I skimmed some more through E-On and my opinion is still the same. Lots of interesting stuff, I’m glad I got a copy before it was too late.
Still didn’t have the time to actually read it but I found some interesting things.
They talk about their upcoming launch in China (can I have one of those pretty PR girls? thanks!) with some interesting comments:
Currently Eve Online boasts about 2.000 Chinese subscribers, but in the long-term CCP hopes to increase that figure beyond that of the global Eve player base.
“The Chinese MMOG market is currently about 10 times bigger than Europe and the US combined, about 27 million players,” says Hilmar, “Given that we now have more than 70.000 subscribers in the West, all things being equal we could have 700.000 subs in China.”
Cheap math for the win! Keep dreaming :)
Anyway they also reference an interesting project, the “wild idea”. We already know that they are going to build a separate server cluster for the eastern market, so moving away from the one-world concept. But this doesn’t seem to be the end of their plans:
Imagine, if you will, a new larger universe developing beyond Eve current space, with hundreds of thausands of players fighting wars and forging alliances. Alliances and wars that may one day find a way to reach the ‘Western’ arm of the Eve galaxy. On one hand it’s frightening – threatening, almost overwhelming – but the possibilities for interaction must surely go far beyond even CCP’s far-from modest ambitions.
Eve Online may only be just beginning.
“The wildest ideas about the China cluster involve them starting out in a different part of the galaxy, unconnected to the regions of Amarr, Minmantar, Gallente, Caldari and Jove. We could give them, say, two years to catch up, in an accelerated fashion then, once TQ (Tranquility) and the China cluster are about equal in tech level and player infrastructure , we would merge the clusters and alloe everyone to duel it out in massive uber-fleet combats on server hardware of the future.”
The idea is rather crazy but also terribly interesting. It’s also not so far off from my ‘shard travel’ idea. The possibility to create two different communities developing as two different cultures has a lot of potential. Linking them would probably have a strong destabilizing impact on both. But the fact that these “passages” would be in low-security space controlled directly by the player corporations themselves would open so many possibilities.
This is again how worlds are built. Forming own rules and structures that could have a strong impact on the whole game.
Another thing that caught my eye is the Eve CGI movie, no really. This isn’t another crazy project by CCP but something done by a player in the community. There’s a thread on the official forums with the links to mirrors for the original two-minute trailer released early this year. The plan is to release consequent chapters with a duration around five minutes. The first is named “Darwin’s Contraption” and is slated for a Q1 2006 release. The trailer feels really short but not too bad (brighten up the monitor).
Then there are the two devs profiles that excused the title. I already explanied my point of view about developers not playing their games (I’m really not shocked) and it’s fun to see those questions coming up in the interviews.
Interesting stuff, especially because you would expect those sort of comments to come from a player, as a rant. Not from the lead designer:
Do you play much EVE yourself – for fun?
Kjartan ‘LeKjart’ Emilsson (lead game designer): No. I played early on in the game, but quickly realized that to have any chance to compete with the hardcore players I would have to sacrifice the precious little time I have left with my family. I sometimes go in, train some skills and do an occasional mission, but I have long foregone any hope of becoming an EVE tycoon.
Borkur ‘Nag’ Eiriksson (illustrator/artist): I played it ferverishly for a year after release and I was so consumed by it that I almost screwed up my graduation! After I started working for CCP I found I had less time to play and slowly drew myself out of it so I could devote more time to work (and more time to my girlfriend as she was complaining a lot). So today I play it regularly but not nearly as much as I used to.
The last page is instead about “Teh Funnies”. On the left there are some funny quotes taken from the game chat (with portraits):
Harry Stoteles> rofl, i just tried for 3 minutes to target lock a small stain on my monitor
Shrike> ……..
Harry Stoteles> thought it was a rock…
Harry Stoteles> honestly
Futher Bezluden> 3653m/s in my stiletto
Bjorn Stahle> Pretty good speed in heels, how fast is your ship?
Talostan Gurt> how ya doin?
LordChaos> ALL BOW TO THE MIGHT LC!!!!!!!!!
LordChaos> i always forget the f*****g Y lol
Talostan Gurt> /emote licks lc in the balls
Talostan Gurt> kick***
LordChaos> lick?
LordChaos> ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Talostan Gurt> ewwwwww
Talostan Gurt> nooooooooooooo
LordChaos> LMAO
Talostan Gurt> i did not mean that!!!!!!!
And on the right of the page, a glossary:
AGENT:
Brash, overbearing NPCs who reward the completition of deathly dull assignments with thousands of items that you’ll either never need, never be able to sell or be permitted to recycle.
So true!! Here’s more:
AMARR:
A race of pompous religious fanatics who take themselves far too seriously, some of whom have taken to hiding their faces under a hood because they are so abominably hideous.ATTRIBUTES:
Arbitrary character statistics, decided upon without due knowledge as you begin your EVE journey, that after two years you’ll realise you got horribly wrong.AUGMENTATIONS:
Ridiculously expensive cranial inserts that enhance characteristics and skills, that upon death will have you crying like a baby that you ever bought them.
On a sidenote not related to the mag: I saved on the forum section a guide to the use of missiles to complete the wonderful guide about the turrets.
One of the aspects of Eve I find severely lacking is the graphical representation of the combat: there is no difference between a hit, a hit for no damage and a miss. That’s something that could use some work…