About EVE Online

Contents 1 How is EVE Online Different? 2 Prologue - New Eden, a World Beyond Worlds 2.1 Warp Drive is Invented 2.2 EVE - The Wormhole 2.3 Closing of EVE 3 What and Where You Are 4 The Goal 5 Acquiring Wealth 6 Ships You Can Fly 7 Never Too Late 8 Effects of Massively Multiplayer on Game Play

How is EVE Online Different?

EVE Online is an open-ended Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). Most other MMORPGs focus on a structured playing style with predictable outcomes and monotonous leveling. This seemingly innocent fact is why EVE is so different from almost all other MMORPGs, as the players have an incredible impact on how the game develops.

One could compare this to the difference between a playground, such as EVE, and a theme park, which would be the traditional MMOG. In a playground you have access to different kinds of toys and rides, and you are allowed to use your own imagination to figure out how to create games you enjoy. In a theme park all the rides have been created for you and are either good or bad by design. The playground clearly offers more freedom but it requires you to think and be an active participant, while the theme park has taken those responsibilities away from you and you can just go with the flow. As an interesting side-note, "theme park" style MMORPGs commonly develop lines, just like real world theme parks, as players wait for monster spawns, rare items, or quest requirements.

Players that enjoy the freedom and opportunities for creative thinking an open-ended game offers have become mesmerized by EVE, while others that depend on structured, repetitive game style have not. For this reason we don't contend that EVE is for everyone, but for those that enjoy a bit more of a challenge.

A unique aspect of EVE is that it is run on one server. In EVE you can find over 25,000 players at any given time interacting in the same persistent universe. Other MMORPGS are played on multiple servers called Shards; these have a limited number of players on each, usually between 500 and 3000.

The bottom line is that EVE is a rich and immersive universe centered on human interaction. Players can play the game as a simple space trader or endeavor to control the largest, most powerful company in the universe. We provide the rules and tools, but it is the players themselves who create the adventures.

Prologue - New Eden, a World Beyond Worlds

Once space-faring became profitable due to asteroid mining and vacuum manufacturing, it did not take long for humans to settle all the planets and moons of the Sol system. Naturally, this development increased the economic growth of Earth, making humans more capable then ever of reaching further into deep space. The distance between solar systems was a difficult barrier to surmount, but the discovery of Warp technology changed all that. Jump gates, using gravity coupled with negative energy to create stable wormholes between them, allowed instant travel between two points in space. The downside, of course, was that one of the Jump gates had to be physically carried to its destination point, but their advent nevertheless started off the gradual expansion of the human race to other solar systems.

Warp Drive is Invented

The next big step was the advancement of Warp technology into Jump drives. The first version only allowed very short jumps within the same solar system, but later versions allowed ships to jump between systems without the aid of a Jump gate. This sped up expansion considerably, and in short time humans had established settlements in hundreds of systems, including dozens of fledged colonies. By then, however, the expansion process was becoming increasingly difficult due to stifling bureaucracy. Almost every solar system within jump range had already been bought or leased long before actual colonization began, and many of those wishing to settle in a new world had to wait years to fulfill their dreams.

EVE - The Wormhole

Things took an unexpected turn for the better, however, with the discovery of a natural wormhole near the system of Canopus . Although the existences of wormholes had long been the subject of speculation, this was the first natural occurrence of the phenomenon ever seen. Probes sent into the wormhole showed it was stable and it led to a solar system in an unknown galaxy. This system could be a far-flung region of our own Milky Way galaxy, another galaxy at the other side of the universe, another dimension, or parallel universe.

The wormhole was christened EVE because of the new worlds and new beginnings that it offered. A decision was made to build Jump gates at both ends of EVE. Only specially enforced ships were able to use the wormhole itself. Scientists predicted that the EVE wormhole would close. Men and equipment were ferried through the wormhole, to set up bases.

The system was soon christened New Eden. The gates at both sides of the wormhole were called "the gates of EVE". They had to be exceedingly huge, because of the unstable nature of EVE and the unknown distance between them. They were the largest single structures ever made by mankind and took more than 200 years to build. It had been decreed that the new world would be free for anybody to settle on a first come-first served basis. As soon as it opened, hundreds of independent organizations began exploring and settling the new world.

