The Space MMO EVE Online is a complex game that can indeed seem daunting. However, it has many fans who are passionately involved. Hilmar Pétursson, head of CCP Games, explains why he believes this is the case.
How does Hilmar Pétursson explain the players’ passion? Hilmar Pétursson believes players often become fans of EVE Online when they receive help from other players after a significant loss. This devastating feeling of having lost everything they built up is alleviated by the social behavior of helping players. It brings them together.
It is often this element of a devastating loss that becomes a turning point for players in EVE Online. When they lose their spaceship or make a mistake that costs them everything they have earned so far, and when they have the social support to get through it, they truly become a real EVE player.
Hilmar Pétursson, CCP Games
Is EVE Online a game for helpers?
Isn’t EVE Online more about competition? Time and again, we hear about attacks on players or massive battles where space stations and ships worth thousands of dollars are destroyed. This is certainly a significant aspect of EVE Online. However, according to Hilmar Pétursson, it is about more.
EVE Online is known for its combat, competition, and exploration, but the highest percentage of players identify as helpers. They want to help others, and in a game that offers so many opportunities for mistakes and losses, helpers thrive. And when we look at the people who identify as helpers, we see they have the highest engagement.
Hilmar Pétursson, CCP Games
What does this mean for EVE Online and the players? Loss doesn’t always mean throwing everything away and quitting a game—here the griefing of the MMO can help. Especially in an online game like EVE Online, it is the social cohesion, the help from fellow players that encourages one to try again and do it better. Loss can also awaken ambition, and ambition is something that can take you far in EVE Online.
Besides EVE Online, there are many other interesting online games that can definitely captivate you too. In the MeinMMO list of the 15 best MMOs and MMORPGs of 2020, you will definitely find something on MeinMMO.
