Demigodess with a Conscience

Trying to describe what EVE is all about in as few words as possible is a futile attempt. In short, EVE Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, but that’s where the similarities with other MMORPGs end. It’s nothing like World of Warcraft, shares nothing in common with Everquest, doesn’t remotely compare to Age of Conan and certainly can’t relate to Lord of the Rings Online. Simply put, EVE Online is “Internet Spaceships”.

Some have described EVE Online as “Spreadsheets in Space”, and while this is quite true, it’s just a part of what EVE is. Most people try to think of games in a linear way, while EVE is something more like a surface. It’s not a PvE game, it’s not a PvP game, it’s not a questing game. EVE is rather more what you make it. Confusing? Yeah…you should play for a couple of years then try to put yourself in my shoes, I bet you’ll have the same problems I have.

This video kinda describes what EVE is all about, but at the same time it doesn’t. It describes EVE’s openness and the sandbox effect, so aptly named, but it doesn’t touch on what you can do in EVE. It’s not like in most games where you choose a class and a profession and set out to follow a set of quests that take you down the storyline. In EVE, you are the storyline. No expression is more fitting than “Forge your own destiny” when it comes to EVE. There is none to hold your hand and guide you through EVE to show you the “end game”. You start the game with virtually nothing but a cheap, gift-frigate, some spare ISK (money) and a “Go ahead, make a living for yourself!” from the tutorial agent. (You finished the tutorial, right? If not, go back and do it. You need it.)

EVE gives you the tools to make something for yourself. Will you become a master trader that makes billions upon billions on playing the market? Will you become a legendary forum warrior that posts in just about every topic and everyone knows your opinions? Will you become a forged in battle CEO of a successful corporation? Will you escalate to a successful alliance leader? Will you command massive fleets of hundreds of people in combat? Will you roam the low security regions, hunting for prey? Or will you hunt the hunters, as a vigilante? Will you strip entire asteroid fields bare in order to get precious minerals to use for construction?

The list is near endless of what you can do in EVE, if you have the will to do it. It’s not about skill points, “experience” or ISK; it’s about will. If you want to do it, you need the will to see it through. Nothing is for free, and loss is harsh in EVE. Someone nicely put it this way:

“If you die in World of Warcraft, you spend 30 seconds running back to your corpse. Die in EVE, and you loose your epic gear.”

While it’s true to some extent, it’s not quite as harsh as it sounds. “Epic gear” is easier to come by in EVE, unless you completely wild and blow billions on officer fits. But quite frankly, if you loose those, well, you probably deserved it.

That being said, EVE is a game where your decisions makes a difference. If you chose to fly your freighter into low security space with everything you own in it and no escort, you deserve to lose all that you lost. If you then end up throwing your hands up in a raging fit and say “This game sucks!”, you missed what makes EVE so great; your decisions have an influence on the game. Bad decisions lead to real loss. Loss that can be felt. Good decisions on the other hand, give you a sense of accomplishment you’ve probably never felt in any other game.

Don’t get me started on the PvP in this game. My god, that is an adrenaline rush, putting stuff on the line in an epic battle. Nothing gets me more riled up than a real battle in EVE. I know it’s just “Internet Spaceships”, but the time you’ve spent amassing that ISK that bought that ship and modules makes them have a real worth to you, and the risk of losing them makes you think twice about what you do in EVE.

Alright, enough of my ramblings already. If there’s something you feel I’ve missed in this blurt of text, or something you want to ask, please contact me on tobias<at>celenia.se.

The tl;dr version is this: “EVE is awesome, and I likes it.” Now go get yourself a 14 day trial at www.eveonline.com.