There are a lot of multiplayer games out there but most are based on competition, such as in battle royale settings. A smaller fraction of multiplayer games allow players to share missions. But teams can often continue to play and win if one player steps down. The computer may even adjust the difficulty based on the number of people online.
One thing that makes Eco quite rare is that players heavily depend on each other to win over a time period that spans from days to weeks. Dad speed settings means that players stay on a server for months. So having a great game of Eco depends on who connects everyday, how they are playing and how well they understand the needs of others. If one player abandons or doesn’t provide key resources at a given time, the rest of the community could fail or just end up with an anemic 2-4 player community. Moreover, winning the game requires many resources so you need a lot of active people (ex. more than 5 on medium settings) to finish this game without making Eco your day job.
Briefly, winning the game requires players with key skills, but also in sufficient number and over a long period of time.
A world in Eco is beautiful at first and everything is possible. We are told that every action we make can harm the environment and so we think the simulation is about nature and industry. Oh! This rocker box makes tailing. We are all gonna die !
Balance for nature is relevant, but the most fragile ingredient of Eco is humans. Players create the simulation, each with different goals, time availability and values. You will meet people who are generous helpers, aggressive, smartass (who for some weird reason often claim to have a degree in economy), caring, creative, very young, couples, families, efficient-minded, occasionally drunk, organized and great partners.
And yet again, don’t think these stereotypes define your collaborators: most people just want this to go well, but they are caught up in economic and social structures made by the players and their beliefs. The success of a game depends on how players exchange resources, communicate, set objectives and trust each other. This is why the human component is the real challenge of Eco.
Be prepared to try something new and do things that are sometimes counter-intuitive. How much should I sell my tomatoes ? No one really knows for sure, but you have to try. Messing is also fun when you discover new ways to do things, like become a successful road builder without crafting a single road yourself. Trying to build an underground store means a goat might appear in it. You’ll name it “Zeuh Goat” as a jest to your new partner from France. Messing with the game also means you’ll print your own money and there will be debate about how to distribute it (and lots of failure there too).
Winning is usually about being the best or being a hero. We want to destroy the asteroid and we want to be the one pushing the button. But that is a classic wish that frequently leads to servers’ failure. If pushing the button is your thing, start a solo game and get rid of this disease right now. The same goes for being the richest or the "one in charge".
I won this game several times simply because I contributed to new and original societies. I made successful community projects, printed money without anyone leaving the server, registered a company, built roads for truck races, wrote something in the sky, added tallow to a lighthouse, helped to build an amphitheater, tried terrace farming and more. I am particularly proud of my mechanics Fab Labs and my community module upgraders. The most satisfying part of these projects is when they are planned and done with others. They are compromises, new ideas and discoveries.
I also won when the server failed. I have seen players put in place greedy trades, use global currency for their personal benefit, disregard others when making laws, hoard resources, cheat elk tacos at day 1 and seen them repeat the same mistake a year later, build huge hewn mansion while everyone else was struggling to get their first room, print extra money for friends because "they helped", etc. Every time these mistakes are made and people leave, I smile because it’s a good thing they didn’t work.
Briefly, winning in Eco is more often about the process and the projects rather than being a hero. Failing is when you find yourself with the biggest house, the more money and the more XP...mostly because everyone else found another, better world.
Two major differences between the real world and Eco are the number of “players” and their willingness to stay in the game. In the real world, economic structures and social mechanisms create inequities. However, these inequities are distributed among billions of people who cannot just log off and choose another world. For example, about 10% of the world population live in extreme poverty, which is about 1.90 $ per day. Players of Eco are long gone before they reach this level of inequity and each one represents a large part of your society. Inequity manifests itself as availability of upgrade modules, access to means of production (ex.: industrial machines), availability of food, trade opportunities and contract access (nepotism), XP and research scrolls.
Just don’t assume everything you believe about the real world will work in this simulation. Even something that works on a server may be detrimental to another. The way players depend on each other and the fragility of Eco’s societies will force you to imagine new economic and social structures. For example, free knowledge (scrolls) in Eco is not as interesting as you would think (really?), you don't need profits in this game (what?) and money is not the most important source of wealth (enough, this guy believes in unicorns).
Being an expert at most games means fast actions and efficient strategies to defeat your opponent. In fact, it is quite common to hear new players of Eco talk about how they can get “ahead” of others. A better question to ask is how do I get strangers to trust me enough to settle close, plan projects together and help me if I struggle at some point in the next 30 days.
If you try to master Eco and end the game within a big team of 10 to 30 players, you’ll need to develop excellent communication skills, trust and empathy. You will learn to compromise (which is different from being gullible) and anticipate how other people perceive your actions. All these communication and affective-related skills are quite different from the primitive "strategy" skills and motor skills of other games.
It’s okay to throw yourself in the game right now and just have fun while learning. But I wish I could get back the long hours I wasted digging ramps down to the bottom of the desert : this game is likely to eat up long hours for several days. Also if you fail at your job, you might end up as a nuisance to others.
So I invite you to read a bit, especially the nice help section within the game as well as the official wiki. Keep an open mind to the ideas of others, but also sharp critical thinking. Don’t hesitate to ask questions in-game and keep a calculator or Google sheets nearby to help you plan. I personally use the latter to draw little plans of buildings and calculate the cost of crafted items as well.
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