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.

• Dee Carson's insightful article on which skills to train at first
• @JohnBatDell's "From peon to pirate" (read part 2 here)
• 10+ post for new players to EVE
• What WoW Players should know about EVE
• EVE Online from a Second Lifer perspective
• Massively's Brendan Drain and his exhaustive EVE Online new player guide
• On why we play EVE (Blog Banter #2)
• Euro Gamer's "Gettting into EVE"
• EVE Fitting and Ship acronyms and terminology (EVE Forums)

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!

17 Free MMORPG Trials

If you've ever wondered what it was like to play an MMORPG (or another if you're already playing one) well now's you chance. FilePlanet has put together a collection of Massively Multiplayer Game Trials - 17 in all.

Some of these are the usual big one: World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons, Star War Galaxies, Everquest, and of course EVE Online. I might try WoW and DDO to see what they're like now and how much has changed since the BETA trials I did a few months ago. Well it only seems to be a few months ago to me.

But whatever you decide to do, if you've never played EVE Online, do yourself a favor and go through the 14-day trial! You'll be happy you've joined the greatest MMO Community in the universe.