Description
Eve Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that is based in a persistent world with a space-fantasy theme. The game is enormous, with around 7,800 detailed star systems that players can visit.
About the Game
The story is set 21,000 years in the future (in the year 23 341CE). Humans have, as might be expected, strip-mined the planet, and moved rapidly through the known solar system, fighting each other for increasingly precious resources. At this point, an unexpected wormhole brought into easy reach a whole new star system of planets and moons, all rich with vital resources.
Humans quickly moved in and established colonies, also building a sort of ‘stargate’ to try to stabilise the wormhole. The word ‘EVE’ was inscribed on this structure and the new region called New Eden. The portal support failed, the wormhole collapsed and all the colonists were left to fend for themselves, learning to survive as best they can without supplies from earth.
These earthy origins were forgotten or became absorbed into myth, as the survivors rebuilt their civilisations. There are now five major factions in New Eden: the Amarr Empire, Caldari State, Gallante Federation, Minmatar Republic and the Jove Directorate. These five factions all have different powers and capabilities, and form alliances and enmities according to their needs at the time.
You can create three characters for each account, playing as one of the four playable factions above – the Jove Directorate is a non-playable race, having ruined themselves with excessive genetic modifications in an attempt to cope better with intergalactic conditions. They are now barely recognisable as human and most suffer from Jovian Disease, a psychological disorder.
Once you have chosen from the four factions, you are given three further choices called ‘bloodlines’, so you can have a good range of variation between characters. Your characters continue to develop in real time, so will gain in skill and ability even when you are not logged in. You can schedule up to 50 tasks in the training schedule, allowing for up to ten years of training to be set in place!
In the game, a measure of griefing is allowed – considered fair game – as long as it is not done to excess. Griefing is essentially in-game bullying, stealing resources, breaking builds and so on. So, if this appeals to you, you can try it, but don’t overdo it or else you will be penalised. And always bear in mind, others can do to you what you might be trying to do to them!
You can play solo or join a host of others in clans or corporations which can grow to be enormous. There are over 200 types of ships to choose between so you are sure to quickly find your favourites.
Fun Fact about Eve Online
The game is a record breaker. One battle, called the Bloodbath of B-R5RB took a staggering 21 hours to complete, involved over 7,500 characters, and boasted a maximum of 2,670 players online and battling at the same time. It is the biggest and most expensive gaming battle on record – to the point that the game has an exhibit at MOMA which shows a video of the event and the accomplishments of the player base.
As so often with real life conflicts, the battle all kicked off because of a single human error. A player forgot to update a routine payment, leaving a desirable and strategically placed star system open for capture. The staggering real world currency value of ships and upgrades lost in the battle is estimated somewhere between $300,000 and $330,000.
The game’s developers were so impressed by the battle that they have constructed a non-salvageable monument to the battle within the game, called the Titanomachy. See if you can find it during your travels!
What to Do
As players work their way through the game, they can take part in the following activities, even as they complete missions and defeat their enemies:
Piracy: it’s not a crime if no one sees you! Is it?
Mining: find and process ore to make raw materials with which to grow rich
Manufacturing: take your raw materials and add value by creating needed items
Trading: buying and selling help to make the world go round
Exploration: find out what is out there and take note of desirable resources
Combat: this activity is counted in both PvP and PvE modes
