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EVE Evolved: The great wormhole heist, part 2
One of the most common things I hear from people who don't play EVE Online is that they don't like the game itself but they absolutely love the stories that come out of it. There's something inherently brutal and visceral about the stories players act out every day in EVE's colossal sandbox. Tales of high-profile thefts and political intrigue occasionally creep into the media and grab our attention, but stories of that sort are a lot more common than you'd think. Last year, we told one such story of a player's descent into criminality and revenge taken too far. In last week's EVE Evolved, I began to tell the true tale of that same player in one of his biggest heists to date. If you haven't read the first part of this story yet, head back to last week's EVE Evolved before reading on. A matter of time Having discovered an opportunity for theft much greater than expected, Scott recognised that he would need help to pull off a successful heist. With the wormhole corporation's assets within Scott's reach, a sense of urgency began to overtake him. Based on discussions with his new corp members, he knew that the group's wormhole tenancy had just begun and that they were still in the process of clearing the starbase up following a frantic move-in. This explained the secure containers littering space -- a temporary measure to be used until an adequate hangar permission scheme could be created. In this week's conclusion of the story of the great wormhole heist, Scott discovers allies in some unexpected places and finds out first-hand whether there really is no honour amongst thieves.
EVE Evolved: The great wormhole heist, part 1
Several years ago, EVE Online's Community Manager CCP Wrangler made a statement that I felt really crystalised the sentiment behind the game. He said that "EVE isn't designed to just look like a cold, dark and harsh world; it's designed to be a cold, dark and harsh world." Although most of us are content to indulge ourselves in PvP, market games and other traditional modes of gameplay, a criminal underworld runs beneath that innocuous surface. A significant few carve their own illicit destinies from the void, stealing and cheating their way to the top. Whether these space-faring cyber-criminals are in it for fame and riches, political influence, or their own personal goals, the stories of their actions in EVE's colossal sandbox never fail to grip us. High-profile thefts like the Guiding Hand Social Club heist of 2005, the closure of EBank, and last year's Titans4U scandal have been made very public, and smaller-scale crimes occur every day in New Eden. Last year, we brought you the true tale of one player's revenge taken too far -- a story of corporate infiltration, social deception and utter destruction. Although this was Scott's first foray into criminality, it was most certainly not his last. The events in this week's story are true, but the names of the players and corporations involved have been changed. In this week's EVE Evolved, Scott returns as I begin to tell the true story of his huge wormhole heist.
EVE Evolved: Heroes of EVE
In last week's EVE Evolved, I looked at a few of EVE Online's most famous outlaws. In the game's open-ended sandbox, players are free to turn to a life of crime. Around every corner, you'll find another thief making off with someone's loot, or a pirate waiting for an unsuspecting victim to pass by. Worse still are the many scam artists and market manipulators you'll find in trade hubs like Jita, making a dishonest living at the expense of other players. But it's not all doom and gloom, and not all players are the dark, nefarious types EVE is famous for. For every low-life scammer trying to steal your hard-earned ISK, there are helpful individuals working to counteract scamming. For every war-mongering pirate preying on new players, there are hundreds of people willing to teach new players to defend themselves and stay safe. Despite all the talk of EVE's anti-social element, you'll also find a rich and diverse community, built around forums, chat channels and dozens of blogs. Programmers even spend their free time to provide the community with free tools to aid play. These are all people I would call heroes of EVE, either because they work to prevent the wrong-doings of outlaws, or because they selflessly enrich the EVE community. In this opinion piece, I look at a few of the people and groups I consider to be true heroes of EVE. Who are your heroes?
EVE Evolved: Outlaws of EVE
EVE Online's Community Manager CCP Wrangler once said that "EVE isn't designed to just look like a cold, dark and harsh world; it's designed to be a cold, dark and harsh world." That sentiment sums up the core philosophy behind the game, which permits such nefarious gameplay styles as thief, smuggler, scam-artist, pirate and market manipulator. Underhanded deals go on every day in EVE, with bounty hunters hired to ruin someone's day and spies tearing corporations apart from within. Many are drawn to EVE because it's one of the few MMOs that allows players to embrace their darker side. The opportunity to be a real villain in a sandbox universe can be intoxicating. Perhaps more intoxicating is the notion that the presence of tangible villains affords players a rare opportunity to play the role of hero. For every pirate gang lurking at a stargate in low security space, there's an anti-pirate squad somewhere planning an attack. For every thief ready to empty their corporation's hangers, there's a security specialist weeding out spies. The true outlaws of EVE are people who have earned their infamy through acts of ruthlessness in their chosen field. Over the years, we've interviewed and examined some of EVE's most notorious outlaws. In this article, I look back at four of EVE's most wanted, how they earned their infamy, and what they're doing today.
