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EVE Online website revamp detailed in new video devblog

Brendan Drain — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Culture, MMO industry, News items, Dev Diaries, Sandbox

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.

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EVE Online website revamp detailed in new video devblog originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: The new player experience

Brendan Drain — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, Game mechanics, Interviews, Hands-on, EVE Evolved, Sandbox

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.

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EVE Evolved: The new player experience originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Perpetuum update outlines new assigments and more

Jef Reahard — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Perpetuum, Dev Diaries, Sandbox

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.

Perpetuum update outlines new assigments and more originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Casual gameplay and public groups

Brendan Drain — Sun, 29 May 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Game mechanics, PvP, Endgame, PvE, Opinion, EVE Evolved

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.

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EVE Evolved: Casual gameplay and public groups originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 May 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Power players and player retention

Brendan Drain — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, Guilds, MMO industry, Opinion, EVE Evolved

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.

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EVE Evolved: Power players and player retention originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online technical director explains new feature: Fleet Finder

James Egan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Guilds, Grouping

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.

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EVE Online technical director explains new feature: Fleet Finder originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The state of nature: Philosophy applied to EVE Online

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Game mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Massively Meta, Politics

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.

The state of nature: Philosophy applied to EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online PvP Tournament champ on tactics and player-politics

James Egan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Events, in-game, Guilds, Interviews, 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.

EVE Online PvP Tournament champ on tactics and player-politics originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively interviews Crovan about EVE Alliance PvP Tournament VI

James Egan — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:45:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Events, in-game, Guilds, MMO industry, PvP, Massively Interviews

The sci-fi themed game of EVE Online is one dominated by the players themselves, many of whom join together to form alliances. Those alliances vie for control of the New Eden galaxy, sparking continual warfare and political upheaval among the thousands of pilots flying in EVE at any given time. That's really the beauty of the game: the developers provide the setting, but it's the players who make it what it is. Alliance struggles are one of the defining features of the game, but not all scores are settled through massive fleet engagements. Some alliances opt to engage one another in an arena -- viewed by thousands of EVE's pilots -- the Alliance PvP Tournament.

Alliance Tournament VI kicked off last weekend, continues this weekend with qualifying rounds, and will culminate in final rounds in February, which will be streamed as live video. As the Tournament is so significant to the players, each year CCP Games invites PvP experts from among the playerbase to be the tournament's commentators. Among those veteran combat pilots in EVE Online, Crovan certainly stands out. He, along with a small team of other PvP experts, was selected to provide live commentary on the matches. This should come as no problem for him, given the PvP experience gained from his time with now-legendary Mercenary Coalition and being a familiar voice to many of us with The Drone Bay podcast.

Since The Drone Bay is the official podcast of the tournament, Crovan is recognizable to many listeners as the voice of the EVE Online Alliance Tournament VI. The fact that he's been a past Alliance Tournament competitor also gives him some additional perspective on the event. It's been a while since we spoke with Crovan -- we were fortunate enough to have him with us at Massively in the past through his excellent Rogue Signal column. We caught up with Crovan this week, however, and he told us everything we wanted to know about the Alliance Tournament.

Gallery: EVE Alliance Tournament VI

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Massively interviews Crovan about EVE Alliance PvP Tournament VI originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Making fleet battle reservations in EVE Online?

James Egan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Guilds, PvP

This is probably a first in the MMO industry... EVE Online announced higher performance server reservations for large scale PvP battles. Unlike most other MMO titles where you choose a server to play on with your friends, EVE Online doesn't make you choose. Although the server cluster is made up of hundreds of IBM blade servers, from a player's perspective, it's all one galaxy with over 5000 solar systems. This is good for a 'sandbox' game, where players are allowed to do whatever they feel like within the rules of that place. It creates a huge galaxy where everyone can potentially interact... or kill each other. But it comes with a rather substantial drawback at times: lag.

This 'single server' approach makes EVE Online a game where players hope to have large-scale fleet battles not unlike all those sci-fi shows and films we grew up with. But the harsh reality is that there are limitations of server technology that hinder large scale conflicts. Bring a few hundred of your friends to a fleet battle in EVE and you might not be fighting so much as watching a slide show. Definitely not the most fun to be had in the game.

Continue reading Making fleet battle reservations in EVE Online?

Making fleet battle reservations in EVE Online? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mercs and their role in EVE's industrial warfare

James Egan — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, Game mechanics, Crafting, PvP, Tips and tricks, Opinion

Much of what's written about EVE Online focuses on the darker aspects of the game. It's not surprising, as those topics are often the ones most interesting to players and non-players alike, but EVE has a very deep industrial side to it as well. It's a side that gets much less fanfare; R&D (invention), manufacturing, trading, and investment are all possible within the game and occur in tandem with EVE's more violent pursuits. Most every ship, after all, has been manufactured and sold (or re-sold) by another player. Those who engage in EVE's industry on a serious level often come into conflict with rival corporations and alliances in wars played out on the market, which sometimes spill into formal war declarations and combat. But if you're not interested in or inept at PvP, what are EVE's industrialists to do?

