Eve-Online is unique in the fact that players wishing to role-play do not have to do any silly imagination like in other games, they simply just have to go out and do it. The game rewards players who specialize, and player run corporations and alliance are always seeking more players to fill their specialized ranks. These corporations and alliances are always attempting to conquer and control their own chunk of space, or attempting to profit or disrupt the npc protected space.
Eve-Online rewards those who are creative, and there is nothing that is very little that is considered to be off limits in the game. The game prides itself on being a cold dark universe and players are encouraged to make this a reality. They are allowed to scam, steal, cheat, and do whatever else they can to get the advantage. This makes trust a commodity, not soon forgotten. Players band together to form corporations and alliances of corporations. These groups often go out and conquer lawless space known as 0.0 or null space.
Eve Online: The Game Play
The game is unlike all of the other games out on the market, especially games that follow the World of Warcraft model. First of all the game is completely free-for-all except for the fact that there is police in Empire Space that will blow up players engaged in pirate activities. The game revolves around pvp, but for those who do not want to pvp there are plenty of other things to do.
There is no grinding to get items and skills, as it is impractical to kill npcs repeatedly. There are no skills or levels, players simply buy skill books and tell their character to train in that particular skill. The character will train the skill based on a real-life time formula, and they will continue to train while you are offline. There is no required level to say fly a battleship, a player simply needs to train the skill battleship to the required level.
This allows highly specialized players to compete with veterans in just a few months of training, but it will take them over a year to get into a capital ship. The beauty of the game is that every ship is highly specialized and required. Corporations and alliances need a variety of ships to make an effect fighting force, and a effective fleet of battleships will be able slaughter a group of capitals with no support.
Eve Online: The Economy
The game prides itself as being almost completely player driven, and what few goods are still supplied by the non-player characters are being slowly phased out. All of the ships, with the exception of a few rare ones, are all made by players for players. The same goes for equipment for those ships, ammo, stations, fuel, and everything else you can imagine.
This actually creates a realistic profession as being a miner, industrialist, and trader. Players need all these items to play the game, and the only way to get them is from other players. There is a steady supply of loot/gear from npc's, but it is no where near as effective as it's player made tech 2 variants. There is extremely rare gear from npc's, but that stuff is almost never used in pvp.
Eve-Online's super rich elite made their fortune by playing with the Eve-Online Markets. They either produce or trade goods, but anyone can do it. It just requires a little start up isk, and it is possible to never to play for the game with real-life cash. Instead, it is possible to earn enough in game isk to legally buy a plex from another play for 30 days of play time.
Eve-Online: Map
The map within this game is absolutely massive. The game universe consists of over 7,500 solar systems. Each solar system consists of a sun, planets, stations, asteroid belts, and everything else that makes up a solar system. The size of this game is absolutely mind blowing, and all 300 thousand+ accounts are all on one game universe. There are no realms or shards.Eve-Online: The Graphics
Eve Online features some of the best graphics to date in any online game. The games graphics are consistently upgraded, and a recent update improved the graphics for the entire game. The Incarna Expansion released captain quarters, and it allows players to get out of the ship and walk around in a station. The graphics are absolutely stunning and powerful enough to make even the most advanced graphic cards cry.
Space battles are a beautiful display of lights, missiles, and rail guns. It is almost like watching a high budget Hollywood movie. The tactics used by fleets make you feel like you are really taking place in a massive space battle. Fleet commanders use everything from coms discipline, to misinformation to confuse any spies in the group. Check out this video for a beautiful video of a Eve-Online battle shot with 100% in game graphics (note: there is some camera work in play).
Eve Online: The Learning Curve
Eve Online is considered by many to be one of the most complicated video games out on the market. The game is completely open ended. There is little to no story line or direction from the npc elements. It is a sand box that expects players to make their own story, to find their own path. This unique style of game play is hard to get into for newer players, and the game is plagued by a complicated user interface. It will take days just to get use to how movement works in the game.
The in game tutorial system is like a mother that shows you everything just once, and then it punishes you for not remember a single sentence it said a few chapters ago. It does a great job, though, of giving players a taste of the game, but once it is over the open ended story begins. The tutorial leaves new players in a station with a handful of ships in a station that is in one solar system of over 7,500 others. It does not tell them what solar system to go to next, or even hint at what to do next.
The key to succeeding is to make your own little base of operations. It is pretty easy to find a level one agent somewhere and run a few missions. The level one missions are easy, but can be a bit frustrating at times. New players are put in a Rookie Help channel for their first month in the game. It is a great place to ask questions about everything! One final piece of advice would be to find a new player friendly corporation and join. Most players have no problem helping out a new guy, but be wary of some who might just want to blow them up.
Space battles are a beautiful display of lights, missiles, and rail guns. It is almost like watching a high budget Hollywood movie. The tactics used by fleets make you feel like you are really taking place in a massive space battle. Fleet commanders use everything from coms discipline, to misinformation to confuse any spies in the group. Check out this video for a beautiful video of a Eve-Online battle shot with 100% in game graphics (note: there is some camera work in play).
Eve Online: The Learning Curve
The in game tutorial system is like a mother that shows you everything just once, and then it punishes you for not remember a single sentence it said a few chapters ago. It does a great job, though, of giving players a taste of the game, but once it is over the open ended story begins. The tutorial leaves new players in a station with a handful of ships in a station that is in one solar system of over 7,500 others. It does not tell them what solar system to go to next, or even hint at what to do next.
The key to succeeding is to make your own little base of operations. It is pretty easy to find a level one agent somewhere and run a few missions. The level one missions are easy, but can be a bit frustrating at times. New players are put in a Rookie Help channel for their first month in the game. It is a great place to ask questions about everything! One final piece of advice would be to find a new player friendly corporation and join. Most players have no problem helping out a new guy, but be wary of some who might just want to blow them up.