Outlaws of EVE Online: Mynxee
EVE Online is as much a setting as it is a massively multiplayer online game. EVE's galaxy of New Eden spans thousands of charted solar systems, with thousands more waiting to be discovered in the uncharted frontiers reachable only through wormholes. For all the myriad opportunities New Eden offers players to explore and create, there are just as many risks. The dangers that other pilots can pose also provide memorable stories that few other MMOs can match. The outlaws of EVE Online halt the calming lull of mining lasers, inject some thrills into otherwise routine trade runs, and disrupt the rote completion of mission objectives. More often than not, encounters with New Eden's pirates will leave you with a pounding heart and surge of adrenaline to go along with the flaming wreckage of your ship, if not a one-way trip back to the cloning facility. They create that fear of what threats lie on the other side of the next star gate and ultimately set the tone for New Eden. But even among these criminals there are a few whose accomplishments truly stand out. The capsuleer called Mynxee is a well-known pirate in New Eden's underworld. Hers is a name remembered well by the many victims who've met their end under rapid fire from her autocannons. She is the founder and CEO of Hellcats, an all-women pirate corporation in EVE Online, and a central figure in EVE's criminal society. Outside of New Eden, Mynxee has built up quite a following through her Life in Low Sec blog and is one of EVE's more active pilots on Twitter as well. If there is such an individual in New Eden that can be viewed as its pirate king, Mynxee is undoubtedly its queen. She first caught Massively's attention years ago with her flashy red dress (size -10), but she's since become a pivotal figure in New Eden, popular with players from all walks of life in EVE. Massively recently spoke with Mynxee about the allure of being an outlaw, and how she has expanded the scope of her piracy -- bringing it out of the shadows of low security space and into the light, where players feel they are safest.
China bans gold farming
Gold farmers! They're everywhere, right? We get spammed by them, we run into them farming Dire Maul, we put them on ignore. Lazy people with too much disposable income buy gold from them in a show of crass consumerism. Blizzard has done their best to stamp out gold-farming services, but litigation is difficult due to the fact that most of the major gold-farming companies are based in China or other parts of Asia. They've instead opted to try to control and stop gold farmers from being able to complete transactions via other methods. This time, though, it looks like Blizzard may have an unlikely ally in, of all things, the Chinese government. They announced today that the trading of virtual goods for real money is now illegal in China. This ruling reaches farther than just gold farming, though. It also bans the sale of prepaid time cards for MMOs or other online games, as well as numerous technicalities we're sure to hear about in the weeks to come. To give you an idea of how much an economic impact this will have on China, gold farming alone generates nearly one billion dollars a year worldwide, with China's specific numbers growing at a reported rate of 20% per year. It's estimated that 80 to 85 percent of gold farmers reside in China, so this ruling is massive and, to be frank, pretty troubling.From a gamer's perspective, yes, it'll be nice to worry about this kind of service a little less, but from a human perspective this places hundreds of thousands of Chinese people in one of two kinds of serious trouble: the first is financial hardship from the "honest" gold-farming companies that will close down after this ban, and the second is legal issues from the companies who don't close down because they can't afford not to do what they've been doing.It's not my intention to defend gold farming as an industry, because I used to have to deal with its more nefarious effects every day -- compromised accounts stripped of gold and gear, keyloggers, disruptive spam, all of that. But life isn't easy for many Chinese people working jobs like this. Many gold farming centers are much cleaner and safer, in relative terms, than other places in China where one on the bottom rung of the financial ladder might seek work, so while I appreciate the change as only a white first-world male can, I worry about what will happen to the underprivileged working-class Chinese people behind the spam ads and dead gnomes when this law starts getting enforced. NOTE: Comments are now disabled for this post.
