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EVE Evolved: Top ten ganks, scams, heists and events
It's been called "boring," "confusing," and "the world's biggest spreadsheet," but every now and then a story emerges from sci-fi MMO EVE Online and grabs the gaming world's attention. Tales of massive thefts, colossal battles, high-value kills, record-breaking scams, political dirty deals, and controversial player-run events never fail to grip us. Perhaps it's the fact that these events have such huge impacts in the EVE sandbox that captures our imaginations, or maybe we just want to watch with morbid curiosity as a virtual society self-destructs. Whether it's innocent interest in quirky stories or a secret sense of schadenfreude that keeps us glued to EVE's most illicit events, the game continues to deliver them with startling regularity. Most scams, thefts, and high-profile battles will never make the news, instead becoming another forgotten part of EVE's history or just a story for a few friends to reminisce about. But those stories that do reach the news always draw in a huge audience that wouldn't play EVE in a million years but can't get enough of its engrossing stories. In this week's EVE Evolved, I run down a list of ten incredible EVE kills, scams, heists, and sandbox events that have made it into the news over the years.
EVE Evolved: Hulk hunting in highsec
As it's a sandbox game, a big part of what makes EVE Online special is the interesting things players make and do within the game world that developers didn't anticipate. It's ultimately the players who collectively shape the game world, in extreme cases even overturning some of the developed game mechanics. Most players think of high-security space as a safe place to mine and run missions, with CONCORD police keeping a watchful eye on players and destroying any ship that breaks the law. But in EVE you're never truly safe anywhere but inside a station. With the right ship setup, it's possible to kill a target in the few seconds before the police ships arrive to turn you into a smoking wreck. In 2008, GoonSwarm alliance launched its infamous JihadSwarm campaign aiming to suicide gank every mining barge in high-security space. The imaginary safety bubble that miners had lived in for years burst, and highsec mining temporarily became one of the game's most dangerous professions. When Helicity Boson later kicked off the first Hulkageddon event, pirates competed to see who could destroy the most mining barges, and miners in high-security space were prime targets. Hulkageddon went on to become a regular event, with achievements to be won and billions of ISK in sponsored prizes. Recently, Hulkageddon V took an interesting turn when Goonswarm Federation pledged to keep the event running permanently by paying players 100 million ISK for every 10 tech 2 mining barges they kill. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at Hulkageddon from both sides of the fence, with tips on how to suicide gank mining barges and how to stay safe when mining.
EVE Evolved: Emergence in the sandbox
We often hear about the amazing things players get up to in EVE Online, from full-scale political wars and massive heists to collaborative business ventures and high-profile kills. While we can all enjoy these tales of high-powered exploits from afar, they can be difficult to relate to the actual game experience. Most of us will never be the puppet master pulling the strings of alliance warfare or the mastermind of some great theft, but we don't have to be. Smaller examples of emergent and opportunistic gameplay exist all over EVE in the daily play of thousands of individuals. I've always thought of EVE less as a game and more as a giant social sandbox with spaceships -- a story about what people do when left alone in each other's company. Players naturally take on roles for which they have a strong aptitude, crafting completely new gameplay styles for themselves in the process. The entrepreneurs among us spy opportunities never imagined by the game's developers, tech-savvy individuals sell web-services, and artists craft propaganda for recruitment or a war on their enemy's morale. Countless players carve their own game out of the EVE universe, and there's no reason you can't be one of them. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the unique gameplay experiences players have engineered for themselves over the years and the community that makes EVE what it is.
One Shots: A peace in pattern
There's a certain zen to mining in EVE Online. Sure, when there are groups out to suicide gank you, flip your can, or things of that nature, it isn't always peaceful. However, when you scan down a great area, gather up a few friends, and manage to make off with a great haul before anyone catches you, it can be fun in its own way. Today's One Shots image was sent in to us by Jon B., who gives us a look at one such moment of peace he encountered: "I took these shots shortly after the end of Hulkageddon in EVE Online. Pretty lights during an alliance mining op. It's nice to get back to normal." Have you been thinking about sending in screenshots from your own MMO travels? There's no time like the present. (Bonus points if you send in images from a game we don't see very often!) Email your images to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing in the picture. We'll post it out here on Massively and give you the credit. %Gallery-112285%
EVE's Hulkageddon IV event begins today
Once or twice per year, EVE Online players across the world are gripped by the desire to destroy everything in sight. During the nine-day Hulkageddon bloodbath, players compete to destroy as many mining ships as possible. A variety of prizes are then handed out to individuals and corporations with the most kills or for special achievements completed during the event. The event was first organised by pirate Helicity Boson back in 2009, and so far it has been responsible for the destruction of several hundred billion ISK worth of Hulks and other mining ships. The event has come under fire for promoting griefing, as the primary method of gaining kills is the use of suicide attacks in high-security space. Hulkageddon supporters argue that it's a perfectly legitimate way to play the game, and EVE's sandbox-style game design and rules do permit it. Whether you like it or hate it, Hulkageddon has become a regular EVE tradition. To avoid a grim fate, miners should probably take a break between February 19th and February 28th. Head over to the official forum thread for full details of the impending carnage and the prize fund available for participants.
