News, from other sites, press releases, or in-house
As part of an ongoing series of articles, EVE Online developers have released the next story in the 'chronicles'. Entitled "The Dark End of Space", the story follows Kezti Sundara, Grand Admiral of Amarr's Imperial Navy. Click below for a portion of the story.
This time on RoleCraft, Jim Moreno wants to hear from you roleplayers out there.
EVE Online has patched the Empyrean Age to v1.0.1 and the website will be taken down on July 1 for upgrades.
Jonathan Steinhauer continues his application of the writings of Clausewitz to gaming, this time examining what happens when you have to turn and run.
The Council of Stellar Management is winging its way home from Iceland after their first meeting with developers. Find out what all went on by clicking below.
With the recent "Council on Stellar Management" held by EVE Online developer CCP in Iceland, some people have been wondering exactly how much sway the players - the fans - should have on the creation and evolution of a game. This week, we'd like to know:
How much input should players have on the development process?
Share your thoughts with us and post in the comment thread!
EVE Online announced a five part series of lore stories to introduce players to the faction leaders introduced in the Empyrean Age update. Check the announcement out by clicking below.
EVE Online's Lead Designer, Noah Ward, took a few minutes to sit down with WarCry after the second day of CSM meetings to give his impressions of the event thus far.
Planning on attending Fan Fest? The EVE Online folks have announced more packages for the upcoming 2008 Fan Fest. Check the details after the jump.
In this installment of RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at an interesting idea from WoW RP Realms: Full Immersion Roleplaying (FIRP).
Jonathan Steinhauer continues his study of Clausewitz and examines the art of the kill.
According to a recent study by a US-based psychiatrist, admitting to sex-addiction is preferable to revealing one's addiction to MMOs. Dr. Jerald Block has even gone so far as to press the American Psychiatric Association to enter "Internet Addiction" as a new diagnostic term. Read some of what Block has to say about it all by clicking below.
EVE Online servers are scheduled for extended downtime in order to deploy the Empyrean Age expansion material. The official word came down and you can get the particulars by clicking below.
EVE Online developers will be on hand on Thursday, June 12th during a live blog session to answer questions about the deployment of Empyrean Age. Check the details and time information after the jump.
The fifth annual 'Party at the Top of the World' fan fest has been officially announced by EVE Online. In addition to the dates, there is also news of special travel packages. Head to the 'read more' link to....read more.
EVE Online's Empyrean Age is set to blast off into virtual space this coming Tuesday. Devs have published a schedule for the server upgrades which can be seen after the jump.
Just in case you may not be aware, RoleCraft isn't the only place where you can find roleplaying related info on the interwebs. Of course you know that, and I'm only joking. During the course of my day, I am given and locating sites which are directly related to or merely referencing some aspect of roleplaying, and I consider it part of my duty to help keep you, my fellow roleplayers, informed as much as possible.
MMORPG.com sponsored a chat with EVE Online developers covering a lot of ground in and around the Empyrean Age update. The log has been posted but here's a teaser to whet your appetite:
MMORPG_Taera: zionner asks, Hey everyone, I was wondering, what have you done in EA, to help include people who are new to PvP, into PvP and Factional warfare?
Ginger: Well we are hoping the whole dynamic of factional warfare, in that its much easier to get a fight and know where to go to fight will help get new players directly in the action. But also the areas and missions where you can only fly the basic ships, such as dungeons that only allow tech 1 frigates so it doesnt cost a fortune to participate and you can dont neccesarily have to face players who can fly much better equipped ships than you.
MMORPG_Taera: mench asks, What will deter large numbers of gatecamps in the FW areas so that less experienced players have a chance?
Greyscale: Directly stopping, nothing. EVE is still a sandbox and it doesn't make sense to have deterrents to this sort of thing out in free space. The ways to deal with them are 1) have a fast ship - no warp disruption bubbles in lowsec space so if you're quick enough you can just run away, and 2) good co-ordination with your friends and allies to clear out enemy camps. Again, it's something we'll be monitoring once it goes live, but it's not something we want.
Enjoy the rest of the log at the link above.
The EVE Online developers are looking for some help in testing out factional warfare:
Greetings again from the QA team! Since we got such good feedback and information last time, we're going to be running another series of playtests for Factional Warfare. Next week, June 4 to 6 (Wed, Thurs, Fri) from 11:00 to 14:00 EVE time (GMT) each day we're going to be convening on our test server, Singularity, again for the playtesting and we would really love to see as many folks show up as possible.
As work on the summer expansion nears completion we are putting our first release candidate up on Singularity this coming week, just like before the playtesting will be focusing on all the mechanisms involved in Factional Warfare, the main feature of the expansion.
If you're an EVE member, you can read more HERE.
Mark your calendars for June 10th for the Empyrean Age to go live. EVE Online devs announced the date in this press release:
EVE Online: Empyrean Age is slated for a June 10th release. The cold war that has existed between our four races for a hundred years is becoming very hot. It is now time for you to pick a side; some will fight for glory, others for personal gain. All will fight to win!
To find out more about the Empyrean Age expansion, please visit the features page and read all about the new content: the introduction of a faction ranking system, new militias being mustered, fresh agents pertaining to the massive conflicts, a dynamic new structure of system occupancy, details on hidden deadspace complexes and a whole new region in space, "Black Rise."
