My first impressions were somewhat jaded by my recent romp in what I will call the easiest, most ‘watered down’ MMO to date. You guessed it. I’m referring to World of Warcraft. So, as you can imagine, I was a little used to easy to pick up, easy to level up, easy to gear up, game play. (For those of you who wish to debate me on this opinion, feel free to e-mail me). When I started playing Eve, my first thoughts were ‘ZOMG, this is ridiculously hard,’ and ‘What the…, this interface is too hard to figure out’, among other things.

The truth is, Eve Online is not a casual gamer experience, and nowhere near to being so, even with the release of the new expansion Revelations. It’s not even in the same galaxy, to use a pun. Eve Online is by far, one of the most difficult MMOs to learn that I have played, and I’ve played’em all (well, almost all of them). This does not mean I do not enjoy the game. In fact, you may think that, having read this review thus far, that I am strongly opposed to Eve . That couldn’t be further from the truth. While I will point out what I believe are numerous flaws in the design and flow of the game (specifically in the new player experience), the things that make Eve Online unique and different, in my humble opinion, have driven their sharp and pointy nails into my brain and refuse to let go.

The ‘Nub’ Experience
(Nub – Noun. One who does something for the first time. A newbie.)

If there is one thing I hate most in life and games, it’s being a ‘nub’. This usually happens when you are learning to do something for the first time. Change and new experiences tend to be painful and frightening, which is why most people avoid these things. Game developers have the envious task of finding ways to make the ‘nub’ experience as easy as possible on those who dare try this new thing they have just installed on their PC or dropped into their console. Failing to do so is, arguably, the downfall of many, many games, particularly of the massively multiplayer variety.

I’ve often heard, you must figure out how to A) get a player to play beyond the first 15 seconds, then B) beyond the first 15 minutes, and finally C) beyond the first 15 hours. If you can accomplish this, you’ve done your job. Unfortunately, I do not believe that Eve Online has done well at this, and my one overly simplified observation would be that their new player experience tries to teach entirely too much, too quickly, with too much text. A new player is expected to sit through as much as 3 hours of tutorials (possibly less if you learn or read quicker), and he or she is given access to literally (as far as I know) every aspect of the game right off the bat. This ends up deluging the player with too much information, too early on. The first time I tried Eve , this very offense caused me to give up and quit playing for several months, without even ever having been into space. And I heard this very same story from a friend of mine who is also a hardcore gamer. Fortunately, the lure of such a unique MMO brought me back eventually; however, I’m willing to bet money that many other first time players might never be back after having to endure the opening minutes or hours of the game. It is my professional opinion that CCP needs to take the new player experience back to the drawing board in an effort to help bring in more new (less hardcore) subscribers. This can be done without watering the game down and disappointing hardcore players.

It has come to my attention that CCP was already aware of this problem (as written of on the dev blog here: http://myeve.eve-online.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=403) and apparently made an effort to solve these problems in the latest free expansion. I have had the chance to play Eve since the expansions release. I made a brand new character, and have determined that, while they did make a smoother character creation process, everything after that step is still pretty much the same thing - endless hours of mind numbing tutorials with many, many paragraphs of text, and the typical monotone female voice over we've all come to expect the computers of the future to sound like. And, to compound things, as part of the rebalancing effort of the new patch, they have given all new players tons more skill points and that means more new skills on your character sheet to stare at and ask 'what do I do with these?' Of course, long time Eve players will have no problem with this change, but truly new players will be bewildered. I'm afraid that CCP has missed the boat on this one. The simple truth is that casual game players don't want to play a game where they are expected to read. They want quick and easy action. They want to be right in the thick of things when the game starts, but the real trick is to make them feel comfortable, as if they already know exactly what they are doing. Then, the new player experience should, ever so gently, begin to raise the bar – presenting ever more increasing challenge and introducing game concepts interactively over time, rather than popping up 20 windows of text.

