Corrupting the next Generation.

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