An excellent summary of this year’s awards of Blog Banter 43 can be found at the Sand, Cider and Spaceships blog : http://sandciderandspaceships.blogspot.nl/2013/02/bb43-summary-podars.html
BB 43 – The Eve Awards
Aside
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Tag Archives: blogbanter
BB 42 – Eve In Review – Exploration
From the Freebooted BB 42 initial post:
“A gaming universe as vast and unique as EVE Online is constantly evolving and the experience is different for every participant. Conventional games review techniques cannot possibly hope to provide an accurate measure of every aspect of EVE’s gameplay. However, with a community initiative like the Blog Banters, we have the resources to deliver the most thorough and up-to-date review ever.
By combining the experiences of contributors from across the EVE metasphere, we get a wealth of opinions from veterans and rookies alike. We’ll be able to combine input from faction warfare specialists, wormhole residents, null-sec warriors, missioners, pirates, industrialists, roleplayers, politicians and more to paint a complete picture of the health and progress of EVE Online in its current Retribution incarnation.
Who better to review EVE Online than those who know it best?”
For this review I’ll be focusing on one of my favorite aspects of Eve: Exploration. By any means would I consider myself an expert on the subject, but it’s something I got a lot of experience in, especially the last six months or so when I moved into a C2 wormhole. This is by no means a tutorial, but a review of sorts of this fascinating side of Eve.
What is exploration
From the Eve Wiki : Exploration is the art of scanning a solar system for Deadspace signatures that do not normally appear on a ship’s scanners or overview. These Deadspace zones are designed to reward players for the additional work required to reveal them.
An explorer searches for sites in space, these can be gas clouds, archeology sites, a hidden belt filled with valuable ore, waiting to be mined, or a combat site. They all need different tools to be exploited, so an explorer needs quite a few skills (in game as real life) needs to be diverse. All sites need some combat skills, the lower you get in security status (not your own, but the system’s sec stat), the harder these sites and the ‘rats’ in them become. And since Retribution the enhanced AI also applies to complexes found with exploration.
BB 40 : eSports and Eve
We got an interesting subject for this blog banter :
Fresh from publishing the community spotlight on the EVE blogosphere and Blog Banters, CCP Phantom has suggested a banter focus on competitive tournaments.
There is no finer spectacle in the universe of EVE Online than the explosive dance of weapon-laden spaceships in combat. The yearly Alliance Tournament is the jewel in EVE Online’s eSports crown and the upcoming New Eden Open should deliver the same gladiatorial entertainment showcase.
Given the scope of the sandbox, what part should eSports play in EVE Online and what other formats could provide internet spaceship entertainment for spectators and participants alike?
First let’s take a look at what is eSports to me. With eSports I think of FPSes like Counter Strike, League of Legends and my personal favourite Starcraft II. Especially League of Legends is growing very rapidly. That is probably mainly because it is sich a low threshold game. Anyone with a half decent PC can download it and play. Which gives them at least a basic understanding of what is going on in the game.
Starcraft was eSports no. 1, but it might be dwindling a little lately, not in the least because of a lot of drama in that scene, and the game becoming a little stagnant. I am not very familiar with the FPS eSport scene, but if you do it’s not very hard to follow what the point is, it is to shoot each other with guns.
Starcraft 2 Pros
To be honest I don’t think Eve belongs in the eSports category. It’s very hard to follow for an outsider. What is the fun of the Eve tournament ? It’s the various setups and fittings teams will bring to the arena, the variety (or lack thereof), the speculation, what if Team A brought eWar instead of DPS etc etc.. Believe me when I say that I love the Alliance Tournament to bits, and it’s always a fun period in Eve around that time. Hanging around in various chat channels and the last few years on Twitter is great. And I guess it’s as close to eSports as Eve has to offer, but it’s such a niche game and not very accessible to the general public, nor is it that great to watch (orbiting spaceships and / or blue and red pluses) that I don’t think Eve has much to do with eSports.
Having said that, the question was what part should eSports play in EVE Online. Besides the yearly Alliance Tournament, my very short answer would be None. I don’t really see the point of the $10.000 tournament. I might be watching it a little, but I don’t really care about it, and I am not really opposed to it either. The pretty high threshold to enter, using an auction and all that doesn’t seem very fair to me, but if they want to go that route, it’s up to CCP. I guess they want to remove some plex out of the economy.
