Sunday, May 17, 2009

Making the most of the EVE Online Free Trial


Massively multiplayer online games come in two distinct groups, and I'm not referring to genres here. At one end of the spectrum you've got the "theme park" flavor - WoW being a well known example - and at the other the "sand box" flavor - in this case EVE Online. Neither games can be fully understood in the first few weeks of playing, but in case of the latter, it's even more difficult to truly appreciate the possibilities and the fun that comes with this approach to MMOs.

EVE's always been the black sheep of the MMO world. Most of the EVE veterans have seen the EVE learning curve graphic and can testify to its accuracy. So what do you do if you're curious about EVE and want to have a look? Is the 2-weeks trial offer enough to give you a glimpse of the EVE we know. Where do you start? What skills do you train? What profession do you go for? The fact that you can be anything you want, change your career path at any given time is all fine and dandy, but to a new player it all means nothing.

Unless they can accomplish something rewarding early on, the thought of controlling a vast thousand-member alliance, or trading across vast regions of space, is nothing but that, just a dream. And it's very easy to get bogged down with the day-to-day operations familiar to capsuleers. Which is what @daniel_carvalho experienced when he gave EVE a try. Thanks to the quick intervention of @hi7ch, @Scopique and I we managed to get him to give it a 2nd chance. But what about the others?

What can be done to give the new capsuleers a glimpse of the action and thrill of EVE? Can that be done in under the 14-day trial?

This is where the recent two-part article by my mate @JohnBatDell come in. His article entitled "From peon to pirate" (read part 2 here) helps new capsuleers steer a quick path to excitement and PvP. It's a simple approach and a great example on how one can capture some of the essence of New Eden. But his is not the only advice noobs should follow.

I've decided to put together the following list of articles for new players in an effort to see more MMO gamers enter and enjoy the riches of EVE. If you've been following me on Twitter, you would have seen one of these tweets a few times. This post will allow me just to send these new players just one link.
I don't assume that this list is complete, and so expect it to evolve over time. If you've written an article you think would benefit other newbies then let me know. I'm not looking for an exhaustive guide, just something simple, but I'd be happy to add it to this list.

See you all in space! Fly safe or reckless!

6 comments:

Maria Wingtips said...

About a year ago, I tried out Eve. Coming from Second Life and having virtually no other MMO experience, it was quite interesting! I wrote a blogpost about it:"An SL resident tries Eve Online".

Now, a year later, I would perhaps have written things differently, but still, the blogpost captures some of my earliest Eve experiences and how they compare to what I was used to at the time.

CrazyKinux said...

@Sered - Added your SL post to the list! Thanks for dropping by!

Maria Wingtips said...

Thanks Crazy, appreciated!
Cheers,
Sered

Vol said...

The question is, how do you get someone hooked in two (or three) weeks when they don't want to be griefing pirates?

Daniel Carvalho said...

Like I read on Scopique's website, 15 days doesn't seem to be enough, a month would at least flesh the experience out more.

Especially considering I can't play everyday. I always rated the day system is radically flawed. If the developers could check time played, and notice that on day 10 say, there was no elapsed play time, then that day should be recouped.

Hirebrand said...

A new player might want to dual-box from the start. Would make mining easier and maybe even level 2 missions possible. The player could explore two paths at once.

Besides, its free.