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All about Eve and getting even
March 10, 2007
Traders in London and New York are apparently addicted to an online game that lets them behave like Gordon Gekko and Master Chief at the same time.
Eve Online, a rare hit from Reykjavik, is not one of those warm, communal efforts at Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). It is brutal, backstabbing and rather proud of it.
Not surprisingly, its 200,000 players are 95 per cent male, with half coming from the US and the bulk of the rest from Europe. Large numbers are based in New York and in London, where a supercomputer serves up the game as a single universe, as opposed to the multiple servers or shards of something like World of Warcraft.
Trading for items is a key part of the game using the ISK – inter-stellar kurrency, which is also the symbol for the Icelandic Krona.
One player set up a bank, offered high interest rates and then paid the interest from other deposits before trying to convert $200,000 in ISKs on eBay. He was caught and ejected from the game. Others staged a successful IPO in the game to raise money to build space stations on the edge of the universe.
No sooner had they done so than they were attacked and taken over by another fleet, meaning investors lost all their money.
“It’s all about power – financial, political and military, it’s a dog-eat-dog world,” Magnus Bergsson, chief marketing officer for Eve, told me on the fringes of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
“You have a space ship and it can be full of valuables. I’d collected mine over eight months and I lost everything in a matter of seconds when I was attacked. I cried for about three days.”
The dread of losing everything forces people to team up to protect their assets and Magnus says these friendships driven by fear mean the social ties are stronger than in other games.
“The people in Eve Online, although I never see them, really are my friends. You don’t get many chances to save a friend’s life, but in this game you do.”
Here’s a good link if you want a solid portrayal of EVE Online. The author originally penned it in hopes that he would expose EVE for the evil, hyper-capitalistic, backstabbing cluster$%&* it is.
Posted by: Proteus Doctorow | March 16th, 2007 at 6:07 am | Report this commenthttp://www.wirm.net/nightfreeze/part1.html
Naturally, after reading this, I bought the game right away. Many of the “loopholes” described here don’t apply anymore. Still, it’s staggaring how many people will mention “Nightfreeze” or “The Great Scam” when asked how they found EVE Online.
ive found eve to be the perfect alternate reality in which to live ones spare time. the sheer scope and creativity which a liasses faire rule system provides truly makes this a game to be played and experienced
Posted by: Paul Newton | March 16th, 2007 at 9:06 am | Report this commentSome few more facts about Eve.
- average age of players is 27.
Posted by: Greg | March 16th, 2007 at 9:11 am | Report this comment- average number of players connected each day : +/- 25.000
- Eve’s economy is “player-driven” : most of the modules that equip the space ships are crafted, sold, and bought by the players.
- Eve is not only about fighting with other players in space battles. Diplomacy is very important. Politics in Eve is perhaps the most interesting part of the game, explaining why so many players aged 35+ are still involved.
- Eve is everything but an easy game : learning curb is steep, but there’s nothing compared to it on the MMOG market. It’s hard, brutal, unforgiving, frustrating… and we love it.
Oh, and errr… About that IPO thingy you mentionned. I was there, and quite happy to help booting them out of the solar system their station was in.
Posted by: Greg | March 16th, 2007 at 9:29 am | Report this commentI Was also there for kicking ISS out of the south …
Posted by: Red | March 16th, 2007 at 10:38 am | Report this commentPaul made a great point about the diplomatic aspects of the game. Once play moves out beyond the relative “safety” of Empire space, the entire game is run by the players.
Power blocs dance around one another with all the finesse of U.N. delegates (take that as you will), and wholesale invasions are the stuff of legend.
Incredible, beautiful, stark, complex, unforgiving. She is our EvE, and we love her.
Posted by: Adhar Khorin | March 16th, 2007 at 11:04 am | Report this commentWhat’s the point in mentioning the percentage of male players? Of course men play games more than women, and the women that do are usually tom boys. Just like women wear makeup and have babies more than men do. Christ, leave the obvious stuff on the cutting room floor if you ever wanna make it past internet “journalism”…
Posted by: Anonymous | March 16th, 2007 at 2:31 pm | Report this commentTo play this game at its peak with hundred’s apon hundred’s of ships all fighting at once in a massive fleet battle for a system , you really going to need a good PC ..
