Changing Expectations, or, The Zen of EU

I don't know about other EU players but I must say my expectations have changed since I've been in EU for some months now.

When I first signed up, I had expectations of actually getting good enough to take out about 50$US a month from the game. Then, later on, after getting a feel for the thing I realized just how unrealistic that idea was.

Instead of that idea, I reasoned, maybe I could sustain myself on this lonely ball of rock by earning enough peds so that I wouldn't have to "write home" for money all the time (deposit). I could be a grown-up settler making a living in the Brave New World, saving up enough to once in a while buy some little thing to make life easier, as I face the day-to-day work of hunting, mining, doing whatever it takes to bring in those hard-earned peds.

Lately, I've begun to realize that that too is unrealistic these days. In my experience, I have consistently experienced less-than-equal returns from my efforts. Sure sometimes there's a small profit, less often maybe even a global, but what I've come to expect is that my peds eventually bleed away, leaving me with little other choice than to deposit more $.

Sure, I could spend hour upon endless hour sweating mobs or standing around trading stuff to earn enough for a small hunt, but does the means justify the ends in this situation?

I guess what I'm saying is that I need to modify my expectations of EU again. I'm expecting now to have to make regular deposits, just like in any other game, and think of it as nothing more than that: A game. Where you pay some money to shoot some monsters, and that's pretty much it. Like a carnival game, fixed in favor of the house.
Like a movie at the theater, the ending is pretty much predetermined. You can work the snack bar to earn the money to go see the movie, or just pay your money up front and go get entertained for a while.

When I approach it like that it pretty much removes for me the concept of how unfair it all is. It's a good attitude, and I pretty much live my life that way anyways: Don't expect anything from anyone, and 1) you won't ever be disappointed and 2) Whatever you DO get is a blessing.

Then it doesn't matter what MA does to the loots, the auctions, the TTs, etc. Take EU for what it is: pure entertainment, a game to play. Nothing more groundbreaking or significant than that. The problems, disappointments, and disgruntlements (is that a word?) players have with the game is when, IMHO, they believe the illusion that MA's created, and that they (the players) have bought into.

In a nutshell, my new expectations of EU are: No matter what the MA hype says, it's nothing more than entertainment. Pay for your ticket and enjoy the show.


Well, I hope my ramblings haven't offended anyone - My apologies to any who are.

Peace out,
Yirrk