Every so often, I get the urge to play Eve Online again. I'm currently battline this urge, most likely caused by fanfest and the upcoming Odyssey expansion. I event downloaded the game, so that if I do decide to play all I have to do is subscribe.
I've played Eve on and off for at least 6 years, but I always end up leaving for one reason or another. What really holds me back from playing is that it can just be so much work. Lets take a look at some of the activities I'd probably do.
Trading. I have some nice tool to automatically find me profitable trades, but hauling things is just plain boring. Sure a lot of it can be done afk, but I'd like to actually play.
I could always try my hand at trading in low-sec/null sec systems, which would spice things up. I own a Blockade Runner which I could use, but it is still a risky proposition. Those things are not exactly cheap.
Industry. The thing I dislike about Industry is collecting the raw materials needed to build stuff. I could limit my buy orders to a single station, but that means it would just take longer to fill my orders. Going around and collecting the materials is also not very fun.
Missions. I have a nice PvE fitted Drake I could use for Level 3 or 4 missions, but I still need to get enough standings to unlock them. Running low level missions to do this does not sound very exciting either.
Mining. Zzzzzzzz
So much about Eve just feels like work to me, which is why I never really stick with it. I just don't have the time, or any real goals in the game that keep me motivated. Making more money is not really a goal, since I could easily just buy and sell a PLEX to do that.