I don’t have a lot to ADD to this, but I do have a lot I want to expand on. First off: One of my long-standing complaints about mining is that it isn’t that profitable. It still isn’t great, but it’s not terrible. It’s also far more social than it used to be. Part of this is complaining about bumping, part of it is just good-natured folks (IN EVE??? WHO KNEW!?!?!?!?) sure you don’t have to interact, but it’s more than it used to be. Every minute there seems to be a new EvE mining corp. The new wardec system offers far better protection for them.

What’s more it gets them into the food chain of EvE in a unique way. It’s harder to gank them, it’s harder to dec them, which results in safer mining. They also contribute. A large industrial corp can let a guy say “I mined the veldspar, that turned into the trit, that turned into the components that turned into the Moros that helped kill a titan” because he can trace the stockpile from start to finish. This is unique in EvE. The folks out there that have been playing for years have a connection to the guys that started last week and are mining in highsec. Maybe a tenuous one, but find me a level capped Mage who needs ANYTHING from a noob for his raiding gear.

Finally it gives a new player game-time to use constructively for two purposes. He is making money and he can be reading through other information accessible to a player. He can read guides, the eve-uni wiki, the dozens of quality blogs about EvE. This blog. He can watch videos about any particular playstyle.

Mining allows new players to contribute to their own success, to the game, and to see how the interactions work. So ignore what I said before. Mine on.