The biggest danger anyone faces in EVE is not suicide ganking, scams, or getting podded. It’s not having a goal. Or multiple goals, both short-term and long. When you run out of goals, or don’t have any that really motivate you, you get bored and quit. Unsubbing is the ultimate death in EVE.
What happens if you have too many goals?
That’s somewhat the ‘issue’ facing INQ-E. With each new pilot that joins (we have been doing well in that regard, much to my delight), another goal springs up. Some of our members are very into the industry side of the game, be it mining, production, or marketing. Others are more into PvE, starting with missions but dreaming of Incursions. Others still are more PvP-minded, be it roams or scouting low-sec.
Not that any of the above conflicts. Far from it actually. During our weekly mining Op, people show up and hang out, even if they can’t and don’t plan to fly a Hulk. Our more indy/PvE-focused pilots are still interested in learning PvP, be it to protect themselves during the inevitable war-decs or so they can contribute more to our PvP roams. And of course, as the corp’s industry activities pick up, everyone will benefit from the corp simply having more ISK in the wallet.
The same can be said for moving to low-sec. Yes low-sec is technically a more PvP-enabled area, but it’s also far more profitable for activities such as mining, planetary interaction, and ratting. Put up a POS, and our industrialists get a lot of research slots to play with. On and on the “what do we do next” ball rolls. Again, it’s good. Very good.
The one concern I have, and right now it’s minor, is keeping the corp in order while still making sure people are getting what they need. I know some are very excited about life in low-sec, while I also know that others, especially the newer guys, are still just trying to get their feet under them without the fear of getting shot at when they undock (pretty understandable, IMO). As we continue to grow as a corp, and raise our overall capabilities, this will hopefully become less of an issue, but we are not there just yet.
EVE-related blog post notice: If you would like to join us, comment here or shoot me an email. If you don’t have an EVE account, I’m more than happy to send a 21-day trial invite, and split the PLEX-related profit if you decide to sign up. Again just comment or email me.
Hardcore Casual 
Having goals is, in my opinion and experience, absolutely key to enjoying all MMOs. I suspect that the reason I enjoy theme park MMOs more than some do is that I find it pretty easy to set myself enjoyable and achievable goals in MMOs with very little need to use the pre-made goals the designers have built in.
The goals have to occur pretty much spontaneously, though. As soon as I find myself spending any significant time trying to come up with new goals, it’s a key sign that my interest is waning.
Pretty much this. I’ve always felt that you have to meet a game at least part of the way to allow it to entertain you. And as I mess around with the currently-popular theme-park, I find that a little of the sandbox mentality comes in handy. It can be difficult to wrench the cart off those rails, but in small, rewarding ways, it can be done.
Training, as I just mentioned in my own EVE post of the day, tends to be the indicator of my goal status. I either want to train in six directions at once or cannot figure out what skill I should bother with next.
Right now I am in the “six directions at once” stage, which means I’ll be playing EVE for a while longer.
Very good point. Both of my pilots have 3-6 months worth of traing right now, and that’s not even pushing skills to V.
It seems peoples goals (at least early on) tend to typically fall into one of two camps: 1) Training for THAT ship; and 2) I want THOSE skills.
I guess I would fall in between those two camps, looking for the skills to fly the ships for a certain role – my first big goal being Interceptors.
Being curious, I also wondered what others were driven by: whether it be that specific battleship, or the ability to drop warp-bubbles.
You know, in all the time I have played Eve, I never really thought of it that way. And you are absolutely right, although 99% of the time (as a trader at least) you are constantly looking over your shoulder, afraid for being ganked or at least griefed, the lack of a long-term goal is what drives you away from the game in the end.
“If you would like to join us, comment here or shoot me an email. If you don’t have an EVE account, I’m more than happy to send a 21-day trial invite, and split the PLEX-related profit if you decide to sign up. Again just comment or email me.”
Sounds good. Send me one of them invites please. Also, how does it work?