While an industrialist may not be well-versed in the art of war, he or she can play to their own strength: financial influence. EVE has a number of merc corps who are willing to solve problems, be it through armed escorts in hostile space or simply obliterating your opposition... assuming you can meet their price. Benilopax, of Warp Drive Active: Industry podcast fame and an E-ON contributor, relates his experience with contracting mercenaries to solve such problems, in what he refers to as 'the dark side of industrialism'. "There is a growing use of mercenaries by industrial entities to either take out the competition or keep them from easily making a profit," Benilopax writes for EVE Tribune. If you're interested in knowing a bit more about this side of the game, start with Benilopax's article (and A-Team reference) to see what it's like to deal with mercenaries in EVE Online.

Mercs and their role in EVE's industrial warfare originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE's spies and metagamers

James Egan — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Forums, Game mechanics, Guilds, PvP, Opinion, Politics

EVE Online is one of the few MMOs where players in guilds (corporations and alliances) have some valid concerns about spies from rival groups infiltrating their ranks. The concept of being a spy or saboteur is a profession of sorts that arose in the game. There aren't any game mechanics that necessarily enable spying or make it into a viable profession, nor are there any rules that prohibit most of these activities.

Wes from EVE Tribune recently wrote a piece called "Metagaming", dealing with how espionage can impact rival corporations and alliances in EVE. Wes asks, "Why is everyone so paranoid about spies and metagaming?" then goes on to explain how espionage in EVE works, categorizing spies by their modus operandi:

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EVE's spies and metagamers originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The political machinations of EVE Online

James Egan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Guilds, MMO industry, PvP, Endgame, News items, Politics, Roleplaying

Game journalist and EVE Online player Jim Rossignol has been coming to grips with the idea of conflict in EVE, in a series of articles written for Eurogamer. Rossignol began by looking at "the basic principles of killing people" and progressing to the large scale conflicts between alliances.

This week, Rossignol goes a step further by looking at the politics at the heart of much of the large-scale conflict in EVE Online, and how despite all the freedom the developers give players, it was inevitable that power blocs of players would be at each other's throats. "Players plus resources, plus more players, equals conflict. That's the basic mathematics that powers EVE Online. And it's been working for over five years now," Rossignol says.

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The political machinations of EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Post your interstellar r�sum� at EVE Careers

Samuel Axon — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, News items

The second episode of the Drone Bay podcast directed listeners to check out a website called EVE Careers, a sort of Monster.com or Career Builder for players of EVE Online. There are sections where both pilots and corporations (EVE's equivalent to player guilds) can post ads to connect with one another.

As the hosts of the Drone Bay noted, one of the big challenges for new players in EVE (and even experienced players, in certain circumstances) is finding a good corp to join. While it's possible to get by on your own to some extent in EVE, you'll be missing out on ... well, pretty much everything interesting about the game if you aren't part of one. EVE Careers presently has an almost 70-page list of corporations for you to check out, making it one of your best bets if you've been going it alone.

CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson told the New York Times a while back that EVE is different from other games like World of Warcraft because it's not just a game, it's a society -- at least, to a greater extent than WoW-types are. With its quarterly economic reports from the CCP Fed, its Council for Stellar Management, and now this player-run job board website, that's tough to argue with, even though there are forums for guild-finding in other games as well.

[Via Drone Bay]

Post your interstellar r�sum� at EVE Careers originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively's Massive Giveaways: EVE Online part 4

Krystalle Voecks — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:19:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Contests

We've been asked about guild structuring in EVE, so we thought we'd take this chance to touch upon one that aspect of the game for those who haven't ever gotten a chance to play. Corps (or Corporations) are the EVE Online equivalent of guilds that you would find in many fantasy-based games. When you start out, you are automatically placed into an NPC controlled Corporation along with everyone else in your race, and that is just fine for a while. Eventually, though, you'll want some friends to play with, and you'll need to start looking around on the forums or in-game for a Corp. Now, there are lots of Corps, but finding the right one for you will depend on how you like to play. As such, we can only really recommend one Corp for everyone new to EVE -- EVE University. It's a player-run Corporation staffed with old-timers and newcomers alike, all dedicated to teaching new EVE players the ropes. They'll hook you up with great information and help, so long as you're willing to put some time and effort in to making yourself a better player.

That said, this time we're giving away the last of our EVE Online 100-day time cards. Those of you used to the game will enjoy 100 paid-in-full days of running around with your Corp, with our compliments. For those new to the game, we suggest you get a hold of EVE University for lots of help and great, solid information on getting used to life in EVE. By now you should know the drill; 18+, U.S. residents only, blah blah official rules and so on. So new player or veteran alike -- leave a comment by tomorrow at 4:15 PM, and you could be the one lucky person who wins this time card!

[EDIT] - This contest is closed. We will be announcing a winner shortly. Thanks!

Massively's Massive Giveaways: EVE Online part 4 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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