With the graphics , sounds and special effects being as good as they are , the better the pc , thebetter the eve-o experiance , but you can turn the effects off etc , to stop things slowing down too much for you , as there is literally so much happening on the screen at any given time , the pc and servers will just lag out and slow down alot ..
But O so worth giving it a try , the only real fault with this game i can see and i know of is .. its far too addictive ..
Regards
Posted by: Nick Judd | March 16th, 2007 at 2:31 pm | Report this commentN Judd
Stop the real life and get ingame, so i can POD u all
Posted by: EBIL PIWAT | March 16th, 2007 at 3:32 pm | Report this commentall your PoS are belong to us
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold | March 16th, 2007 at 8:26 pm | Report this comment200 ship battles…full of lag and node crashes.
Lies from the company that runs the game (CCP) and favoritism making the game biased against anyone not in the corps/alliance favored by ccp. This is of import to anyone thinking of playing the game.
Game is great, but the company running it has been shown to tell lies, cheat, and censor the heck out of their forums to give a false impression of success and no problems.
The subscription numbers would show the majority are people with multiple accounts, and trial accounts. Another misleading bit of info ccp feeds the public in a vain attempt to save their game from the misdeeds and poor handling of scandalous events (lies, coverups, whitewashing, propaganda, censorship that china would be proud of).
The game is not the problem, the problem is CCP itself.
Posted by: eve player | March 17th, 2007 at 2:31 pm | Report this commentApparently some people are upset that the Dev’s play the game, and even more upset that they have been caught cheating for their Corporations and Alliances.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 17th, 2007 at 9:56 pm | Report this commentThats half the beauty of the game. The rest of eve can rise up and destroy the corporations and alliances that have Dev favoritism and that have been known to cheat. The true power is in the hands of the community, and if the majority doesn’t like whats going on, they can change it.
Posted by: Rolland | March 17th, 2007 at 10:08 pm | Report this commentEve is simply the best game I have ever played.
My only gripe is that GM’s and devs are allowed to play the game. I just see that as a major conflict of interests.
Posted by: Mr Hunter | March 18th, 2007 at 5:46 pm | Report this commentGet EVE ISK at: http://www.mmorpg-shop.com
Posted by: Jason | March 19th, 2007 at 3:56 am | Report this commenthaha EVE in the FT who would have though
Posted by: Jim Lovell | March 19th, 2007 at 12:08 pm | Report this commentsimply the greatest past time there is. been playing for 2 years and am still learning on a daily basis. the game reflects reality, and it is the human interaction that keeps us coming back for more
Posted by: Pierre Dumonte | March 19th, 2007 at 8:10 pm | Report this commentSome developers within CCP, the company that makes EVE have been caught aiding corporations(s)/alliances in the eve universe.
The only reason this was brought to light was through the activities of one player who has now been barred from the game, without this we would have never known and it probably would still be continuing.
A lot of time and effort go into playing the game but what’s the point when you find out that developers have been giving their corporations crucial information that has given them access to untold wealth, ability to create valuable items whenever they want and practice on pre-release patch versions long before anyone else.
CCP has responded weakly. They have given the topic some time on their forums but now barred anyone discussing it further and want it swept under the carpet. They haven’t taken any meaningful action within their company. The developers can still own their own characters. The player that was most responsible for this situation is still employed with the company. And presumably this situation will likely occur in the future.
If you like playing on a level playing field, avoid this game.
Posted by: Fjord | March 20th, 2007 at 1:33 am | Report this commentInteresting EW systems, countermeasures not needed, critical design failures, processing data … 1% complete
Posted by: Crypto | March 20th, 2007 at 5:42 am | Report this commentEVE is complex, yes, but it is also beautifully simple. Yes, there are some game problems, but I will give CCP credit, they spend huge effort to solve these. As to customer support? well above average.
Some friendships made within EVE will last years after I leave. Even those on other continents.
Tedric [IAC]
P.S. All your alcohol belong to us.
