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Hitting the Books: We won't colonize space without a Weyland-Yutani
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
EVE Evolved: Rebuilding EVE's corporation tools
The MMO genre is defined by the online interactions of thousands of players, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the single-shard sandbox of EVE Online. While it's possible to play EVE solo, it's the players who make most of the game's meaningful content, and it's only in your emergent interactions with other players that I think the game truly comes to life. Some time ago, I wrote about the importance of CCP supporting EVE's power players, the corporation owners, fleet commanders, and event organisers who give the rest of us something fun to do. Now it looks like CCP is starting to deliver that support, with developers currently looking at updating EVE's archaic corp management tools. CCP Punkturis recently asked corporation owners for a list of the most annoying "little things" they'd like to see fixed with the corporation management interface and was instead flooded with requests for big features and complete overhauls. Developers later confirmed on The o7 Show that at least one highly requested big feature is definitely on its way: CEOs will soon be able to switch off friendly-fire between corp members. The threat of corporate infiltrators attacking corp members has been a massive barrier preventing corps from recruiting new players, so its removal is good news for everyone (except spies). So now that corporation management is finally back on the drawing board, what other features do corp owners need? In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at a few ideas for corporation tools and features that would make EVE a better place for everyone.
EVE Evolved: Top five tips for new EVE players
I often hear people say that EVE Online is a lot more fun to read about than actually play, and I've even caught myself saying it jokingly to friends and writing it in articles. But the truth is that amazing stories like the recent world record-breaking Bloodbath of B-R5RB are a hell of a lot better when you're a part of the action or have the first-hand experience to put the event into a wider context. All of EVE was impacted by that battle, with its effects rippling through the in-game markets and reshaping the political landscape of New Eden. But to read about it, you'd think the carnage in B-R5RB ended when $310,000 US worth of titans went up in smoke. EVE has seen a huge influx of fresh faces since that colossal battle at the end of January, with thousands of new characters being created and the Rookie Help channel bursting at the seams. Whether you've always been a closet fan of EVE who has finally been convinced to take the plunge or you just want to join the ranks of the warring alliances you've read so much about, starting out can be a daunting experience. The sheer amount of information there is out there to absorb and sort through is overwhelming, and not all of it is up to date. CCP released a great new player guide recently to help newcomers assimilate, but I've still received several emails asking for advice on getting started. In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into the new-player experience with a 14-day free trial and reveal my top tips for starting out on the road to creating your own sandbox story.
EVE Evolved: Colonising deep space
If you were watching the news coming out of this year's EVE Online Fanfest, you no doubt heard Senior Producer Andie Nordgren's incredibly ambitious five year vision. The past few expansions have been mostly filled with bug fixes and improvements to existing gameplay, but the goal is now to begin delivering an epic vision of deep space exploration, colonisation, and PvP raids on enemy infrastructure. The five year roadmap toward this goal includes the addition of player-built stargates and completely uncharted solar systems to locate, explore and build an empire in. If the very idea of that doesn't make shivers go down your spine, something may be wrong with your central nervous system. CCP has opened new space before with the addition of the drone regions in nullsec and some new lowsec systems for faction warfare, but it wasn't until 2009's Apocrypha expansion that we saw a true exploration and long-term colonisation effort get underway. I think the intoxicating draw of wormhole exploration was primarily due to the fact that the new systems were hidden and the information on them wasn't public. Just adding new solar systems to the existing stargate network wouldn't have had the same effect. Nordgren's vision may take up to 10 expansions to fully realise, but what kinds of features will we need in those expansions to recreate true exploration and deep space colonisation? In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the challenges CCP will have to overcome to make deep space colonisation a reality and what small steps could be taken in each expansion to get us there.
Former president of Square Enix calls corporate merger a disaster
Corporate mergers always create hard feelings. Combining two separate groups of people into a single culture is naturally going to generate some feelings that the companies were better off apart. That's certainly the case for Hisashi Suzuki, the former president of Square Enix who recently called the merger of the two companies a "complete failure" via Twitter, claiming that the company has absolutely no vision for the future. It's undeniable that the studio has seen some titles with poor reception in recent years, with Final Fantasy XIV's launch proving a major misstep for the company at the time (and being the most relevant to the MMO industry). At the same time, Suzuki left the company seven years ago, and the company is in the process of completely revamping Final Fantasy XIV following the mistakes of launch. Whether or not Suzuki is correct or simply a bit bitter after the fact falls to personal interpretation.
