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EVE player runs fiction writing contest with billions in prizes
EVE Online is a game known for its tight-knit community and emergent professions. We've seen players take on the roles of thieves, graphics artists, spies, video editors, drug runners and much more in an effort to make themselves a little ISK. Perhaps most interesting is that good writers can use their talents to make ISK through publications like EON magazine and EVE Tribune. While EON is a glossy printed magazine and EVE Tribune enjoys a purely online format, both pay volunteer writers with ISK for their articles and stories. EON in particular has always had a regular fiction segment that showcases some of EVE's best fiction writers. In the first of what he hopes to be an annual event, an EVE player by the name of Silver Night has decided to give back to the community with an EVE fiction-writing contest. The first place prize of a rare faction battleship plus 300 million ISK's worth of fittings will go to the best piece of fiction submitted. Two second place prizes of unfitted navy issue battleships are available for the second and third best pieces. With an additional four navy issue cruiser prizes for the next best four pieces, that's seven chances to win something. The competition runs until March 21st and players can submit their entries via the competition thread on the official EVE events forum.
EVE Online devblog discusses account security
Every MMO suffers the horrors of gold spammers and EVE Online is no different. The RMT (Real Money Trading) industry is massive and EVE's developers CCP have waged a constant war against it in recent years. The PLEX initiative gave players a way to safely buy ISK for cash while at the same time helping players who couldn't afford their subscriptions pay with ISK. The result was a dramatic hit to the RMT market, who had to drop their prices to compete with a legitimate service replacing their own. As part of Operation Unholy Rage in August of last year, EVE GMs also banned over 6200 accounts belonging to farmers known to be supplying the RMT industry. The effect on the market was instant, with the population in farmed mission systems like Ingunn disappearing overnight. Almost immediately, the farmers reacted with a spate of account hackings to claw back some ISK.
EVE Evolved: The importance of corporate goals
When new EVE Online players give up and quit the game, their reasons are usually very similar. A lack of drive to play the game is common, with players logging in only to change skills. Similarly, people complain that the game is boring and isn't really taking them anywhere. Most of these reasons boil down to a basic lack of motivation, purpose and goals. As a sandbox game, EVE doesn't really lead the player anywhere after the tutorials and it can be easy to get lost. This is where the EVE community steps in by providing a whole host of player-run corporations to help pilots find their way in EVE. As a very social game, I don't think EVE truly takes off until you get into a good corporation. In addition to help and advice, a good corp with some solid corporate goals will offer players a sense of purpose and direction that can be hard to find on your own. The opportunity to be a part of something bigger than yourself and accomplish goals you could never hope to on your own can be a great motivator. Whether your corporation's goal is to build a freighter from scratch, run a massive industrial complex, engage in PvP or even lay claim to a system, it stands a much better chance of being achieved when pilots cooperate. In this opinion piece, I show how the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts as I look at a few of the goals corporations commonly work toward as a team.
EVE's 8th official Alliance Tournament to include a new "flagship" rule
The first details on this year's annual EVE Online Alliance Tournament emerged in a short devblog last month, with promises of further information to come. The Alliance Tournament is one the year's biggest highlights for EVE's PvP alliances. It provides a much-needed way to see which alliance can come up with the best strategies and execute them well. While massive fleets clash in the vastness of nullsec warfare, the tournament puts all alliances on an equal footing with restricted team sizes and ship allowances. In a new devblog, CCP have announced the finished format for this year's event along with an updated set of rules.
EVE Online devblog addresses recent server issues
EVE Online's server is a complex beast, holding the title of biggest supercomputer in the gaming industry. The main server cluster is housed in London and serviced by a team of IBM engineers. In addition to constant hardware upgrades to take advantage of the newest technology, CCP's network programmers work around the clock to improve performance and track down bugs that will affect the game. EVE is no stranger to lag or network issues and older players know all too well that server troubles are expected around patch days. When the Dominion expansion was released, there were far more complaints of server issues than could be attributed to the usual "patch day blues". Now several months down the line we're still hearing horror stories of fleet battles lagging unbearably with only a few hundred players. The last few months have seen an increasing number of node deaths and database failovers, in some cases causing unscheduled server reboots. Read on to find out what CCP is doing to combat the issue.
