Huskie
Elite
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2005
- Posts
- 2,556
- Location
- Brazil
- Society
- Apocalyptic Uprising
- Avatar Name
- John Huskie Hunt
(Long post ahead, rant-ish, but unfortunately, not whining much to EF's crowd discontent. Feel free to skip to last two paragraphs with the question at hand if you wish.)
Many people in EU set goals for themselves, be it unlocking the next hidden skill, maxxing out a particular weapon, camping a mob until that elusive uberhof, etc.
Lately I've been asking myself: what's my next goal? I come up with half a dozen different short/mid-term ones after pondering for a few minutes, but then I also feel like looking at what goals I have accomplished so far.
The one biggest goal I had set for myself on Calypso, had been set on my very first day here, a bit less than an hour after logging in for the first time. During my registration process, all I wanted was to see if I could make some money in (what at that time was called) PE, but that idea got changed shortly after I got my confirmation e-mail and logged in. I noticed that it was a dog-eat-dog world.
My avatar was born in Ft. Argus, because PA and CND were too busy with the sheer amount of new participant registrations to hold any new avatar's there (much to people who still didn't play at that time's dismay). I got added a couple of times as disciple out of the blue by some random people, but I quickly kicked them. A few minutes later i'd find the person who'd be my real mentor and good friend in PE, who later taught me everything I needed to know, but the one lesson that stuck with me to this day was the first one: making money here would be far from easy.
And once I learned that, I set my goal on PE: to simply "make it" without depositing a single dime, and perceive PE for what it is, namely a game, not a cash cow or work. I would simply see it as a challenge, to try and progress against all odds.
A very long-term goal that might seem, and that is just the nature of these seemingly very distant goals: given enough time they might just end up becoming your motivation itself, you don't even know why you're chasing it anymore, but all lesser goals are justified by it.
However, I just recently realized that I reached a place in my virtual life where I can sustain myself indefinitely, making slow, but steady progress as I go, adapting as needed. I have completed my goal of "making it" in PE and EU. I am by no means "rich", neither do I own anything close to the best items, but I know that if I keep going eventually I will be able to reach that, too.
Why not just keep going then, you ask? Why should I satisfy myself with what I have, when there's more to be had? I have asked myself those questions, too and sadly, all I could come up with was: why not?
I feel my motivation in doing all this endless grinding is dwindling, if not gone altogether. I can't find myself another exciting enough long-term goal. Acquire a mod fap, a mod merc, or even better their SGA counterparts, perhaps? Or maybe skilling up to be the most skilled avatar? What for? What will be the use once I achieve that? Grinding for potentially more money, just for the money's sake?
I'm sure it's not hard to find a RL job that pays better off, lets you meet great people, brings enjoyment, sense of fulfillment and is not as bad for physical and mental health as sitting for hours on end in front of the computer grinding your life away.
Currently the sense of advancement in EU is morose, if not stagnant after a certain point. And before anyone starts extrapolating what I say and twisting my words: I'm not suggesting everyone should be uber in a matter of weeks or months either, but what we have now is disencouraging.
The grinding gameplay is also tiresome: always the same clicking with absolutely no strategy involved (other than minor things such as choosing mob spawn or mining area and then selling the returns as high as you can), it all boils down to running at the nearest red dot if you're a hunter or counting your distance to the nearest drop if you're a miner.
Thus I wonder, what is your motivation for playing EU? What keeps you going? What is absolutely unique to this place that cannot be gotten elsewhere? I know many will talk about the great people, and I agree, but those can also be met outside on the street. In other words: If you had to tell a new player what should motivate him, not you, to stay, what would you answer?
Also, please no criticising other people's motivations, they're their own, and other people's opinions on them are, for all effects, irrelevant. I just want to see what motivates others to perhaps find something to motivate myself again.
Many people in EU set goals for themselves, be it unlocking the next hidden skill, maxxing out a particular weapon, camping a mob until that elusive uberhof, etc.
Lately I've been asking myself: what's my next goal? I come up with half a dozen different short/mid-term ones after pondering for a few minutes, but then I also feel like looking at what goals I have accomplished so far.
The one biggest goal I had set for myself on Calypso, had been set on my very first day here, a bit less than an hour after logging in for the first time. During my registration process, all I wanted was to see if I could make some money in (what at that time was called) PE, but that idea got changed shortly after I got my confirmation e-mail and logged in. I noticed that it was a dog-eat-dog world.
My avatar was born in Ft. Argus, because PA and CND were too busy with the sheer amount of new participant registrations to hold any new avatar's there (much to people who still didn't play at that time's dismay). I got added a couple of times as disciple out of the blue by some random people, but I quickly kicked them. A few minutes later i'd find the person who'd be my real mentor and good friend in PE, who later taught me everything I needed to know, but the one lesson that stuck with me to this day was the first one: making money here would be far from easy.
And once I learned that, I set my goal on PE: to simply "make it" without depositing a single dime, and perceive PE for what it is, namely a game, not a cash cow or work. I would simply see it as a challenge, to try and progress against all odds.
A very long-term goal that might seem, and that is just the nature of these seemingly very distant goals: given enough time they might just end up becoming your motivation itself, you don't even know why you're chasing it anymore, but all lesser goals are justified by it.
However, I just recently realized that I reached a place in my virtual life where I can sustain myself indefinitely, making slow, but steady progress as I go, adapting as needed. I have completed my goal of "making it" in PE and EU. I am by no means "rich", neither do I own anything close to the best items, but I know that if I keep going eventually I will be able to reach that, too.
Why not just keep going then, you ask? Why should I satisfy myself with what I have, when there's more to be had? I have asked myself those questions, too and sadly, all I could come up with was: why not?
I feel my motivation in doing all this endless grinding is dwindling, if not gone altogether. I can't find myself another exciting enough long-term goal. Acquire a mod fap, a mod merc, or even better their SGA counterparts, perhaps? Or maybe skilling up to be the most skilled avatar? What for? What will be the use once I achieve that? Grinding for potentially more money, just for the money's sake?
I'm sure it's not hard to find a RL job that pays better off, lets you meet great people, brings enjoyment, sense of fulfillment and is not as bad for physical and mental health as sitting for hours on end in front of the computer grinding your life away.
Currently the sense of advancement in EU is morose, if not stagnant after a certain point. And before anyone starts extrapolating what I say and twisting my words: I'm not suggesting everyone should be uber in a matter of weeks or months either, but what we have now is disencouraging.
The grinding gameplay is also tiresome: always the same clicking with absolutely no strategy involved (other than minor things such as choosing mob spawn or mining area and then selling the returns as high as you can), it all boils down to running at the nearest red dot if you're a hunter or counting your distance to the nearest drop if you're a miner.
Thus I wonder, what is your motivation for playing EU? What keeps you going? What is absolutely unique to this place that cannot be gotten elsewhere? I know many will talk about the great people, and I agree, but those can also be met outside on the street. In other words: If you had to tell a new player what should motivate him, not you, to stay, what would you answer?
Also, please no criticising other people's motivations, they're their own, and other people's opinions on them are, for all effects, irrelevant. I just want to see what motivates others to perhaps find something to motivate myself again.
Director! What's my motivation again?? 
;
