[emil0r]

Used to play EVE a long time ago in a known alliance. The game mechanics were not that good. What made the game shine was that it's an extremely complex sandbox game, where almost anything goes. This leads to a very complex game that is almost entirely governed by how the other players react to your interactions with them. The drama, dreams, hopes and despair that comes with playing the game is the real reward.

It used to be that the game was really harsh when you screwed up, which made the adrenaline pump when you did something you knew was dangerous. For me as a hardcore gamer at the time, that was the initial kick. Now a days I believe they have lessened the harshness a bit, but it should still be one of the few games where you can lose literally hundreds of hours in investment by losing everything you own in the game.

[sascha_sl]

This is a really important part of figuring out if you want to get into EVE. CCP are terrible game designers. They're a "throw shit at the wall and see what sticks" kind of game design studio. The market is a graveyard of items and associated mechanics that are design failures and are never to rarely relevant. They keep adding new mechanics that are broken, in balance and intended purpose. Their ship balancing team is two people.

But somehow this pile of crap mechanics by the sheer mass of them makes for an emergent sandbox. It feels not designed, like so many other video games. Systems that are not meant to interact with each other do in unexpected ways. Don't go in expecting every career path in EVE to have thought behind it. You have to figure that out.

[slothtrop]

I have to imagine that the social element is what makes it addicting, since I found it to be a rather constricted slog particularly if you aren't sociable. DF/Rimworld sort of accomplishes the complex-sandbox thing for solo players, minus the drama.