Players in DUST 514 and EVE Online can join the same corporations
Integrating EVE Online with CCP Games' upcoming DUST 514 must present many challenges, one of which is how to handle the issue of corporations (guilds). In a new blog post, CCP confirms that players of either game can join the same corporations, whether they are newly established or deep-rooted EVE entities. DUST 514 corps will therefore be structured and function much the same as the corps in EVE Online, with the founding member becoming CEO. DUST 514 players will not be able to access all levels of management for multi-game corps, however. CCP is providing similar corporation creation tools for DUST 514, including logo design, structured roles, and corporation battles. Players of both games will then be easily able to communicate to each other through corp chat.
EVE Evolved: Making your first billion ISK
A lot of the people I introduce to EVE Online ask about the possibility of playing for free by buying game time codes with in-game ISK. It's a legitimate way to turn EVE into a free-to-play game, but the rising price tag of a 30-day PLEX can make it seem as if only veteran players can afford to do it. New players typically scrape together just a few million ISK by the end of their free trial periods, making the 500 million per month required to pay via PLEX seem like a tall order. With the right guidance, a new player can actually pull in over a billion ISK in his first month or two of play and quickly become able to afford a PLEX each month. Farming missions requires a bit of time investment but can pull in 20-30 million ISK per hour once you're set up, and exploration and salvaging can lead to some unexpected big hauls. There are also plenty of newbie-friendly corps that run group activities, and those who aren't interested in grinding to their first billion ISK might try their hands at trading or turn to a life of crime. It's all possible in the sandbox. In this week's EVE Evolved, I give some practical tips on making your first billion ISK, from scraping together the seed capital to buy your first big ship to reliable farming methods and some more underhanded methods.
The Daily Grind: What's the best guild you ever joined?
I find that a great guild can make or break a game for me. It's always exciting to know that there's a terrific group of people waiting to talk with you and hang out with you when you log in every day. Long after the memories of my daily adventures in an MMO have faded, I can still recall the people I talked and grouped with as clear as anything. I've been part of many wonderful guilds over the years, but one of the most special in my heart was in World of Warcraft. This guild got me into blogging for starters (which in turn led to my very first mention on Massively!), and I formed quite a few strong friendships there that have continued to this day. So what about you? What's the best guild you ever joined, and what makes it so special? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
EVE Evolved: EVE Online's top selling points
At E3 this year, EVE Online developer CCP Games said it wants the game to still be running decades from now, continuing its usual trend of steady growth. EVE has barely grown in subscriptions over the past year, and average concurrent logins have flatlined since 2010, but the Crucible and Inferno expansions helped start turning things around. Developers hope to get growth back on track and attract new people to the world of New Eden, but I have to wonder whether they're selling EVE to new people in the right way. EVE has always spread through word of mouth, with people being brought in by friends or starting fresh after hearing an epic story of in-game events or seeing an awesome video. More recently, existing online communities have been drawn to set up shop in the game and bring hundreds or thousands of members with them. People brought in by friends and people who join organisations in-game are more likely to stay in the game long-term, and it's this angle that I think CCP really needs to push. With its single-shard universe, awesome community, and massive scale PvP, EVE has some pretty huge selling points that no other MMO can match. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at a few of EVE's biggest selling points and how CCP could use them to attract new players.
EVE Online website revamp detailed in new video devblog
EVE Online has undergone countless changes and iterations since its first release in 2003, with major graphics overhauls and new gameplay systems arriving every year. In contrast, the official EVE website hasn't changed much over the years. With background information, screenshots, video, forums and knowledgebase articles, the EVE website now juggles content designed for prospective players and existing community members alike. CCP aims to change all that with a complete overhaul that will split community tools like the forums, knowledgebase, and account management from marketing designed to attract players. In a new video devblog, web-developer CCP Alice shows off some of the features of EVE's brand new website. Built using HTML 5, the new page will feature a full built-in renderer able to show prospective players the EVE Online universe map and interactive renderings of every ship in the game. "Now that we have a better eveonline.com, the focus after this one is to focus on the community," says CCP Alice, hinting that new community tools will soon be on the way. In a follow-up devblog today, Community Manager CCP Guard confirmed that players will soon be able to start their own corporation forums hosted on CCP's servers. Check out the full video after the cut.
EVE Evolved: The new player experience
Ever since a graph showing a downward trend in daily peak concurrent logins started to make the rounds on blogs, players have insisted that EVE Online's recent Incarna expansion has been a complete failure. I mentioned in an earlier article that we should really have expected this as the captain's quarters were primarily designed with new players in mind. Starting the game as an avatar, even one who's been grounded in his space-room by his space-dad, helps people identify with their characters in a way that bridges the gap between EVE and traditional avatar-based MMOs. By introducing a player to his character as a person rather than a ship, the new player experience may also help make the loss of a ship not such a big deal. It's all fine and well to theorise about Incarna's success or failure, but ultimately it's only new players who can make that determination. If the captain's quarters do their job of flattening that initially jarring part of EVE's learning curve, the expansion's effect on subscriptions would be to convert more free trials into paid accounts -- an effect that wouldn't be immediately noticeable until another exciting and heavily advertised gameplay expansion brings in large numbers of new players. To help figure out if the captain's quarters have been successful in that regard, we have to turn to people who have never played EVE before. In this week's EVE Evolved, I finally convince my friend Kajatta to try EVE for the first time. I delve into his first experiences with the game to find out what EVE does right and wrong in the new player experience.
