Communities are the lifeblood of massively multiplayer online games and their growth directly translates to longevity of a game. In this respect, Star Trek Online is a bold experiment as it remains to be seen how long an instanced single mode game could continue business charging monthly fees. Every other MMO offers its players a community be it a guild, clan, or in EVE a corp. Because it's a standard business model, individuals must be motivated to form a collective group.
There was a game called Asheron's Call which featured a unique allegiance system. Each player could swear oath to and serve as a vassal of a patron for whatever dole the master had at his or her disposal. In return the patron received a percentage of the vassal's experience points which meant that there were numerous pyramid schemes for free leveling at someone else's expense. Patrons actively sought out vassals because it gave an immediate benefit to everyone within the experience chain. This isn't the typical comradely virtual society a person would expect, but it is a fine example nonetheless.
For MMO whose end game centralizes on PvP, joining a corp is equivalent to enlisting in a military arm. The corp recruits a grunt raising headcount, while the grunt gains security and access to multiplayer operations. An individual's value is judged by the abilities he or she can bring to the table whether they are a skill set in combat, productivity, or a certain amount of assets. The talk of friendship or kinship is a masquerade for vested interest. Such is rare and precious that if one were to be found, it would be truly valuable.
In EVE, players are bound to a corp at any given time. Newcomers are assigned to NPC corps that are filled with other newbies or alts of veterans. Normally there are about 300 people in my NPC corp channel most of whom are friendly and trying to be helpful. We even have role players who claim they are agents from the Caldari State, admonishing us to defect. In case you're wondering about the wonderful channel I often mention, it is the University of Caille based in Sinq Laison. Often time novices would seek answers here as it is easier to get attention than the rookie help channel. Recently I got acquainted with two lively groups in various time zones, and when a topic that piques my interest is brought up I simply dock my ship and chat for a good hour or two.
To be honest, I am genuinely surprised and pleased at the maturity of my interlocutors. This isn't even a player run corp in which each member is filtered to match the tone of the larger group. It may just be my luck, but no one brings this up when listing the merits of EVE. I admit, some local channels are obscene but it's all part of the game.
Yesterday a couple of hours before the server downtime, veteran players in their secondary accounts were entertaining us with their gimmicks. Excerpts:
Blaster Babe > I am deep in null space running for my life this is exciting
Lord Exave > haha using what ship
Blaster Babe > atron
Blaster Babe > with cloak
Lord Exave > haha nice
Lord Exave > so what are u doing in there
Blaster Babe > I am shooting things
Blaster Babe > I found a tower and I shot it
Blaster Babe > it had no bubble
Blaster Babe > so it didnt attack back
Dax Jr > a tower? PoS?
Blaster Babe > these moris of mihi people dont seem to be friendly
Blaster Babe > I keep waving hello and they never anwser
Dax Jr > will you shoot them down as well?
Dax Jr > in your atron?
Blaster Babe > I shot at an offline pos
Blaster Babe > maybe it upset them
Blaster Babe > 08:11:26 Combat Civilian Light Electron Blaster hits Minmatar Control Tower Smallfor 4 damage
Dax Jr > massive hit!
Trevyn Allenco > it's super effective!
Blaster Babe > wont they get a mail that I am attacking them?
Blaster Babe > its like doorbell dashing
Dax Jr > when they see that you've done 4 points of damage, I'm sure they would cower in fear
Blaster Babe > bing bong bing bong then run away
Blaster Babe > oh I found a captial ship maintence array its so big
Then I began my rant on learning skills and once again met with positive feedback. :)
Dax Jr > the eleven learning skills are a real turn off
Dax Jr > 1. you train the learning skills for a couple of weeks and do nothing 2. you skip the learning skills and find out that you've gimped your toon
Adran Malu > Well you haven't gimped yourself unless you completly skip them. You just learned some things slighly slower
Dax Jr > come 1.6mil SP bonus, and no. it becomes a serious issue
Adran Malu > Key thing to do is priority the learning skills, but keep learning enough skills to keep the game intersting nd fun
Amber Khouri > impossible
Dax Jr > takes about 9 days and 1.5mil to train learning skills 4/4 with half the time. takes months to train without bonus
Adran Malu > No it doesnt
Amber Khouri > yes it does
Dax Jr > EVEMon says so
Blaster Babe > do learning
Adran Malu > I did it fine on my main
Amber Khouri > it does, I've done it a few times
Blaster Babe > do it all the way to level 5 and 4 for advanced
Amber Khouri > 4/4 is plenty
Blaster Babe > and remap for what you are going for combat or industry
Dax Jr > I'd prefer 4/4 except charisma
Amber Khouri > do 5/4 later
Blaster Babe > yeah the 5 in advanced dont help
Amber Khouri > do charisma
Blaster Babe > get cybernetics up to level 1 so you can use plus 3 implants
Blaster Babe > dont do charisma unless you are a trading alt
Adran Malu > Charisma helps with missions
Blaster Babe > or tradiing main
Amber Khouri > the lvl advanced gives an extra point in the attribute like all the rest but it takes too long
Blaster Babe > no really
Amber Khouri > lagg fest here
Blaster Babe > yeah I guess if you are going to mission alot you might do it but I would do it after I got my ship and weapons and all the rest done
Amber Khouri > cough*
Adran Malu > Right but the thing to remember here is that as a newbie with not much to do, sitting around in a station not actually playing for weeks on end because youre training learning and everyone shoves it down your throat = newbie quits.
