{"id":1824,"date":"2013-07-16T16:38:21","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T21:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/wordpress\/?p=1824"},"modified":"2017-08-29T13:25:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T18:25:09","slug":"14-days-of-eve-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/14-days-of-eve-online\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Days of EVE Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2013.07.05.05.50.58\"<\/a>EVE is a notoriously perilous universe where corporate espionage is intensified by real-world money scams and the\u00a0innocent act of farming space rocks leads to “suicide ganking” as non-consensual PVP griefers unabashedly toy with the unwary, fully exploiting the game’s clone and security mechanics. The MMO’s developer, CCP, staunchly defends all duplicity and piracy\u00a0falling under the open-ended software agreement, so no amount of\u00a0clapping will restore the wings to billions of stolen ISK or real-world dollars.\u00a0Knowing of its reputation and [entertaining] tales of dev-endorsed greed, I\u00a0downloaded the trial and jotted notes during all 14 days\u00a0of my experience within the villified\u00a0EVE (Everyone Vs. Everyone).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Day 1<\/span><\/strong>
\nIntent on not becoming victimized by a 9 year old with a low-end frigate, I cut my teeth on 3 sets of training missions and amassed a respectable fleet of Minmatar ships that would be a worthy stable should I be executed. I jumped at every shadow and fumbled with the traveling mechanic. I was soon armed with a mining vessel uncommitted to its craft and researching my basic skills that would aid my ability to use Afterburners, Hull Repair, Shields and the Piloting ability. Before too long, a user portrait with a WANTED tag rested not 20 yards off my bow, a cloud of drones erupting into space.\u00a0This illicited\u00a0my hasty retreat and a request for advice\u00a0from the local Rookie chat. Instead of a clear course of action, two helpful denizens put a combined total of 500,000 ISK bounty on my head. With gritted teeth, I worked several hours to return the exact favor.<\/p>\n

\"EVE_Online_Retribution_OREFrigate\"<\/a>\"rifter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Space mining\" is more lucrative than a career in \"space miming\".<\/pre>\n
Day 2<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nNew Goal: The fear yielded from mere survival can not warrant a game, so I consciously put it in my head that Having Fun was top priority. To me this meant abandoning my Veldspar\/Scordite endeavor, though I had just doubled my efficiency and\u00a0“Mike Skullduggery”\u00a0had leveled\u00a0his production skills overnight. The hours spent monitoring a set of dual lasers and scanning the infinite horizon for player-killing scallywags paled to the variety of military and security missions. Space Combat is where it’s at. I\u00a0sold ships built from spare materials and\u00a0hauled my Venture out on ill-suited events of playing decoy and tracking rogue NPC pi”rat”es, of which exploded in satisfying finality. Perhaps most importantly, I dared to say “hi” to several passing\u00a0pilots.<\/p>\n
Day 3<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nMilitary missions were the order for the day, which led to some capacitor\/shield upgrades and a push towards an actual space-faring coffin designed for what I subjected it to. This, of course, happened to be suicide missions against 5 to 1 odds composed of heavy transporters and swarms of rats. I wiled my time with “Indie Game: The Movie” while attempting this last feat of the day, rage-quitting in a huff after failed attempts produced nothing beyond frazzled nerves from tangible death, mere seconds before the warp drives kicked in and flung me to the icy isolation of\u00a0random space.<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.03.02.55.56\"<\/a><\/p>\n
I think I see my house from here.<\/pre>\n
Day 4<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nI felt my interest declining with the lack of perceived achievement, so a renewed vigor in character planning produced an earnest outline that was doable within the limitations of a trial. Skills became the focus as a quick trip to the market tab revealed what I would need to fly a Destroyer, an eater of\u00a0frigates which I had become accustomed to latching onto and eradicating one by one. My Rifter was fun, but its speed didn’t seem a fortuitous exchange for armor or firepower when the going got tough. Obnoxiousness propelled me to discover the “block” button, my chat window eventually being minimized because of distractions. Though early security missions won’t make anyone rich, I found my “space legs”\u00a0in navigating the UIs hotkeys as well as feeling at home in plotting a course through the 5000 star universe. In EVE, everyone wants to hear you scream.<\/p>\n
