Padchuckr

I was so careful not to get back into MMORPG games, having seen the sick amount of time they consume, the consequences both personal and professional from living two thirds of your life as an MMO avatar. But I screwed up. I thought to myself “I fancy a bit of a spaceship combat game, do I play X3 Reunion on me own, with nobody to talk to, or do I play EVE online?” I chose EVE, and now it’s got me.

I’m a firm believer that timesink MMOs are a cultural cancer in the gaming world. I mean I love games, and I play games a lot. Way too much some would say, but I vary my intake and play a range of games and I play them a lot more than many journalists do just because I’m a slacker and I make time for them. What scares me however is the dogged determination of the MMO addict to be able to play four hours plus of their game of choice every single day. It’s creepy, and I’ve been there too. More than once. It’s like only eating one food or only wearing the same exact outfit every day, variety is the spice of life and for those who can allow themselves to be consumed by a game variety can all to quickly disappear from the gaming diet, replaced with the mundane.

So now I’m back in that place, the MMO addict zone. And this time the game, once again, is EVE Online. But in my defence, and by way of making this a sort of review, I shall list the benefits of EVE Online and perhaps you, dear readers, shall be able to understand why it is that I’ve fallen off the wagon once again.

1. The game. EVE is totally non-linear. With all level based MMOs you start with some areas and work your way up to other areas, then work the end game content. There is some variety but essentially it’s A to B until the endgame. That is not to say that games like WoW and EQ2 are completely linear, they are not, but there is a logical and fairly standard progression that all characters go on. Not so for EVE. EVE characters train on a skill by skill basis, there are no levels and all the goals are completely up to the player. If you want to just throw together ships for combat you can do that, if you want to be a builder you can do that too. Maybe you want to find trade routes and ship goods across the galaxy, that’s doable as well. There are many different career options, from stock dealing and mining to piracy and extortion.

2. The Players. EVE is unapologetically complicated and demands a level of patience, intelligence and imagination from its players that other titles simply don’t. If there are youngsters playing EVE to the level where they can actually make something of themselves and cause trouble should they want to then they are some very smart youngsters. The stereotypical gang of twelve year old WoW players roaming the place ganking everybody because any idiot will reach level sixty eventually does not appear in EVE. You will not inevitably reach the top in EVE, if you lose a fight you may very well lose a ship and if you lose a ship you damn sure better be able to afford a new one. In my experience there are cheaters, lamers, exploiters and wankers in EVE, just with any game, but even as scummy gankers and pirates a lot of them deserve respect because EVE is not easy.

3. The Combat. All level grind MMOs suffer from what is called Mobflation. This is essentially where a game becomes more difficult only because the stats on the enemies have been inflated, not because of any change to the enemy AI, tactics or in some cases even the graphics. Everquest 2 was a fucker for this. I played the game from level one to almost level 50 and nothing changed, whatsoever, in the gameplay. Same mobs, same skills, same battle tactics required. The only difference was that the numbers at high level were larger. City of Heroes also suffered from this as did WoW, although WoW at least changed the mobs more often and it at least felt less samey. EVE doesn’t do this very often. Yes there is some degree of mobflation, some enemy battleships will be tougher than others, but the standard way it happens is by there being more enemies requiring different tactics. Also combat is never as static as in other MMOs. Level based MMOs I have yet to find one that doesn’t include the enemies basically piling onto you and the fight then takes place as a static exchange of body blows. In WoW sometimes an enemy will run for it, and that variety is good to see, but most combat is fought in place. In EVE this is true for some of the bigger ships, but small ship combat is extremely dynamic with many ships reliant on speed for survival. The progression of ship combat is non-linear too, with the smaller ships being just as valid a path as their bigger cousins for pilots. Interceptors and Assault Frigates used properly or in numbers can be a nightmare for heavier ships.

4. The Politics. The masterstroke of the EVE development is what is called 0.0 Space, an area that is completely lawless outside of safe space where people start out. This wild space captures precisely the danger and excitement that old school Ultima Online players will talk about when they speak of the game before Trammel, the safe half of the game, appeared. In 0.0 space anybody could be a killer, anybody could attack you and basically the only security you have is your friends and your own skills. But 0.0 is also where the money is, with the richest ore deposits for mining and the biggest AI controlled pirates to be killed for the best payouts. 0.0 space draws players like the Wild West, regardless of the danger they want the dollars. This is where the politics comes in, because where the developers left out security the players have set up their own. Alliances between player corporations now control vast swathes of 0.0 space, and these alliances often fight. Total War is the result, with battle taking place in the markets, in the forums, and of course, in space. Betrayals, bribes, battles and all of it in the spirit of the game. The hands off approach that the developers took has lead to the creation of genuine factions which are far more dynamic than the artificial factions and the artificial wars of other games. Warcraft for instance has two factions, but there is nothing at stake, no reason for them to fight apart from the fact that they can, nothing beneficial can change hands, one side cannot be eradicated. Granted in EVE you can’t literally kill off a player faction, that would require shutting down accounts and so forth, but you can take their territory, destroy all their stuff and force them to flee back to safe space in defeat.

So this is why I’m back in EVE. I am weak it has to be said, but I’d say EVE has to be a contender for the best MMORPG ever made. With Pirates of the Burning Sea and Age of Conan in the pipeline I might not be playing for too long, but that remains to be seen.