When Tolkien, the father of modern fantasy, wrote "The road goes ever ever on," MMOs took him at his word. A large part of online gaming consists of traveling from one point to another, but when it takes so much time to get anywhere, frustration mounts. If I'm picking up a book or alt-tabbing to web surf or check e-mail instead of playing the game, there is something wrong with the dynamics.
Character stories area told in MMOs so frequently we often don't even recognize them for what they are. They will exist whether there are active world stories or not. Such tales survive even if they are completely ignored by the devs. But as with all things in gaming, with proper attention character stories can be made stronger.
One of EVE Online's major banks, EBank, was robbed by one of its own controllers, a player named Ricdic. Once word of the robbery got out, players started a run on the bank, withdrawing currency as fast as possible. Ricdic then sold the virtual currency online for slightly over $5,000 US. Find out what 'Ricdic' spent his ill-gotten gains on after the jump.
EVE Online devs have announced that the next large expansion isn't due until winter and, as a result, they are planning an Apocrypha 'mini expansion', AKA Apocrypha 1.5, in August. Find out what's in store by clicking below.
EVE Online will deploy Apocrypha patch v1.3 on June 29th. The patch has an extensive list of changes, enhancements and improvements. See what's new in 1.3 after the jump.
How much of an MMO is button smashing and how much involves actual skill? This installment is an investigation of how armor choices and shield employment can yield more combat decisions.
In the latest EVE Online developer blog, "Diagoras" shows a six year pattern of ship sales and the statistics surrounding these sales. It's a fascinating look at what was and is popular. Six years indeed makes a lot of difference. Click below!
The latest EVE Online developer journal, penned by database administrator 'Valar', features some big news with regard to a major back end overhaul. Find out how big it's going to get by clicking 'read more'.
I like stats as much as the next person (probably more), but when warfare is boiled down to raw probabilities, battlefield skill disappears. The building of the best stat base becomes much more important than any sort of tactical competency. Instead of seeking a skill based work-around, games come up with new statistical probabilities.