One Shots: We move as one
Sure, the last Hulkageddon is long over, and EVE Online has quieted down to its usual buzzing levels of drama. But that doesn't mean that Helicity Boson and the rest of The Python Cartel aren't thinking about new and interesting ways of "shooting other people in the face." Indeed, today's One Shots offers a peek into what Helicity and friends do when they're not gleefully overseeing massive amounts of intergalactic miner carnage. The note attached explains: "When we are not planning the extinction of all miners in EVE, the Python Cartel likes to wield various battleships together in unorthodox ways, yielding such results as this 'armamegageddathron' in the picture." Love the art of the well-timed gank? Want to show off a picture of your recent triumph in the dangerous skies of New Eden? Grab a screenshot from your travels and send it in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. Feel free to include corp (guild for non-EVE) names or anything else you'd like to send in. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in! %Gallery-85937%
Lock up your mining barges, the Hulkageddon cometh to EVE Online!
Like it or loathe it, EVE Online's infamous fan-run Hulkageddon event is back with its teeth sharpened. During this unofficial week and a half of torture, some of the game's more vicious players band together with one common goal -- the complete eradication of mining ships. Organised by pirate Helicity Boson back in October 2009, the first event was met with strong vocal opposition by miners. Cries that the unofficial event sanctioned griefing and calls for Helicity to be banned flooded the forums, sparking intense debate into what is and isn't acceptable in the sandbox. Despite opposition, the event made a return early this year, with January's Hulkageddon II destroying a record 278 billion ISK in mining barges and exhumers. With Hulkageddon III scheduled to begin next week on the 9th of July, continuing until July 18th, miners across EVE are in for a rough time. If January's event is any indication, even pilots in high security space aren't safe from attack. Suicide tactics have always been a popular way to kill barges, with packs of destroyers able to kill a Hulk before CONCORD arrive. Skip past the cut to read our in-depth interview with Helicity Boson on the upcoming carnage and how to stay safe.
EVE Evolved: Staying safe in high security space
One of EVE Online's defining factors is the idea that you're not completely safe anywhere in the game. If you're not docked in a station or securely logged off, there's always a chance that someone will pick a fight with you. Many pilots opt to stay in the relative safety of high security space but even this isn't an absolutely safe area. Suicide attacks, corporate wars, can flippers and loot thieves are a common sight in New Eden and if you don't know how to handle them, you could find yourself on the business end of a 150mm railgun. In this guide for newer EVE players, I look at the main threats you could be exposed to in high security space and how to keep yourself safe in spite of them.
Latest EVE Quarterly Economic Newsletter shows effect of Hulkageddon
EVE Online is a game that's often lauded for its sandbox style and realistic economic structures. Every quarter, CCP Lead Economist Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson and his team of researchers wade through mountains of EVE usage logs to find some interesting economic statistics. In their Quarterly Economic Newsletters (QEN), CCP deliver graphs tracking in-game prices, trade volumes, ships in use and a whole host of other useful metrics. Read on for an overview of this QEN's main highlights.
EVE Community Spotlight: Helicity Boson
The setting of EVE Online is a vast galactic sandbox called New Eden, with thousands of charted solar systems and thousands more hidden in uncharted space. The title's developer CCP Games provides the expansive setting and PvE content, but beyond this it's up to the players to define what the game can really be. Although there are plenty of opportunities to take risks in the game with commensurate rewards, a large percentage of the game's playerbase are content to remain in high security space where there are less dangers. Many of these players spend their time mining in asteroid belts and ice fields, which most would admit can be a semi-AFK playstyle. After all, the process of mining is rote: lock asteroids, fire up your mining lasers, and some cycles later you've harvested ore that can be sold outright or used in manufacturing. That zen-like calm punctuated by the gentle hum of mining lasers was shaken up for many high sec dwellers earlier this month though, when the player-run event Hulkageddon II tore through the mining ship hulls of over 1000 players. The core idea of Hulkageddon II, as with the original event, was to destroy as many mining vessels as possible over the course of a week... a goal that many players pursued with reckless abandon. Indeed, there were numerous prizes awarded and 'achievements' that players racked up over the course of Hulkageddon II. Ultimately, the event injected some much-needed risk into the game -- whether some players wanted it or not -- in places where miners once felt they were untouchable by EVE's criminal population. Of course, a player-run event that pitted players eager to rack up kills against those who would prefer to avoid conflict has proven controversial. The man behind Hulkageddon II is Helicity Boson, a pirate who flies with The Python Cartel, though he was helped in large part by fellow player Garmon (aka El'Tar) and generous donations from other players. Massively caught up with Helicity to discuss his motivations behind running Hulkageddon II, his views on the game in general, and why some EVE players might be wound up just a bit too tightly.
