This game now owns me. I love it. Anyone else play?

I played it once on my older brother's computer when it first came out, i think it might have even been the BETA. It seemed pretty awesome, but i'm hooked on WoW at the moment so i won't be looking into it for a while :P

Well my sig and avatar should give away my Eve fellowship well enough.

Unfortunately I'm looking to cancel. It isn't a reflection on the game at all... I absolutely adore it... it just demands more time from me than I have to give.

I know it sounds like the kind of whinge you want to punch someone in the face for but when you find much of your game time useage is dictated by external powers (ie PCPP) that when it is time to play the games you want you don't want to be coming back to the same thing over and over. Its been a good year but time to hang up my pod pilot uniform. :(

Has Pres I tink you should metion that you didn't build your own system in your sig, someting like "I'm a girl so a brought an Alienware." Just to make it clear.

I down Loaded the trail and had a sniff about seems like good fun but I play games in short bursts so this isn't for me.

Yeah I just got over WoW. Got so.damn.boring.

I guess this will eventually get boring, but hey, it's great atm. I'm REALLY loving space atm... it's so beautiful. Really. Awesome stuff.

WoW isn't boring for me yet :) It will eventually get there, but at the moment im loving it, as i'm getting near to my first lvl 60 character :D

It took me about a year and 3 months to get bored of it. :P

Funny... I tend to judge my masculinity by the presence of a cock. But hey, different strokes for different folks. ;)

Only been playing for 2-3 months :) Not long till 60!! :D

My Grandmother had cocks but then she broke there necks and ate them.
hahahaha. Hmmm it's kinda like you have a dell now that dell own alienware.

Elpres: PCPowerplay writer and dell owner.

Certainly confused why this is such an issue for you QD. But meh. Whatever. *trots off to play Oblvion* :P

Juat goshing dude light hearted ribbing. I would of responed with something along the lines of "Dude you couldn't afford to look at this beast."

Whats the combat like in Eve? Because controlling the ship is rather droll so hmm seems like it would be slow?

Oh and you haven't posted in the firefly thread for ages you scruvey dog.

Im planning to get it so wat you guys think about it give me pointers!

Get into a corp as fast as possible. Best tip anyone can give. They'll set you up... many given ships and cash to new members but mainly they'll teach you the ropes and get you involved in the exciting side of the game.

whats the ratio like between arseholes and helpful people though, are they really willing to help alot of the time??

I'd say about 1:1000 in favour of the helpful people.

Seriously, I've not once encountered a shithead in EVE. One of the best player communities I've ever had the pleasure of gaming with.

My brother is sending me the trial version, so i'll get to see what this is all about. I've always loved the Elite/Privateer/Freelancer type games (even though i know EVE's interface is far removed from those games - i like the space opera setting).

I downloaded it and the graphcis was really good but when I played it it was so slow and laggy!! man my pc sucks.

Oh... little tip. Go to the game's website and make sure you read all the backstory articles. The backstory for Eve is quite brilliant and it helps you get your head around the way people relate to each other in game.

Plus you'll learn what Quafe is... and all the cool people drink Quafe. :D

Cool, sounds like an addicting game. might have to take the dive on this one

Sorry as I become anal for a moment but it is a pet peeve of mine. :P

A game can't be described as addicting, it can only be addictive.

Addicting is a verb. Addictive is an adjective.

Treat the English language with respect and it will love you and keep you safe for a long time. :D

I didn't think it was possible to get more anal, but there you go. :P

Oh I can keep going. :D

Nah it's a print wankery thing. Boards I visit like Evil Avatar constantly go on about the death of print game's journalism due to online sites. The thing is they look at it as the availability of news and make no judgement calls on their worth as pieces of writing. The biggest indicator to me that these 'writers' in the online space are mostly absolute hacks is that IGN, Gamespy and any number of other news sites say stuff like "This game is really addicting".

Anyhoo... I'm just a print snob. :D

I think this current line of conversation has enough scope to warrant its own thread :)

i can understand what you're saying Elpres. the inherent problem with online stuff is that whilst it is freely available, the writers haven't gone through a school of hard knocks like what print writers have.

I'm sure you had a number of rejections before your gig at PCPowerplay, which probably helped you develop your style.

I find that much game writing online is not entertaining to read, instead choosing to dissect a game almost clinically.

To use a comparison, it's like reading something from a car journal, versus reading work by Jeremy Clarkson (of Top Gear fame). Perhaps it's even a case of analysing a game as the sum of its parts versus analysing the experience itself.

but i could go on.. and this thread is about EVE Online, which i can't wait to get into (when i finally get the trial version). I'm surprised it uses a point and clicky type interface, but I've grown up on Elite, Privateer and more recently Freelancer.

EDIT: typo - "it's" versus "its"... if i'm going to talk about writing, i should at least get the grammar and spelling right. any other typos i missed... get over.

Seeing as the end of school is coming up soon (end as in, the end forever!), I'm looking at getting back into some good gaming. MMO's are where its at, and I'm thinking EVE is the way to go.