Day 5<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nI knew my first death was inevitable, but I still rode the euphoric high\u00a0induced by\u00a0wielding the\u00a0Talwar destroyer. With giddy me at the helm of 7 rocket bays, the ship was the harbinger of rat destruction. No longer was pointing turrets\u00a0necessary; my prey disintegrated in droves,\u00a0paired volleys of Nova Rockets rotating in full 360 degrees.\u00a0In scouring the player market for deals, I made a 10,000 ammo purchase from seven jumps away, leading to a lengthy\u00a0trip that proved unnaturally tense despite its redundancy. Suddenly, without warning, the unimaginable happened as a direct threat broadcast to my com channel, but I chuckled through beads of sweat in recognizing an irrational AI pirate looking to bite off more than its malfunctioning circuits could chew.<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.05.05.58.10\"<\/a>\"2013.07.03.03.36.42\"<\/a><\/p>\n
It's a miracle that I left my ship without being ganked and shived.<\/pre>\n
Day 6<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nThe security missions were now easily handled by my new investment, the multi-million dollar ship (outfitted with the cheapest weapons available) tearing through drones and all manner of frigates like tissues. I did much more seek-and-destroy missions to generate a nest-egg, my standing with a couple Agents gaining traction, but I soon witnessed how lame the actual “story” missions could be. The writing for this game is generally flavor-less, but I was especially unimpressed by a specific briefing fragment that instructed my gunboat to perform an unimpeded\u00a01-jump courier run.<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.05.06.51.35\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Time to launch fireworks and take names.... and I'm all outta names.<\/pre>\n
Day 7<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nI rested. Taking a break from EVE, I made sure to load up my character with enough flight and special equipment skills to plan out the next 2 days. I was\u00a0looking forward to outfitting the Talwar with at least an\u00a0Energy Leech to refill my capacitor before snuffing the lives from my\u00a0languid prey.<\/p>\n
Day 8<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nTruly in patterned grind-mode at this point, EVE was just starting to sink its tendrils into my life, altering my behavior through repetition and positive rewards, a bevy of treasures, skills, and mystery just beyond my limited grasp. I thought about it everyday, researching the intricacies of Blueprint utilization and\u00a0System Security Status\u00a0during my work hours. During actual play hours, the game wasn’t any different today than the previous, but\u00a0I polished off\u00a0the same cycle of missions at greater pay, eventually vacating to the fringe of “safety” that defined the imagined line between civilized space and the dangerous outcasts. I felt as if on safari, and started to realize how little I knew.<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.05.07.06.38\"<\/a>\"2013.07.05.05.11.47\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Minmatar space is typically red, but stellar rainbow farts are pretty.<\/pre>\n
Day 9<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nThere’s always a bigger ship. In my mind I’d already achieved so much, but the internet and wikis insisted over and again in the benefits of a mid-level Cruiser: small enough that battleships can’t hit, but quick enough to traverse the galaxy with style. A Stabber would suit me just fine, being the quickest cruiser for the Minmatar race and a choice foundation for many PVPers. Since I didn’t plan on joining a corporation, the solitude seemed more managable in something with\u00a0thrice my current speed and twice the armor. Visions of power danced across my dilated eyes, the persistent conversation occurring in the lower-left being more than just a distraction.<\/p>\n
In Rookie Chat, some poor slob complained loudly, demanding help with every facet down to his inability to right-click an object for more info. I fought the urge, but the game was corrupting me, breaking me. I soon teased the trolling fool, thanking him for having at least enough sense to\u00a0discover his keyboard to illustrate his stupidity.\u00a0This went on for\u00a020 minutes before I\u00a0placed a sizable bounty on his pinhead and blocked any further communication to prevent the worst in me from resurfacing.<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.07.01.40.37\"<\/a>\"2013.07.03.02.19.53\"<\/a><\/p>\n
The brooding visuals amplify the mystery, and dangers, of exploration.<\/pre>\n
Day 10<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nTo combat a slippery slide into\u00a0the\u00a0assured\u00a0perversion of this EVE experiment, I cast aside the siren song of community-supported asshole-ism and chucked my feelings of noob-superiority out the window. Today was spent mending the bridge between the PVE pilot I had become with\u00a025,000 of my fellow\u00a0trial-accounters. I watched the chat thread like a hawk, jumping on any question I could, rapid-firing responses with more detail than was expected or even desired. Rarely a thanks, never a reward. The security mission grind had become rote, though profitable, and I happily reached out to a community that obviously struggled to understand the mechanics as much as I discerned,\u00a0many neglecting the training missions or in-window browser help.<\/p>\n
