i had more free time i would play but i don't considering paying sub to be able to log in at weekends a good decision. I started playing this game at release when the most we had were 10K players online. 

I don't have that kind of time anymore.

Thanks for the responses, have to say I agree with pretty much everything being said.

I hear Eve call me then I think about the huge amounts of time to do anything, lol.  But that is part of what makes it great.

As they said though a big key is to diversify but also to set goals.  The times I stuck with Eve best is when I had really set goals in mind to work towards.  The main one being establishing 5 L5 research agents with three characters, that took a bit of time :)  If you aren't in a corp or out pursuing their goals you really need to come up with your own goals to pursue.

Still not sure Eve will pull me in again or not, if it does it will absolutely have to be casually, somehow.