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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.
EVE Spotlight: An interview with Somer Industries
EVE Spotlight is a bi-weekly feature in which we interview prominent members of EVE Online's player community or development team. Every two weeks, we'll be shining the spotlight on a player or developer who has a significant impact on EVE to highlight the efforts of EVE's most influential people. If there's one thing I've learned about EVE Online's community, it's that every now and then a player will create something unexpected that changes the way many of us play the game. Every time I think everything has already been done in EVE, someone always comes along with something new and innovative to blow away my expectations. Early players will remember the introduction of corporate killboards, for example, which not only changed the way combat was seen in-game but also spawned an entire killboard hosting industry. The introduction of public investment schemes was another such moment, bringing in completely new ways to play the game. The last emergent innovation from the EVE community to really grab my eye was Somer.Blink, a web-based gambling game contained entirely within EVE Online. Gambling in EVE has been going on for some time with the EOH poker league and similar schemes, but Somer.Blink brought casino-style gambling to the masses. When I first took a look at Somer.Blink, the organisation behind the site was in its infancy and it had yet to break many significant milestones. Having now served over 24 trillion ISK in winnings, the site has transformed its creators Somer Industries from a fledgling corporate venture into one of EVE's true financial giants. Even the theft of over 125 billion ISK in prizes didn't seem to slow down this gambling behemoth, which now generates enough ISK to effect major change in New Eden. In this EVE Spotlight, I talk to Somer Industries representative Somerset Mahm about how the business got started, where all the ISK generated goes and what the future holds for the corporation.