EVE player wins silver medal at the Winter Olympics
It's not every day you run across an Olympic Medalist in your favourite MMO, much less gank them and take their stuff. For some EVE Online players, that opportunity may be closer than they think. With the conclusion of the recent Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, it came to light that one of the medal winners is not just an EVE player but also an avid PvP junkie. Casting off the stereotype of MMO gamers as unfit and demotivated, Kjetil Jansrud is a professional alpine skier at the peak of physical fitness. Competing in this year's Winter Olympics, the Norwegian EVE player took the silver medal in the Men's Giant Slalom event. Kjetil Jansrud is better known to his friends in "hirr" corporation as "NThraller", the Caldari ECM specialist. As part of Morsus Mihi alliance, he takes part in roaming PvP gangs and full-scale territorial warfare. In conjunction with the news of NThraller's Olympic win, JumpOnContact has taken an interesting look at the demographics of EVE players and MMO gamers in general. According to CCP, the average age of EVE players is around 27 and most players have some kind of degree-level certificate. The EVE community is made up of everything from high-paid professionals to students but did you ever expect to see "Olympic Medalist" added to that list? I know I didn't.
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.
CCP opens UK office
Growth in the MMO industry hasn't been limited to companies named after weather phenomena. CCP Games, makers of the popular sandbox title EVE Online and its upcoming spinoff DUST 514, have done quite a bit of growing themselves. Their merger with game publisher White Wolf and their office in China are old news, but they've just added a little more space under their control. It's confirmed that CCP has opened a new office in Newcastle, their first branch in the United Kingdom and a new home of development with a slight console focus. Much of the staff in the Newcastle office has been absorbed from the former offices of the recently-defunct Midway Studios branch in Newcastle, including executive Robert Troughton. It's slated to work on "current and future" console products, which no doubt includes DUST 514 as well as future games from the studio. After a number of closures and failures, it's good to see the industry regaining its footing, and expanded studios can only be good for CCP's fans and its games. And if you happen to be a software engineer in the area with some console experience, well, they are hiring...
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 Online's Scorpion to receive graphical overhaul in Tyrannis
When high-quality ship models were introduced with EVE Online's Trinity expansion, not every ship reacted to the graphical upgrade in the same way. Some ships, like the Megathron and Crusader, saw dramatic visual improvements with panel details and sharp lines. For the Scorpion, however, the upgraded detail exposed design flaws in the original model that spoiled its look for some players. The Scorpion has long been held as one of the ugliest ships in EVE, sporting the signature Caldari asymmetric design and odd metallic pylons. For a battleship, it's always looked small, light and flimsy; a look that perhaps suited its original role as a long-range electronic warfare ship. With it being rebalanced for a close-range "brawler" role last year, the old model really started to look out of place on the field of battle. In a new devblog, the CCP art department have released screenshots of a new Scorpion model they're planning to roll out with the Tyrannis expansion this summer. Using design themes from their work on Tech 3 strategic cruisers, the team have turned one of EVE's all-time ugliest ships into a masterpiece. Not only does the ship now look more like its namesake, it has a much more solid and aggressive look to it that better suits its role in PvP. This may mark the start of a change for other Caldari ships, many of which sport elements of the same bizarre asymmetric design that spoiled the Scorpion's appearance. As an added bonus, CCP's graphics programmers have created a new texture packing system that vastly improves the visual quality of small details on ships. If you're interested in the new Scorpion model or the finer details of how CCP texture the ships in EVE Online, the latest devblog is definitely worth a look.
EVE Evolved: What could planetary interaction be like?