Posted by: Tedric | March 20th, 2007 at 1:16 pm | Report this commentIt is great to see EVE has made it to FT. I have been playing EVE for the last 3 years now and have changed around 5 characters and now have 3 characters. It is a great game, full of challenges, politics, diplomacy, trading, scams and wars! You make friends in it and help then when in need as they do too. You make lots of enemies too… Anyone I know who tried it once now is playing it… CCP might have problems, but at the end we (the players) make the best out of EVE…
Posted by: Chinggis Khan | March 20th, 2007 at 4:08 pm | Report this commentCheers,
Chinggis Khan
The only foseeable reason for me to quit playing is a catastrophic loss of funds. (no game time, no internet, no computer) ((I think I still have one cartrige for my gun :D))
Posted by: Pleidius | March 20th, 2007 at 6:11 pm | Report this commentThe people who are posting here complaining about CCP and developers “cheating” and showing favoritism are exaggerating the problem hugely. One CCP employee was caught giving improper aid to his friends in the game and he was reprimanded for it. It wasn’t right for him to do this, of course, but it also didn’t throw off the whole balance of the universe or destroy the “level playing field”.
CCP has opened an “internal affairs” department to keep an eye on the in-game activities of their staff members in order to prevent anything like this from occuring again. They have also addressed the issue on their site with offical statements and apologies and Magnus has given multiple interviews on the subject, so to say that they aren’t responding to players concerns or acknowledging what happened is just false.
If you are considering playing EVE, check out the 14 day free trial and decide for yourself - don’t let the sour grapes of some of the posters here dissuade you. Try it for yourself.
EVE is a great game, but it isn’t for everybody. The strong Player vs Player element and the level of complexity (relative to an MMO game like World of Warcraft, say) can make it challenging to get into.
As far as their subscriber numbers go, here is what one MMO researcher at MMOG Chart says:
“Eve Online (Accuracy Rating: A)
Eve Online has been a real quiet success story since their launch on May 6, 2003, starting out small and slowly building more and more subscribers, with almost no competition in the market for its particular brand of sci-fi space simulation. As of June 2006, Eve has 125,625 subscribers.”
http://mmogchart.com/
Posted by: NK | March 20th, 2007 at 7:47 pm | Report this comment[qote]
Posted by: Rolland | March 17, 2007 at 22:08
Eve is simply the best game I have ever played.
My only gripe is that GM’s and devs are allowed to play the game. I just see that as a major conflict of interests.
[/qote]
Asking devs to stop playing the game is like asking a def person to invent ipod. ( no phun intented to def ppl ).
I just hope CCP sees the LIGHT and starts to convert it´s microsoft servers into linux servers.
I´ll bet all my assets in eve that it will lessen the lag “witch is hindering largescale playability atm”.
Apart from that.. a wonderful game, like the crack of computergames. “once you pop you cant stop”
Posted by: Mr. Gudmundsson | March 20th, 2007 at 9:53 pm | Report this commentYou are all full of the same stuff CCP shovels…there is no Customer Service. GM’s have no authority to return ALL of your lost gear and it takes up to six weeks to get a petition answered. The game allows every sort of RIP-OFF and Crime of humanity to occur daily. You get mugged, robbed, murdered, ransomed, stolen from, gypped, short-changed and lied to by anyone and every one in the game with no recourse. (GM’s tell you it’s all part of the game) You can never catch up to the players who started in 2003 and will forever be Cannon Fodder for them because the “skills” are “time” based and not “Play-time” based. No matter how many hours (23 daily) you play, it makes no difference…you will never be as good as the persons with more skill points then you.
The whole idea here is for you to constantly LOSE so you need to play longer to recover what you lost…all the while CCP is collecting your money and laughing. You wanna fly an uber ship, train for 30 days (another $15) to get there, You need Tech II gear??? another 30 days of training (and $15 more down the drain). You want ISK, Sell one Zydrine for 50 million and rip-off another poor sap in a flawed “Contract” system with no legal recourse (you can Sue in real life if you get screwed in a contract)
It’s all based on who’s the bigger bully. I kill an NPC Pirate (RAT) and it drops loot. Some other player in a Tech II frigate swoops in and steals my loot. He is flashing RED on my display so I can shoot him for 15 minutes…yeah right, if I want to commit suicide…his ship can annihilate mine in 3 seconds. So he gets away with the theft.
