Possibility space

I think EVE provides an ideal balance of possibility space vs. safety in its design. While you can hide behind CONCORD with reasonable safety in high sec, it is much more fun and rewarding to venture into areas with more risk. The mechanics allow for miners, traders, pirates and sovereign alliance wars. WOW!

The social dynamic is the secret sauce for EVE, and the game mechanics ensure that even Corps and Alliances are potentially full of intrigue given the ability for players to scheme, steal, and con their way to riches.  This leads to a paranoid feel when you are first getting to know Corp mates or applying for a Corp.  Trust is likely the most valuable commodity in EVE, there are even players like Chribba who make their living based on their trustworthiness.  

By allowing such varied interaction, EVE deepens the potential relationships and adds meaning to player interactions.  What other virtual world has inspired player run banks, investment schemes, mass territorial Alliance warfare, and a complex player managed market?  This depth and complexity of possibility distinguishes EVE from the alternatives and makes New Eden a virtual world like no other!

EVE NEWB info

This post will be a resource for any brave souls who wish to venture into the world of New Eden. Having spent many hours reading up on EVE, I want to create a repository of helpful information to smooth out the steep learning curve that an MMO of EVE's complexity presents.

The first stop in EVE education is the official EVE Online Player Guide. This is a good introduction to game concepts in EVE, but it does not go into specific enough depth to be more than a starter orientation guide.

The next step is to download BattleClinic's EVE New Player Guide.

BattleClinic is a great resource for players with discussions on ship loadouts, and a level 1 mission guide.

While at Battleclinic, be sure and download EVE Mon, an essential tool for planning and managing skill training.  (If only CCP would allow a skill queue...)

Everything you needed to know about skills but were afraid to ask!

Tanking 101

Zev'Nar - Bits of EvE Knowledge

Check out EVE-Wiki.net for great overviews of ships and modules plus helpful guides.

Manasi's Overview Guide

My goal is to keep updating this post as I find new information.  Please comment on any other essentials I have missed.

EVE novel review

I didn't get a chance to log into EVE yesterday, but I was fully immersed in New Eden. I was enjoying Tony Gonzales' novel- Eve: The Empyrean Age.




I greatly enjoyed the read and would recommend the book to any Sci-Fi fan, regardless of whether they play EVE or not. As an EVE capsuleer, I feel like the book helped enrich the backstory and brought to life many areas that I have found myself roaming through. Overall, the plot and characters are engaging. There are perhaps too many concurrent plot lines, and while the complex plot provides excitement, the downside is that character development is severely constrained by the lack of focus.

The book succeeds in providing the story that leads to the current situation with the Factional Warfare system in game. I also enjoyed that the characters have turned up in later EVE chronicles to further develop the story. Perhaps it is a consequence of being part of a living, breathing universe, but the hardest part about the novel is that it leaves you hanging at the end. I am still not sure what happens on Caldari Prime, and I have been playing the game for months since the novel came out. We have also been given very little additional insight into the craziness within the Amarr Empress, or what becomes of the racist and bloodthirsty leader of the Caldari. While the recent freeing of slaves may have been forshadowed by the experiences of the Empress' right hand man in the book, we are left on our own to figure out how the story ends.

I am personally counting on Mr. Gonzales to publish a sequel soon to explore these hanging threads. I hope he can slow down enough to really develop his characters while retaining the gripping quality he created in The Empyrean Age.

Overall, a good read for any Sci-Fi fan; a great read for those interested in jumping into the EVE world, and a must read for current players!

Grab a copy today and let me know what YOU think.

Mending pastimes

EVE has provided a nice diversion from pain and immobility after my surgery.  Since the ancient computer here is too slow to run EVE properly, I have been limited to playing around with trading within a station.  I am experimenting with buying and selling orders, and have trained some basic Trade skills.  So far, I haven't found any ultra-profitable trades, but it has been fun to start learning about the complex EVE economy by jumping into it!

Holiday Surprise!

My plan while hanging out at the family ranch in Texas over the holidays was to relax, spend time with family, and catch up on blogging about old ideas while exploring some new ideas in a quiet reflective space.  Away from my gaming computer, I would not be able to actually do any gaming, but it is always nice to read other's blogs and write about my own thoughts.

My body had another plan.   On Christmas night, I found myself in the emergency room experiencing the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced.  After days in the hospital following emergency surgery, I am glad to be alive, glad to be with family, and excited about my gaming possibilities in 2009!  While I can't move much yet, I am at least out of the hospital and on the mend.

As an aside, I managed to get EVE running on my parent's ancient video-cardless Dell.  Being logged in at a station is choppy and laggy, and you can't leave the station without triggering a crash.  However, it is possible to log in and change skills and place buy and sell orders.  This has been a nice development that has provided some welcome distraction to a painful and challenging vacation! 

Survey says!

Thanks to a bit of advice from Letrange, I am currently training up Survey and have bought the Salvaging skill which I will train next.  This investment (Salvaging isn't cheap!) should help me finance further progress in gaining ISK.  

I am also going to train for a Catalyst, which I can be in very quickly, and which should be better for a dedicated salvaging ship.  Since I already enjoy ratting and missions, this may help increase my returns while I am still only running L1's (and soon L2's).

Having a blast!

LOTRO Mines of Moria has been great fun so far. The mine interiors are really well done! Turbine knows how to create beautiful atmospheres, and the LOTRO lore provides plenty of fodder for virtual world creation.

I am amazed at how well it has worked to play both LOTRO and EVE. Even though I am spending more time in EVE, I have also really enjoyed the different ambiance in LOTRO. When I need a warm, lush interlude, I can hang out in middle earth. When I feel industrial and hardcore, I fly around in spaceships in bleak but beautiful New Eden.

It is very amazing to think about the variety and quality of virtual worlds available to us through pixelated screens. The best part of MMO's is the ability to play concurrently with friends and real people in a living, evolving world. Even solo players interact through the markets and chance encounters. For me, playing static non-massive games just doesn't hold the same kick. I like cooperating towards a goal with other people in a massive world. Whether running quest lines on rails or finding a path in an open sandbox, the enjoyment of virtual living is a great bonus to living in the 21st century!

I can only imagine where things will go in the MMO sphere. I am sure we will see alternate interface methods tried in the next decade, as there are
already several "brain wave" controllers hitting the market. The eventual target will be some sort of fully immersive virtual experience. Whether it is from Kurzweil's brain colonizing nano-bots, Matrix style brain jack interfaces, or some other fantastical technology of virtuality, we are in for an amazing ride!