I’ve been getting into EVE Online lately, thanks to the free 14-day trial. At this point I am not even sure if EVE Online should be classified as a game. It’s a glorified spreadsheet. As a game, it sucks and I am not sure why 100k people would pay a monthly subscription fee to run a bunch of numbers in a graphical spreadsheet.
Gameplay mainly consists of, well, doing nothing. You hit the autopilot or the mining laser and then wait for a few minutes. Rinse, repeat. Sometimes a bunch of feisty pirates try to murder you. You pick your target from the overview list, lock on your weapons, pick an orbit range from a context menue and switch on your laser. Then you watch. A few minutes later, either you or the pirate is dead. The only form of interactivity in combat I have found so far is occasionally hitting your shield booster to partially replenish your shields. It’s “auto-attack” combat in its most simplicistic form. Maybe combat gets more interactive once you acquire more sophisticated equipment but I somehow doubt it would change much.
Missions work the same. You set your destination, hit the autopilot and wait. Sometimes you even get to do the combat thingy while running a mission. Excitement abound. Mining in EVE has been one of the dullest gaming experiences in my life. Collecting ressources has been boring in every single game ever made but EVE takes the cake. You autopilot to an asteroid field, you switch on the mining laser and wait until your cargo hold is full and then you head back to base to sell or you dump the ressources into a container which you can later haul back to the base. If you’re mining in more dangerous area, you get to do more “combat”, either PvE or PvP.
Whether you win or lose in combat seems to be entirely dependent on your equipment and your character’s skill. Skills are developed automatically. You select a skill and then you wait. Like the rest of the game, you actually don’t have to DO anything. You don’t even have to be online. Offline skill developement certainly solves the problems of catassers outclassing everyone else but instead of rewarding those who play the most, the system rewards those who have been paying subsciption fees for the longest. Can’t say I am particularly fond of the idea.
I called EVE Online a glorified spreadsheet. I’m not exaggerating. The graphics are just window-dressing, they don’t provide any information. You don’t even have to look at what’s happening. I’ve stopped paying attention after a few minutes. All you do is pick stuff from lists and context menus. The game would work every bit as well without any graphics. Just slap together a standard Windows UI with all the options, have some text feedback and a progress bar and you’d have a fully functional non-graphical version of EVE Online.
There must be at least something that keeps 100k people playing and paying. Beats me, but it’s probably related to the whole PvP and corporations (the EVE equivalent of guilds) thing. From what I’ve gleaned from various forums, EVE seems to have a fairly intriguing guild politics and warfare aspect. So we have this really shoddily designed, mind-numbingly boring sandbox that does at least one thing well: it provides the players with sufficient tools to entertain each other.
I’ve never been much of a fan of sandbox-type gameplay in MMOs but there are a lot of people out there who prefer it to grinding through static content. Not matter how much EVE Online sucks as a game, the game has a surprisingly large number of fans. 100k subscribers is an amazing number for a game developed by a tiny Icelandic game developer, especially considering that EVE Online isn’t high fantasy mainstream.
8-10-2006 @ 07:18
go do some PVP you noob
10-1-2006 @ 13:05
Well every game is a database with input, output and various functions at the end of the day. Some may require fine motor skills and a good mouse with a durable shoot button. Others emphasise more brains, strategy and human interaction. It depends what your into mate, if you wan’t skill go play CS, or even better save that for the real world, go surfing or learn to play the guitar. And yes mining is boring, let other people do that and find a different role. That’s why you’ve failed to experience the dynamics and potential of pvp which is a completely different game to what you’ve just written about.
Solo is boring I agree, mining moreso, you need to socialise. You’ve failed to discover is Eve is not just a database, but a cybernetic database with 20k+ real people interacting and influencing its structure. Sure you have to make some compromises with the interface to achieve that (point and click etc..), but they’ve done better than anyone else, and there are a lot of tactical options to explore.
Sharp teamwork and social interaction make this game, not the interface.
