EVE Online

The soft hum of your mining laser fills your ship as you drift in an asteroid field. Through your cockpit window you see your squad of drones swarming about the nearest asteroid mining even more of the precious ore contained within. You have just gotten your hands on the blueprints for something that you are sure will make you rich, but first you need the materials. Suddenly your ship's sensors give the alarm as two hostile ships enter your vicinity. Reacting quickly you recall your drones as you recognize the ships bearing down on you as belonging to a rival Corporation. Your ship lurches violently as the first shots are fired and you curse as a scrambler on one of the attacking ships keeps you from warping away. Frantically calling for help you engage overdrive and afterburners in an attempt to get away. Your ship continues to take heavy fire as you set out of the asteroid belt and you begin to despair, but then you grin eagerly as you see five more ships appear on your radar, all heading your way, and all of them members of your Corporation. One of them breaks away from the group to escort you back to the station for repairs, while the other four swoop down upon the enemy and a fierce firefight erupts.



Welcome to the world of EVE Online, where the endless expanse of space stretches before you and opportunities abound for all those willing to risk life, limb, and ship to achieve their goals. Whether you choose the path of the solo player where all that matters is yourself, or you choose instead to join a Corporation and work with others to spread your power and influence throughout the Galaxy, you will find plenty to do in this game. While it is true that combat, especially player vs. player, makes up a large portion of the game, even those who want a peaceful lifestyle can find something to do. From mining to trading to warfare, there will always be something to keep you occupied and having fun.

When you begin your career in EVE the first thing you are presented with is character creation. First you choose your race and heritage group, and though they all look similar, each racial heritage group has a distinct set of starting skills allowing players to make their decision based upon their play style. You have four different races from which to choose, from the religious zealots known as the Amarr to the nomadic Minmater. Each race has two distinct heritage groups, each with their own special strengths and weaknesses to help your character along their career. You want to choose carefully, because even though you have the opportunity to pick up more skills as you go, those that you start off with can really affect you in the long run. The next step then is customizing your character portrait. Unlike practically every other MMO game out there, in EVE the look of your character means very little as you are really the only one who will ever see it. Granted, other players can see it if they want to, and some do indeed do so, I think you will find that most never really bother unless they get to know you. The average stranger you fly by in space will only see your ship, and not really care about what the person flying it looks like. From hair and eye color to the shape of the face and background lighting, you can be sure that your portrait will be unique.

From here you begin to choose your starting skills and attributes. Each racial heritage group has their own starting attributes; you then are given five attribute points to distribute as you wish. This gives you the ability to truly customize how your character will interact with the game mechanics. Next you are able to choose which school your character has attended for their studies. Each race has three standard schools that you can choose from that cover three major disciplines. Then you go on to choose the Department, Field, and Specialties for your studies at your chosen school. All of these choices will help you determine your attributes and skills that you'll start the game with. The possibilities are fairly standard, allowing you to pursue a life of combat, trade, mining, or crafting with equal ease. All of these paths can be viable in the game, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. But unlike some other games out there all of these options can be pursued with equal enjoyment for the player if it's really the life you want your character to lead. So if spending time floating in an asteroid field mining countless asteroids isn't your thing, then you have the option to just go out and blow things up. If you find the idea of hunting down your fellow players and destroying them to be pointless and repetitive, then you have the option to explore for new types of minerals or to experiment with new manufacturing processes.



Once you're done with character creation you find yourself afloat in space in your new ship. Here's where you begin to see the true beauty of the world of EVE. Stunning visuals of stellar bodies like suns, constellations, planets, and more come together in a beautiful way to really make you just stare in wonder sometimes. A brief tutorial from your friendly neighborhood insurance agent helps teach you the basics of camera control, flight, mining, and using the various space stations scattered about. Simple missions that are provided to you by your starting Agent help you to learn more about the trade, mining, and combat aspects of the game, and soon you will find yourself ready and willing to tackle more.

A large amount of your game time will be spent earning money and this can be done in several ways. The simplest and easiest way that's open to all players is through the completion of missions. When you start the game you are assigned a starting Agent at your School to make contact with and do your initial training missions. These missions are not only there to help you learn the game but also help you earn starting money to get you on the road to bigger and better equipment. Once you finish these you make a new Agent contact, and more after that, and soon find yourself journeying all over the universe doing various types of missions. One of the more interesting aspects of the mission system is the ability for players to create their own missions for other players to take on. These can include simple courier missions to hunting down those players who committed some wrong doing and collecting a bounty for killing them.

