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There are few MMOs on the market today that can seem as intimidating to a new player as EVE Online. Some of this comes from the infamous things people have heard about the game, tales of deception and betrayal, but there is a fair amount of complexity to EVE as well and no shortage of digital villains prowling New Eden's thousands of solar systems injecting risk into the game.

The first days and weeks of gameplay experienced by many pilots has led to more than a few descriptions of the experience as an initiation of sorts, conjuring up images of hazings, an analogy that actually holds true in many respects. Anyone who sticks with the game learns through trial and error that the setting of New Eden, by design, can be quite harsh. Even if you're not into PvP, it pervades EVE Online; at the very least players who are to succeed in the game must ultimately learn to adapt and evade the more malevolent players, if not defend themselves from attackers directly.

While EVE will likely never be as easy to get a handle on as some other MMOs out there -- the game's depth and complexity actually being a major draw for its subscribers -- CCP Games has taken steps to better ease new players into New Eden with the New Player Experience (NPE) which was part of the Apocrypha expansion launch. But is EVE's New Player Experience, which does not separate rookie pilots into a safe zone to learn the ropes, the right way to introduce players to the game? This is the focus of a WarCry article by Steven Croop titled "Aura is Aura by Any Other Name".

Continue reading An angle on EVE's New Player Experience and the game's harsh realities

MassivelyAn angle on EVE's New Player Experience and the game's harsh realities originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 May 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>apocryphaauraccp-gameseveeve-onlinenew-edennew-player-experiencenpeopinionrookierookiessci-fisteven-crooptutorialtutorialswarcryWed, 27 May 2009 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Careers Guide available as free download]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/20/eve-careers-guide-available-as-free-download/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/20/eve-careers-guide-available-as-free-download/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/20/eve-careers-guide-available-as-free-download/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,


A major strength of the sci-fi massively multiplayer online game EVE Online is that there are no classes and certainly no professions that a player is locked into. EVE's professions are freeform, but this can lead to new players being unsure about what to do (or be) in the game. The title's developer CCP Games is attempting to remedy this. One of the resources that complements EVE Online's New Player Experience in the Apocrypha expansion is the "EVE Careers Guide", which introduces new players to the gameplay possibilities in New Eden. It's largely put together by Benilopax of Warp Drive Active: Industry podcast fame and Richie Shoemaker (aka "Zapatero"), the Editor of E-ON -- the official magazine of EVE Online -- who we've interviewed at Massively in the past. The EVE Careers Guide is a PDF file with interactive links throughout to navigate between sections, providing a comprehensive look at the game for rookie pilots.

Zapatero welcomes new players to EVE Online, explaining the game in broad terms: "Many have found their own path in EVE by taking turns that are wildly divergent from what its makers envisaged. EVE is about relationships, prejudices, trust, greed and creativity more than it's about spaceships, trade and combat. New Eden is a very human universe, and with almost 300,000 people making up the population, it's a very dynamic one. Yes, it's harsh and uncompromising, frustrating and callous, but it's also illuminating in scope, vast in stature and utterly unique."

Continue reading EVE Careers Guide available as free download

MassivelyEVE Careers Guide available as free download originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most players who've been drawn to EVE Online enjoy the game for its complexity. For such gamers, complexity in a title can be a strength, not a drawback. However, you know what they say about having too much a good thing... Newer players especially find aspects of the game daunting to learn, particularly in terms of skills and skill training plans. This complexity surrounding skills, while not a big deal to veteran players, can be hard to grasp for newer players. Enter "certificates" -- EVE's simplified and (visually) ranked groups of skills that should help rookie players better understand what they should focus on to achieve particular goals.

If the feature does what the developers hope, certificates will remedy a problem newer players face -- "an inability to clearly see where a particular skill fits into the greater scheme of things, what it enables, how to get there and where to go next," CCP Greyscale writes in his latest dev blog "Certificates: Planning the Future."

Continue reading Certificates and medals coming to EVE Online

MassivelyCertificates and medals coming to EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>achievementsccpccp-chronotisccp-gamesccp-greyscalecertificatecertificatescertification-plannerdevdev-blogdeveloperdevseveeve-onlineforumsmedalmedalsnew-featurespatchesprofessionsrookiessci-fiskill-trainingskillstitlesMon, 13 Oct 2008 18:30:00 EST