The illusion of space travel
This game started out like a spreadsheet strategic puzzlegame in space. When you play EVE you are mostly sitting in a station preparing for a space mission and then you travel to the destination to do the thingy to get the isk to go and sit back in the station. When you log off from EVE you are still sitting in that station preparing which The Mittani called The Meta Show.
The api lets you do a lot of EVE related tasks so a lot of the successes in game are engineered while not even logged into the game. The skill queue game mechanic, Dotlan, the Killboard & the character bazaar are examples of this. It also explains why one clever nerdy guy could become the most powerful EVE player while never being on the battlefield.
The reason this so called sandbox game is so cruel is because their always will be a conflict of interest between CCP, the players and the players. You read that correctly. This game literally is divide and conquer where the players mostly by political games can exert pressure which leads to a cut trhoat ruthless “sandbox” game.
As said before the game is designed for you to feel crushed when your ship gets blown up. It is the ideal pay to play minigame that masks itself as a space sim like Star Citizen tries to be. If you haven’t done your homework knowing all the constantly changing rules of play (balancing: CCP reserves the right to make constant changes to keep people guessing and active adjusting their gameplay).
Just see it as Casino where the players are constantly trying to find flaws with the game mechanics of Black Jack, like Vantage players they count the cards and try to get away with it. CCP is notorious for it’s reaction on people finding ways to control, manipulate, exploit and get away with it.
So undock and warp to the gate. Do you see your ship? Or does it feel like you are served up a pov with a little pawn centered in the middle of a warp tunnel cutscene because the warp itself has no action to it. You could just as well be presented with a message saying “you are in warp to the gate”. It feels very much like riding an elevator isn’t it and when you jump through the gate it is like the elevatordoors opening.
The biggest single shard free to play MMO of all time
trailer transcript:
Summary
EVE Online is a vast universe, alive with the unrelenting activity and combined history of its players. Pursuing lives of adventure, warfare and prosperity, they share this existence in the biggest single-shard free-to-play MMO of all time.
Set 21,000 years in the future, EVE takes place in a distant cluster of over 7,000-star systems known as New Eden. It is a rich and diverse universe, featuring densely-populated havens of relative safety governed by four great Empires, hostile systems where player alliances make the rules, even regions of anomalous and unexplored space that hold their own secrets.
You play as a capsuleer, a revered breed of highly-trained pilot, having achieved immortality through the use of cloning technology. You navigate the universe encased in an armored capsule deep within your ship, where you have complete neural control and function as one.
There are hundreds of ships to fly in EVE. Everything from small nimble craft and versatile mid-range vessels, to formidable warships and colossal freighters. Each has advantages and suited roles, but all are completely customizable as you decide how to equip and arm them. What you do in New Eden is entirely up to you. EVE’s immense sandbox gives you the opportunity to choose between multiple professions and activities.
The key to this unique customization of your playstyle is skill training. This is a passive process, and it continues whether you are in or out of the game. As a new player, you can focus on one specific area in order to quickly reach the same level of specialization as a veteran.
So be adventurous and explore new avenues of development for your character, as you can always change role and reinvent yourself if desired.
If you want to fight, combat in EVE can involve solo missions against non-player adversaries or small group skirmishes, while for some, it can even be the thrill of fleeting up with thousands of fellow pilots and battling over disputed territory.
If you want to explore, then the discovery of uncharted space and ancient regions that promise riches, danger and adventure await you.
You can also engage in the business of prosperity, be it industry, mining or even interstellar piracy. The beauty of life in New Eden is that all of these activities, and many more, can be done alone or with others.
A unique in-game market, unprecedented in scale and degree of player control, is the beating heart of New Eden. Players are responsible for the manufacture of almost everything you can buy or sell.
The gathering and refinement of resources, the building of ships, equipment and even some space stations - EVE’s players are core to how the universe is filled and how the economy thrives.
Players in EVE can band together to form corporations where they can enrich their experience, learn new elements of gameplay, and share their wealth and goals. When these player-run corporations grow to become larger entities, they can merge with other corps to form alliances.
Powerful alliances regularly compete for control and influence over large areas of space, waging wars and engaging in record-breaking battles. Even taking down well-defended, sprawling player-built space stations.
In the spirit of exploration and mystery, new content and experiences are constantly introduced into the universe, with over a decade of free expansions leading to continual development and evolution of gameplay.
While every action and decision has consequences for the universe and its hundreds of thousands of players, the game remains very much about your unique adventure and story.
A story that will forever be woven into the fabric of EVE.
Ever calculated what you are spending your time on when logged into the game? Maybe something like this: 50% station, 10% undock, 10% gate. 28% travel/warp and 2% combat. If you figure out that most of EVE Online is basically preparing for your next chess move and that this can be expanded outside of the client with the API and the forums, and everything else that the community build then it puts into perspective why people are still hoping that Star Citizen will be the space sim that EVE never was.