Anyone else want to join up with me around the same time?

I realize I'm way behind in saying this, but thank christ someone else gets this.

That's one collapse of the english alnguage that drives me absolutely up the god damn wall.

If people describe something as 'addicting' I leave the room.

The response is overwhelming. :P

:lol: leaving the room is a bit harsh isn't it freaky? :P

Hell no. :P

No, I really don't think it is. I don't tolerate people who stink and I don't tolerate people who use addicting in place of addictive.

Also, don't even START me on 'aks' and 'pecific'!

Damnit, let's get back on topic!

Prez - still at PCPP? Still not playing EVE?

Not worth the monthly pay. After playing this game for awhile, I found out that this would be a good game, without monthly pay.

Pros:
+HUGE World-5000+ Systems
+Many Different kinds of ships and weapons
+Many different roles (Pirate, Fighter, trader, miner, ect)
+Real time training allows to train even when not playing.

Now the cons....
-There may be 5000+ Systems but they are all basically the same, Empty space with asteroids, planets, and space stations.

-So many ships, yet they all function the same. You equip an item, lock target, click item on, wait.

-No real goal in the game, you "progress" by training skills, and getting new ships...but like above...the ship only looks different and has different stats....still functions the same.

-In most MMOs, you earn what you play, so spending 100 hours on WoW or CoH feels like an achievement. In this game, you earn by not playing at all. You could make an account and only log in to switch skills on and could have a ton of skills yet still be in your rookie ship.

-Real time training means you cannot progress faster then time allows, putting a limit on you. In other MMOs if you logged on for a weeked and played 20 hours each day and got a bunch of stuff, you progress alot. In this game in those 2 days you might train 2 skills up 1 rank which give you a measily 3% upgrade in damage, meaning you only really earn money.

This makes you have to pay more and more to get new things because the at rank 5, most skills take weeks to months to train and most of the good ships require rank 5 of 1 or 2 things simply to use, meaning it takes weeks/months to simply use 1 ship.

Get the free trial 1st, but don't expect much as most of the ships are locked for free trial users, making you pay just to try out something. If you want an MMO or space simulator, go buy a non-pay one or go play more traditional MMOs because this 1 is only for people with ALOT of time to waste.

I await ElPrez's massive rebuttal.

Is it possible to get this on Mac? If not, I'll just go back to WoW once school's finished. Even though I know it's evil.

Well I was going to do that, but after playing my friend's account for a bit lately, I VERY QUICKLY got bored of the game once again, so I'll steer clear.

About it on MAC, I just did a quick search about the topic and it seems that it's only available on Windows at the moment. :(

Moral of the story: Get off a MAC.

I will agree that EVE is a bigger time sink than most MMOs... despite my love for the game I no longer play simply because I do not have the time. That said arguing over EVE is largely pointless since it is such a niche title. It was made for a very particular gamer in mind and has done nothing in the years of its development to increase its accessibility. This is great for fans of the game but not so good for people outside of the target market.

That said I'd like to offer an alternate view on RH's listed Cons.

Starting out playing the game this is very true but to look at systems as a level you explore is to give them the wrong interpretation in the game.

The point of 5000+ systems is three fold. One of the major purposes is that it sustains the game's economy. In order for there to be true regional markets and the like it is important that resource A might take an hour of flight or more to get it to where it is wanted. Without the issue of distance market prices would be flat and key area of the game (trading) would not provide much reward.

This leads neatly resource division. These systems differ enormously in terms of what resources they provide. Miners can find a lot of value by exploring outer star systems for precious metals and ore. Having 5000+ systems makes it feasible for those seeking resources to find their 'special spot' which brings me neatly to point three. The geo-political landscape of EVE.

Thanks to certain systems being valuable sources of a particular resource or important trade routes the control of these systems is important. Visually the systems may look the same but the differ significantly in terms of their political make up and this makes each unique.

I used to be a freight runner when I played EVE and there was one system in Minmatar space that was low security and controlled by a powerful pirate corporation. Problem was that system was also a key jump point for many of my traderoutes. I could go around but that would add an additional half an hour to my journey and when you are a freight runner every second lost on a run can be measured in hundreds or thousands of lost ISK (depending on your load of course).

Even the politics of the four major nations give each system a distinct flavour. For instance being a Gallente I had easy access to a lot of more 'exotic' items for trade. Some of these items could get me in a lot of trouble if I get scanned going through major Amarr systems. Of course I could pick up some slaves in an Amarr system but travelling through Minmatar or Gallente space would be ill advised.

Unfortunately these subtle yet important differences are going to be lost on players until they are a month or so into the game and actively taking part in the affairs of particular regions be they economic, political or otherwise.

This comes back to the niche nature of the game. This is one of the few MMORPGs out there where the RPG element of the genre title actually means something.

