Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Eve Online and The Escapist

In its last 2 issues, The Escapist mentions Eve Online in 2 or 3 of its articles. I'm always amazed at their quality, the depth and thoroughness of the subject discussed and also the layout of this webzine. Quality literature at its best.

Here's a magazine that approaches Gaming in a truly fresh and mature manner. No Reviews. No Previews. No advertising. The Escapist is proof that the Gaming industry is maturing - or parts of it anyways.

In issue 10, Mark Wallace touches on the subject of Corporation/Guilds and there equivalent in real life (RL), communities. And this is truly one of the great strength of MMORPGs. Read about in "Don't ever take sides against the corp again".

Mark is probably an avid and regular capsuleer (EVE player) as his next article in issue 11, "We the Avatars", looks into a very touchy subject these days: Real-money trade (RMT). He quickly sums up my personal opinion on the matter early in the article when he says:

The practice of buying and selling virtual-world items (and services) for real money can lead to lots of things that lots of people view as problems: Low-level characters get twinked with powerful equipment they couldn't possibly have earned yet; gold-farmers suck up all the loot in a region, leaving nothing for innocent adventurers just trying to earn an honest level; characters appear, wordlessly level up under the control of a paid power-gamer, then wander around without a clue once they're back in the hands of their inexperienced owners; developers have yet another obstacle to design their way around while trying to keep their games fun and engaging.

A read, that's sure to be a hot topic in the near future.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

EON #001 - Table of Content
















Table of Content - EON 001

  • Page 6 --- E-ON Upfront (News)
  • 14 ---- Post Cards from the edge (Screen shots)
  • 16 ---- In Crowd: Kjartan Pierre Emilsson (CCP Employee Interview)
  • 18 ---- Chronicle: Exchange Rate by Tom Czerniawski
  • 20 ---- Cover Story: Super Size EVE
  • 28 ---- Chronicle: Legionnaire by Jacob Lounsbury
  • 33 ---- In Character: Freewheeling (Player Character Interview)
  • 34 ---- Online: The EVE-I Story (Fan site)
  • 38 ---- Chronicle: Are you clonesome tonight? by Richard James
  • 40 ---- Testflight: Heavy Assault Cruisers
  • 48 ---- Chronicle: Bedtime Story by Tom Czerniawski
  • 50 ---- In Character: Cyvok (Player Character Interview)
  • 52 ---- Insider's Guide: Navigation (Player Guide)
  • 56 ---- In Crowd: B. Borkur Eiriksson (CCP Employee Interview)
  • 58 ---- In Character: Trigger (Player Character Interview)
  • 60 ---- Insider's Guide: Trading - Part 1 (Player Guide)
  • 66 ---- Slacktalk: Teh Funnies (EVE Humour)