6 ms·

Can someone explain what EVE is? And explain it like I don't know anything about it (and I don't). Wikipedia, etc. don't cut it and I still don't understand wha

Can someone explain what EVE is? And explain it like I don't know anything about it (and I don't). Wikipedia, etc. don't cut it and I still don't understand what EVE is and why people like it. Thanks a lot!

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
EVE Online's a space massively multiplayer online game. Unlike World of Warcraft, instead of there being multiple servers for a given areas (hence not everyone sees the same people in that area), EVE allocates one server per area, or something like that, meaning there is only one EVE online world. EVE's considered very interesting because there's a quite sophisticated virtual economy and a larger emphasis on trade. I don't play the game though, so I might be wrong :)
njharman 14y ago
If you don't know what a MMO is then you need to back up and ask that question first. Eve is an single "shard" MMO with a starship piloting theme. Similar in ways to Elite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) The economy (and related such as production, resource ownership, politics, warfare) are, to an extent not found in most MMOS, player driven. That is what sets Eve apart. People are a varied lot and thus like it for varied reasons. There are several ways to enjoy game.
Tooluka 14y ago
EVE is a spreadsheets with a chat. Why people like it? Because everything else is so much simpler and dull (except elves in armored bikinis of course). It's like comparing Lego Mindstorms to a Barby game set. The latter is way more popular though :) , just like WoW and Lineage vs EVE.
- jpxxx 14y ago
  Someone once referred to Eve Online as 'Ayn Rand's Battle Spreadsheets".
CDRdude 14y ago
EVE is a MMORPG, where people fly around a galaxy (this one: http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png ), in spaceships. Unlike WoW, there are no player classes (warrior, shaman, mage, etc), there are just different spaceships you can fly. You can't jump into any spaceship you want right off the bat though, you have to spend skill points in order to have the skill "Pilot spaceships of type X". Also, some are horrifically expensive, and can take up to two weeks of real-world time to construct. If your spaceship dies, you have to buy a new one. A rule of thumb is never fly what you can't afford to lose. Unlike WoW, there are no raids and bosss. There are NPC spaceships that you can kill for loot, but that sort of thing is small potatoes--there's no equivalent to a 40 man raid grouping up for a boss fight to get good loot. EVE has no stated goal, there's no endgame, except for what you make of it. Also, the mechanics of EVE let player created alliances control territory, in the form of star systems. Right now, I understand that Reddit and SomethingAwful are the two giants in the galaxy (Test Alliance Please Ignore, and Goonswarm Federation in the map I linked above). There's also a bit of the galaxy set aside for NPC space, where people are somewhat safe from other players, which is the bit in the middle of the map I linked. Another interesting aspect of EVE is the economy, which is quite a bit more in-depth than other MMOs. Since I don't play EVE myself, I can't say much about it, but I do know that people can become fairly wealthy in-game, just by playing the market, even to the point of paying for their subscription. I'll just say that EVE is noted for it's economy, and leave it at that. But the most notable thing about EVE is the politics. Because everyone is in the same game world (again, unlike WoW, where there are hundreds of identical Azeroths on different servers), the stage is set for conflicts on a huge scale. Also, the developers are notoriously hands-off. A spy infiltrated your alliance and stole your entire treasury? It's happened before, and it will happen again. If you have the time, I think you should consider reading a little bit of this: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=88121 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=881..., which is a snapshot of an interesting event in EVE, that I put together from various sources a few years back.
- joshstrange 14y ago
  I just read through that entire EVE post and WOW was it long. It was a really good read, even if somewhat repetitive, and just wanted to say thanks for linking to it!
saraid216 14y ago
Let's slingshot you into the future, where empires span hundreds of solar systems, spaceships abound everywhere, cloning technology is available to an elite class called capsuleers, and human beings still act human. You're a capsuleer. A capsuleer is someone who can pilot certain specially designed ships. As someone who has ascended into virtual godhood by the benefit of effective immortality, you have entered a new plane of power dynamics. And because you're a gamer, the galaxy is an oyster to exploit for your amusement. The simplest play is to fly around and shoot things. There are pirates, other players, other factions. They all shoot back, probably. Some of them do it better than others. Eventually, you run out of ammo, or your ship is destroyed, or you want something bigger and badder. That gets you to start thinking about how you shoot things and how to do it efficiently and effectively. That gets you thinking about which ship to fly, which guns to put on it, and so on... and how to get all those things cheaply, or at least for a smaller cost than it takes to make money with it. The ships, the guns, the ammo: these all come from somewhere. Other players make it. They do it by stripping asteroid belts of resources, holding territory where they can conduct R&D, and build every bullet you expend, every ship you pilot. Some of those resources are more elusive: they come from gas clouds which are hard to detect, or components found in uncharted systems. There are ways to get there and exploit those resources, too. And naturally, with so many moving pieces, so many different agents, you get hierarchical organizations, larger infrastructure, traders conducting arbitrage and moving freight, bigger and badder ships and bigger and badder groups to hold vaster tracts of territory. And with that comes opportunities to scam and con others, opportunities to be a leader or a spy, and so on. And all of that is supported by the game. You're constantly going to have to deal with the social repercussions of whichever path you take: a lone pilot won't have support infrastructure from their corporation; an alliance leader has to maintain the interest of his members; time spent shooting things is time not spent mining asteroids; and so on. What sounds cool? What do you want to do? Can you stomach what it'll take to be in that role? Can you understand mechanics and people well enough to make it happen? Then you can probably do it. That's EVE.
- willvarfar 14y ago
  suddenly I understand http://0x10c.com/ http://0x10c.com/ :)
- 14y ago
inopinatus 14y ago
Do you remember how Excel 97 included an easter egg flight simulator? It's like that, only inverted.