Closing of EVE

The EVE wormhole closed while the EVE gates were still under construction. This didn't seem to affect the gates at all and they functioned properly from the start. But then, after seven decades of working flawlessly, disaster struck. An unexplained phenomenon engulfed the EVE gates, creating a severe disturbance, rendering the gates inoperable and reducing the prosperous New Eden system to rubble. The EVE gate in New Eden still exists, but any ship that tries to go near it is destroyed by the gravity storms.

The effects of Eve's closure were sudden and dramatic, with all the bases and settlements in New Eden being affected. Without the gates, the colonists found themselves cut off and isolated. As most of the colonies had only been settled a few years or decades previously, very few of them were self-sufficient. One by one the colonies died out. The few colonies who survived slowly lost their knowledge and advanced industries due to the lack of tools and the ability to maintain them.

For thousands of years, these scattered human enclaves lived and grew in isolation from each other. As time passed, their different environmental and ideological conditions wrought small changes to their physical appearance, making each distinct.

What and Where You Are

You are an employee of one of the corporate/military powers in EVE. Your choice of race and education determines your starting employment, but from there you are free to choose any of the myriad employment opportunities out in the universe.

You begin affiliated with one the four great empires, Amarr, Caldari, Minmatar or Gallente, and placed in the heart of your Empire's controlled space.

Space consists of star systems. Each of these is assigned a security rating, from 0.0 (Lawless) to 1.0 (Secure). Many star systems form a constellation, a group of constellations form a region and several regions can constitute an Empire.

In addition to those large empires, though, there are also Regional Alliances who endeavor to control the untamed systems on the outskirts of known space.. These are run by player controlled corporations, giving them the ability to use the lucrative resources in non-empire space.

The Goal

The ultimate goal in EVE is power. It can be power over the market, military dominance, financial power, or political power. These are all achievable in EVE at degrees varying from local system, regional level, or even universe-wide. EVE caters to many different play styles, ranging from the hard core combat commander to the patient miner, and there are corporations that have very different goals; most require all types of players to function properly,so no matter what type of player you are, there is a place for you in EVE, even if you decide to carve it out yourself.

Acquiring Wealth

Interstellar Kredits (or ISK) is the currency in the world of EVE. There are many ways to earn ISK, and this is just a sample of the more common ones, but players have found other ingenious ways that are beyond the scope of this manual. Most players elect to use a combination of some or all of these tactics to keep things fresh and fun.

• Mining
• NPC Hunting
• Bounty Hunting
• Agent Missions
• Research Agents
• Production
• Trading
• Pirating
• Deadspace Complexes

Ships You Can Fly

You start off in EVE with a frigate-class starship, a basic vessel capable of several tasks, but achieving none with spectacular effectiveness. There are many types of starships, with each race having their own unique designs and varied abilities. According to your preferences, you might want to work towards a ship with a larger carrying capacity, is better suited for mining, has a more powerful array of weapons, or rockets through space much faster.

Never Too Late

New players have joined EVE each day since its release, so you won't be alone as you enter the galaxy for the first time. Even players who have been playing since the beginning experiment with new characters, so not everyone will actually be a brand-new player.

Though there are certainly some players who have already amassed a great deal of wealth and equipment, but this will not affect your ability to competitively advance in the game. The high security areas are a safe place to start, until you are ready to venture into the more aggressive areas of the game.

Effects of Massively Multiplayer on Game Play

The basic role-playing and space simulation aspects of EVE are really just the tip of the iceberg. When players band together to form factions and alliances, the game becomes a grand-scale strategic drama. Political intrigue, corporate espionage, and the very essence of Darwinism bring dimension and depth to the game as the struggle for fame and fortune ebbs and flows with each new day in EVE.

However, the level at which each player decides to participate is a matter of personal choice. The game leaves ample room for continual progress and variety in all its solo playing aspects. For those who opt to do so, becoming the best lone-wolf pirate or bounty hunter is a never-ending task as the competitors are other human players who will employ every method at their disposal to gain an edge over the rest. Solo players are also able to hire out their services as mercenaries or hit men to other players or player-run corporations.