On Friday, CCP released the first details of EVE Online's next expansion, Tyrannis. The expansion's main feature is a form of planetary exploration and control but details on what exactly that will entail have been limited. Like walking in stations, planetary interaction has always been a major missing component from EVE. It's been on the drawing board from day one but the technology and resources were never really there to do the feature justice. A prototype planetary flight system was even demonstrated at EVE Fanfest 2004 and while it impressed Fanfest attendees, the feature never materialised. The announcement that Tyrannis will include a form of planetary exploration has a lot of players excited but is their enthusiasm justified? The information we have so far on the expansion is limited to a single devblog, which provides only a general mission statement for the expansion. In the absence of further information, I find myself wondering what the planetary interaction in Tyrannis might be like. In this speculative opinion piece, I look over the information we know for sure about Tyrannis and go on to speculate on what it might be like.
EVE Online's next expansion revealed: Explore planets in Tyrannis
It's been known since the last EVE Online Fanfest that the next expansion would be based around planetary interaction, but details on exactly what that interaction would constitute have been thin on the ground. In a bumper devblog today, EVE's Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson gave a first glimpse of what we can expect this summer. Following the graphical overhaul planets received in the Dominion expansion, the next expansion is set to place them in a functional role. The expansion, aptly named "Tyrannis" after the Latin for "Tyrants," will put the fates of New Eden's populated planets in the hands of pod-pilots. Players will be able to survey planets and build planet-bound industrial infrastructures to tap into previously unobtainable resources such as minerals. Planets with harsh environments such as gas giants and plasma planets will be harder to manage infrastructure on but the rewards could be well worth the effort.
Over $40,000 donated to EVE Online "PLEX for Haiti" initiative so far
When the Republic of Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake on January 12th, groups around the world struggled to give as much aid as possible. Proving that gamers are givers, several MMO companies rushed to provide a way for their players to donate to registered relief aid charities like the Red Cross. Sony Online Entertainment raised over $25,000 in just three days by selling in-game items in Free Realms, EverQuest and EverQuest II. They donated 100% of the proceeds to charity and even added $10 of their own money for each purchase made. CCP ran their own EVE Online "PLEX Aid for Haiti" initiative where players were encouraged to buy PLEX and then contract them to the "CCP PLEX for Haiti" character in-game. Even PLEX purchased in-game with ISK helped the appeal as every two PLEX contracted to CCP equaled $35 US Dollars of cash that was bought but not converted into game time. CCP could then donate the full $35 without making a loss. It was a clever scheme that allowed players who were short on cash but rich in-game to donate real money to charity. CCP have just announced that so far the total tally of PLEX donated to the appeal has reached 2,290, which has a real cash value of just over $40,000 US dollars. One player donated a staggering 341 PLEX, which has an in-game value of over 88 billion ISK and makes a real world donation of almost $6,000. Of note is the revelation that only 1.4% of the donated PLEX were bought directly for cash, while players buying the PLEX using their spare ISK contributed the remaining 98.6%. That's a testament both to the generosity of gamers and the innovative system CCP used to collect aid. Hopefully we'll see this strategy used in future when someone is in desperate need of aid as it has proven very successful. For those that still want to donate, CCP are currently still accepting donations of PLEX to help the people of Haiti.
EVE Online blogger provides insight on alliance warfare in Dominion
Alliance warfare has always been a huge part of EVE Online's endgame PvP, with alliances fighting over resources, expanding their borders or just settling age-old political grudges. The Dominion expansion made sweeping changes to alliance warfare and the transition hasn't been easy on all the alliances. Since Dominion went live, it's been difficult to judge just how effective the expansion has been at revitalising territorial warfare or how alliances are using the new system. EVE Blogger Wensley has been involved in the recent war against CVA in Providence region and he's been posting some of the valuable insights he's gleaned on territorial warfare over at his blog Rifter Drifter. In part 1 of his series "Catch 22" on the most recent parts of the war, he details the reasoning behind CVA's territorial expansion from Providence into the Catch region. In part 2, Wensley describes the details of the actual war so far and provides some useful insights into the mechanics of territorial warfare. He suggests that since alliances now get to choose the rough time their systems are fought over by way of the new reinforcement timers, they should have picked a time zone that would be inconvenient for their enemies. Instead, they had set their reinforcement timer to their enemy's peak play time, allowing them to easily amass huge fleets for the attack. He goes on to blame CVA's poor performance on a lack of preparedness, suggesting that if they had gotten their fleet together and into the threatened system first, any lag occuring when enemy players jump in would have been in their favour. If you're following the war in Providence region or just interested in how territorial warfare is fought now in EVE, Rifter Drifter's on-going Catch 22 series is definitely worth a read.