To prove I still retained a mean streak, I imparted a bit more of my wealth to the jerks whom had painted my own WANTED target on day one.\u00a0I wore it as a badge of honor even now,\u00a0evidence of\u00a0 this society’s trial by fire, as I added another 500,000 ISK to each username.<\/p>\n
Day 11<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Level 1 security missions remained dull, easy. I had outfitted my cruiser well (with influences from select strategy guides)\u00a0and although it performed admirably, simply aggroing my foes with medium turrets at long range before obliterating them with homing missiles was becoming unfulfilling. To boot, traveling from wreck to wreck with a salvage gun was lucratively tedious. I sought challenge and something new, an inflated ego gravitating towards densely heavy\u00a0concepts of running merchandise and traversing low-sec space, secretly wanting to test my mettle vs. one of these fabled “human Pirates” that I had heard so much about. I could always just run away, right?\u00a0For the time being, I settled on scanning my active systems for a Level 2 security agent while managing three warehouses in dumping salvaged junk into a saturated marketplace.<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.07.00.35.31\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Like a spider, my stabber collected flies and supped upon their wrecks.<\/pre>\n
Day 12<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nMy Stabber was blown to pieces by a gate camper. On a routine run of purchasing cheap and\u00a0jumping gates\u00a0to acquire cargo, I navigated through .4 low-sec space en route to a station in high-sec. That little pocket of lawlessness concealed a battle-cruiser with\u00a0his weapons trained on a\u00a0warp disrupter and apparently some kind of capacitor-drainer. In 30 seconds, I was zapped upon arrival, made the mistake of firing back (you gain your own aggression timers), and had\u00a0every piece of my hard earned space-bucks simultaneously dismantled\u00a0in a concentrated blast of unmitigated terror. Crestfallen, I flew a civilian shuttle to my gravesite to collect the intended cargo and glean further information from my demise. The chat room cackled out a resounding “welcome to low-sec” as I shakingly picked the bones of my own clone, its haunting stillness drifting listlessly in\u00a0a concentration of shrapnel that used to be my 12 million ISK ship and equipment. “It’s not a big deal.”, I said unconvincingly, “I’ll just buy another Stabber.”<\/p>\n
…. I did. And it got blown up a second time! Not by the camper (whom had fled), but by an asteroid’s invisible collision\u00a0box preventing\u00a0evacuation\u00a0for 10 minutes as I desperately pleaded,\u00a0hurled insults, and cursed a pack of rats back to the confines of hell, them disobeying and happily shooting me through the translucent rock. ‘Tis a dark day in gaming since the 28 million ISK, hours\u00a0of accumulated loss, almost defeated me.<\/p>\n
\"2013_07_09_00_45_59\"<\/a>\"2013.07.03.04.40.30\"<\/a><\/p>\n
I don't remember piloting nude, but it was a crazy 14 days.<\/pre>\n
Day 13<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nBut I bounced back. Now trained in drone tactics, my bankrupt character sailed the nebulae in\u00a0yet another\u00a0Stabber,\u00a0finally able to equip a set of\u00a0leveled turrets and\u00a0to host a flurry of minions whom simultaneously shoot incoming fighters and salvage their wrecks. I rarely did much beyond acquiring targets, lying in wait as a web-bound spider, the blazing speed of hostile weaponry decimating droves of enemies, rank and file. It’s in doing\u00a0this, triumphing over\u00a0challenges and growing back stronger,\u00a0that I realized the impending date that loomed closer…. ever closer.\u00a0The EVE Online trial would end soon.<\/p>\n
Day 14<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nDo I purchase? Do I dare fund a hobby that consumed so much of my attention,\u00a0a singular game that I’ll never own? It’s true\u00a0that\u00a0funding your subscription\u00a0through a 550,000,000 ISK\u00a0[monthly] license\u00a0is possible,\u00a0but I would\u00a0never\u00a0reach that dizzying height, nor would I want to devote that kind\u00a0of time. That kind of effort.\u00a0EVE could be a second job if I let it, but maybe the decision\u00a0could be left to someone else. The soul-searching had\u00a0gone on for a week if we’re being honest, as I became ever more entranced with the prospects of truly transitioning to\u00a0MMOs, and the “big” one on top of it all. I told everyone: my co-workers, my family, my wife, always probing for someone to reveal\u00a0the answer that I already knew. I didn’t WANT to get sucked into something like this, but I\u00a0knew that it was quite possible, quite likely….<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.03.04.28.14\"<\/a>\"2013.07.03.03.43.55\"<\/a><\/p>\n
