Content-Type: RST
Hooray, finals and first semester are over! This means I have time for
more bloggin'. I've got a couple of things to talk about concerning
`Stackless Python`_ and `JQuery`_, but since I'm not quite ready to
address them (knowledge-wise) I'm going to write about something less
techy that I feel like talking to everyone about anyway: `EVE
Online`_.
.. _`Stackless Python`: http://www.stackless.com
.. _`JQuery`: http://www.jquery.org
.. _`EVE Online`: http://www.eveonline.com
EVE is a "player-driven persistent-world massively multiplayer online
role-playing game set in a science fiction space setting"
(`Wikipedia`_), or as a friend and I put it: "internet spaceships pew
pew".
.. _`Wikipedia`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Online
Now, as some may be aware, I also play the MMORPG `Guild Wars`_, but I
never mentioned it as a serious topic on my blog. This has several
reasons. While Guild Wars will always have a special place in my
heart, EVE deserves mention because of its innovative and different
approach to how a massively multiplayer game functions... and because
it is written in Python. Stackless Python, to be precise, but more on
that later.
.. _`Guild Wars`: http://www.guildwars.com
.. figure :: http://blog.opensourcenerd.com/upload/eve-rens
My Rifter in Rens, the local trade hub of the Heimatar region. The
ships you see are all other players coming or going. They're also
all flying ships several times the size of mine - don't let
perspective fool you.
So, let's start by judging a book by its cover: **graphics**. EVE has
stunning visual quality at surprisingly low requirements. I have heard
of EVE being able to run on as little as a netbook with an onboard
video card, while I can run it on highest graphics on my desktop
computer: an AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.51 GHz with 4 GB DDR2 RAM and a NVIDIA
GeForce 9500 GT graphics card. Okay, to be fair it lags a little when
I fly through a dust cloud or other high-particle effects, but it's
just good enough for ye olde average hunt with the TLF.
.. figure :: http://blog.opensourcenerd.com/upload/eve-planet
"Activating warp drive."
Explosions? Beautiful. Bloom effects from light sources?
Wonderful. The skyboxes and stars? Shiny and with good
variation. Planets? Fully 3D (apparently) models, and with interesting
unique textures (these were just upgraded in the latest
expansion).
The only problem? Aliasing. By which I mean, no antialiasing. The EVE
engine does not offer this feature for some weird reason, which
becomes sort of striking and frustrating at times. I really do hope
they fix this to offer the feature, even if it raises the necessary
specs.
.. figure :: http://blog.opensourcenerd.com/upload/eve-aliasing
Enough about looks, what about the content? The **story** is somewhat
de-focused. By this I mean, *you are not the center character*. The
`intro video`_ makes this painfully clear. The overall gist is you,
the pilot, are an immortal demigod-ish figure. Through some agreement
with the collective of the EVE empires, you achieved the rank of a
"capsuleer". Capsuleers are just that: they live in a space capsule
for most of their lives. They cannot descend to planetary surfaces,
but are destined to wander space forever. Pretty crappy deal, without
considering the fact that a capsuleer is immortal by virtue of the
fact they will always have a clone replica of themselves ready to be
brought to conscience should the current body find itself
deceased.
"*Welcome to the afterlife.*" ~ what the cloning facility told me upon
my unfortunate death due to running into 7 enemy players unprepared.
Capsuleers have access to the wealth of nations - 1 ISK (Inter-Stellar
K(?)redit) is about what a regular battleship crewmember earns in a day, and
100,000 ISK is a fairly inconsequential amount for experienced
capsuleers. They also have access to any technology they want, are
highly regarded by the population of the galaxy, and are only bound by
a few loose laws which are only enforced in high-security space (by
the invincible CONCORD space police).
.. _`intro video`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNyfI4dv1dg
.. raw :: html
Okay okay, the "real" plot/setting (currently): Four nations -- the
Amarr Empire, Minmatar Republic, Gallente Federation and Caldari
State -- at war in pairs. It's a tumultuous world, but no "problem"
for a "protagonist" to "solve" - such as in Guild Wars: Nightfall, in
which a dark and evil god rises from his prison to threaten the
world. The setting is just a status quo, which may or may not change,
or which you may or not care about. (Read my little recap of the
backstory here_. Read it!)