Some other form of eSports would be a wow battleground type of thing I guess ? Arenas and the like ? Well that kind of thing wouldn’t fit at all in Eve, it just doesn’t feel right to me and I hope it will never get to that.
Here are some more blog banters:
E-Sports Punditry to follow:
- Sandlot Games by Rixx Javix @ EVEOGANDA
- DUST 514 E-Sports: A Vision by Mandrill @ KeithNeilson.co.uk
- Type 40. by TetraEtc @ Tetras Eve Blog
- Egos for Profit in eSports by Orakkus @ 2nd Anomaly From the Left
- What makes a Blood Sport Popular? by Mabrick @ Mabrick’s Mumblings
- Blogbanter 40 by Trebron Znieh @ The Gallente Blaster Cannon
- “EVE” Sport by Cailais @ The Hydrostatic Capsule
- BB40: Interstellar Blood Sports by Kirith Kodachi @ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
- Van Damme in Space? by Dian Lung @ Tales of a Recovering Carebear
- Empathy for the Devils by Mike Azariah @ A Missioneer in Eve
BB #38 – Some things will never change
Here is the intro to BB# 38 :
Blog Banter 38: Dogma
In his recent “That’s just the way it is” post on Jester’s Trek, blogger Ripard Teg posits that the established EVE player-base has come to accept many of EVE’s design idiosyncrasies, rarely questioning their purpose or benefit. Conversely, he also suggests that new players might not be so forgiving of these “quirks”. In an interview with Gamasutra, Senior Producer CCP Unifex describes EVE Online’s developers as “relatively hands-off janitors of the virtual world”, underlining that he has only four content developers but “a lot” of programmers and engineers.
Has a culture developed where CCP has started to take player effort for granted – expecting the “social engine” to fulfil tasks that might otherwise be CCP’s responsibility? Or should this culture be embraced as part of “emergent gameplay” with these quirks accepted as the catalyst for interaction?
Eve’s idiosyncrasies are part of it’s charm. Whether they are appreciated by new players I don’t know. There are still players coming and going so I guess there are still people who can get over the learning curve. And let’s face it, a lot has been done over the past years to make Eve a more comfortable place for the new player. The new wiki is also very nice. I don’t see anything wrong with players turning to player created info (like blogs or the excellent Eve Uni Wiki) for extra info. Hell, eve warcraft has Wowhead. I don’t see anything wrong with that. It also leads to players looking for Player Run Corporations sooner since that’s where you learn the most.
A lot of these infamous Eve idiosyncrasies are being fixed in the past two expansion, and there is team papercuts. Also some effort is being made to make some things in Eve more convenient (like the inventory hehe). Market search will improve in the next major update for example.
Blog Banter #37 – What happens in New Eden stays in New Eden
“EVE Online sits on the frontier of social gaming, providing an entertainment environment like no other. The vibrant society of interacting and conflicting communities, both within the EVE client and without, is the driving force behind EVE’s success. However, the anonymity of internet culture combined with a competitive gaming environment encourages in-game behaviour to spread beyond the confines of the sandbox. Where is the line?”
From what I read so far around the Eve Blogosphere is quite unanimous. What happens in the game stays in the game ! You really don’t want to receive threatening email on your work account from people who’s interweb spaceship you blew up the night before.
That is a somewhat extreme example, but there are some grey areas. How about hacking into the opponent’s Team Speak server ? The whole spy thing usually also involves a bit of outside the game stuff, like registering on a forum etc, but I guess that’s all part of the job.
So on the extreme end it’s pretty clear cut what should be left in game and what not, but once it comes to spying, it’s more nuanced. I guess it all depends on how badly you want to defeat your opponent and whether the means justify the end !
Blog Banter #37 is brought to you by Freebooted !
BB 36 The good the bad and the ugly
“With the Inferno expansion upon us, new seeds have been planted in the ongoing evolution of EVE Online. With every expansion comes new trials and challenges, game-changing mechanics and fresh ideas. After nine years and seventeen expansions, EVE has grown far more than most other MMOGs can hope for. Which expansions have brought the highs and lows, which have been the best and the worst for EVE Online?”