1-7-2007 @ 14:31
Was looking for an EVE Online mining spreadsheet and came across this (ironic no?) I agree with jetax, get some friends playing and u will see a totally different side of the game. Even World of Warcraft is bloody boring on your own, but get some friends playing and suddenly it’s much more fun. Oh yeah, try mining in low security space and u definitely won’t be bored long.
7-2-2007 @ 15:25
I’ve tried the trial too and frankly this game is just to get ISK (in game credits) to make your character better, buy stuffs and buy ships. The only fun comes from you going into battles with your friends online. I can get that fun from any game at my local cybercafe or even from my Freelancer game.
There’s no space anomaly to discover or mystery to unravel. Heck, there’s no aliens either and this is a space game! We are ALONE.
12-5-2007 @ 11:42
Well said mate, this has got to be one of the worst online games ive ever played. The control system is lame, i’m glad i only played the trial version of this.
9-30-2008 @ 13:39
I also played the game on the trial account and the 1st 10 or so days i didnt think it was any good, but once u get out meeting others in the game and start understanding the ways of evolving it all makes sence its not just a spreadsheet it’s about team work and comunication !
11-27-2008 @ 02:54
I have been playing Eve online for over three years and I have yet to get tired of it. I’m an industrial character mainly in the profession of mining and am one of the elite miners of my corp. I am not a pvp player by any means but i try, when I am called into battle by my corp directors, I will dust off my enyo assault frigate and support my fleet mates. There is nothing like being in a fleet battle with over 50+ players shooting it out, risking over 100mil in implants in my game body. Granted it doesn’t happen often for us unless some grievers wardec us. yes, my profession is one of the most boring ones in the game, but there are other things to it, such as explorationto discover that rare ore baring belt that may prove invaluable to your construction of your product, manufacturing, research, marketing, contracts with other corps or whole alliances. And yes it is a huge spreadsheet to be honest, but what part of running a business isn’t? That is one of the major functions of this game is being able to work with data, be it numbers or information, it is key to success in this game. That is one of the reasons why guilds in this game are called corps or corporations, they are just that, a corporation. It’s a numbers game! It could be an industrial corp such as mine that makes ships or equipment for sale on the market or for contractors. The game economy is almost completely run by the players which makes my profession very important. Without the mining and refining of ore there are no minerals (granted it is the most boring profession but someone has to do it). If there are no minerals then there is no production. If there is no production then there are no pirate corps or mercenary corps or a corp/alliance fleet. In essance pvp altogether would be nonexistant and the game would be pointless to play as a whole. None of this can be seen in only a trial account because frankly no one will recruit you if your not going to play for longer than 10 days. It’s simply a waste of time for a ceo of a corp to add you to the roster just to have you quit before you even learn to use the interface. Simply said, you couldn’t see much of anything other than the noob areas of the game in the first two weeks of playing. You must venture out into 0.0 or low security space to have any real fun, instead your just sticking to high security space and never really playing the game. I respect your opinion but i would have to say that for me to be playing this game for over three years, it has to have some good points to it, yes? I would recommend this game to all who are interested.
3-6-2009 @ 18:26
Eve Online is the very definition of a geritocracy — a universe ruled by those who’ve been there the longest. They’ve had the most time to train, to learn essential skills, and to build the capital necessary to thrive. Skill doesn’t enter into this equation in the least; all other things being equal, you will NEVER be as good as the person who started playing a week before you.
That’s bad game design. While it might be sufficient to string some of you along in the hopes that you’ll become ever more powerful through attrition, it doesn’t hide the poor design elements to those not hopelessly drawn in.
And honestly, Nicoli, what kind of argument is it to say that YOU have been playing for three years, so the game must have good points. I’m sure some deranged person out there eats dog shit for breakfast every day, but that doesn’t mean dog shit has redeeming breakfast qualities — it just means the person eating it has brain damage.