The Black Rabbits Academy teaches piracy in EVE Online
Among all the massively multiplayer online games on the market, EVE Online is perhaps the most complex game running, which is part of the title's appeal. The learning curve has, in the past, dissuaded some MMO gamers from really digging in to EVE, but that curve has been getting a bit less steep as the tutorial improves. The Apocrypha expansion's New Player Experience also aims to make those first weeks in New Eden easier. That said, the best resource available to new EVE players is the game's playerbase itself. It's always best to learn from others and when possible, with others. That's one of the unique things about EVE -- players form corporations for various purposes, one of which is to provide schools or academies where various facets of the game are taught by experienced players. Players can learn alongside others who share similar interests. You want to learn the ropes of the game? You can join EVE University and take part in their organized classes or listen to speakers on various topics in New Eden. Want to learn how to kick ass in PvP? Take a class at Agony Unleashed and they'll turn you into a killer in no time. But EVE University and the other training-focused corps tend to focus on the more 'legitimate' aspects of the game. But what if you want a training course that lets you learn about and become part of New Eden's criminal society? There are options.
Stunning EVE machinima depicts struggle between New Eden's factions
The sci-fi setting of EVE Online provides a great amount of material for players interested in creating machinima. But it's not everyday that a short film as good as Clear Skies or Havoc comes along. Then again, it's also not every day that something created by a player draws accolades from the game's creators -- but that's exactly the case with the work of EVE player Kyoko Sakoda, in "War Has Come" -- which beautifully captures the game, set to a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." Sakoda writes, "This is one of my first thematic works. I know the Bear McCreary version of the song may sound like it is out of place for a few hardcore sci-fi fans, but I could not justify using any other cover. Enjoy, and write feedback if you wish. I'm always looking to improve my storytelling, direction, and editing and compositing skills." We've got "War Has Come" embedded for you below the cut, and it's well worth a look. We just wish Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" was a longer song...
Outlaws of EVE Online: Miz Cenuij
There are many criminals in EVE Online, but some push their chosen profession to a whole different level, sometimes even at the expense of their fellow outlaws. Being an outlaw in EVE Online's setting of New Eden isn't just about prowess in combat. For some, the pull of New Eden's underworld is all about the social fabric of the game... and how to exploit it. Deception is their greatest weapon, and paired with the endless opportunities for social engineering in EVE, that weapon can be put to devastating use. Among all of the conmen and scam artists in New Eden, there's one name that conjures up more rage and misery than most others: Miz Cenuij. From the earliest days of New Eden, Miz was on the path to becoming a major antagonist in EVE. While some players love him, most just love to hate him, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Over time, Miz has become one of New Eden's most notorious thieves and hell raisers, an evil celebrity of sorts. His manipulations have triggered alliance wars, brought him numerous threats from other pilots, thousands of confirmed kills, and raked in a fantastic amount of wealth in the process. His preferred modus operandi in EVE is the long con, but since he learned to convert his wealth into influence over others, he's found that corruption and practiced deception make a formidable combination. As if a counter to restlessness, his apparent goal of keeping New Eden set in motion, if not set ablaze, has ensured that Miz Cenuij lives on a steady diet of tears and rage.Massively caught up with Miz Cenuij, who told us what motivates him to engage in activities that oppose the interests of so many other citizens of New Eden, and why he enjoys igniting controversy in EVE.
