Where is the "Ding" in Eve Online

I'm unfaithful to Eve Online, I'm ashamed to admit. I do play around. I'm a bit of a gaming slut. I justify this by saying it's like your favorite food. I love fillet steak, but if I had it for every meal, every day, I'd soon get bored of it. Therefore I like..... no, I need, some variety! Please note guys, this excuse does work for computer games and food, do NOT try this after the wife catches you! It doesn't work in THAT way.

Anyway, I do play other games. Obviously not as much as Eve which takes up 90% of my "gaming life", but now and again I have a spurt on something else. So far this year it's been Starcraft II, Skyrim, Dwarf Fortress, Civilisation V, Modern Warfare and a few others. But I'm getting a bit bored of them so needed something new to spice up my gaming life alongside Eve Online. Therefore in the week I called in at the (only) local games shop in the city (I live in a desert, computer games shops are not popular here!) to see what was out. Restricted bandwidth means downloading a game is not ideal as I'll have to be very careful with internet usage for the rest of the month.

So I poke through the shelves. Diablo III? Heard its nowhere as good as one and two and the real cash auction house ruins the "ZOMG! I found an amazing bit of loot!" from the originals. SW:TOR? Again, heard it's very "theme parky" and "Not as good as SW:G before SoE right royally ****ed it up" so may be not for me. Ha! Look at that, they have the original World of Warcraft box!

Now I used to play WoW many years ago, and I did so for a long time. It was natural progression. I started with Everquest in the late 1990's and tried most of these types of MMORPG. Everquest and WoW were the only ones I spent any time on. Age of Conan, Warhammer Online etc were a few months distraction before being left on the shelf to gather dust.

Anyway, seeing WoW on the shelf there, I started reminiscing about Everquest and WoW. I cannot compare them to Eve Online. No way. But these games were fun to play and did hit the brains pleasure centre. It has been said that many games rely on the work-reward system. You work hard (bashing 100's of spiders) and then DING (the sound that was made when you leveled up) you are rewarded with new stats, spells, equipment and the like. This hits some particular part of the brain to give you a good feeling, so you do it more. It has been said this is one of the reasons Diablo III hasn't been as successful. With the auction house there is no "high" when you loot an amazing bit of kit.

Now, never one to shy away from a controversial subject, I will ask the question. Is this "hit" missing from Eve Online?

In a few hours Drackarn will "Ding". He'll complete Gallente Cruiser V. I'm now very close to being able to fly every sub-capital combat ship in game. Just missing Amarr Frigate V and Minmatar Battleship V.

Now will this give me the same rush and same feeling of achievement as I got ten years ago hacking and slashing dragons, goblins and the various walking dead until I heard that little "Ding"?

No.

It's no real achievement to get Gall Cruiser V, it wasn't hard work or skill. In fact it was very easy. 4 weeks ago I right clicked the skill in my character sheet and selected "Train after current queue". And that's it. In some respects it gives me the same things in game as leveling up in other games. I will be able to fly (equip) a new selection of ships (gear). I have all non-racial ship classes (and other prerequisite skills) already trained so I will instantly "unlock" the Gallente HIC, the HACs, the Recons, the Strategic Cruisers (with a day of subsystems training) the logistics and all other T2 cruiser hulls in case I missed a class. In fact I could have my own personal fleet of ships given the range I can fly.

But do you get the same feeling as levelling up in a traditional XP based MMOG? Do a trick, get reward? 

Nope.

I do get that "Ding" feeling in Eve Online though. I get it from PvP, especially solo and small gang PvP. You work, you achieve, you get rewarded when that scum-bag's ship explodes in a fire-death-ball-of-death. However, it can go the other way when they destroy my ship and I don't get the "Ding" feeling, just the ability to use three swear words in rapid succession F***-S***-B*****!!!!!!!!

Is the lack of a general "Ding feeling" one of the things that stops people sticking with the game. Does CCP need to implement some form of mechanic to add in the "Ding feeling" to boost player numbers. Do we need something like an XP bar? Should some professions be boosted by grinding or experience type play?

Or should we stick to telling people who want that sort of gratification in their computer game to "**** off to WoW" and hope we find enough people like us who can play the game without the "Ding"?

What do people think? Should Eve have some for of "levelling" system to pull in more players?

P.S. - Personally I don't, but thought it might make an interesting blog. ;)