Minding my own business Mining using a common tactic called “Jet-Can” mining where you mine til your hold is full then jettison the ORE to be picked up by your Hauler. Well along comes that same Tech II frigate and he makes his own jet-can next to yours and moves your ORE to his can. Again he’s flashing RED so I shoot him…WITH WHAT??? A mining Laser??? Why would I jeopardize him blowing up my mining barge? Again they get away with it.
This is in what’s called “HIGH SECURITY” Space….in “Low Sec” they just blow up your ship and kill (POD) your character on sight, with no qualms what so ever, and take your gear that wasn’t destroyed in the process.
Everquest is sadistic, their developers figure ways to torture you with virtually impossible quests. Once you develop a strategy for it, they change it. EVE is just plain Constant Criminal Activity.
Posted by: Eve Player | March 21st, 2007 at 2:23 am | Report this commentThe game can be fun. Mining is relaxing unless there are “Ore Thieves” around. I like the music. The graphics are awesome. The Physics needs a little tweak, flying through some things and getting stuck on others. It’s all great until you add PEOPLE and no Morals or Rules for them to play by. You get some PUNK KID behind a keyboard and they think they are GOD…. It’s amazing how pathetic some act when there is no real repercussions for their actions. I hope they act in real life like they do in the game because I will read in the news someone “adjusted” their attitude with sledgehammer to the face.
Pathetic Mr. Gudmundsson … U shall play Sims and stop loosing your time with EVE -and such tirades- and any other game providing new universes. Disliking the liberty of EVE is not compatible with the playing experience of EVE. Even Swiss citizens are experiencing crime…
Posted by: EXO | March 21st, 2007 at 6:26 am | Report this commentJust to pass comment on the things people have said about dev’s and gm’s playing the game… why is this wrong? How can you expect them to devlop and improve a game when they have no first hand experience of the game play. Yes there has been A SINGLE incident where a dev took advantage of his “power and autority”, but what he did was very minor compared to what he did do. It was wrong and the eve community will be in uproar about it for a long time, but he could have things that were a lot more detrimental to the community. I couldn’t and wouldn’t play an MMORG where the developers had no first hand experiance of playing the game and living in the virtual community. They just would have no idea about the game and therefore wouldnt be able to update it and develop it well enough to sustain interest.
Posted by: Destructor Oscuro | March 21st, 2007 at 2:10 pm | Report this comment‘It’s hard, brutal, unforgiving, frustrating… and we love it.’
‘Incredible, beautiful, stark, complex, unforgiving. She is our EvE, and we love her.’
More more. Don’t listen to the whiners CCP and please keep going yourselves. If you sell out for the money we would never forgive you.
EvE isn’t ‘fair’ and that is the best thing about it. A victory against the odds is all the sweeter. Really builds a bond between the corpies too.
Only slight problem, EvE is so good i do little else outside of work.
2 years old this year, only wish i had been on since 03.
Posted by: Dean | March 21st, 2007 at 2:47 pm | Report this comment>The game can be fun. Mining is relaxing unless >there are “Ore Thieves” around.
Mr.Gudmunsson get thee hence to Tetris.
Posted by: uh-huh | March 21st, 2007 at 4:15 pm | Report this commentDid you read what I typed EXO…
Posted by: Mr. Gudmundsson | March 21st, 2007 at 9:46 pm | Report this commentWhat part do you disagree with.
You object to the FACT that MS Servers are BAD at handling small server transactions compared to linux or you object to the fact that eve-online is the best game ever ?
Jim Lovell in the FT, now thats a bigger shock than Eve being there!
One word of warning, Eve becomes your drug, its adictive as hell.
Posted by: Airmaker | March 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 pm | Report this commentActually Mr. Gudmundsson is right. You will get ripped off. There’s not much to can do about it either. Except join an Alliance for protection. But even then, it won’t solve the fact that you got ripped.
I wouldn’t mind this so much if I knew that at some point I’d catch up and could “settle” accounts. One of the BIG problems with this game is that. If you are a “newb” you are always a “newb”. You can NEVER catch up with the players who have been playing since launch. They pretty much run the show.
But Eve is a stunning game. Beautiful and ruthless. Make friends fast. And watch your back.
Also not every player is an assh*le. There are many standing by ready to assist you. They know the life blood of this game are new players.
