Related Sections: Game Diaries
Eve Online: I'm not there
One of the great things about Eve Online is also one of the reasons a lot of people don't like it. Whereas playing a typical MMO is an entire activity, playing Eve Online feels like only about half of an activity. Sometimes even a third of an activity. I confess, there are even times I've completely forgotten I'm playing Eve Oline.
Read about it after the jump.
Eve Online is something you do while you're doing something else: listening to a podcast, watching bad TV, plinking away at some work, folding laundry, or maybe even playing a handheld game (that last one just feels a little too dysfunctional; I was aghast to find myself playing Puzzle Quest on the DS concurrently with Eve Online; it felt like the sort of thing that would prompt you to find a support group).
Now this isn't always true. Eve Online is an engaging - indeed, demanding! - activity when you're searching the market for ship parts, or when you're planning out your skills, or hunting for implants, or finding your next agent. And there's no goofing around during combat, even when it's a sure thing. Combat is a twiddle-intensive activity that involves locking targets, allocating weapons, figuring out your ship's movement, and keeping an eye on your capacitor. You're not going to be paying any attention to American Idol contestants or what the IGN guys thought of Resident Evil 5 during those moments. And that's just combat against computer-controlled pirates, most of whom are pushovers. I haven't done any PvP yet, but I can imagine what a nerve-wracking gut-wrenching miserable thrill it's going to be.
But for me, 80% of my time in Eve is spent with my ship automatically warping between docks, jump gates, and mission locations. Or just floating in space watching a chat channel. Or maybe paging through the market to see what's on sale, like a neglected Eisenhower era housewife with a catalog. But Eve Online is also gorgeous, so I can admire the view. It's easy to jump the camera focus to nearby space stations or ships, mousing the view around to different angles and zooms. Eve Online knows it's a looker and it affords me the time and freedom to admire it. But the irony is that for all its splendor, most of the time I'm playing is spent with the screen like this:
For better and worse, Eve Online is almost like a Facebook game I can play with only half my attention. It's non-committal, hands-off, idle, a little lazy, a little aloof. It can even happen when I'm not there. I can alt-tab out of Eve Online, as I'm doing this very instant. Alt-tabbing out is great for longer trips, which the autopilot will fly. Even though the game's in the background, it will play the computer's voice to let me know as I hit each waypoint and when I arrive at my destination.
Considering that most of the games I play - RTSs, shooters, strategy games, MMOs - require constant attention, I'm glad for the change of pace. Also, it's worth nothing that I've spent all my time in secure space. There's a much wider world out there that probably can't be explored so cavalierly. Tomorrow, I'm going to fly out into it and see what happens.
Up next: dipping a toe into 0.0
(Click here for the previous Eve Online game diary.)
By Sean at 1:24 AM ON 02/18/09
As an Australia player in Eve we unfortunately have to suffer the daily server maintenance during our primetime. I think from memory it was 9-10pm our evenings.
This tended to put a bit of a dampener on the game when I wanted to do something with my now-defunct Corp. It also meant to participate in the really big ops I had to log in on my weekends during daytime which was rarely feasible due to real life weekend duties.
So I tend to only renew my subscription sporadically when I am on vacation. Who knows Tom - maybe your latest series of articles will have me re-new my subscription yet again. :)
By Captain Politics at 2:51 AM ON 02/18/09
I see that you plan on venturing into 0.0... This will be fun for you, but don't bring anything you can't loose, as you will die a few times. Also fit a cloak on your ship. This will minimize your chances of getting ganked. And don't go to Delve area so much activity going on down there right now.
By tortoise at 10:35 AM ON 02/18/09
eve ui clutter aside, that's a very pretty punisher framed in a pale moon against a blood red sky.
By Elisant at 11:28 AM ON 02/18/09
You bastard.
Your blog posts suckered me in to this game and now I think I play for about 6 hours a day.
By Triedit at 12:34 PM ON 02/18/09
You hit the nail on the head in terms of play value. I tried Eve for about 6 months and found the same thing (aside from all the internal politics of the game...a game with politics) and came to conclusion that I did not want to pay $15/month for a game that I spent most time waiting for real time to pass by to earn skills and warp around while scanning stock market level screens.
By Greg at 1:25 PM ON 02/18/09
I've been following your Eve diaries closely. I played a few years back for some time, long ago enough to forget much of it. It is probably one of the most difficult games to fully appreciate as it takes time to get involved in this world. Eve is very successful as an alternate reality generator because of the level of politics involved.
I started my own little corporation early and built it up to a respectable size. Granted we were basically a team of newbs, but still it was cool. Then some guy who probably had been playing since beta (and who I believe suffered from a small penis) declared war on my group.
Basically this allowed him to attack us anywhere, anytime. And he slaughtered us to no end. This is why people stick with Eve, and this is why people quit Eve.
Given these attacks, I convinced my band of newbs to venture out into unsafe territory. We spent days sending out scouts until we found a new secure, albeit unsafe location.
While the war went on we lost contact with our genitally challenged antagonist, but he eventually tracked us down across space and time so we changed tactics and began planned assaults and defensive measures (to protect our miners).
Keep in mind that all this time I was conducting diplomatic negotiations with our enemy (i.e., in-game text chatting). They amounted to him demanding we pay him an insane about of ISK and recurring protection money. I call it compensation money. I also talked with other corporations and negotiated mutual protection treaties.
After weeks of raids my corporation finally set up a successful defense and took down one of his ships (yes, we only managed to take down one of his ships all this time). I wish I could remember names, but it was very costly for him (a high-end Amarr ship). The team that brought him down was made up of about a dozen of our newb veterans.
I re-entered negotiations with him and convinced him to call off the war. My diplomatic strategy during the entire war was to maintain a posture of politeness and strength. I appealed to his logic and explained that we could afford to continue to throw newb ships at him with the end effect of it hurting him more financially than he could ever hurt us.
Eve is (or at least was when I was there) all PvP. There are some safe areas, but these aren’t very rewarding. There really isn’t any other game that can compare with it. It’s extremely brutal, but can get a gamer involved like no other game.
You know you are addicted when instead of doing something like watching American Idol, or playing your DS, you’ve discovered EVE TV (http://eve-online.tv/ ) and are watching alliance tournaments.
Your blogs about Eve are bringing back a lot of found memories, so thanks for that. Time was probably the main reason I stopped. Running a corporation took about as much time as running a real life corporation.
By Trowaa at 10:16 PM ON 02/18/09
When you go into 00 you will die... simple as that, but remember low sec (everything from .4 - .1) is alot more deadly, Purely because there are more people... in 00 it can get really lonely... until you find a couple of carriers warping in ontop of you. But try PVP... its where the action is...
By wildpokerman at 8:38 PM ON 02/20/09
Half my time playing WOW is spent on the back of some bird or bat. I minimize the screen and check my e-mail and such while I'm playing. If I did several quests at once I could probably watch a TV show or two while I fly around.
By Talemacus at 7:20 AM ON 04/13/09
Hey ....Chick. Where have you been? Still waiting for you to join our corp. ;-)
Hope all is well and your skillling for those t2 medium blasters and a HAC. Stop into the hive and chat a bit sometime. Later man.
Tale
By Talemacus at 7:21 AM ON 04/13/09
Hey ....Chick. Where have you been? Still waiting for you to join our corp. ;-)
Hope all is well and your skillling for those t2 medium blasters and a HAC. Stop into the hive and chat a bit sometime. Later man.
Tale
Talemacus:
Hey ....Chick. Where have you been? Still waiting for you to join our corp. ;-) Hope all is well and your skilll...More »