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EVE Evolved: Ten years of EVE Online
Tomorrow marks a huge milestone in MMO history as sci-fi sandbox EVE Online officially turns ten years old. Released by a tiny icelandic development studio whose only previous release was a board game featuring Reykjavik's favourite cross-dressing mayor, EVE has slowly grown over the past decade to become one of the industry's biggest and most stable subscription titles. Following 2011's monoclegate scandal that led to around 8% of players quitting and CCP Games shedding 20% of its employees, this year saw EVE Online climb to new heights as it regained the playerbase's confidence and smashed the 500,000 subscriber barrier. As a special side-note, the EVE Evolved column also turned five years old last week; it has now officially been running for over half of EVE's lifetime. The past year has been remarkably successful for CCP, with both of the year's EVE expansions being extremely well received and console MMOFPS DUST 514 finally starting to take shape. The Inferno and Retribution expansions fixed a staggering number of small issues that were broken in the game while also making big changes to bounty-hunting, piracy, and PvP across the board. We also saw huge emergent events like the Battle of Asakai, a $6,000 ship kill, and the five trillion ISK faction warfare exploit this year. With DUST 514 officially launching in just over a week on May 14th and players fired up about the upcoming Odyssey expansion, the future's looking bright for EVE Online as it heads into its second decade. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at some of year's top EVE stories, stories that touched real life, and what the future holds for EVE's second decade.
The Guild Counsel: Proof that it's more than just a game
I'll admit, last week's poll was a surprise for me. For those of you who missed it, I asked which philosophy describes each reader's playstyle: "the brotherhood" or "the game." The former won with a fairly large margin of victory, which I didn't expect given that our community here is one that tends to focus on games as the main topic of conversation. As it turns out, almost 60% of the Massively community loves MMOs but also loves the bonds that come from them. Looking back over the past year, I think there were actually many stories that highlighted the player behind the pixel and reaffirmed our belief that we are indeed part of a brotherhood even if we don't always see it in our MMOs. This week's Guild Counsel is a recap of some of those gaming stories, and I believe even the most die-hard "game-focused" player will agree that there are moments when it really is more than just a game.
Glenn Beck thinks the Goonswarm is a CIA front
During a program in which he questioned the real story behind the attack on the American Consulate in Libya, conservative web show host Glenn Beck alleged that the EVE Online corp Goonswarm is actually a CIA front. Beck made this allegation at the 10:20 mark of his latest show. Beck based this hypothesis on this message that Goonswarm member Sean Smith, aka Vile Rat, posted on his corp's message boards: "Assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures." Beck apparently believes the message was meant for the CIA as a request for help. Smith died in the attacks along with US Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Former EVE CSM member Vile Rat killed in attack on Libyan consulate [Updated]
All too often, we read news of conflict in other countries with an impersonal detachment, as if it's so far away that it will never touch our lives in any significant way. Mainstream media twists each event into a political message with the same detachment, forgetting the reality of the lives that are destroyed every day. This morning that fact was brought home as we read news of a US official killed in an attack on the Libyan consulate in Benghazi. Just a few hours ago, EVE Online alliance GoonSwarm released a statement that the US official killed was apparently GoonSwarm director and former Council of Stellar Management member Sean "Vile Rat" Smith. Players, CCP developers, and GMs have begun leaving their condolences on the official EVE forums. According to those who knew him, Vile Rat was a well-loved player and a respected leader whose actions indirectly touched the lives of every EVE player. Massively extends its own condolences to his family and friends. [Update: In the time since this story was published overnight, the BBC has updated its coverage, noting that a total of four Americans were killed in the attack, the US Ambassador to Libya and Sean Smith among them.]