Perpetuum update outlines new assigments and more
It's been a few weeks since we've heard from the Perpetuum dev team, but all is apparently well as Avatar Creations has been working feverishly on the new features detailed a while back. This month's blog update focuses on new assignments, and there are 16 of them spread among the game's three main Alpha terminals. Avatar has also gifted players with new assignment types, including mining, harvesting, production, transport, and combat varieties. The devs have also tweaked Perpetuum's facility relations mechanics, with the largest change being a reduction from nine corporations per faction to a more manageable three. Finally, new random NPC spawns are being introduced, and there will be a small chance of encountering new elite NPCs as well. Along with substantial health increases, these guys boast significantly better drop rates. Read all the rest of the details at the official Perpetuum dev blog.
EVE Evolved: Casual gameplay and public groups
I've always held a belief that EVE Online isn't really at its best until I get into a good group. A lot of the most fun gameplay I've experienced over the years has been in a small group of strangers, friends or people who would soon become my friends. The year I spent in faction warfare and the two years I spent on wormhole expeditions with friends were incredibly good times that I look back on fondly. I've even found that the parts of EVE that aren't specifically intended for groups, such as exploration, mission-running, and trading, are a lot more enjoyable if I take a few friends along for the ride. There's no doubt in my mind that EVE is primarily a group game. Two weeks ago, I talked about how EVE is more of a giant social sandbox than a game and that it's EVE's social nature that really motivates people to keep playing in the long-term. The remarkable ability of social communities in MMOs to self-organise when faced with challenges could be a massive asset to EVE's development if used well. When faction warfare was first released, for example, players rapidly organised themselves into fleets. People who had never met each other, many with no PvP experience at all, were soon practicing core fleet maneuvers together as a cohesive unit and facing off against hostile fleets. With nothing but a war declaration, some cosmic anomalies, and a few medals, EVE turned thousands of newbies into four terrifying fighting forces. That is something I'd definitely like to see repeated. In this week's opinion-filled EVE Evolved, I delve into the world of casual gameplay and ask whether new public group activities could dramatically broaden EVE's appeal and keep gameplay fresh.
AT&T and Verizon join National Clear Fleet Program, thumb their noses at petrol
Thought the Prez was just kidding about those alternative fuel initiatives? Think again. Just hours after stating that the US government fleet would be 100 percent alternative fuel, hybrid, or electric vehicles by 2015, Obama has announced the National Clean Fleets Partnership, an initiative of the Department's Clean Cities program. It's a rather unique public-private partnership, and it'll be assisting large companies to "reduce diesel and gasoline use in their fleets by incorporating electric vehicles, alternative fuels, and fuel-saving measures into their operations." A handful of Charter members have made themselves known, with AT&T, Verizon, FedEx, Pepsi-Co and UPS all committed to deploying over 20,000 advanced technology vehicles in the years to come -- an effort that should save over seven million gallons of fuel per year. Ma Bell in particular will be replacing over 15,000 rides with 7,000 hybrids and 8,000 compressed natural gas vehicles during the next decade, while Verizon looks to use a raft of cars (er, vans) that rely on biodiesel and ethanol. Whether or not such a program leads to the installation of more EV charging stations remains to be seen, but if it's good enough for Brown, surely it'll be good enough for your future Tesla. Vid's after the break, kiddos.
EVE Evolved: Power players and player retention
As I mentioned in our coverage of the EVE Online Fanfest, the best part of the experience for me was discussing EVE with players who are as involved in and enthusiastic about the game as I am. On my first night there, I got into a fascinating discussion with a few players on a topic I hadn't really considered before -- power players. Every MMO has players who get heavily involved in their chosen game. EVE's Fanfest really highlighted this, as around a thousand of EVE's power players flew to Iceland just to talk about the game, contribute ideas in roundtable discussions and find out what the future holds for the game. Ultimately, the fate of EVE lies in its community. EVE's main strength as an MMO is the fact that with so many players in one game universe, people form very real ties with each other. Corporations and alliances are more than just collections of people; they're sub-communities with their own aspirations, internal politics, playstyles, personalities and even senses of humour. These organisations give people support and a place to call home in an unforgiving universe, and it's the power players of EVE who make all of that possible. In this week's EVE Evolved, I explore the importance of power players in MMOs and what the concept means for EVE's development.
