EVE Online has always been a game that I admired from afar. It supposed immersive game world combined with stylish space combat always intimidated me into actually attempting to play it. However last summer I got EVE Online (in a awesome Steam sale) and tried it out for about ten to twelve days and really found it to be a lot more accessible then I thought. I never got around to starting up an account due to the time need to be sunk in the game to get good at it or for that mattered involved.

However I now have a bit more free time and have decided to look at different MMO games over a thirty-day period and see how it holds up. With EVE some say you can barely scratch the surface in that period of time so if I feel it necessary I will try to continue the coverage. So consider this the beginning of series that I hope to continue for as long as there are new MMO’s to be played.

To those who do not know EVE Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online game that put you as the captain of an interstellar ship as you literally do whatever you want. From Industrial mining to Piracy EVE Online is incredible in literally the amount of choice you have in what you want and can do, however you have to get up on your feet before you begin your chosen career. This is the reason that many have turned away or not even attempted to try EVE Online, because of the utter complexity of the game.

When you first start out its easy to see why EVE Online is intimidating to so many people, it huge, like gigantic in almost every sense of the word. To start you simply choosing which one of the four major factions you wish to be related to. Each faction is distinct in both its backstory and ship design along with overall tactics in which they approach certain conflicts. On my first attempt at EVE I played as the Ammar a recently liberated race that infancy has been met with some disorder and chaos. The race is tribal by nature and many of their ships share a very earth toned rather typical “space ship” design.

However for this play through I decide I should try to diversify myself so started as a Gallente whose origins are more based in democracy (USA, USA, USA). One of interesting additions to EVE since I last played is the introduction of a fully realized character customization system, starting with everything from gender, to origin (or ansentry), to the actual look and appearance of your avatar. It was a deep system (similar to those used in Bioware RPG’s) and consumed a good chunk of time just look through all the options. Finally I finished my custom dude (who looks like Han Solo for no particular reason) and press start and jumped in.

When you first start in EVE you are give a basic “Rookie” ship along with a low level mining laser and turret. While at first everything seems quite intimidating EVE has a helpful tutorial series that shows you the basic concepts of the game. This system is rather intuitive and seemly knows when or what you’re stuck on and immediately pop up a walkthrough of how to do something. After getting the handle on the basic controls it was off to a nearby space station to get your first mission of the game.

When you arrive at that station your really realize how small you are in the game, cause this little station I went to, IT WAS HUNDREDS OF TIMES BIGGER THEN ME. So much bigger that it gets your mind thinking about what is really out there in this MMO world. So after having that crazy realization of how big the game really is I went on to begin the early tutorial sections within the game.

First quest you are given by any faction in the game seems to break down into a ten-part sequence that pretty much teaches you about everything from mining to combat. In the first section I was simply tasked with a going to a location and mining some ore for use in production at the station. A rather simple task that helps you get oriented to the travel within the game, which is simple yet mind boggling to start. For starters the world is completely 3D meaning systems and jump gates can be in a variety of directions around you. However EVE is rather intuitive in putting the exact location of where you are suppose to be in your journal. It helpful and never makes you feel like you are totally lost.

Now after gathering some resources and learning about refining I finally got to the thing I could not wait for, skirmishes. Now one of the crazier elements of EVE Online is death and how it is handled in the game, which is to say that it highly unwelcomed, for the simple fact that you can lose everything (and I mean everything) with one mistake. So needless to say this first battle is easy to boast your confidence but it gives you a taste for the fun to come.

Tomorrow: Insurance, Skills, More Crazy Shit.