I started playing EVE in 2012 the good old days. I played off and on for years, and every year or so something draws me back in. The game has changed a lot and as of late seems to be heading downhill even steeper than the learning curve. I always flew Ewar “electronic warfare” in PVP and mainly mining ships barges etc. for any sort of income. At my peak, I flew a Thanatos carrier and ratted. I was part of the largest and most hated alliance in the game “Goonswarm”. The game itself is great lots of stuff to do and almost endless ways not to get bored. Very complicated and unless you have lots of time to throw at it the game may not be best for casual players.
The game has been called “spreadsheets in space” where some people make their in-game money “isk” by literally sitting in trade hubs like the system “Jita” and buying things on market for one price and then selling it for higher. Some people haul items from one trade hub to another which can be very lucrative but also very costly if you get attacked or “ganked” in a system.
Some people “rat” which is basically grinding NPC locations or missions to make money. You can also run courier missions as well as “hacking” sites.
The industry is what I focused on from mining to refining ore into minerals then building items and even full spaceships.
I am sad to see that the game has been sold to a company that seems to be wanting to push Pay to Win very hard you can now buy skill injectors and train skills that used to only be able to be done with time you can now do by swiping your credit card. The player number seam to be dwindling down slowly and it seems the players are getting pushed into a corner of needing to use real money to enjoy the game. There are FTP options in the game and you can casually play free and find some enjoyment but you will be hindered without being able to fly any of the ships in the game that will let you reach peak money income in game.
If you like a space-based game where you can lose yourself and enjoy the adrenaline rush and high stakes that the PVP and PVE will have to offer the game might be right for you. If you are looking for something very casual and something you can be competitive at then Eve Online is probably going to disappoint you.