The war for Providence rages on in EVE Online
The fierce wars alliances wage each day in EVE Online can undoubtedly make for some great story-telling. Each region has a history of the wars players have fought in it and each station bares the memory of a dozen take-overs and assaults. Few stations hold more significance than the outpost in 9UY4-H in the Providence region. Originally named "Unity station", the outpost has had a long and violent history since its construction by Minmatar terrorist faction "Ushra'Kahn". The significance of 9UY4-H comes partly from the fact the system is a bottleneck in logistics and trade routes leading to three empire access points, two of which are exits into high security space. For those fighting over the station in 9UY4-H, however, it holds more political meaning than strategic due to Ushra'Kahn's long history of war against the Amarrian faction "Curatores Veritatis Alliance". Both groups have always been strong adopters of role-play, turning what would normally be a normal war into a personal vendetta. As Amarr traditionalists, CVA support the enslavement of the Minmatar race, a significant part of EVE's back-story. In retaliation, Ushra'Kahn seek liberation for all Minmatar slaves and have never given up their fight against CVA. The station in 9UY4-H has become a focal point for that war, which has lasted over three years and shows no signs of diminishing. The EVE Online "Interstellar Correspondents", EVE's in-game news team, have just finished writing up a fascinating four-part historical account of the war in Providence and what has led to its current state today. If you're interested in the complex political movements and wars in EVE Online, it's definitely a good read [part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4].
EVE Evolved: Five useful starbase configurations
Player housing is one of those features we love to see in an MMO but every game that has it seems to implement it differently. Sometimes it's limited to instanced rooms the player can decorate and sometimes it's a little more functional like shared guild halls. In EVE Online, the closest thing to widely-available player housing would be anchorable starbases, which can be configured to serve a variety of functional roles. Originally, their primary purpose was to mine moon minerals and react them to produce advanced materials for Tech 2 production. Starbases can be very useful as tactical staging points for PvP operations. With the right modules anchored around them, they can also be configured for use in other industries, from mining and manufacturing to research and deep space exploration. Until recently, they also played a critical role in EVE's alliance sovereignty warfare as the alliance with the most starbases in a system gained control of it. With that role now fulfilled by Outposts, Infrastructure Hubs and Territorial Claim Units, starbases have mostly returned to their former industrial and tactical uses. In this article, I look at five different starbase configurations that can be very useful to organised corporations.
EVE video corner: "Clarion Call 2: Pantheon"
Whether you're a full-on EVE Online junkie or you don't play the game at all, EVE has undeniably produced some great stories and incredible gameplay videos. Just over a year ago in my weekly EVE Evolved column, I looked at ten of the best EVE videos of all time but since then a lot more videos have been made. In this new irregular segment, I aim to showcase some of EVE's best video productions and shine a spotlight on their creators. Once or twice per month I'll highlight a video that has particularly caught my attention, from high-class productions that play like a sci-fi film to gritty PvP videos showing real gameplay. What better way to kick off this first edition of the EVE video corner than with the sequel to an old favourite? The original "Clarion Call: Triage Special" video came in fourth place in my top ten list last year and its sequel "Clarion Call 2: Pantheon" doesn't disappoint. Like the original, the video follows Rooks and Kings alliance as they engage in capital warfare against terrible odds. Once again the video takes an instructional tone, with Princess Aricia of Fairlight Corp providing explanation of the tactics being used as each fight progresses. In this video, Rooks and Kings unveil a new strategy they call "Pantheon", which is designed to combat the growing usage of specialised Triage tactics. Whether you play EVE or not, this is definitely a video to watch. Skip past the cut to watch 10 minutes of scenes from this goliath 22 minute video. The full version is available for download from the video's page at the EVE forums.
