Thursday's a Day for Thinking

Eve is commonly thought of as a game in which people do a lot of spreadsheets or other boring but highly analytical things.  However self-inflating it is, I like to think of it as a thinking-person's game, kind of like chess but with pretty graphics and a bit more interactive.  So let's start with the smart:

Although this might be stroking my ego a bit, I'd like to show where the fleet I helped plan and execute with a few other people (you 5-6 know who you are), has hit the front page of Kotaku, a gaming site that gets millions of views per day (it was also on PCGamer.com, a magazine I used to subscribe to).

Now to the not-so-smart:

Here are the links to the lossmails of two freighters (one, two) that my alliance has lost in the last 24 hours.  Both were lost to stupidity or ignorance (or sleep deprivation).  Let's try to be better people.

POTD: The Most Important Thing in Eve

Power Plant by - mbgrigby on flickr

The image of the day today represents the most important thing in all of the Eve universes - power.

Power is measured by many metrics.  Some measure by PVP, like the number of pilots, skill of pilots, killboard statistics, or other metrics.

Others measure it by money.  Is your alliance rich?  Do you have a strong military-industrial complex?  Do you hold and mine valuable moons?  Could you pay for a mercenary alliance to do the fighting for you?  Can you afford to lose your capital ship fleet and replace it?

Politics play what might be the most important measure of power.  Do you have friends, do you have lots of friends?  Are those friends perceived to be strong and united?  Often times many wars in Eve are started and finished just by skillful diplomacy.

Often times, the most important thing to remember about power in a game such as Eve, is that it all varies by perception.  Internally, an alliance may thing it is very strong.  While that might help as a morale booster, if you're considered to be terrible - you will get treated that way.

About Me and this Blog

Outside of game, I'm a full-time professional student, finishing my senior year of college.  I'm Computer Science student by nature - which seems normal for your average Eve enthusiast.
In game, I'm a fleet commander / military director for large (~3000 people) nullsec alliance.  I regularly lead or help lead fleets of well over 200 people, using both capital / sub-capital ships

First, I think it's best to give some information about the terminology used in Eve, specifically because I intend for non-players to read this blog (since it is for a class).

Eve Online - a massively multilayer online game.  This game is produced by Crowd Control Productions, a software firm from Iceland.  In game, you have a personal avatar, but when doing anything in game you are represented by the ship you fly.  Eve is based in the universe of New Eden, a cluster of 5000 unique star systems that are accessible by players.  Each system is multiple astronomic units wide, ranging from 2-3 times larger to our own solar system.

Nullsec - In Eve, each system has a security rating, which is very important for pilots who are navigating throughout the game.  Nullsec, or 0.0, is the lowest security rating, meaning if a player decides to engage in player versus player (PvP) combat, no NPC response will occur to defend the player (the NPC Police are known in game as CONCORD).

Lowsec - is the security rating between 0.1 - 0.4.  In lowsec there will be a limited NPC response if players engage in PVP combat, where sentry guns at stations or at stargates will engage anyone who has engaged in non-consensual PvP (via war declarations or faction warfare), but are generally not considered a deterrent.

Hisec - is the security rating between 0.5 and 1.0.  In high security space, players are generally protected from PVP engagements, aside from war declarations.

War declarations (wardecs) - allows PVP in high and low security systems for ISK.  Generally used by mercenary alliances and corporations to extort money or easy PVP from soft or large targets.

ISK - Inter-stellar Kredits, or the in game currency of Eve.  The abbreviation is also the official abbreviation of the currency of Iceland and CCP's apparent lack of creativity.  ISK exists in game in high volumes, as playing the market is a very important portion of Eve.  The market system is so interesting and deep in Eve that some players never even step inside a ship, they stay in a station, huddled over their spreadsheets and graphs, working on being an imaginary Wall Street hotshot.

More information can be found here, which talks about what I've covered, plus some others in more detail.

My Three Favorite Eve Online Blogs

Of the many sources of information regarding the game, Eve has a very active out-of-game community, discussing in-game politics, PVP tactics, and game mechanics.  Even today, one of my favorite Eve bloggers, The Mittani, wrote about the importance of external media on in-game politics and the "rise of independent media" in Eve Online - this post is not a response, but more of my own opinion about the importance of out-of-game communication, specifically regarding fleet command issues.

As previously mentioned, I enjoy reading The Mittani's articles on his blog "Sins of a Solar Spymaster", which is located on the popular MMO blog Ten Ton Hammer.  The Mittani, current leader of the Goonswarm Federation alliance, is famous for his escapades in the Eve Online universe.  He is very well know for his in-game espionage techniques, specifically the infiltration and destruction of the powerhouse alliance Band of Brothers, who once controlled nearly half of the territory in the Eve universe.  The Mittani has recently retired from his successful career as a lawyer and has began focusing more time on the game, specifically regarding the revitalization of his alliance.

A relative newcomer in the Eve scene, the Eve News 24 blog has attempted to do what others have before, create a 24 hour cable-news-styled syndication of events in Eve Online, often being reported in close to real-time.  Eve News 24 is the brainchild of Czech Lion, a prolific poster on the Kugutsumen forum "Eve Online Uncensored."  Eve News 24 has recently risen in popularity and most likely will be a major player in Eve's internal politics as time progresses.

Finally, as previously mentioned. Kugutsumen is a blog / forum hybridization of sorts. Formed by banned hacker Anthony Zboralski, Kugutsumen is a political playground where in-game grudges come to life over forums.  Those who post on the forums or read blogs make no attempt to be fair or balanced, Kugu (as it is affectionately called) is an arena for interstellar egos.  Information is as raw as it gets, often from the mouths of alliance leaders themselves, which makes the posts all the more interesting.