You know as a serious EVE player I get this question all the time. The person is typically playing a fantsay based MMO and wants to know how EVE compares. My usualy response is that a direct comparision does not work since to me that is comparing apples and oranges however the other evening my brother cornered me on this and would not relent until I would discuss it.
Lets begin in such a comparision not with the game itself but the company. Afterall a great game with crap support will be a crap game sooner or later and a crap game with great support could eventually be great.
CCP right now is, in my opinion, the best MMO copmpany in the market. They have for five years produced EVE, during that time and something like 8 major expansions, no player has been asked to pay extra. No special addition versions, no paid expansions, no version two to fix the issues in version one. In fact CCP has publically stated from the start that the are dedicated to never charging for an expansion and they will not make a version 2 of EVE, just continue to expand the original.
Add to this the fact the company has gone so far as to let the players have their own oversight committee for the games development and you have a company that has shown it is dedicated to it's game and the people that play it.
Next comes the fact that EVE does not have an end game, there is no cap in the game, no point where you have done all there is to do in the game. The strength of the fantasy based MMO in this case also becomes it's strength. Lets use as an example LOTRO. This game has a deep, rich and very developed storyline for the game to revolve around. This storyline however also limits the way the game can go and just how far it can go. After all once the ring is destroyed what is left? Oh I am sure there can be ideas but the problem is the players will not directly effect those ideas.
EVE has a good backdrop of a story but the story does not drive the game, the players do. Oh sure sooner or later the Amarr / Minmatar conflict will end but even when it does the universe is still huge and there is much that can be done.
Also speaking of huge universe consider the fact that EVE could expand thier universe whenever they choose and even have plot hooks already in place to do so. The epxansion would not mess with the story of EVE in any way other than to expand it as well.
In the fantasy based MMO this is just a lot harder to do. The base sotryline limits some of the potential outgrowth. Also most fantasy games have pretty set areas of good and evil. The open system in EVE makes good and evil subjective based on your own actions, there is no black and white but rather infinite shades of grey.
As for game play the level based system is okay but it does not really make any sense. Think about it, when should a human EVER be harder to kill than a dragon? I am talking physically. Also show me one single week old character in WOW that could go into PVP and even hit a 2 year old character with the appropriate levels for his age, much less kill him. Yet in EVE this can and does happen. Oh sure the older character was probably being dumb but even that is a viable weapon.
The skill based system in EVE also means that causal players will advance and stay cloe to more serious, I have no life, players. Before those serious players complain, rmember that while they may match your skill points you will still have them beat in cahs and likely equipment.
Laslty, gone is the class system, in EVE you do not log in and get stuck with a choice. The skill system menas you can be whatever you want to be whenver you want to be it. For example using LOTRO, I start the game as a Burglar and at about level 20 I decide I might like to learn a little of the skills a Minstrel has. Well unless I roll a new character this is not going to happen.
In EVE I might start as a warrior, out to defend the Amarr Empire. After many months of fighting I grow weary of it and want to settle down so I change my skill training to become more skilled at ore mining. Now while I may not be advancing my combat skills it was from my choice not a limitation of the game and I did not lose any of the skills I acquired. So when a pirate jumps my mining expedition he will find a battle hardened pilot to deal with not some miner elite. After a few months of mining I decide I might enjoy doing some R&D so I switch my training path again, see the idea..
Next we come to PVP, most fantasy games have PVP zones or servers, in EVE the whole game is potentially PVP. Also unlike fantasy games where death might mean a repair bill in EVE death could mean losing a LOT of equpiment, a LOT! It has a real consequence to the actions of the player.
Speaking of actions EVE is also one of the few games where the players actually have an effect in the game world. In LOTRO if you do not defeat the Ranger turned Wraith you will not see the Rangers all slowly killed off. If the Creeps gain control of the Moors you will not see the darkness grow stronger.
Actions in EVE has consequencies in many cases. For example missing a Cruiser as it slips past your gate camp could mean that many of your friends could die from a pirate raid. Or the enemy now has intel on your area of control and you could see a massive fleet attack.
I guess however in the end EVE can best be compared to most other MMOs with this explination. In most MMOs there is a story and you are along for the ride and can experience. In EVE there is a story and you are creating new chapters for it as you gon, not riding along but actually driving it.
Players of Eve all seem to think its king of sandbox MMOs. They seem to have a really good community. It sounds pretty cool except I'm not personally that into the sci-fi setting.
Mon Sep 15 2008 6:23PMBeen playing it since 06. Not a game for everyone but its-imo-the best game out there.
Mon Sep 15 2008 9:20PMI've been playing for 2 years and it is indeed the best MMO however, I like to play other MMO's which Eve allows me to do with skill training taking place even if I am not online.
Bottom line, you're spot on. CCP takes care of it's base and in turn it has become a great game driven by that base.
Mon Sep 15 2008 9:36PMI love to play EVE and have been doing so for almost 3 years but recently I started to look at other games, and surprise, surprise, some of them seem to be both fun and interesting.
Still I have to say I have so far not found any game that gives me so many possibilities of developing my character in so many ways as EVE does and also be able to go in any direction I like anytime I like. All the time you have free will and I really love that in EVE.
Tue Sep 16 2008 6:47AMMMORPG.com writes:
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