First details emerge on EVE Online's 8th annual "Alliance Tournament"
For players and spectators alike, the annual EVE Online Alliance Tournament is one of the year's biggest highlights. Teams from dozens of player-run alliances fight it out in qualifying rounds for a chance to compete in the finals and win massive prizes. A points-based system limits the number and type of ships a team can field, putting every team on equal footing. Restrictions on the types of modules a ship can use ensure no team can buy themselves an advantage over a poorer rival. This makes the tournament a game of strategy, planning and execution. It's a refreshing change from the fleet and gang warfare that's typically found in New Eden. Massively covered Alliance Tournament 7 back in September 2009 and in their latest devblog, CCP have released a few details on the upcoming 8th tournament. This year the tournament is taking place in June and CCP is once again planning on "spicing up" the rule-set to keep things interesting. As with last year, videos of the qualifying rounds will likely be released on YouTube and the final match will be available for viewing on a live feed with expert commentary. For those interested in helping with the tournament, CCP is looking for EVE PvP experts to do commentary on the fights and chat about them afterward. Several experts will even be flown out to CCP HQ in Reykjavik, Iceland to help with the production of the live final match. Applications must be in by the 28th, giving just over two weeks for potential experts to sign up. For details on what's required and how to apply, see CCP's latest EVE devblog. More details on the tournament's new rules and sign-up procedures are forthcoming in the next few weeks. If the camera-work and visual quality are anything like last year, this will definitely be a great tournament to watch.
Winners of fan-run EVE Online blogging contest announced
If ever there was a person that could be called the cornerstone of EVE Online's blogging community, it would be CrazyKinux. His gargantuan efforts to get the EVE community blogging have been met with continual success. In his monthly "EVE Blog Banter" segment, CrazyKinux presents readers with a topic to blog on and starts off in-depth discussions. On occasion, the EVE Blog Banter becomes a competition with a few prizes provided by CCP. CrazyKinux and other judges peruse submissions to bring us the best of the month's blogging efforts and reward their writers deservedly. Our own contributing editor James Egan and EON Magazine Editor Richie "Zapattero" Shoemaker have been judges in previous contests. The latest edition of the EVE Blog Banter was a bumper contest with prizes for the top ten writers supplied by the EVE merchandise store. A record 56 participants wrote their take on why they love EVE Online and what makes it special for them. Amongst some of the more impressive entries, CrazyKinux whittled his choices down to his top 10 favourite entries. The first prize of $100 to spend in the EVE merchandise store went to "Wench with a Wrench", second place went to "Don't Fear the Mutant", third to "Into the unknown with gun and camera" and fourth to "Sered's Lives". If you're interested in seeing what makes EVE special to a variety of players, the six remaining finalists and the other entries in the contest are certainly worth a read. For a full list of winners and participants, swing by the winner's announcement at CrazyKinux's Musing.
Diagram shows real-world cost of losing ships in EVE Online
Whether you play EVE Online or not, the chances are you've read a lot about the harsh, cut-throat universe of New Eden. Alliances routinely clash over territorial disputes, spies work to destroy organisations from the inside and death is an inevitability. While dying in most MMOs means respawning at some far-away camp and having to repair your gear, death in EVE is a somewhat more vicious affair. When your ship is destroyed, whether it's by NPCs in a particularly tough mission or pirates hunting in a low security system, it's gone for good. While insurance will provide a sum of ISK to help with the loss, you'll need to re-buy a new ship and all the equipment that went on it. This would be like having to buy a new set of armour every time you die in World of Warcraft; a scary notion. For the denizens of New Eden, losing a ship is a strictly in-game financial loss but for those that don't play EVE the scale of those losses can be hard to grasp. Jump On Contact tackled this issue head-on recently with a handy chart showing the rough value of EVE ships in both ISK (the in-game currency) and US Dollars. The prices show the sheer scale of the losses incurred in large battles and are based on a player buying game time codes for cash to be sold in-game for ISK. A fully geared battleship, one of the most common types of ship for players to own in the game, comes out as being worth approximately $10 US Dollars. Most ships fall somewhere between $1 and $13 but perhaps most shocking is the price of a fleet-ready titan, which is estimated at $7600. The next time you hear about a titan being killed or a fleet of capital ships being wiped out, perhaps this chart can help show the sheer scale of that loss.
