How To Start Playing Eve Online using free 21 day or free 14 day trial

I've been trying to convince a friend of mine to play this game for years now. He's as stubborn as a mule over it and now I am of the opinion he is just saying no for the sake of it.

His main arguments seem to centre over how many skill points other players have, how puny his character will be and all of those whiny little arguments that are based on fallacy. I also suspect he's terrified that the game presents him with choice rather than leading him by the hand to some sort of end game.

Let's get some major differences out into the open first. You do not have a real avatar. You may soon, but not yet. Your ship is just a tool to get a job done. It will be lost, don't ever get attached to it. It's not “you”. Your pod is “you”. In fact, truth be told, your account is "you". There is no end game.

Learning skills provides a character with unprecedented choice of abilities. Having a lot of skill points does not make you uber, only YOU can be uber with your gaming skills. Skill points in game just give you a variety of choices, conversely not having skills in game just narrow your choices.

In other words, you can have 6 million skill points in frigates and associated engineering/mechanic/gunnery skills and be the most uberest frigate pilot out there while a character with 60 million skill points might sound scary but they could all be in industrial categories for all you know.

Let's take a quick look at the most common argument, the whiny "I can't be uber when I start playing" argument.

At start you can hop into a frigate, start your level 1 missions and mine stuff. You can take part in fleets, tackle more experienced players and start being effective. You can haul small non-valuable packages in your frigate and zip around getting used to the universe around you.

Within just 10 days of starting, you can have all of the ancillary skills at the required level to fly a frigate comparable to the highest skill pointed pilots out there from 2003. Tech level 1.

Within just 24 days of starting, you can have all of the ancillary skills at the required level to fly a frigate equal to the highest skill pointed pilots out there from 2003. Tech level 2.

Frankly, that is some achievement for any game to allow you to be equal to older players in a comparable ship in such a short space of time.

Add just a few days on if you want an actual tech 2 frigate but that generally has a specifically designed purpose.

I've attached the skill training plan to this post that you can import into Eve Mon character skill planner using the Plans>>Load Plan From File feature. It uses a Minmatar character as an example so take out autocannons and substitute for the racial weapon of choice.

In all, you can see it's not an insurmountable hill to climb when joining Eve Online. You can be confident that you can have all the skills necessary to be able to equip your frigate with all of the required modules for its role within a short space of time.

Once you've mastered the frigate it's just a few more days to cruiser and a lot of the skills you just learned to use equipment in your frigate will be used in your cruiser.

A core number of the ancillary skills you learned in your frigate are also used when piloting other ships with a couple of additions here and there associated with that ships actual role. So learning those skills is never a waste of time, in fact it's the exact opposite.

The best option is to really learn how to fly the ships Eve has to offer in turn. Of course, you can actually aim for going to the battleship straight off the bat which is the beauty of Eve, you can do what you want, but you really ought to take the opportunities offered and fly all ship types so you understand exactly what they are capable of in real situations.

Or scrap ships, combat or exploration. Be an Industrial Mogul, be a Leader or Trader. Invent things. It's all up to you and that can be a terrifying thing. Embrace it, it's rare in MMO's and something to be nurtured not avoided.

Eve is about you. There's no levelling. You earn ISK to buy ships, equipment, pay costs etc. You skill up to be able to do the things YOU want to do. There are a myriad of different career choices, ways to make ISK and many different ways to have fun. All of which are valid, none are on rails as my friend likes to put it. It's the truest sandbox out there with hundreds of thousands of people playing. Each playing their part, however large, however small.

The point is, you need to stop comparing Eve Online to other games. You can't compare as there is no straight comparison. Jump in and have fun, take it for what it is and it will treat you well. Sure, you'll get blown up but you'll get over it. In fact, within a short period of time you are the one that will be doing the blowing up if you apply yourself.

Your character is YOU. Your reputation is yours to do with as you want. The entire universe is yours. And to claim it just email buddy@starfleetcomms.com for a FREE 21 Day trial for Eve Online. Alternatively, instantly get your free 14 day trial for Eve Online here.

As for my friend, I'm still trying to convince him. Perhaps I just need to accept that some people need to have a cookie cutter, guided and funnelled gaming experience. Or maybe I'm wrong and time will tell.