Some of my other gripes with the new player experience include a mission (quest) system that is not specific enough, as new players may find themselves wondering - Where am I supposed to go next? What is deadspace? Am I supposed to go through all the acceleration gates? – A user interface that is daunting to learn and entirely too accessible at the same time. Give the player time to learn the basics before overloading them with options. And these things don’t even take into account the fact that a new player must also learn how to move around and fight in space.

Beyond the ‘Nub’

On top of the new player experience woes, there are a few gameplay issues I feel are a bit hard to deal with. Take death for instance. When your ship is destroyed, you lose it and anything it was carrying. It is also entirely possible that you will lose skill points if you aren’t prepared in advance for the inevitable death. Most MMOs have shied away from such harsh death penalties, reminiscent of the days of UO, when players could kill you and take all your stuff. Fortunately, a player can purchase 3 month (real time) insurance plans on his ships and varying levels of clones which insure X amount of skill points. As a beginner, who gets destroyed regularly, this becomes expensive, not to mention time consuming, as you end up having to go buy your ship again, and any gear that was on it. You may find yourself flying from system to system in your “free” newbie ship just to buy all that stuff over again on a regular basis.

While most MMOs have the luxury of creating zone after zone of terrain, varying from winter wastelands to corn fields to alien intestines, Eve Online has, well…space. And space is pretty boring when you really think about it. It’s empty, except for the occasional round balls we like to call planets and stars. CCP has attempted to spice up each star system by using giant colorful nebulas and the like in the skyboxes; however, even this can get a little old and unrealistic if you think about it. Now remember, I’m referring strictly to what I have seen in the 8-12 hours I have played thus far. I’ve visited maybe a dozen star systems, and can’t remember but maybe two of their names (that is bad, but when they all look alike…).

Though it isn’t important to the gameplay, I do find it a little sad that upgrading your ships does not make them more unique looking. This is something that I think traditional MMOs do well (because they have to, otherwise every player would look the same) and Eve Online would greatly benefit from this strategy. But this is strictly a matter of opinion.

So, Do You Have Anything Nice to Say?

My momma always said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.” Well, I do have nice things to say. Really I do. I’m not the complainer everyone thinks I am. Hmm. Uh oh. No just kidding. Eve Online has me hooked despite its flaws, but remember, I'm a hardcore gamer. Once you get past the painful newbie experience, blasting pirates for loot, mining for credits, and running goods back and forth between star systems for a profit actually becomes fun if thats your cup of tea. And, as with any game, fun is the holy grail. One thing that has helped me tremendously is the extremely courteous and helpful lads and lasses of the Eve community. Without their help, I would still be cursing at those six pirates who were regularly ‘pwning’ me in my ‘newbage’. I have happily learned how to use orbit from range and snipe techniques, and how to look for ways to make money on the market. I have finally discovered the trick to doing agent missions and what the heck deadspace is. And the deeper I fall into Eve’s web, the more I want. I have even stopped playing WoW, in favor of Eve!

Despite the relatively similar - let’s not mince words – the completely identical environments, the game is quite pretty. I never get tired of watching my ship warp around in a star system, seeing the ‘warp’ tunnel around it and watching planets and stars shoot past me.

As for the space combat, as I’ve heard some Eve players say, the right tool for the right job. Once you begin to learn that, you’re all set. Death is still rough; however, it’s all just a matter of keeping your clones up to date, and your insurance policies good. You are bound to make plenty of money as you complete missions and hunt for pirates and minerals among the asteroid belts. Just avoid buying stuff you can’t afford to replace if you die. Bear in mind that, thus far, every expansion pack released has been free to subscribers. And let us not forget the sheer coolness factor of (some day) being able to fly around in a battleship or carrier class vessel, taking out entire squadrons of enemy NPCs and players as part of a battle fleet in low security star systems. That, my dear reader, along with the fact that upwards of thirty thousand pilots can play in the same universe at once, is why I keep playing. Yes, Eve Online has become the defacto Elite replacement in my book. And yes, it’s the MMO that Privateer always begged to be, even if it is extremely new player hostile. Much like other MMOs out there, they have a free two week trial. What have you to lose?