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago

EVE Online's a space massively multiplayer online game. Unlike World of Warcraft, instead of there being multiple servers for a given areas (hence not everyone sees the same people in that area), EVE allocates one server per area, or something like that, meaning there is only one EVE online world. EVE's considered very interesting because there's a quite sophisticated virtual economy and a larger emphasis on trade. I don't play the game though, so I might be wrong :)

njharman 14y ago

If you don't know what a MMO is then you need to back up and ask that question first. Eve is an single "shard" MMO with a starship piloting theme. Similar in ways to Elite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) The economy (and related such as production, resource ownership, politics, warfare) are, to an extent not found in most MMOS, player driven. That is what sets Eve apart. People are a varied lot and thus like it for varied reasons. There are several ways to enjoy game.

Tooluka 14y ago

EVE is a spreadsheets with a chat. Why people like it? Because everything else is so much simpler and dull (except elves in armored bikinis of course). It's like comparing Lego Mindstorms to a Barby game set. The latter is way more popular though :) , just like WoW and Lineage vs EVE.

jpxxx 14y ago
Someone once referred to Eve Online as 'Ayn Rand's Battle Spreadsheets".

CDRdude 14y ago

EVE is a MMORPG, where people fly around a galaxy (this one: http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png ), in spaceships. Unlike WoW, there are no player classes (warrior, shaman, mage, etc), there are just different spaceships you can fly. You can't jump into any spaceship you want right off the bat though, you have to spend skill points in order to have the skill "Pilot spaceships of type X". Also, some are horrifically expensive, and can take up to two weeks of real-world time to construct. If your spaceship dies, you have to buy a new one. A rule of thumb is never fly what you can't afford to lose. Unlike WoW, there are no raids and bosss. There are NPC spaceships that you can kill for loot, but that sort of thing is small potatoes--there's no equivalent to a 40 man raid grouping up for a boss fight to get good loot. EVE has no stated goal, there's no endgame, except for what you make of it. Also, the mechanics of EVE let player created alliances control territory, in the form of star systems. Right now, I understand that Reddit and SomethingAwful are the two giants in the galaxy (Test Alliance Please Ignore, and Goonswarm Federation in the map I linked above). There's also a bit of the galaxy set aside for NPC space, where people are somewhat safe from other players, which is the bit in the middle of the map I linked. Another interesting aspect of EVE is the economy, which is quite a bit more in-depth than other MMOs. Since I don't play EVE myself, I can't say much about it, but I do know that people can become fairly wealthy in-game, just by playing the market, even to the point of paying for their subscription. I'll just say that EVE is noted for it's economy, and leave it at that. But the most notable thing about EVE is the politics. Because everyone is in the same game world (again, unlike WoW, where there are hundreds of identical Azeroths on different servers), the stage is set for conflicts on a huge scale. Also, the developers are notoriously hands-off. A spy infiltrated your alliance and stole your entire treasury? It's happened before, and it will happen again. If you have the time, I think you should consider reading a little bit of this: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=88121 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=881..., which is a snapshot of an interesting event in EVE, that I put together from various sources a few years back.

joshstrange 14y ago
I just read through that entire EVE post and WOW was it long. It was a really good read, even if somewhat repetitive, and just wanted to say thanks for linking to it!

saraid216 14y ago

Let's slingshot you into the future, where empires span hundreds of solar systems, spaceships abound everywhere, cloning technology is available to an elite class called capsuleers, and human beings still act human. You're a capsuleer. A capsuleer is someone who can pilot certain specially designed ships. As someone who has ascended into virtual godhood by the benefit of effective immortality, you have entered a new plane of power dynamics. And because you're a gamer, the galaxy is an oyster to exploit for your amusement. The simplest play is to fly around and shoot things. There are pirates, other players, other factions. They all shoot back, probably. Some of them do it better than others. Eventually, you run out of ammo, or your ship is destroyed, or you want something bigger and badder. That gets you to start thinking about how you shoot things and how to do it efficiently and effectively. That gets you thinking about which ship to fly, which guns to put on it, and so on... and how to get all those things cheaply, or at least for a smaller cost than it takes to make money with it. The ships, the guns, the ammo: these all come from somewhere. Other players make it. They do it by stripping asteroid belts of resources, holding territory where they can conduct R&D, and build every bullet you expend, every ship you pilot. Some of those resources are more elusive: they come from gas clouds which are hard to detect, or components found in uncharted systems. There are ways to get there and exploit those resources, too. And naturally, with so many moving pieces, so many different agents, you get hierarchical organizations, larger infrastructure, traders conducting arbitrage and moving freight, bigger and badder ships and bigger and badder groups to hold vaster tracts of territory. And with that comes opportunities to scam and con others, opportunities to be a leader or a spy, and so on. And all of that is supported by the game. You're constantly going to have to deal with the social repercussions of whichever path you take: a lone pilot won't have support infrastructure from their corporation; an alliance leader has to maintain the interest of his members; time spent shooting things is time not spent mining asteroids; and so on. What sounds cool? What do you want to do? Can you stomach what it'll take to be in that role? Can you understand mechanics and people well enough to make it happen? Then you can probably do it. That's EVE.

willvarfar 14y ago
suddenly I understand http://0x10c.com/ http://0x10c.com/ :)
14y ago

inopinatus 14y ago

Do you remember how Excel 97 included an easter egg flight simulator? It's like that, only inverted.