Deutsche Bank ditches BlackBerry for iPhone, Apple puts chink in RIM's enterprise armor
For years, suit-and-tie circles have bowed to BlackBerry as the king of corporate communication, but iOS has been creeping in on enterprise territory, calling into question RIM's sovereignty in the boardroom. The folks at Deutsche Bank Equity Research struck the most recent blow to RIM's enterprise dominance with the announcement that they'll buck BlackBerry for iPhone, following a trial using Good Technology's secure email app. The company tested the app in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server, delivering AES 192-encrypted email and calendar data to employees, and, according to the firm's research analyst, the iPhone proved an easier and faster solution to BlackBerry. Last summer, AT&T announced that 40 percent of iPhone sales are enterprise, and we just reported on RIM's possible move to devices beyond the BlackBerry. We're not saying it's off to the guillotine with the old standard bearer, but it definitely looks like there are new contenders for the enterprise crown.
EVE Online technical director explains new feature: Fleet Finder
The next EVE Online expansion will be Dominion, slated for a December release, which will introduce some major changes to the game and new features as well. The "Fleet Finder" is one such feature, explained in today's dev blog by EVE Online Technical Director Jon Bjarnason (aka CCP Atlas).The Fleet Finder will give players much greater control over forming a fleet and, as CCP Atlas says, there will be "No more 'x up in corp channel' messages." The feature will also streamline how information is conveyed to other pilots.
The state of nature: Philosophy applied to EVE Online
EVE Online, in short, is constant, controlled chaos. Alliances are made daily, are trained upwards, and ultimately fall. It's all just a question of when they fall that really differentiates them. Yet, amazingly, out of this controlled game of warfare comes a spark of philosophical intrigue -- the concept of state of nature.Steven Croop from the Warcry Network has written a feature article discussing the states of EVE Online's types of government versus the old philosophical concept. He theorizes that the same state of self-preservation, noted in the original philosophical concept, does make an appearance in EVE. While the state has changed from its original form (struggle for survival versus struggle to not lose expensive stuff) it still drives the individual of EVE to seek out forms of government for protection, such as corporations and alliances.Interested in the full read? Check it out over at Warcry and get your dose of philosophical goodness.
EVE Online PvP Tournament champ on tactics and player-politics
EVE Online is a game where there are essentially two tiers to guilds, corporations and groups of corporations that join together to form larger and more powerful alliances. Given how integral alliance warfare is to gameplay, EVE Online's annual Alliance PvP Tournament is a major event each year, watched by thousands of New Eden's pilots. The sixth annual Alliance PvP Tournament for EVE Online was one of the most exciting to date. Combatants employed clever ship setups and tactics, the commentary was excellent, and there was even a bit of drama thrown into the mix in the form of a player assassination during the tournament. In the end it was the Pandemic Legion alliance that reigned supreme and a permanent monument to their victory has been set up in the Amamake solar system, where the Pandemic Legion corporation Sniggerdly started out as pirates. EVE Tribune writer Miyamoto Isoruku recently had a chance to interview the leader of Pandemic Legion, Shamis Orzoz. They discuss a wide range of topics, ranging from the tactics used in Alliance PvP Tournament VI to Orzoz's views on player-politics and the state of alliance warfare in New Eden. For more on how Pandemic Legion took the crown as EVE's top alliance in the tournament, have a look at "The Champions: An Interview with Shamis Orzoz" at EVE Tribune.
eHarmony advertises in Warsong Gulch
Quinionn on Magtheridon sent us this picture -- apparently dating website eHarmony has gotten in on the in-game advertising just in time for Valentine's Day. He had just joined a Warsong Gulch when this guy showed up spamming an ad.There's a number of strange things going on here -- as far as we know, this isn't an official Blizzard move, but most of the people spamming ads in the game are shady gold-selling websites, not real corporations with bigger profiles. And the weirdest thing might be this: Eharmony on Arthas isn't a one-time character created to spam in Trade -- he's level 80 with 450 Jewelcrafting and Mining. There's actually a lot of characters with the same name around, with different levels and classes, even in different guilds (though this one is probably the funniest).Very weird. At the very least, the spammer's aiming to lose his character, and at worst, if this is an organized action, Blizzard might actually have a case against eHarmony for spamming inside the game. Have you seen any other ads like this around the game?Update: Mystery seems to be solved: it was just some guy messing around. Strange way to mess around, though. He's in our comments, and says he's getting a free name change after the GMs said what he was doing was not so cool.
