For as long as I've played EvE my two sons have been
enamored with the sparkling stars and ships I fly about them. They have watched
me play over the years and they ALWAYS want me to blow something up. They are
older now ages 8 and 10, and while still technically too young to play the game
alone. I started to let them play with me on one of my accounts this past
weekend. Of course the first thing they wanted to do was blow things up.
Like any good corrupter of children (aka father) I started
with a nice 21 Jump journey through highsec in a deep space transport just to
set the mood. In EvE nothing is right there for you to just log in and start.
Yes I know, a shuttle would have been faster, but I told them to package that
up and put it in the cargo hold. I have to say basic overview and navigation
came easy to my son. He asked lots of questions. Asked why he could not open
that yellow cargo container on the gate. Asked what the flashy red guy meant.
Asked why this ship was slower than daddy’s stiletto. Asked where the guns were
on the Bustard. I answered them all, showed them the fitting screen, talked a
bit about agro and griefers. It was a social father son chat while we made the
jumps to a mission system. It all seemed to settle in.
When we got to the system where I keep my mission ships I told my
son to open up his inventory. He knew where it was and made “mega-flop” active
before I could ask him to. He pulled up the fitting and said “Nice!” out loud
when he saw the T2 rails. Asked lots of questions about each module and what
they did. Then he knew what was next and excitedly said “We are going to blow
stuff up now!” He did his cute little 8 year old happy jumping and clapping
thing. I felt like a good father. So we found a level 3 mission agent and off we
went. I was in a PvP fit Drake just because.
Mission went well and my son got to range and use of the
rails well. He turned on his tracking computer and tank automatically and
locked and obliterated any cruiser and above between 45-60KM. He complained a
bit about it being too easy and asked if I could change his guns to something
more exciting. I explained that he was the DPS and my drake was the bait. He
still wanted missiles as they looked “cooler”. He was also curious about the
drones I was ripping frigate rats apart with as well.
We played for a few hours and ran a number of classic level
3 missions. Towards the end all I needed to do was drop system and station
links into the fleet chat. He would warp out to the system and wait for me warp
us into the mission. He would dictate his range from the rats and spawns all
while talking to some of my old EvE mates in chat.
The following day my 10 year old, who had watched his
younger brother quietly for 2 hours the day before, was at the controls of
Mega-flop. I spared him the 21 jump overview training and we dove into level 3’s.
After watching his brother he knew just what to do down to activating his tank.
I showed him how to control drones. This time I flew a hurricane (225mm shield
PvP fit) so I could tear up frigates faster than the drake. Another 2 hours
passed and again it was fun and effortless. The only major difference was my 10
year old talked smack with me in fleet over politely talking to others.
I have to say it will be a long time before I can take them
on a lowsec roam. However it was a super fun way to spend a few hours on the
weekend blasting some rats with my sons. Next perhaps I’ll break out my Navy
Scorp. and run some level 4’s with them. Heck if I activate my other accounts
we could prob’ recruit a few stragglers and start incursions. I did show my
eldest scanning and he was BORED out of his wits. So blowing stuff up seems to
be the way forward.
Cheers
EVE SOB