This is a game without goals because the idea is you lead a virtual life here. This is a sandbox MMO at heart. CCP basically just give their players a world to run amock in. In the last edition of Bioshock I wrote an article on hero play in MMOs and remarked how EVE is unique in that it does not let everyone be the hero. This is a more real setting, yes there are players who engage in feats of greatness but just as in the real world, most of us don't get to stand in the limelight. It means that when you do something important it actually is. It is unlike other MMOs where every feat of greatness you manage has already been done by a thousand people before and will be done by twice as many after.

Not everyone likes gaming this freeform but for role playing nuts like me this is like mana from Heaven.

As far as the ships go their loadout and design makes them all very different. My Tristram Mk III was a significantly different experience than my Iteron Mk V. The former was a fighter... I would use him to quickly jet about new systems to gauge prices and to check for signs of pirate activity. My Iteron was a freighter sacrificing weapons and speed for cargo storage. It was way too slow for the work my Tristram did. Then I had a special light fighter with no weapons and super light armour which I used to vulture runs (heading out to low sec space, picking over the remains of past battles and fleeing before I attracted untoward attention to myself).

As you start spending more and more time in ship design the differences become more prominant. Once again it is something you don't pick up on initially.

While this is true what that player would be missing is the true life blood of the EVE universe... ISK. ISK is the be all and end all, this is not a game about building skills, it is a game about building a bankroll. Everything that matters in EVE, everything that is worth fighting for, everything that is worth dying for comes down to the allmighty Interstellar Kredit. Without ISK you are nothing... you may be able to fly the biggest Titan in the universe but if you can't afford it then there is no point.

When I played an hour or two of EVE I would look in my bank account and note how many 100,000 ISK I had made recently and there was my sense of accomplishment. ISK is EVE's version of XP.

Once again the focus in EVE is not skills as you observe yourself. Money is the measure of progress in this game. The purpose of skills and the amount of time they take to learn is to ensure real diversity in player make up. In EVE no two characters are alike which make each one valuable in their own way.

In the early game if you are looking to set up your own corporation, finding someone with the skills to manage a multi-racial corp is a real boon. There are four races in EVE and the peace between them is uneasy at best, with some teetering on all-out war such as the Amarr vs Minmatar or the Calderi vs the Gallente. However a successful corporation can't afford to limit their employment opportunities by only hiring from one nation. Instead they need to be able to hire all races and that requires a CEO with a certain skill set.

Not everyone will have those skills because they take time to train and their existing skill sets are tailored to a different purpose.

In another example big corporations are always on the look out for particular pilots. Very few podpilots can command the top of the line ships in all ship classes. Instead they need to either have the versatility of flying a wide range of middle of the road ships or they specialise in a particular class such as dreadnaughts. Either of these pilots would be of use to a corporation but they would serve very different roles.

This is not a case of Healer, Tank, Nuker, etc... there are thousands and thousands of effective class types and professions and all are useful. The game needs to use a time based system for this to have any meaning or people would very quickly become masters of everything and the entire universe would be largely homogenous.

The other benefit is that it also makes sure the world has janitors. By this I mean that for Eve to function as intended it needs shit kickers. Since it takes time to de-shit-kicker yourself there is always a ready supply.

This is a good thing for corporations who actively engage new players. Warlike corps need friggate pilots in cheap fast ships to effectively wage war against their foes. Big ships need support from more nimble ships to do their best work. It makes combat significantly more interesting than it would be if everyone was in a battleship just bashing on each other (although battleship fights can be fun to watch).

Now I'm not saying RH's opinions are wrong. This is a niche title. I just wanted to point out how what he sees as a negative can be seen as a major positive depending on your gaming tastes.

Damn, oh well. On WoW though, I never got very far anyway (my highest level character was 37 or something), so there's still heaps for me to do, and seeing as I won't have played for nearly a year then, I might not get bored too quickly...maybe I'll last 60 days.

If I were to play alone what activity would earn the most isk? So far mining and "ratting" as I've heard it look interesting but I'll take any suggestions. Also would going through 0.0 space alone be profitable if I have a ship with cloaking and stealth gear?

A really fun solo ISK owner is what I call vulture runs.

Pick the lightest fastest frigate you can... from memory there is a Minmatar ship that fits the bill but be aware you will need to skill up to fly it if you aren't Minmatar.

Grab this ship and deck it out with strong afterburners and and lighter substructures. You want a fast nimble ship even if that means no weapons.

Then you want to go to your star map and check out where police kills have been in the past few hours. You want to look for a spot with a high concentration of kills and a low security rating. This is where the action is.

Fly out there and pop around all the major landmarks looking for the corpses of ships for you to rummage through. Players with a lot of experience kill out here and what they consider trash can be very valuable for a beginning player.

Stock up on as much stuff as you can but be on the look out for rats or other players. This is where the speed comes in... get the hell out of there and back to a safe system.

Then go sell stuff and make some moolah.

Is anyone here still playing EVE at the moment? I know this topic is approaching a year old, but I've picked up the trial and I'll be playing until I head back to Ireland on the 23rd: in-game with the same name. :P