What is Eve?

This may be an extended post as I tend to waffle on a little and get into a little too much detail at times. I will try, in this post, to summarise my view on what Eve is for a person who may just be wondering what the hell I have been waffling on about.

What type of game is Eve: Eve is an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game. Players can roleplay (basically assume the characteristics of the type of player they wish to play) or as most people I have interacted with they just form a community of like minded people and have fun enjoying the game. Some people prefer to play it solo.

You pay a fee of approx. $15-$20 per month for access to your account but there are not, well not that I have been made aware of, any additional fees required to enjoy the experience.

You also need a stable internet connection to play.

What is Eve about: In Eve you are a space pilot. You have been made immortal via the use of clones and as such your character can never completely die. You utilise a pod to insert yourself into various types of ships. If your ship is destroyed you can obtain a new one by purchasing a new ship with in game currency and you can store a multitude of ships in various locations throughout space. When your ship is destroyed your pod is ejected. The pod can also be destroyed and if this occurs your clone is activated and you start from wherever this is stored. Your clone carries over all your skills and your in game currency + stored items and ships.

What can I do in Eve: This is where Eve differs from most other games. It is a "sandbox". In essence it is one playing field with everyone able to interact with anyone else who is online. You can trade, you can fight, you can run missions, you can mine for ore, you can manufacture, you can "invent" items (you don't discover anything new, just invent from basic items to more advanced items, more like upgrading!), you can commit piracy, you can "own" space, you can hunt other players down, act as a mercenary, the choices are endless. For example, one particular player created a gambling site in Eve that was so successful he had enough in game currency to support other entities within the game with their in game funds and essentially help them to continue to operate the services they were operating.

You can do practically anything in game that the game mechanics allow that does not reasonably affect a person in their normal life. This can be a little fuzzy and is a point for discussion that I am not going to enter into here so let me give you an example of what is likely considered ok vs what would likely get you banned. If you choose to enter a corporation and build their trust to a point that they give you particular rights that enable you to control their assets you can then sell off those assets, disband the corporation, steal all their funds and there will be no penalty applied to you for these actions other then those applied by other characters in game such as hunting you down or putting a bounty on your head. On the other hand if you choose to hold the actual people behind the characters to ransom by such things as requiring them to video themselves performing the "ice bucket" challenge and provide the video to yourself for them to obtain their in game assets back then that likely steps over the line.

What areas are there in space: For the purpose of this overview I will keep this at a high level. There are 4 main "areas" of space. These are based around their "security" level with two types effectively having no security but with definitive differences that require a differentiation. I will be expanding on my explanations of these in future posts.

Highsec (High Security Space): This is where your character starts the game. The four main character races own and police this space. It is the safest place to operate in and is basically the "center" of the in game star systems. It is considered safe as it is unlikely you will be targeted and or destroyed except under specific circumstances. A lot of players rarely leave Highsec. If you choose to kill someone in Highsec you will be targeted and destroyed by the NPC (Non player Character) police force that operates and patrols these systems. This doesn't mean you can shoot another player it just means there are consequences for your actions that are more severe in this area of space then others.

Lowsec (Low Security Space): This is basically a ring of systems surrounding Highsec that have less security. There are no NPC police ships in these areas. There are NPC Police guns located at specific locations that will attack you for inappropriate actions. Pirates love this space. You are unable to own space in this area other then holding it by the fact you can control it through numbers and by effectively restricted people from operating within that space.

Nullsec (Null Security Space): This is the outer ring of systems that continue on until known space ends. There is no security in this space, unless it is player run security. Players can own and control this space, they can build their own stations, they can shoot anyone without fear of consequence and generally I would consider it a free for all!

WH Space (Wormhole Space): For the purpose of this I can going to say this is "random space". Basically when you travel from system to system in all other space you use a stargate. You know where this leads. For WH space you use a Wormhole which could be considered a temporary gate that only lasts a few days. With wormholes you do not know where they lead or even when they will start! They can only be tracked down via exploration and can appear anywhere within Highsec, Lowsec or Nullsec. I would consider there to be even less security in WH Space then Nullsec due to the fact that you don't definitively know who is in your system or when the next "connection" to your space will occur.

Skills: There is no "levelling" in the traditional MMO sense of the word in EvE. You don't gain points for killing things or for mining ore. You actually train in Real Time. There are a massive amount of skills in the game from more effective offensive and defensive capabilities to better exploration and mining skills. What this means is that you choose to train what you want to train and it is training even when you are not logged on to EvE. If you choose to train to shoot missiles more effectively this may take you 40 minutes in real time to train to level 1. To train to level 2 may take 2 hours and so on. You can queue these up to a certain point so aren't required to log in every time a skill is complete.

Politics: If you research EvE and look at how it has evolved over the 10+ years you will be amazed at how corporations within the game have risen and have fallen. There are ceasefires negotiated in Nullsec, there are rental agreements made between controlling corporations and those that would like to use the space they have under their control, there are corporations that join together to form alliances and all of these need to be managed from financial management right through to recruitment and diplomatic negotiation.

In essence Eve is an amazing game in which you do what you want to do, just be careful everyone else is doing what they want to do!

Come join us if you haven't tried it already and if you have, come back if you can!

Free Trial: Enjoy Eve for 21 days for free 

This is just a summary of what Eve is about, do some research and you will find there is a whole lot out there that both CCP (Eve Creators) and the players have created to give you an understanding of the game.

Remember, fly dangerous, don't stay in Highsec!