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Continual Partial Attention

Yesterday I wrote about my short history with EVE and how that led me to my particular play style. Essentially, my approach to EVE is what Linda Stone, a former Microsoft researcher, called continuous partial attention. Ms. Stone described a work style familiar to many people in the technology industry; while working on a top-level item while also receiving inputs from a variety of other sources - sources one does not want to miss out on. Indeed, this continuous partial attention phenomenon is based in a desire to become “a node on the network” in order “not to miss anything”.

That pretty accurately describes my interest in EVE; something I can keep tabs on pretty constantly, but that I don't really have time to be completely focused on. That has led me to investigating parts of the game that I feel don't get the hype that combat does, or in some cases (like mining) gets an overwhelmingly bad rap from forum and social media posters.

The reality though, is that most of the activities in this sandbox are actually perfectly acceptable for solo players, and many of them are more profitable or enjoyable when undertaken solo:
Gas Huffing
It's not EVE if you're not shooting someone?

  • Mining and Gas Huffing
  • Planetary Production
  • Manufacturing
  • Station Trading
  • Hauling
  • Exploration
  • Poco bashing / building
  • Mission Running
  • Ratting
Obviously, none of these activities take place in a vacuum, and they influence other players and are influenced by those other players in turn. The point is not how to play EVE as if it were a single player game. The point is that for a player like me that finds themselves in a situation where they can't commit to activities that require 100% attention, there is still a ton of stuff to do in EVE, and much of it is very gratifying.
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