First of all let me state that I entered the world of Eve during ‘Cold War’ right before ‘Red Moon Rising’. Since I didn’t have a clue what was going on back then I can’t comment much about those two expansions, let alone the very first two ‘Castor’ and ‘Exodus’. Castor must have been exciting though, bringing in T2 components and ships !
I had to consult the wiki page on Eve expansions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansions_of_Eve_Online to check what features were actually in what expansion. Then it hit me that 2006 – 2008 must have been the golden years of Eve looking back at how much effort was put into these expansions, and how many features they had compared to the very meagre ones CCP released the past few years. Here is a summary of the ones I remember best and enjoyed the most.
Revelations I
Think this is my favourite, it had so much in it, Exploration, Invention, New battlecruisers (ie. the Drake) and battleships, and rigs / salvaging. Also the voice over IP thing was in this, that didn’t really catch on until later, when factional warfare was released and FW fleets started using it. So much new stuff to do and find out and to train for, it was pretty insane looking back on it now. Revelations II didn’t bring that much new features to the table, only overheating comes to mind.
Links to Rev I features:
http://community.eveonline.com/features/revelations/
http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Revelations
Empyrian Age
This one introduced Factional Warfare that I really enjoyed a lot when it came out. So this was one of the most game changing ones for me. Especially since I didn’t have a lot of pvp and fleet experience before. I was a proud member of the Minmatar Fleet (and still am in my heart) ! One of the best times I had in Eve was in this period, also met a lot of nice people back then.
Trinity
20 new ships and a graphics engine update ! Also the infamous boot.ini feature 
.
Quantum Rise
Not as big as the previous one, but still nice, the Orca was introduced, very nice ship for us miners at the time. Grouping of modules and more graphic updates. Also some stuff like StacklessIO was tauted by CCP, but I never understood why serverside things were introduced as features for an expansion.
Apocrypha
The introduction of T3 and wormholes / sleepers ! As it turned out the last major expansion that really added new content. Since I never cared much for wormholes I didn’t care that much for this one, but I know it is widely regarded as one of the best expansions for Eve.
What followed then were a bunch of lacklustre expansions that were lacking in real content and quality control wasn’t so great either. This all accumulated in one of the worst expansion in MMO history Incarna which introduced (or failed to do so) ‘walking in stations’ and the ‘real money monocle’ store. But enough has been said about this I guess, if you want to know more, google around or go back a few pages on this blog .
So here we are, some of my favourites and some bad and ugly ones. The other participants of this interesting blog banter will be mentioned below.
Inferno Campers (happy or otherwise):
- It takes seventeen expansions to build a game as successful as EVE Online by Lucas Rox @ Torchwood Archives
- A (Relative) Noob’s View on the Expansion of EVE by Anshu Zephyran @ Structure Damage
- Wonder and Blunder by Rixx Javix @ EVEOGANDA
- The good the bad and the ugly by Morphisat @ Morphisat’s Blog
- Wherein I Reminisce About the Best Expansion by Brent Jones @ Hot Lead Space Bomb
- Expanding Universe of EVE by Drackarn @ Sand, Cider and Spaceships
- D * V * F > R by S.W. @ Confessions of a Closet Carebear
- Can’t Just Pick One by Corelin @ Haberdashers Run Amock
- Expanding Realities by Anabaric @ Inside My Skull, So Many Demons
- Ever Further by Emergent Patroller
- BB36 by Firstly @ Flying Silently
- The Expanding Universe by Tommy Rollins @ Rollins’ Ride in Eve
- Trial of Fire by Memoocan @ Progression’s Horizon
A scientist in Eve has written an excellent summary on BB36.
Blogbanter #34 – CSM
Ah a new blogbanter ! It’s been a while since I participated in one ! Here we go with the intro:
The polls have just opened for the election of candidates to occupy the 14 seats on the 7th Council of Stellar Management. To kick-start a topical CSM-themed banter, CCP Xhagen – fierce champion of freedom of speech and in his words, “the guy that gets yelled at when the CSM dudes do booboos” - has offered this question:
“How would you like to see the CSM grow, both in terms of player interaction and CCP interaction?”
