Considering just how cool the concept behind EVE Online is, it’s surprising how few people actually know about it. Sure, everyone has heard of it, but most people I’ve spoken to know the name and not much else.
How is it that so many people missed EVE Online on its way in? It has to be one of the most ambitious projects ever developed in PC gaming. After being told all about it by an associate just a week ago, I decided to go digging, and here is what I found…
What exactly is Eve Online?
If we want to get technical, then Eve Online is a “Player driven persistent world MMO”. It is also really big. The EVE universe consists of over 5000 unique star systems, all with unique planets, asteroid belts, moons, badger colonies (unconfirmed), suns, stations, resources etc.
The game was originally launched in 2003, and has been updated many times over the years. It has won various awards, many of which are for its graphics. Currently, there are two available downloads, a “classic” version which carries fairly conservative system specs, and the updated version which is an absolute visual masterpiece.
EVE Online has over 250 000 registered users, all playing on one server. That’s right, unlike World of Warcraft and many of the other big MMOs, EVE Online makes use of a single server. Recently, the server recorded its most concurrent users logged on at one time – 51675. Did I mention it’s big?
The back-story
Eve Online is set 21000 years in the future. Human beings are well into the whole “space flight” thing, inter-planetary exploration and colonization is getting old and tensions are a bit high. Of course a war breaks out, tearing up the human race into separate factions.
During the course of the war, a wormhole is found. Colonies are sent through the wormhole, inevitably ending up on the other side of the Galaxy (or something, we aren’t sure if infinite space can have “another side”, at any rate they end up very, very far away).
The wormhole collapses and the remote colonies suffer from starvation along with other general isolation related afflictions. Bear with me here, I am paraphrasing from a novel, literally.
Over time, the five colonies re-establish themselves as legitimate civilizations. Society is rebuilt, and humanity is given a second chance. The Colonies are known as the Amarr Empire, the Gallente Federation, Minmatar Republic, Caldari State and the Jove Empire. All but the Jove Empire are playable factions.
Gameplay
Like most MMOs and RPGs, players start off by selecting and drafting the blueprint for their character. The first defining feature is race; from there the player must choose a bloodline. Bloodlines will determine certain specific character traits and predefined abilities. From there the player can choose further skills, abilities and a career.
Once the player is up and running (flying?), they can begin exploring the galaxy. The 5000 star systems in Eve Online are classified according to their security status. Higher ranking systems should theoretically be safer to travel in, as they maintain a higher security presence. The security presence is realized by the NPC organization CONCORD (Consolidation Cooperation and Relations Command) which deploys various peace keeping units.
The 5000 different star systems are classified according to their security status, higher ranking systems will be safer to travel in with more CONCORD (consolidated cooperation and relations command) presence. CONCORD presence is realized by way of NPC units that patrol the star systems.
Unlike traditional MMOs, the player’s character does not level up, but is rather able to train in specific abilities. These abilities level up in real time, regardless of whether the player is logged in or not.
One of the driving forces behind Eve Online is the real-time player driven economy. While there are AI controlled merchants, the majority of the games industry and trading is controlled by actual players. Player controlled organizations are able to buy, sell and manufacture almost anything.
There are two primary ship classes in Eve Online – Frigates and Titans.
There are a host of variables which determine the value of a ship, such as size, hull strength, potential firepower and speed.
The ship essentially represents the player in the game. The player also has a human avatar, but this is essentially just a 2D image, and for all intents purposes, the ship is the point at which the player interacts with the game space.
Incidentally, human animations are planned for future Eve Online updates. The idea is that players will be able to leave their ships and actually travel around space stations interacting with other players in the erm, “flesh”.
There is far more to this epic SCI-FI MMO than I have covered here. In part two, I will discuss the corporations and alliances that govern the world of Eve Online, as well as take a look at an infamous infiltration in which a guild of players spent a year gaining access to one of the game’s biggest corporations just so that they could bring it down from the inside.
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