The Angry Raider

I will admit something to you today. I’m a completionist. Nothing makes me happier than acquiring something and all its accessories. I love the feeling of a complete set.

When I was a kid, I had tons of GI Joe action figures and vehicles. My brother and I would get everything out to play GI Joe. I’d meticulously set up my figures into organized units, position the vehicles exactly how I wanted them, and form a mental map of the events that would transpire. Upon completing that exercise, I’d say, “Well, that was fun.” My poor brother would complain about how we never actually played GI Joe.

This behavior continues into my MMO playing, to an extent. I never wanted to collect pets, or mounts, or specific types of flibbertygibbits. What I did want was to complete my set of gear. I would use a tool like Rawr or Wowhead to plan my gear, acquire that gear through raiding/pvp/etc, and then I was done.

In EVE, I’m able to fully enjoy my completionist habit. There are so many ships, and so many fittings, the possibilities for a fleet are nearly endless. I have already acquired several ships, fully outfitted them, and parked them in hangars. Occasionally I’ll pull one out and fly it around, but I don’t really do much. I have a couple of ships that are my regulars, and the rest of them are just, well, nice to have.

I have a Kestrel for mission running. I have a Hoarder for moving stuff around. I have a Cormorant for salvaging. I have a Drake with Tech 2 launchers just sitting in a hangar. I have a fully-fitted PVP powerhouse Raven. I have an Osprey for mining. I have a Probe for scanning. I have a Caracal because I needed to add a cruiser to the mix. I also have several frigates just sitting around.

Each one of these is fitted to the maximum of my capabilities. I have spent 250 million ISK on ships that I don’t use. And I don’t mind at all. I plan to get many more. I also plan to use them more than I do now; for example, I’m going to start taking my Raven to the wormhole with my corp to kill sleepers, and I plan to start hunting rats in the Caracal with one of my friends.

And the greatest thing is that I can lose it all. I love that risk. I’m scared of losing my Raven but I like “watching the skies” for that other battleship with battlecruiser escorts. It’s exhilarating to risk losing something that’s so important to me. (Fortunately, they’re just pixels.)

Part of me wishes I had gotten into EVE sooner, but I realize that I wasn’t ready for it. I needed to see the “traditional” MMOs through before I could really invest in a skill-based game like EVE or Darkfall. I miss EQ2 but with nobody to play it with, it’s just not fun.

We’ll see if EVE can sustain me. I’ll let you know how it goes.