EVE Online players seem preoccupied with their income per hour. Players old and new regularly ask how to make the most ISK in various gaming communities. This obsession with efficiency is detrimental to one’s enjoyment of the game. Here’s why I think people should instead consider maximizing fun over money.
In most games, players spend their time improving their skills or items. In EVE, players spend a big chunk of their time getting ready for the fun activity. The game is unique in that fun is closely correlated with destruction, and oftentimes that entails the loss of your ships—and pods. Destruction is a leading driver of the in-game economy, also known as a sink; the more ships are blown up the better it is for the miners, manufacturers, and sellers. The gameplay loop is designed around grinding. No one is free from the grind in EVE Online.
Then you might as well make that part of your experience more enjoyable. There are many forms of income or faucets. Here are 10 I can think of off the top of head in no particular order: exploration, looting, bounties, loyalty points, resource gathering, manufacturing, trading, scamming, protection rackets, and collecting taxes. If you have enough disposable income in real life, buying PLEX and selling it is another option. I doubt anyone reading this would be interested in spending their hard-earned money like that. So back to the grind.
There's a social contract of sorts. Pilots willingly accept the notion that the higher the risk, the higher the reward should be. Nullsec blocs and wormhole corporations entice new players to leave highsec to strike it rich in their domain. At the same time they complain about Pochven for being an ISK printer without doing anything to exploit the NPCs or the players making money there. It's also interesting how no one talks about the level 5 mission runners in low sec. People complain about things they know about and compare themselves with others. These are recipes for unhappiness if you ask me. Hence why maximizing efficiency in a game is detrimental. There's always going to be someone outperforming your ISK/hour or doing things in ways you find unfair. But there's more I want to discuss.
Given too many options, we’re apt to feel overwhelmed. I’ve personally experienced decision paralysis because I couldn’t decide what to do with my limited time when presented with a multitude of choices. I thought long and hard about how I wanted to play EVE Online this time around. I still don’t have a clear vision. I do know that I want to perfect my piloting skills and grow a community in the small solar system that I call home.
There’s joy to be had in doing things well. For me it’s quickly completing a mission using two marauders and then salvaging the wrecks in a dedicated ship. I only salvaged battleship wrecks with the marauders in the past, but one day decided to deploy a Noctis to try out a new fit I had thought of. Recon 1/3 yielded about 35 million ISK in loot and salvage, netting me more than the bounties and agent rewards. I also found some SKINR items on the first day Equinox was released, but haven’t found any sequencers nor nanocoatings since. While suboptimal or mediocre, I am having a great time.