.. _here: http://blog.opensourcenerd.com/upload/eve-backstory
So, the real story? It is the **sandbox** nature of the game. The real
story is the story of Atlas Alliance's latest war with Wildly
Inappropriate over resources vital to its members. Or the advances of the
Minmatar militia against the Amarr militia into contested systems. Or
pilots finding a better way to sneak resources into low or null-security space. All
activities I listed here and many more involve *only* human
players. EVE has a wealth of pre-made content, but the fact it allows
enough complexity for completely player-generated fun is its true
magic. But, this trailer explains it much better than I can:
.. raw :: html
EVE provides machinery for player-run corporations and alliances
thereof, and making sure it's complex enough to allow for plenty of
both internal and external politics for both the corporations and
alliances. At over 5000 accessible star systems (not quite over 9000,
but still) EVE is big, but not big enough for all the big egos and
minds roaming it. Just take a look at the `current influence map`_ of
the player alliances: (black areas are NPC-owned)
.. _`current influence map`: http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png
.. figure :: http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png
Each little dot is a star system. Each star system may have multiple
planets, space stations, asteroid belts, or other distinguishing features
I am currently docked at the
Brutor Tribe Treasury in the Rens solar system, in the Heimatar NPC
region, if you can find it.
Seems complex, no? The **depth** of EVE is amazing. No one player has
ever maxed out all skills, or owned every type of item, though there
are a few attempting to. Heck, some who have played for years don't
yet understand how all aspects of the game work. And, as if to make
things worse, the developers keep adding content! Plus, add to that
the fact you can choose your own path: to be a law-abiding citizen or
a detested pirate? A corporate mercenary, or a miner? Manufacturer or
warrior? I don't even know the full list myself, but why don't you check
the `friendly career guide`_. Warning: 22 MB PDF download.
.. _`friendly career guide`: http://www.eveonline.com/careerguide/
In my screenshots I only showed a couple ships, but consider this:
EVE's ships are classified by 4 races. There are 32 ship types, each
bearing 1-4 different ships , *per each race*. Plus, there is the new Tech III class of
cruisers, which allows for enormous numbers of combinations of
subsystems to form unique ships. This is also not including special faction
variants of different ships from the regular factions, plus some pirate
factions.
.. figure :: http://www.eve-wiki.net/images/b/bd/Punisher.png
Isn't "Punisher" such a good name for it?
As far as MMORPGs go, I should mention EVE's **economy**, which is
almost entirely player-driven. When I mentioned "ship-builder" earlier
as a profession, I was not kidding. All ships (as an example), save the
free newbie-ship granted to beginners, are player-built, from the
smallest shuttle to the massive 18,127 m long Ragnarok Titan. However,
the scope of the game renders the economic aspect of this game almost
completely irrelevant to my current participation in the
militia. Ship-building, too, for that matter.
The sheer size of the game means that cooperation is *necessary*. Today
I ran across a forum question asking "which is the best solo ship in EVE?"
The answers ranged from a sarcastic "Titan" to "You, sir, are an idiot."
Many players join EVE and soon quit because the only "solo" things you can
do are mining (with some risk) and mission runs. While both may be good
income sources for things like corporations, it gets really boring to do
that alone. In a fleet, with the ingame voice chat on, it all gets much
more fun.
The one qualm I had about playing eve was the fact it is a
pay-per-month game. So, is it worth it? Well, since I went off my
trial subscription onto a real one, I would say so!
.. figure :: http://blog.opensourcenerd.com/upload/cat-approves
Hey look, a cat! Let's stop reading before he tells us the bad
stuff!
The only catch: **EVE Online is not an instant gratification game.**
It takes time to do anything right. And no, I don't mean time as in
farming (sorry, Chinese economy) since there is **no farming**. Skill
leveling, or "learning" as it's called, is done passively, whether
your character is online or offline. Good thing, too, since for
example Gunnery 5 would take me about 4 days to complete.
That said, even though skill training may be slow, it seems to always
be enough for me. I can fly cruisers now, but why would I want to
invest in one when the Rifter frigate is my cost-effective training
wheels? I can make up for its cost and my equipment just in insurance!
(Yes, EVE has ship insurance.)
So... There you go. A game review. You asked for it. No you
didn't. But here it is. And this is your friendly Minmatar frigate and
destroyer pilot, signing off.