The Zen of PvP Pt. 1

EVE is a huge game wherein you can be anything from an industrialist to an explorer to a prospector to a space pirate. In my opinion though, PvP is what is really great about EVE. It's not the only thing I like about EVE to be sure, but I don't think I'd play EVE if it didn't have its PvP system, and likewise I think I'd still play EVE if it had its PvP system but none of the other stuff.

Why do I like EVE PvP so much? Let me count the ways:

• Requires real skill. As in, real-life skill of the player. You have to know how to fit your ship, how to fly it, and probably how to fly everyone else's ship too, so you know how best to counter them.
• Real stakes. You die, you lose your ship. And that awesome complex module you paid 1 zillion ISK for? It's either blowed up or in the hands of the dude that killed you.
• Excellent game balance. Of course it's not perfect, but it's extremely rare for you to say "yeah that's just broken" about anything. And stuff that is broken, they usually fix, and often in a thoughtful way that makes the game better.
• Works on many levels. The same PvP system works for anything from solo piracy to small gang (5-20 ship) battles all the way up to fleets with capital ships and hundreds of support ships on each side. Myself, I stop short at the small gang level...but the cool thing is I don't feel like I'm missing out. Every aspect of the PvP experience seems rich and full.

So, PvP is awesome. Let's go do some. Well, not so fast. The challenge with EVE PvP is that it is all free form. There is no organized PvP of any kind (excepting the yearly alliance tournament, which I actually wish they had more stuff like, but let's ignore that for now). So how do you find PvP to get into? The lack of a good answer to this question is perhaps one of the most frustrating things about EVE, but can also be the most rewarding.

So let me first give some EVE PvP axioms to live by:

• Be patient! The art of finding fun PvP to participate in is at least as subtle and difficult to master as the art of PvP'ing itself.
• Since PvP has real stakes, you'll find that it's rare for people to commit to battles they don't think they can win (and in many cases, aren't sure they can win with a HUGE margin of error). So in many respects, the skill of finding PvP boils down to bluffing: convincing someone they're going to win a battle when they really aren't (or not caring that you'll lose...which also works).
• Start small. It's a lot easier to get people to fight you if they're risking an inexpensive ship. It's also easier to get people to fight you if you yourself are in an inexpensive ship (simply because expensive ships are intimidating).
• You will die a lot. Just accept this.

So how about some specific advice? Probably the best things you can do are:

• Join Faction Warfare. The game allows you to sign up for the militia of any of the 4 races. This gives you access to a militia channel that's a little like being in an alliance. They have regular fleets and usually experienced fleet commanders. You can take a frigate and at least contribute to something as part of a medium-sized fleet, plus learn the basics of PvP. You can even join Faction Warfare if you are not in a player corporation.
• Get in a PvP corp. Hopefully an established PvP corp will have their own "secret sauce" for getting into PvP. So tag along and learn.
• But most of all, get into PvP. Even if you go solo, get into low sec and start getting blown up. When you get blown up, research the ship that blew you up, figure out why, and try to get less blown up next time.
  

It can be frustrating, but know that it is possible to get into fun PvP early on. I chose to go iron-man style -- me and several friends started playing around the same time, and we formed our own corp. We tried to get into PvP by ourselves with no guidance. We got smoked liberally at first. When we had been playing the game a couple months, we decided to start declaring war on other corps we saw around our area. Our first targets had player ages in the 6 month range when we were about 2 months. And the war was pretty rough at first. But in the end, we bagged one of them in a ludicrously-fit faction battleship and pocketed almost 2 billion ISK (with a "b") in loot. When we had just been playing 2 months! It was a great fight, and I had over 10k damage on this battleship in my frigate. And, 2 billion ISK was more than any of us had ever seen in the game, combined.

So let me wrap up by saying that I'm the first person to say I wish it were easier to get into PvP in EVE. But at the same time the challenge (not only of winning at PvP but of getting into it to begin with) can be very rewarding. But most of all, PvP is really really fun, and as far as I'm concerned, the more you can get into it, the better.