This question came to me on Monday. I only had morning classes, so I was free to do whatever I wanted during the afternoon. A friend invited me over for dinner, and I was planning to spend some time with a different group of friends, just goofing off, and then go straight to her house for dinner. Then it hit me: I had a skill that finished training at six. Now, I knew that if I went to dinner without going to my house first, I’d only be getting back home at around midnight (turned out to be around 2 am) and there was absolutely no way I was going to to let myself loose 6 (8) hours of training, I just wasn’t. So I came home and changed the skill, missing out on a couple of hours of fun with my friends, just for the sake of EVE… What have I become? 
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So the question I have for you guys is if you’ve ever done something like this. Have you ever woken up in the wee hours of the morning just to change a skill (I’m guilty of that one myself)? Have you ever changed plans that you had because of a skill change? Or am I alone in my obsession with not wasting a single second of training time?
Tags: EVE Online, Skills
October 16, 2008 at 8:22 am
Thankfully not, I’ve never interrupted anything to go change a skill. I tend to fit skill finishing times around me, so I usually have 1 or more unfinished skills with only an hour or two left on them.
Back before I quit the last time, I frequently didn’t worry too much that a skill was finishing at 2am or something and just left it not training for a few hours, thats when I knew I couldn’t be bothered with the game anymore, but at the moment I’m happily arranging my skill training around when I’m available, not my skills dictating when I need to be there.
October 16, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Yeah, like Karox I’ve never had to change real life stuff to change a skill. I tend to make sure that I’ve got something long enough to cover the time I’m likely to be away from the game comfortably. Most of the skills I’m training at the moment are at least a day long so I’m usually covered.
At the end of the day, though, I’d rather have two hours with my friends than 6 hours of training.
October 16, 2008 at 1:24 pm
What? Your friends don’t play EVE? All the time?
WiFi and laptops?
I’ve not woken up in the middle of the night to switch a skill and I try to arrange my skills so that I can be there when they finish. At times, I’ve logged on from work to switch a skill or stayed up later than normal to finish something up.
October 16, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Ghost training, real life interference, etc, I honestly don’t understand all the whines about it (not that you are whining).
For me, it’s never been an issue. On the weekend, I train up all the skills I want for the upcoming week to level 3. That really doesn’t take long. Then during the week, I switch to a level 4. Generally speaking, that takes 4 – 10 days, so it’s never been an issue.
Plus, I use Capsuleer, a very handy little iPhone application that shows me my currently training skill, how long is left, and exactly when it will finish. If I need to be considerate of my skill finishing time, Capsuleer is a great tool for the job.
October 16, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I usually enlist the help of my wife to change skills when I’m not around but she is. As such she’s become an honourary member of the Ushra’Khan (my alliance) and COGNet Spacesystems ltd. (my corp). Once she gets over her fear of the interface she’ll be playing my alt.
CCP has seen that this happens often and have set up something special for these people.
http://www.eve-online.com/fanfest/2008/soe.asp
Fly safe!
October 16, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I might pause a movie or TV show to run and switch a skill, but I’d never cancel or interrupt an away-from-home social activity…I just try to set long skills except when I know I’m going to be around to conveniently change the shorter ones. As a result, I tend to have quite skills with partially completed levels and do occasionally miss a few hours of training, but it’s not the end of the world. Unlike many, I like 20+ day skills…set ‘em and forget ‘em.
October 27, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I’m new to all of this, but I train along the same lines of Rocwieler, getting skills with short times trained when I know I am around and setting to longer skills when I know I am going to be away from the computer.
I also interrupt inconsequential activities, like DVDs or playing WoW, to switch skills, but haven’t forgone a social activity to ensure my skill training continues smoothly. At least, not yet.
I second the use of Capsuleer on the iPod Touch/iPhone. I recently had it running next to me whilst playing WoW and it let me log on to EVE Online on my laptop and switch skills in a matter of seconds, no lingering around.
December 12, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I just text my dad to start a new skill with his laptop. It’s helpful to have a friend or someone that you can trust, someone in RL to take a hand in helping out with your account when you can’t.
Hooray for Babysitting accounts.