Eve Online: First Thoughts I

I had intended to post this a few days ago, but both Jeffrey and I have had the flu, so mostly I’ve been using up whole boxes of tissues and groaning. I swear this happens every time he goes on a business trip—something about air travel and sitting in meetings all day with lots of people results in illness.

Oh, and before I get started, the latest book reviews are of Barbara Weltman’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business, Third Edition and John Stark Bellamy II’s Vintage Vermont Villainies.

Okay, I admit it, I’ve been saying for months that I had no interest whatsoever in playing Eve Online. In my defense, I really did have no interest in the parts of the game I had heard about in people’s blogs: wild & crazy pvp, corporate espionage, etc. Then, about a week ago or so, my husband started poking around and looking at the trailers and information on the game and convinced me I should try it with him. Within 24 hours we’d both gone from the trial account to buying a subscription. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this is the most fun I’ve ever had with an online game, and I honestly believe I could play it for years without ever getting tired of it.

You should really know before you start that Eve has an incredibly steep learning curve. There’s a LOT to assimilate and learn, and plenty of details that aren’t entirely obvious. However, there are some things that make this process decidedly easier:

• Assume the first character you create will be a throwaway character that you use to learn how to play the game. That way there’s no pressure to ‘get it right’ and you can be a bit relaxed about figuring out what you’re doing.
• USE THE DAMN TUTORIAL. Seriously. It starts up automatically when you begin, and you need it. No, really. You need it. People are constantly asking questions in the rookie help channel that are answered very clearly in the tutorial. Besides, the various tutorial missions and such will also give you a better ship and other bennies, so they’re worth it. I repeat: USE THE TUTORIAL. If you don’t, no one will want to answer your questions, believe me.
• That said, there are plenty of questions that aren’t answered easily in the tutorial. If you get confused by something, try these suggestions:
  • Muck around a bit. Experiment. Play with the UI and see what you can do. There are few tragedies you can’t recover from with a little time, and if you took that advice about considering your first character disposable then you really won’t lose anything at all. This game is not designed for folks who need their hands held through everything.
  • Right-click. Most things can be found or done by right-clicking on a relevant item.
  • Explore the UI. There’s a ton of tabs and panels that present an incredible amount of information. For example, if you want to know how much money your character has, it might make sense to check the tab labeled “wallet,” yes?
  • If those don’t work, ask on the Rookie Help Channel (RHC), to which you are automatically subscribed for your first 30 days of play.
• If you ask a question on the RHC, be patient. If no one answers you after a couple of minutes, try again. There are literally thousands of people subscribed to the channel at any one time, which means that text tends to fly by. It’s extremely easy for people to miss your question.
• Use the Eve resources available on the internet. I highly recommend Eve[geek] for information on everything from ore to agents, and the incredibly robust and featureful EVEMon, which helps you plan out your skill progression.

Anyway, that’s about all I have the energy for today. Tomorrow: why I love Eve Online.