Ok this is a post about my first overall impressions of eve. I am hoping it will be a meaningful contribution to Blog Banter 31. I have only been in game less than a month and I am a complete nubbins. My only qualifications are I am fresh to the game and so probably know a lot less than others.
It is sexy (10/10 so far)
The game is beautiful and it is very sexy. You can chill out and listen to the music whilst you fly around or you can get a bit more worked up when running missions. Whatever you do it is a very lovely environment to be in and has no doubt matured like a fine wine over the years. Some of the tunes I listen to on the jukebox are very melancholy (Red Glowing Dust) others very foreboding and dark (War Relics).
Its unforgiving (how do you rate that?)
Others will have said this. Its a very tough game. There are no obvious paths to follow and so you are left floundering around. You buys equipment and find you cannot use it because you don’t have the skills. You then have a mod and substantially less cash. You fly a ship that cannot tank the enemies you have to kill and inevitably you will come close to running out of money. But isn’t life meant to be tough? I came to Eve because I was bored of the standard rinse repeat and obvious pathing of other games from one zone to the next. So far there is a bit of a grind getting established. You do have to rinse repeat but you can rinse and repeat in many different locations with many different story arcs to follow.
The ‘Community’ (9/10 so far)
There is a myth about eve that it has a great community. I can see right from the outset that this is really a huge oversimplification. Anyone can see that there is no one community. They are Borg and they will assimilate you given time. I find the forums for the game make my eyes bleed with troll on troll trying to 
out troll the other trolls, there are few spots to glean any real information and no poster can really claim to be authentic. If one does seem authentic someone will immediately challenge their views. This makes it hard to figure out where one should play and what one should do. There are lots of macho posts and lots of trying to one up on the other. Go in game however and its an entirely different picture.
Those that post on forums are always going to be different from those that don’t. In game there are lots of very helpful people, some are pirates, some are what they call ‘care bears’. But lots of them are around giving healthy advice. There are tons of scammers running around with the next big money making scheme and then there are those who just quietly get on with making isk (the ingame currency) and losing it. But make no mistake calling this a community is simplifying what it is you will be confronted with when you start to play.
There are speakers of different languages, huge blocs of people from different countries all in different timezones. On an average Sunday evening they get close to 50 thousand people logging in. That is not a community. Thats the population of Gravesend or Clacton-on-Sea. But that logged in population is supported by a much bigger group of subscribers who are not logged in. No this is not a simple ‘comunity’ its a bit of a monster and you are in it. For simplicity’s sake its called a ‘community’ but never underestimate how much that oversimplifies matters. There are small communities in this game and they are at war with each other. They are all vying for attention, recognition, power, control and wealth. The reason for this? Well maybe that can be found in the Backstory?
Backstory (7/10 so far)
Eve has a developing backstory from what I can gather. But the thing about it is it is developed and is a living backstory that changes regularly as the creative elements within the game seek to add new dimensions. I have not had any real time to fully grasp what is happening but some of the blogs you can find out there are fascinating. There are those like the Goonswarm Federation who are often seen as griefers, then there are others who scam and cheat and there are still others who just want to control you. The reason why this is all allowed or at least tolerated within the game is because it is essentially an anarchistic capitalist game. From what I can see CCP have provided players with a structure to play in and after that things have been left open to them. But I have had little time to get into this side of the game having only just started to talk to a couple of Corporations.
The ‘Sandbox’ (6-10 so far)
Eve is lauded by pundits for the fact that it is a ‘Sandbox’ experience. In some ways I can see why that is the case although my experience remains very limited. Initially the skills choices are a pain. Everything needs skills and as I said above you often lack the very basic requirements to do very much. However, give it time and gradually each module you can use becomes a little landmark. Each bit of access to another part of the game becomes something you celebrate in a small way. There is a certificate planner that allows you to develop your character. I am working on my Active Shield Tanking Standard before going on to better Gunnery. This is because my current route into the game is to be able to handle myself in exploration. But that is already changing.
I have started to talk to some corporations after browsing the forums and discovered something. Sometimes the good guys are plain boring. By far and away the most interesting community that I have seen this far are the pirates. More attitude, funnier channel MOTDs (check out ‘The Autocannon’ channel in game) and much less up tight. I am kind of against totalitarian control and so far they have been the most entertaining bunch. But a lot of doors are closed to someone with low experience – something I can understand and just need to be patient with.
Overall (8/10)
At the moment I will give it 8/10 it suits an adult who is extremely busy in real life because your character trains and grows when you are off line. Already I am talking to a number of corporations who have been really friendly so far. The biggest issue in Eve is time zone – not many other MMO’s have that as an issue because they are not persistent. I can find myself leaning towards pirate and freelancer corporations. There is something about their free spiritedness and those anti pirates are a bit square headed.
Conclusion
Eve is nothing like opening Pandoras Box. When you play it you are in the box, the box is firmly closed and you are not getting out.
Everyday Eve 