Posted by: Crag | March 22nd, 2007 at 6:34 pm | Report this commentIf you get in to a game to “level up” and have the best stuff as soon as possible and no one gets to be better than you, EVE is not for you.
Skill-training is (mostly) clock and calendar based, so there is no catching up to the veterans.
That said, any two-month-old character can make a MAJOR contribution to a fleet. It takes very little time to be scary. In the end, success in EVE is all about balls, brains, and buddies and very little about how old your character is.
If you like the thrill that comes from the real potential to lose a month’s work with one bonehead decision, EVE might be a good fit for you. If the only risk you can bear in your game-life is a few minutes wandering around as a ghost, stick to WoW.
Posted by: Nurmurkle | March 22nd, 2007 at 7:56 pm | Report this commentAll the comments above are True.
Eve is addictive, it’s virtually impossible to get to the 40+M skill points other characters have, but to be honest you don’t need to.
If you’re getting caught by ore theives invest in a giant secure can and that will pay for itself within a week! There are things you can buy that will even the playing field somewhat in an “equal” fight.
At the final conclusion it’s not about what you have and what your enemies have, it’s about who you know, what you know and how well you put those two things together.
Communication in the game is paramount to everyone, even those starting out in the game for the first time. When it comes to developing logistics in time of War, again Communication is paramount. When it comes to recruiting, a “security officer” is required. Read - forum reader, interviewer, a person who does background checks just like in any real life company that actually follows up the references of a potential “employee”.
To other people, Eve is a beautiful chat room. Wether you want to control the universe, or be a part of an alliance holding space, or just a miner getting minerals on to the market it’s all available.
People choose their own level of involvement and there’s nothing wrong with playing for two three or four years without firing a shot at another player.
This is why I play Eve and not another MMO - Loses are real. An MMO without PvP is merely a sandbox. Eve is an entire universe and if you’re not careful you will be cheated out of all you own.
Such is life.
As for t20′ deeds. They were, are and always reprehensible. Right now the entire universe is split between the North and South alliances blowing each other up. In three short years there’s a very rich history of the Universe, the movers and shakers have their place in Online Gaming History and a lot of credit should go to CCP for allowing it to happen in a unique way. No grinding involved ,(except for isk, unless you steal other peoples stuff) so as long as you’re training a skill you’re never “worse off” than someone who has the time to play 23/7.
And yes a new player can be extremely useful in player versus player combat. As long as the gang picks their fights carefully.
Posted by: Sidrat | March 25th, 2007 at 7:21 pm | Report this commentAs Carlos Mencias would say “You TARDS are DEE DEE DEEEEE”. Learn to read between the lines. What you attribute to Mr. Gudmundsson are my comments. Especially EXO and CRAIG!
Posted by: Eve Player | April 30th, 2007 at 9:30 pm | Report this commentI have been playing Eve for nearly 2 years now and I have loved every minute.
In which game do you get the chance to blow someone up then the next day you are fighting next to the them trying to protect each others assets? The diplomacy side of the game is like a country within itself!! Cold War?, you betcha!
Go Go Caravan Fleets! (ISS)
Posted by: Dale | May 8th, 2007 at 12:12 pm | Report this comment“No sooner had they done so than they were attacked and taken over by another fleet, meaning investors lost all their money.” is grossly inaccurate.
Of the 4 IPOs for investment in space stations, the space stations were controlled for 14,11,8 and 8 months respectively before capture. The last station was sold, not captured.
Share trading in those shares were frozen on the Eve Galactic Stock Exchange until a resolution was found, and then trading opened again one the share exchange offer was made (see below).
The investors did not lose all their money. All investors were able to exchange their shares for shares in a separate corporation with a bond-style fixed return.
The simplicity of this article belittles the complexity of the EvE Financial markets.
Period original IPOs controlled: See: http://www.eve-iss.com/isso
Posted by: Serenity Steele | May 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pm | Report this commentEve Galactic Stock Exchange: See http://eve.hubau.be
EVE Online is a nice game, World of Warcraft is quite different. The single ‘world’ that EVE Offers is great along with its diplomacy and game play style.
Posted by: Dan | August 29th, 2007 at 11:31 pm | Report this comment