And with that, I quit.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0did have\u00a0a little help on the last day since I found, and subsequently failed, a level 2 security mission, but by this time it seemed quite clear how EVE operated. I’m a solo-player, meaning I’m not in it for the comraderie nor the good of mankind. In fact, there is little “good” to be found in EVE’s mankind…. and rightly so. It’s simply way too easy to subvert your compassion in exchange for an easy buck or to hijack somebody’s good mood. Although this makes for riveting gameplay, there is a darker theme at work here.<\/p>\n
Beyond my own limited trial (where I only experienced a single well-deserved lesson from a well-armed\u00a0assassin), EVE Online is an experiment in and of itself, a fascinating\u00a0ant farm of libertarian freelancers who carve out the fun they seek with the very tools provided…. including fellow players. You can be anything: a simple miner reaping the spoils of sitting in one place, a hot-shot mission-runner who thinks he could handle a live pirate; you can enlist in the military and fight off racial incursions or even work your lingual magic up the chain of an in-game corporation. You can lie and cheat a path across the universe and be applauded for it, rewarded for it, fusing and breaking alliances, real and fake friendships,\u00a0drawing benefit when possible (or the lulz).<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.05.03.56.18\"<\/a><\/p>\n
These couplings look primed to numb the beaks of a thousand Gungans.<\/pre>\n
The game supports these possibilities and encourages creativity within a player-driven market, corporate hierarchies, dynamic territories. And although I respect this universe (fear <\/em>it even) I simply can’t spend real hours and dollars to traverse the trials of what feels like a giant “what if?” scenario. Instead of paying to perform the same lack-luster missions over and over until I’m\u00a0gobbled by a bigger fish, I prefer to stay on the edge of the pond and glean the most fascinating stories and outcomes from the community, the true fisherman,\u00a0instead of forcing myself to\u00a0live the tales in order to be entertained.<\/p>\n
The Bottom Line<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
EVE Online is an emphatically enthralling simulator, forged even stronger through Dust 514’s expansion into that same world via cross-genre FPS action. This game has much of what I’d love to see in other games: freedom, enthusiasm, excitement, and danger but it lacks a bit of the safety that might indeed unravel the very facets that I praise it for. Despite this and a host of smaller issues like the visual redundancy of space and the indirect method of piloting, EVE’s universe has reportedly improved each year since its advent a decade ago (it’s older than WOW). For this very reason, I personally expect the experience to be sharpened and honed beyond a razor’s edge, since CCP has proven\u00a0capable (if unwilling) of sating the particular needs of various gamer types.<\/p>\n
I just wish the\u00a0subscription was cheaper and that I wasn’t apt to lose 12 hours in a single run. I’ll own the mistake of traveling a single jump through .4 space, but that asteroid thing is a flat-out blemish on EVE’s reputation. This game is a perfect excursion for those looking for something unique and challenging, guaranteed to appeal to many, to frustrate a few, and to destroy a handful.\u00a0It is quite literally the most cohesive and daunting gaming experience that echoes the fundamental goals\u00a0put forth by\u00a0its developers, and a logistical behemoth powered by the players, for the players.<\/p>\n
EVE is true to itself, if nothing else. Unfortunately, I am at\u00a0too big\u00a0of risk\u00a0at losing my time and efforts (maybe even morality) within its inky, unfathomable\u00a0depths. There’s just too much at stake for me to personally invest in it.<\/p>\n
But, by all means, I encourage others to\u00a0take a stab at making their mark on this fictional galaxy.\u00a0(Bring two or three back-ups though, just in case.)<\/p>\n
\"2013.07.06.23.01.16\"<\/a>\"2013.07.03.03.27.43\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Take SPF 9,000 (or more.) EVE Online will bring the heat.<\/pre>\n
\"2013.07.03.03.23.52\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EVE is a notoriously perilous universe where corporate espionage is intensified by real-world money scams and the\u00a0innocent act of farming space rocks leads to “suicide ganking” as non-consensual PVP griefers unabashedly toy with the unwary, fully exploiting the game’s clone … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-game-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1824"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2364,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions\/2364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}