The Voodoo that EVE does

Published on 03. Oct, 2008 ... written by Ebonezer Skrewed, Tags: Columns, Ebonezer Skrewed

by Ebonezer Skrewed … So right now it’s 10:00 AM EVE-Online GMT time. Considering the fact that EVE-Online doesn’t take into account daylight savings, I feel rather blessed to shamble out of that pit I call a bed, grab myself a cup of coffee, mumble about how cold it is because I left my window open … And then I click on ‘Play EVE’ on my taskbar. You’d think I’d open up my internet browser, check my e-mails, but no. Click EVE, log in for a bit and then go about and do the other business in my life.

It’s strange how EVE-Online manages to take up so much time or importance in someone’s life who manages to get into the game, isn’t it? When I started playing out, the thought of waking up and putting on EVE-Online was furthest from my mind. I think the primary thoughts where ‘Oh god, why did I stay up so late’ and ‘Coffee or toilet, which one ranks most in my mind’. Now it’s ‘I’m tired, grumpy, lets stick on EVE before the downtime comes on and stick on the kettle for coffee’. So while I sit here, cold, with somehow the sun beaming in through my window, i ponder how EVE-Online has evolved past the point of being a simple game to most of its players beyond the 14-day trial/new player stage. It’s part of their life. You can log on, and just imagine yourself in a massive world filled with all sorts of strange wonders.

And Pirates.

There’s another thing about EVE-Online. More or less, you’re openly welcomed to do whatever you wish. Most games have you playing on one side. The ‘Good’, and the ‘Bad’. I’ll point out the newly released MMORPG Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. I’ve always liked the Warhammer fiction, but it does paint the two sides very brightly. You have goodies, and you have baddies. In EVE-Online there’s generally only one colour: Grey. You’re a grey. You can do good things. You can do bad things. You can do a mix of both and keep that colour of grey for a while, or you can decide ‘I want to be a goodie-too-shoes. I’ll hunt pirates and run missions!’, or you can decide ‘I want to kill and rob people of their precious work and dedication for my own profit and benefit.’ Does that sound overly harsh? It shouldn’t, because I kind of enjoy the ‘rob, pillage, get rich’ part of this game.

I can hear my kettle boiling in the background while I type away at the keyboard, watching my ship float in space beside a docking station. I’ve never been to this solar system before, I do, however, fondly remember the mission that brought me here. A corp mate was having trouble finishing off his mission. The ship he was trying to chase down was about the same speed as him, and he had to be within 48 Km to launch his drones at it. Or something along those lines. Me, in my smaller, faster ship, was called in to generally just ‘bump’ the thing to slow it down, an then use my missiles to help knock it’s shields down. We bumped it, got in close enough to launch what we had at it. Then I went and got a cup of tea, because that thing was tanky.

Eventually, the ship blew up, I made a nice 1 million from half of the bounty for the ship, I got to take my pick of the loot and I shuffled off to this station I’m at the now. I didn’t have the big ship that the other guy had. I didn’t have the tanking ability that my corporation mate had, as he’d been tanking for around 30-odd minutes before he asked me to come in and help, but I was useful anyway. You can play the white side, black side or grey side, but there’s always a benefit to having someone to help you, or you help them, no matter what side or colour you decide to paint yourself as.

Now, my kettles boiled, so I think I’ll go have that cup of tea now…

Ebonezer Skrewed

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2 Responses to “The Voodoo that EVE does”

  1. Ian

    09. Oct, 2008

    I love the fact that ships all their advantages and disadvantages. There is no one ship that will win in all circumstances. This means that players of all skill levels and abilities are useful.

    I also love the moral depth to the game. Too often in our popular culture, as you say, stories depict the 100% good guys vs the 100% bad guys but real life is not like that. We all face within us a daily battle between making good and bad choices, and weighing up what exactly ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are. Only Eve gives you that choice in a virtual world.

    And what makes it even more morally intriguiung is the fact that the game impacts in real life. I heard someone stole something like $15,000 equivalent in Eve. Is it ok because it’s “just a game” or because there is a real world value, does that make it morally wrong?

    I find it interesting from an anthropological point of view. Here you have, in 0.0 space, no rules at all. But the first thing people do in this situation is to form groups and impose all sorts of rules on themselves! One corp I almost joined said they would line a serious rule-breaker up in front of a firing squad and pod them!

  2. Anastasia

    09. Oct, 2008

    Although I like the idea of throwing an unrepentant rulebreaker up against the wall and podding them, that’s just something that simply isn’t possible in Eve without some deception. Someone breaks the rules, you can’t capture them and force them to report for execution. You can’t “force” anyone in Eve to do anything, including undock.

    There is a thread on the forums now about “the nastiest thing you’ve ever done” which has plenty of stories about people backstabbing rouge/bad corpies by luring them somewhere, killing them, then kicking them from the corp.

    The consequence-free nature of Eve is what makes it so interesting, and tends to reveal at least a portion of people’s true nature.

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