I have always been rather skeptical about the CSM. I figured it was used as a marketing tool to boast about in press releases that could be read on various gaming sites. This feeling was confirmed during the summer of rage last year, when the CSM was totally bypassed on rather critical gameplay decisions. But then the CSM bit CCP in the foot and they were forced to let them participate in order to try to calm down the masses, which gave me somewhat more faith in the CSM.
A CSM politician
But then the most recent devblog appeared on rather fundamental skill changes and the CSM seems to have been ignored once again. I guess CCP is happy with the CSM on the sidelines and discussing POS fuels, but rather not involve them in fundamental game changing decisions. So that would be the first thing to change. At least them have their say. It’s CCP’s game, so they will always have the final word, but at least listen to what the players have to say.
That brings me to the second point, I would feel better represented if there was not an 0.0 block in the CSM. After all most players in Eve still dwell in highsec. I do understand it’s a democratic process and I wouldn’t know how to exactly solve it, but it would be nice if the CSM would consist of a better representation of the player base.
Further Resources
- Diedra Vaal’s CSM Vote-Match (candidate/voter compatibility test)
- Jita Park Speakers Corner (Discussion Forum)
- Council Candidates Voting Page
- The Council of Stellar Management – Implementation of Deliberative, Democratically Elected, Council in EVE by Pétur Jóhannes Óskarsson (CCP Xhagen
And a personal endorsement, a pilot that I voted for, someone who really understands Eve and (most) of it’s players: Roc Wieler.
Blogbanter #31
With 2012 almost upon us, I think it’s appropriate to look where Eve has gone this year and where it will be going. Well since the upheavel this summer, CCP has drastically altered it’s course. This resulted in a winter expansion that actually focused on improving the Space Game !
Blogbanter #31 focused on reviewing Eve after the winterexpansion. I thought it would be appropriate to link to it, since I am not subbed at the moment and won’t give you an opinion without actually havening played the new expansion.
This special ‘End of Year’ Blog Banter edition aims to be a crowd-sourced game review. Using your gaming knowledge and experience, join the community in writing a fair and qualified review of EVE Online: Crucible. This can be presented in any manner of your choosing, but will ideally including some kind of scoring system.
Freebooted : Blogbanter #31 and the end result.
BB26: Sometimes the sum of the parts …
Welcome to the twenty-sixth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week or so 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 crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month’s topic was proposed by @KatiaSae of the much praised “To Boldly Go” blog. Katia asks: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As an astrophotographer, I’ve found it in the stars and planets of New Eden. Where have you found it? Perhaps you’ve found beauty in the ships we fly? Maybe it’s the sight of profits being added to your bottom line? Or maybe it’s the pilot portraits you see in the comm channels? Where ever you’ve found it, write about it and post an image.” Don’t be afraid go beyond the simple visual aspects of EVE as well. Is the EVE Community in itself a thing of beauty? What makes EVE the game, the world, the Community, so appealing to you?
This is a tough one ! Where to start ? I decided to pick three
First of all there is the graphics, just a pic here from a while ago which also appeared in one of the earlier episodes of EON. Don’t think I need to add more explanation 
. It’s a joy to fly around in Eve.
Second of all is the community. Eve’s community is different from a lot of other MMOs. It’s difficulty and steep learning curve attracts different people. Yes we too have the forum warrior / whiners, but overall it’s a much more tight knit community. I don’t know of any MMO that has something comparable to #tweetfleet for example. Or just an active blog community. People might be fighting each other in game but still be very friendly outside of it.
Third of all is the progression you make. Although this sort of fades a bit when you have been playing for a long time, it’s just a joy when you can finally fly that ship you always wanted. Or to finally be able to do exploration properly, or use those tech II crystals (for the miners amongst us). The time based skill system is very friendly to those who can’t spend 23/7 in the game. You always progress (as long as you keep paying), you don’t have to kill 10 space pirates.
Last but not least: all of the above (and many more) combined in one game. Sometimes the sum is more than it’s parts ! And that for me is the beauty of Eve.
Participants for Blog Banter #26 :
Blogbanter No 25
Finally I am on the list for the blogbanter and I got nothing on the subject. It’s all about sovereignty and such and since I have no experience with that, I am not going to blabber on on something that I know very little of. But I will list the participants here ! Hold on to your hat as there are quite a few !