Leave Quietly

One of the things I notice a lot coming from various EVE bloggers is the need to post about stopping playing. I'm all for blogging EVE related information and stories, things happening in game related to EVE and things happening out of game related to EVE. What I really can't be bothered with is people who feel the need to write a laundry list of why they no longer enjoy EVE and are leaving. Don't care, not reading, won't miss you anyway.

From time to time I reduce the amount I play EVE. I don't particularly dwell on the reasons at those times, I just feel like spending less time in the game. I couldn't say it's even something I plan - it just happens. This past weekend would be a good example. I was up until 3am on Friday night/Saturday morning scanning and chatting with corp mates. Funnily enough we didn't do too much but we were having a good laugh. The result of me spending five continuous hours online until the wee small hours of the morning meant I didn't particularly want to log into EVE during the rest of weekend. No drama, no excitement.

As a game, EVE has such breadth of scope for what you can do in it. A lot of people talk about 'The Sandbox', a term I'm not overly fond of. To be honest I'm not massively fond of calling EVE a game neither. It's something in between. It can't be fully a sandbox because CCP does meddle with content from time to time. Ships are re-balanced for example. It's not truly a game because the content I would consider game material (i.e. the missions and incursions) are limited and repetitive. All the meaningful content is generated by other players. Both the players you fly with and the players you fly against.

If you have 'lost the fire' for EVE then you have a few options. You can slow down, play less, takes walks in the countryside. If your corp doesn't like it then tough - it's your life and your money paying to play. Don't want to take walks? Why not just change what you do in the game? Fed up running hisec missions? Go run incursions; go to faction warfare; try some piracy; go to nullsec; market PvP; make some new niche activity up and recruit people to your dream.

EVE is only a game you can get bored of if you let yourself get hemmed into a single style of play. Use your imagination and set yourself free. If, however, you are unable to follow these suggestions, please just cancel your subscriptions and go quietly.

Oh, and can I have your stuff?