Outlaws of EVE Online: Masu'di Part 2
How do you handle the inevitable conflicts with territorial alliances who likely have greater numbers and firepower?Most of the areas of space we need access to are claimed, with various levels of effectiveness, by large and powerful territorial alliances. We can not begin to match them with manpower, so we have to take a more cracks between the pavement route.In EVE a little good will can go a long way. So we will always try an open upfront approach first, and try and build a mutually beneficial relationship. Cheap boosters, resource and information sharing are all things we try and bring to the table.However, whether this is accepted or not, very much depends on the organisation involved, and their modus operandi. Some alliances in EVE develop because their leaders have good business sense, focus and strategy, they know what they want for the alliance, and know what they can offer in return. Other organisations build up from a pure quest for power. For these organisations trading and business can take away from this. They prefer to try and do everything in-house as this is perceived as a sign of strength. "We moved a number of agents into their alliance, who could help facilitate the acquisition of the resources we needed. They provided intel, allowing us to conduct our own covert resource gathering, while causing internal disruption where possible." In the latter scenario we have to take a more covert approach, for example one recent alliance, former resident of Fountain, was an alliance called Brutally Clever Empire. We had already moved into the booster production constellation earlier, taking advantage of the chaos there when Band of Brothers pulled out. Not being perceived as a threat by anyone else we were generally low down on the target list and left alone to get on with what we like doing best. When Brutally Clever Empire arrived and claimed the region as their own, they wanted exclusive control of all the region's resources, and allow their in-house booster producers to build up a monopoly on the Exile booster type. However, the stronger boosters need resources from other regions too. It's something which we could easily provide and they tried to negotiate with us over this, however they refused to let us continue our access to our former operational areas – something which we found unacceptable.Without going into too much detail, we moved a number of agents into their alliance, who could help facilitate the acquisition of the resources we needed. They provided intel, allowing us to conduct our own covert resource gathering, while causing internal disruption where possible. We also we hired some mercenaries for a couple of months to harass Brutally Clever Empire, but luckily for us they had made enemies of most of their neighbours. With few friends and allies, and being yet another alliance that puts the wagon before the horse, they quickly collapsed.
Outlaws of EVE Online: Masu'di
Whether prowling low security space hunting for targets or fighting in massive fleet engagements, EVE Online's elite pilots -- called capsuleers -- stride like gods across galactic battle zones, as seen from the perspective of normal ship captains and crews. In this setting of New Eden, a capsuleer's neural interface with the ship allows his thoughts to regulate the vessel's performance; the will to survive coupled with fast reflexes equates to greater fortitude and speed in combat. Against conventional fleets, even a single capsuleer reigns supreme... but when faced with others of his caliber, or many of them, a capsuleer seeks every possible edge he can get. Some of EVE's pilots channel their resources into acquiring the most advanced technology, hoping to gain an advantage over their rivals. But others choose to invest in themselves through performance-enhancing drugs. These 'boosters' are outlawed in all secure regions of space, due to their powerful effects on a capsuleer's mind, and thus a magnified lethality of his ship. The demand for boosters is great, but so too are the costs. Boosters are contraband and risky to move in large quantities. Coupled with the arcane processes involved in creating these drugs, those in the know have formed cartels, whose booster production and smuggling operations form the underpinnings of New Eden's black market. The most pivotal figure in New Eden's booster trade is Masu'di, who heads the Hedonistic Imperative drug cartel through the corporate front of Es and Whizz. Their operations are largely hidden, as they dance around the power blocs of the largest capsuleer alliances, subtly influencing or corrupting those who hinder the narcotics trade. Their network operates between the cracks of New Eden's laws and systems, ensuring a steady flow of boosters into any corner of the galaxy where a capsuleer needs a fix.Massively recently spoke with Masu'di about the life of a drug kingpin in New Eden, and the inner workings of the black market in EVE.%Gallery-32364%
Outlaws of EVE Online: Verone
EVE Online's futuristic setting of New Eden is one of sprawling galactic Empires and megacorporations, imposing order on uncharted frontiers through massive industrial infrastructures, elaborate networks of trade routes, and military fleets that ensure the galaxy remains firmly in the grasp of the technocratic elite. But beneath this orderly paradigm in New Eden, criminal organizations thrive. They prey upon those who cling to the illusion of safety in an unsafe galaxy. They reject your system of values and play by their own rules. They are relentless in pursuit of their goals and completely without mercy. One notable criminal organization devoted to piracy is Veto Corp, headed by their CEO Ethan Verone, who is without a doubt one of New Eden's more notorious pirates. Under his guidance, Veto Corp has been linked to numerous incidents of ransoming, hijacking, and illegal arms sales, among their many other crimes. Their modus operandi of shunning territorial control in favor of remaining fast and free ensures that Veto can conduct 'business' and hit targets anytime, and practically anywhere. Massively recently managed to lock down Verone for a line of questioning, and discussed the allure of life as an outlaw.%Gallery-28407%