The remainder of your time in EVE depends on what kind of player you are. From here you can set out collecting resources, creating products to sell, and travelling about peddling your wares to the highest bidder. If that's not your style then seek out one of the player-run Corporations to join and help them wage war on their enemies. Although the solo player experience can be fun and rewarding, it's in the battle between the Corps that the real fun can be found.

At this point I'd like to talk briefly about the one feature EVE has that really makes the game friendly to even the most casual player. That feature is the ability to advance your skills even when you're not online. You have a limited amount of skills to start with, as discussed above, and you also have the ability to buy more skills and train in them as you go along. Each skill takes a certain amount of time to train to the next level, anything from an hour or two to several days. The best part is that this time is measured in real time, not in game time. Your character lives on even when you aren't there to play, making progression through the game that much easier for all players.

Corporations are the same as Guilds in other games. An association of players, bound together by a common goal and working to help each other out. Unlike the Guilds in most other games, were there is one leader who is in charge and the only way to make your displeasure known is to leave, in EVE these associations are truly run just like the Corporations they are based on. There is one leader, called the CEO, who has the power to declare war, or surrender, as well as decide which assets to buy and sell, but this power is not absolute. Through the voting process any CEO can find himself voted right out of office if he goes against the wishes of the members, known as shareholders. As part of a Corporation you help to build your own space stations and keep them supplied with goods to sell and money to spend on repairs and improvements.

Corporations also have the ability to establish trade relations with other Corps, supplying each other with the resources one may need that the other may have an abundance of. This includes not only base materials such as ore, but even equipment such as shield boosters on up to the latest top of the line ships. On the opposite side of the coin, Corps also have the ability to go to war with each other. When one Corp has an issue with another, their members vote. If the war vote passes the CEO can then officially declare war on the other Corp. The next day the declaration of war becomes active and members of both Corporations are able to attack each other without fear of reprise for police in the sector, and without fear that their security rating will drop. The war ends when one side surrenders to the other, but that's not where the fun ends. Not the terms of the surrender must be negotiated. The losing side my find themselves simply losing some money, or perhaps a prized trade route, or they may find themselves without a home and without any assets.

Combat is fairly straightforward for the most part. You simply lock on to your target, launch your drones if you have any, and start blasting away with cannons and missiles. Though the universe is not filled with space aliens to fight you do find yourself facing pirates hidden throughout the asteroid belts, and combat is a major part of the game as you battle other players for territory to mine, resources to sell, and areas of space to make their home. Though fairly easy to learn the basics, there are many different weapons available, each with different abilities. And as you move on to bigger and better ships, and improve your skills, you are able to arm yourself with more and better weapons. All of this requires money though, meaning that even the most die-hard fighter will find themselves spending some time working to earn some more money before heading out once more to blast their enemies.

One thing that I believe makes EVE unique among the other MMO games out there is that you truly can play the game solo, without ever having to spend your time in groups in order to survive. Though grouping can bring huge benefits, it's not necessary in order for you to get the most out of the game. But for those out there that do like to group with others rather than go solo, everything from mining to combat becomes more profitable as you cooperate to increase your yield of resources or decimate your enemy with your overwhelming force.

The game does have it's down side, but what game doesn't? The completely player-driven economy can make finding the items and equipment you need at a price you can afford tough unless you have connections or are part of a good Corporation. Also, though you have a character portrait that is customizable from the color of your hair to which way your eyes are looking, most of your time will be spent staring at your ship and the ships of others, which can make for a rather generic environment to play in. Though this helps to keep down the graphical requirements for the game it does tend to make things rather bland and boring after a while. At the least it would be nice to have a character to have to walk around inside of the stations instead of simply interacting with everything through menus. Also the lack of many NPC ships or other things to battle, except for the pirates hiding in many of the asteroid fields, means your only real option for combat is fighting other players, which can be a big negative for those that want the excitement of a battle in space without having to join the world of player killing. This is especially true for those that want to play solo rather then join a Corporation. And of course the usual amount of bugs and balance pop up now and then, but that's true of all MMO games.
Closing Comments
Overall I'd say that EVE has great potential. Though still struggling through the early stages of MMO growth, the game seems to be shaping up quite well. Live events staged by the developers are already being planned, helping to make the game that much more fun. And the game mechanics make it possible for pretty much anyone to have fun. This game is for anyone who wants to be able to truly affect the game world around them, and be a part of the force that shapes the story of EVE. This game is not for those who want to be told where to go and what to do next, and is not for those who just want to go out and kill things. There are consequences to your actions in this game, and if you are unable to grasp the political situation and learn to battle in that arena as well as you battle the other players with your weapons, you won't survive long.