Results: This is EVE

After taking a break for two years I'm considering returning to a PC-based Sci-Fi video game called EVE Online. Have you ever heard of this game?

I was never a gamer until I discovered this game, and for several years I was hooked. Words cannot even describe the adventures I experienced...adventure, mystery, friendship, betrayal, heartbreak, elation...more stories and adventures than I could ever have room to relate in this survey. It is actually a really hard game with a huge learning curve, but if you can get into a corp and get the help of experienced players the social aspect of it is something else. I met people from all over the world, some of whom I still keep in contact with on social media. I eventually became an alliance CEO and focused on recruiting and training new players because I've been an educator in real life and enjoyed helping new players learn how to find their path. EVE is a "sandbox" which means you can create whatever content you want...and the results are completely random, that is what made this game so different from any other I ever tried. You can be whatever you want...an evil pirate who steals, a peaceful industrial miner and/or ship builder, a spy, a hired assassin, a professional faction warfare pilot...the list goes on. Does this sound different from other video games you might have heard of?

One problem I did encounter was the gender ratio. I'm a woman in real life and apparently there is only one woman for every 250 men who play the game (so I've been told, I laughed when I heard this but I knew at least about 100 male pilots in EVE and only about three female pilots). Have you ever encountered a gender bias in a game or hobby you enjoyed? Sometimes I felt rather awkward because my gender seemed to overshadow my own skill and experience. I almost felt like it made me a target (literally).

Another problem I encountered was I thought of my corp mates as friends and I was too trusting. At one point I was evicted from my beloved wormhole home (in this game you can go into a wormhole and live in it, storing your ships and possessions in structures called POses or player-owned stations) by the very people I considered "friends" and took it way too hard. Have you ever taken a video game too seriously and regretted it?

I'm both excited but scared to go back...should I reactivate my account??? (I have already made up my mind I just think its fun to see what others think!)