6-27-2009 @ 03:54
All the people that judge this game seem to do so after reading a review and maybe trying it out for a few days. This isnt a game for most people, if you like a story to be told to you and the path to be layed out for you then stick to FPS.
It seems like the two major arguments that people bring up are the skillpoints and the combat.
Firstly it is possible to have more skillpoints over all then someone who started out a year before you. It is quite easy, you carefully pick the skills that let you train others faster, use implants, etc. In short it is possible. Now even if that wasnt the case, the idea that someone older then you is going to kill you every time is so ridiculous, I find it extreamly hard to believe that anyone who says this has actually tryed the game. A three year old character can get their ass handed to them by a 6 month old character. Skillpoints dont always equate to combat skillpoints. Personaly I started life out as a miner, so alot of my training time was devoted to that.
As for the combat, I hear alot of people say that eve combat is decided only on the skill of the characters and the fittings. I agree to a certain extent. I cant pick a crap ship with my low skillpoint character and hope to take on an awesome 3 year old pro in his pimped ship. But then again I cant take a rowboat out and try to take down an aircraft carrier irl now can I? That being said money and skillpoints certantly do not mean nearly as much as you would think. Someone can get a 2 month old character in a ship that cost less then 5 mil and take down a 1 billion isk faction fit battleship with ease. Simply because Battleships dont take on smaller ships very well, as in real life.So yeah, its nice to have money and sp, but if you are retarded with it your going to get pwnd by some low sp nubbins.
Basicly before you all judge the game I hope you try it out in more then two aspects (mission running and mining). Join a corp (This is an MMO after all), try some PvP, or group PvE. It really makes all the difference. If at the end of it you still dont like it, then that is fair, it simply isnt for everyone. But dont bash the hell out of it just because you only played it for a few days. I wouldnt be playing this game if all there was to it was mission running and mining.
7-12-2009 @ 03:20
This Still sums up EVE perfect…..Enjoy
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/208-Eve-Online
7-13-2009 @ 20:36
Pay attention to this part: “all other things being equal, you will NEVER be as good as the person who started playing a week before you.” I find unconvincing your arguments showing how a masterfully played lowbie can outwit a total retard. That can happen in any game.
The real issue is when you compare apples to apples. Given two players of equal skill and game knowledge, the player who has played the longest will invariably defeat someone who has played for a shorter period of time. That is, by definition, a geritocracy.
Oh, and if you’re going to bandy about such nonsense as “Battleships don’t take on smaller ships very well, as in real life,” it’s hard to take you seriously. Battleships in real life obliterated smallers ships with ease and had no issues against them whatsoever. Historically, battleships were lost not to smaller ships (LOL), but to either other battleships (e.g. Bismark sinking the HMS Hood) or by aircraft (Birmark, Tirpitz, Yamato, Musashi, and the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor).
9-5-2009 @ 21:27
@ Skip
Uhhhmmm there is indeed a fast and much smaller ship type what can “easily” destroy a big and bad (and old) battleship in real life. It’s called a torpedo boat, P-boat, or other name, depending on the country.
You are probably referring to ship types like light/heavy cruisers and other ships with guns as main weapons. Those would indeed have a hard time against battleships. So … not so much nonsense as you say it is :-)
9-22-2009 @ 16:58
You are completely wrong, Edwin. The most significant ship ever sunk in “real” life by torpedo boats was the HMS Manchester, a British light cruiser. They were largely used in anti-shipping activities. More modern torpedo boats were equipped with anti-shipping missiles with 30+ mile ranges – used more for how cheap they were at anti-shipping rather than effective.
Torpedo boats have all but disappeared today because they are entirely useless against modern fleets with aircraft cover. It doesn’t matter how nimble or quick you are in the water; you aren’t going to outrun a light carrier-based helicopter with anti-ship missiles and guns.
So, let me say this again. Torpedo ships were used against merchant ships. They were never (successfully) used against heavy ships like battleships. Why? Because that’s ludicrous, just like EVE.