The EVE Blog Banter (#15) Special Edition: Why we love EVE Online Contest

[This post is part of my EVE Online archives. While I no longer play, these community stories helped shape what I write about today—world-building, gaming culture, and digital communities. If you enjoyed this, you might like my latest piece on Star Wars, city-building games, or Dune.]

Welcome to this special installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by myself, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to me. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

When you've been roaming New Eden as long as I have, it almost feels like home. That's how familiar it has become over the last 5 years. Not that I have done everything or touched every aspect of this most amazing of virtual world, far from it, but it just feels as though it's always been there. And always will be.

Whether you've logged into the game every day since its launch in 2003, or you've taken one or several sabbaticals from your capsuleer career, you've always come back to New Eden don't you. Why is that?

We know the EVE Online Community is unique in so many ways, and that EVE Online is like no other MMORPG out there. But what makes the game special for you?

What is it that makes this particular virtual world so enticing, so mysterious and so alluring that we keep coming back for more. Why is EVE one of the very few MMOs to see a continuous growth in its subscriber.

To put it simply: Why do you love EVE Online so much?

The Contest & The Prizes

Write an article letting us know why you love this game so much and get a chance to win one of these 10 amazing prizes courtesy of CCP Games!

• 1st Place: $100 in EVE Store merchandise
• 2nd Place: $50 in EVE Store merchandise
• 3rd and 4th Place: $25 in EVE Store merchandise each
• 5th through 10th Place: a 14-day EVE time pass each

The Rules

I'll be judging your articles based on their quality, structure, approach, originality. Other criteria are as follows:

• Contest is open from now until Sunday January 31st 11:59 PM EDT, 2010
• Submit your article (title and URL) in the comments below, before the contest expires. I will be using the date and time of your comment as the time stamp for the contest.
• No offensive or racist language will be allowed.
• You will need to link back to this post in your article introduction, as in typical EVE Blog Banter fashion.
• The winners will be announced on February 8th, 2010.

As always, I'll be adding a list of participants to the end of this article until the drop date next Sunday. Don't worry if your article doesn't appear immediately after you've posted your comment. As long as it's in the comments before the drop date, you'll be entered in the contest. And for those asking, the next regular EVE Blog Banter will be in mid-February!

I'll be waiting anxiously for your submissions and look forward to reading them.

Let's have some fun folks!