EVE Online: Empyrean Age incorporates elements of fiction that will be introduced in a novel by the same name, slated for a June 19th release, by Tony Gonzales.
Cool beans!
EVE Online announced the winners of the fifth anniversary lottery. Here are the lucky dogs:
1. Lena Masca - 20B ISK.
2. Mandrain - 10B ISK.
3. General Dahak - 5B ISK.
4. florinde - 2B ISK.
5. Alog Balog - Dominix BPO, ME20.
6. Jason Hazardous - Two run Nomad BPC, ME2.
7. Master YingTong - The Art of EVE book, signed by CCP.
8. Klyn - EON One Year Subscription.
9. Rubelicon - 100 Day GTC.
10. Ignatzmaximov - 50 day GTC.
11. Black Cumin - EVE USB flash drive 1GB.
12. Soulronin - EVE USB flash drive 1GB.
13. Ron Jade - Two Daredevil ships.Congratulations to all the winners!
Please note that while CCP contributed to the prizes with swag from the EVE Store, this event was completely run by players who also provided the in-game prizes, and we'd like to give a big thank you to the people behind this event from all of CCP.
Congrats!
The votes are in, counted and the new delegates to EVE Online's Council of Stellar Management have been announced. The article features the names of the winners, alternates and some nifty voting statistics.
To be utterly un-PC, the winners are:
Andrew Cruse
Niall Dologhan
Eva Jobse
Alexander Kravitz
Sean Conover
Valentijn Geirnaert
Shayne Smart
Charlie Eriksen
Alison Wheeler
There's more to be read on the official announcement including those statistics to be sure to head over and see for yourself.
Congrats!
Since we are dealing with computer-generated cyber worlds that are more than likely not our own creations, there are certainly roadblocks and speed bumps in these games that challenge roleplayers to improvise and adapt. These game mechanics come with the nature of the beast, and many are very necessary to the operation of the games, and are often so obvious as to threaten to pull a roleplayer out of character. While they may not be pleasant to experience during roleplay, their effect in-game can be at least lessened through the lens of imaginative roleplaying.
Along with a spiffy new page, news is now out that Empyrean Age is set to debut in the not too distant future:
EVE Online is a massively multiplayer game. Hundreds of thousands of players compete within a single persistent universe for military, economic and political power. Players explore the suns of New Eden, mine and refine resources, drive the economy, and wage war on one another in a richly detailed virtual world set 35,000 years in the future in a stellar cluster far from Earth.
This summer, CCP will bring EVE into the Empyrean Age. The four major Empires of EVE have broken their long-standing peace and are marshalling their forces for war. The outcome hinges on the actions of the galaxy's immortal pod pilots, allowing players to direct the course of the conflict.
The events of Empyrean Age have been a long time coming, building upon nearly a century of political tension. Access to Jovian technology ushered in the age of the pod pilots and shattered the balance of power, and recent events have sparked a march towards total war.
The events leading to the outbreak of war in New Eden unfold in EVE: The Empyrean Age, the first EVE novel, written by Tony Gonzales and published in the UK by ORION Books.
The new Empyrean Age pages are very nice looking and packed with tons of information. Take the time for a look.
As game worlds become more and more advanced, they also grow larger and larger. The by-product of this improvement is the long distances that must be traveled between locations. For some reason, with this increase in world size, there is not a corresponding improvement in traveling systems. Indeed, there seems to be almost a perverse joy in sending players on quests that involve running back and forth between two distant points with no other objective but carrying a bickering message between a pair of NPCs.
In celebration of the forthcoming Empyrean Age content addition, EVE Online developers are planning a live blog event on May 15th:
With our upcoming expansion, Empyrean Age, being just around the corner we thought it would only be fitting that the next Live Dev Blog focused on it. Mindstar, our always present host, will be joined by Greyscale from Game Design and t0nyG, author of the upcoming EVE novel, to discuss and answer your questions about Empyrean Age.
To listen in all you have to do is join the in-game channel 'Live Dev Blog' at 20.00 GMT this Thursday, 15 May, and join audio.
If you need help with that GMT conversion for your timezone, CLICK HERE.
EVE Online has announced its 5th Anniversary Lottery. If you're feeling lucky, here are the details:
BIG Games are perhaps the most well known group within the densely packed lotteries and competition market so it should come as little surprise that they will be celebrating the anniversary in style.
Well known throughout the cluster, BIG are one of the few corporations who have good relations with the main empires, independent factions and mega-corporations.
Log in and check it out. Report back!
RPG Vault and EVE developers take a look at the five biggest misconceptions potential players have about the game. They are:
The fleshed out reasons why the above are not true is available at RPG Vault.
Jim Moreno tackles the difficult task of roleplaying a merchant in this edition of RoleCraft: "Even roleplayers are known to struggle with this cookie cutter gameplay, and with keeping their characters from looking and acting just like every other character in game. What to do? One sure way to avoid the pitfalls of routine is to realize that there are many other classes in game besides adventurer. It's time to become a professional roleplayer!"
Two announcements of importance to EVE Online players came down the pike today:
Mark your calendars.
