Not Every Blog is a Bitch-Log

Originally published on 6/17/2013 on our old alliance forum 

I come to you with a slightly more up-beat blog. Now don't get me wrong. I strongly feel that the “b” in blog stands for "bitch" since the vast majority of blogs are a public soapbox for strong opinions against some entity or issue. Instead of burning an effigy of CCP, I figured I would blog about things they have done right (in my own opinion of course).

First: (and probably the most revolutionary and important aspect of EVE) is the single-shard universe. Not even in Planetside (which has a very large population cap for battles) can compete. I regularly sign in with 45-60 THOUSAND other pilots all doing their own thing. That is staggering. Obviously some highly popular systems (I am looking at you, Jita), have issues and the solar system itself has occupancy restrictions (but that is really minor). There are GINORMIS battles in null sec of upwards of 300 pilots. That is insane. Currently there are huge battles in Fountain between some of the largest alliances in game. This brings me to my next point.

Second:

The player can influence events that can span across the entire universe. While one player can cause other groups of people to search for other places to live, it is the alliance that molds EVE. The economy lives and dies by nullsec alliances like Test, Goonswarm, Pandemic Legion, etc. If they want to stop producing moon goo, the major market hubs will turn chaotic with the buying and selling of those materials. The blockade (or Burning) of Jita caused huge price fluctuations. EVE is also a pioneer of the player-run economy. I don't just mean off-loading loot to an auction house or NPC agent like in most other MMORPG games. I mean that everything bought and sold is play-made or player-looted. The only thing that is seeded by the server are skill books and trade commodities. However, those are also bought and sold by players during station trading. So in a sense, the player still controls every item in the game to some extent. Think about it, events like Burn Jita (a player run event), Hulkageddon (where people go out just to gank mining barges and exhumers) and even null sec sovereignty battles effect the market (and therefore the universe) in ways that can not even be fathomed in other MMO's. Hell, even the announcement of ship or module changes causes a run on the market where people make millions or billions (some even lose that much). I depth and complexity of the game is truly amazing.

Third:

The freedom to do whatever the hell you want. There are many things to do in EVE. PVP, PVE, Wormhole, Exploration, Manufacturing, Mining, etc. If you get bored with one, you can just do something else. Some activities net you more ISK than others, but there is always money to be made doing something. You don't have to run missions to gain experience and you don’t have to grind. You can choose what skills you want to train and when you want to train them. As I stated before, you don’t have to grind missions to make a better avatar. You queue up skills and they tick down in real time. You even train while you are not logged in. That is pretty damn cool. The one thing I hate the most about MMORPG's is skilling up. Yeah, for the 20 levels, things are enjoyable. After than, forget about it. They become super-boring and repetitive. You generally have to finish quests to get the large experience increases so you may be able to wander everywhere, but you are generally always behind the 8-ball because fighting things your level doesn’t net you a lot of experience. There are literately tens of thousands of ship fittings (each ship can be fit with a countless number of modules in order to fine-tube to your specific needs. You can also pay for multiple accounts and use them at the same time (dual, triple, quad box) It is completely up to you and your available finances. You can also pay for game time with in-game money. If you are a really successful entrepreneur, you will never have to pay for a subscription if you choose not to. I don't know of any games that can claim that ability. PVP is also non-consensual. Every time you leave a station, you agree to PVP. Even highsec (protected space) is not safe. This does cause issues (especially with new players who don't know the game that well). There are also player run corporations & alliances that you can join and have fun with other people who also enjoy the game and can teach you the ropes.

Fourth:

This is a sci-fi game for sure, but if you look at a lot of the modules, you will see that there is a scientific basis. Minerals are based off of real-life ones and the time it took to do the background research must have been painstakingly tedious. All of this makes for a very immersive and rewarding game play experience. While the sheer amount of information can be an overload to a new player, once you get past the learning curve, find yourself a good corp and really start to roll your sleeves up, you become hooked. EVE just celebrated it's 10 year anniversary. What other games have been around that long, let alone stayed fresh and relevant? I can't think of any. Free expansions, who does that? EVE does. Every expansion has been free for players. Sometimes the expansions are spectacular and sometimes they suck, but regardless of your opinion of them, they still can't be beat. CCP is always coming out with new improvements, modules, ships and other things. Again, sometimes they hit the nail on the head and sometimes they just dent the wood, but they still try. They haven't given up on EVE. Even when they take on new projects, the ones they follow through on are EVE related

Fifth:

How about adding an FPS game to the EVE “Universe”. Sure, we can do that. Dust 514 (again CCP is a revolutionary pioneer of the single-shard server) added just that. A alternate platform (PS3) FPS that is linked to the EVE Online universe in real-time. In fact, Dust ground-pounders can call in orbital strikes from EVE pilots. Dust players can also influence the EVE portion of the universe by holding strategic points on planets that can effect the planetary mineral extraction rates for EVE players. What?!?!? Yep, it is crazy.

So even though CCP does a few things wrong, there is no double that they have done so much right. They support the game fervently and there is no double that this game will go into the 2^nd decade with the same swagger and relevancy as the 1^st ten years. Anyway, that's my two ISK.