Dax Jr > yeah. basically EVE has players paying for subscription for a certain amount of time without the player actually having to play the game
Dax Jr > pay, play EVE Offline
Blaster Babe > thats there goal get your money and never have you log in
Adran Malu > Right, and thats lame when youre new
Dax Jr > 'cause you can't do anything
Dax Jr > you want to, but it says you have to train some new skill, which you can't 'cause you're busy training learning. :P
Adran Malu > When you have an alt or some such training only Learning skills first is easy since you can go back to your main and actually play while you alt bakes
Blaster Babe > this is true
Blaster Babe > I am an alt of a main of alt of main's alt
Adran Malu > lol
Adran Malu > Im just an alt
Adran Malu > Training learning :P
Dax Jr > it works that way. this is my main.
Amber Khouri > I'm glad somebody has a main :D
Blaster Babe > wait wait let me be the first
Blaster Babe > Can I has your stuff?
Dax Jr > hmm?
Blaster Babe > its an eve joke
Blaster Babe > when ever someone complains about eve
Blaster Babe > you say... Can I has your stuff please?
Dax Jr > oh, you expect them to quit and leave their loot?
Blaster Babe > sure sure
Dax Jr > haha
Dax Jr > cute
Adran Malu > rage quitters fill the forums every time a new exp pack comes out
Adran Malu > as is the general MMO rule.
Blaster Babe > oh come on they have removed more fun out of this game then added in the last few years
Amber Khouri > this game makes you rageQuit
Ozzborg > lol why. dont adapt to change?
Blaster Babe > but its still the best game i have ever played
Amber Khouri > it can be a little harsh at times
Adran Malu > cause man! change is the devils work!
Dax Jr > this game reminds me too much of Ultima Online
Blaster Babe > I have adapted and adapted and adapted
Adran Malu > i like pushing a hoop around with a stick, fuck all this shit
Amber Khouri > same theory as UO
Blaster Babe > can I has your stuff?
Dax Jr > I expect CCP to announce officially sanctioned macros at some point for $15
Ozzborg > much the same grind
Adran Malu > lol
Dax Jr > maybe more :P they're a hungry bunch.
Ozzborg > i can never figure out macs
Adran Malu > nah, they'd be a strain on the server.
Blaster Babe > oh go to the drone region
Blaster Babe > all you see is macro ratters
Dax Jr > when a dev sees the opportunity to monetize on a certain function, they will do it at some point
Blaster Babe > its why zydrine is low now
Blaster Babe > the macro rat build super caps
Dax Jr > only the official CCP macro will have a dedicated server to handle the load. easy enough.
Adran Malu > oh no shit, never been out that way. Im a mission runner and wormhole explore. stay out of null for the most part
Blaster Babe > at least they fixed the POS exploit after only 5 years
Amber Khouri > no point goin to nul unless you are joining a nullsec alliance
Adran Malu > exactly
Blaster Babe > people made trillions of isk
Blaster Babe > for free
Dax Jr > tranquility isn't a single shard. technically, it's dozens of servers put in parallel
Amber Khouri > just get camped at every second gate into 0.0
Blaster Babe > 120 blades or more
Amber Khouri > nodes
Blaster Babe > running off military grade SSD's
Amber Khouri > Hamsters
Adran Malu > heh
Amber Khouri > the little wheels, DT is to feed em
Riser Mae > Are the hamsters military grade, too?
Adran Malu > lmao
Dax Jr > don't get me wrong, I like EVE Online very much.
Amber Khouri > they need a few more hamsters tho
Dax Jr > some people can't see others criticizing their game... extreme fanboiism
Amber Khouri > you know, to help the lag
Amber Khouri > Dax, fuck em if they dont like it!
Adran Malu > its the holy grail of mmos imo. only one thats managed to hold my attention for this long other than shadowbane.
Dax Jr > ahhhh shadowbane. haven't seen anyone mention it in ages
Adran Malu > o/\o
Dax Jr > o7
Amber Khouri > Jita is packed :P
Amber Khouri > man, it's overrun
Dax Jr > someone throw smartbombs in Jita for me. I'll even pay you
Adran Malu > lol
Adran Malu was generous in sharing his thoughts and time. We talked about machinima, Incarna, and the great scams of EVE, all of which I plan to cover in future posts.
When the servers were online again, I noticed that my wallet was blinking. My agent must have procrastinated and forgot to transfer the rewards. Still the balance wasn't right. So I checked the latest transactions.
In EVE, players are bound to a corp at any given time. Newcomers are assigned to NPC corps that are filled with other newbies or alts of veterans. Normally there are about 300 people in my NPC corp channel most of whom are friendly and trying to be helpful. We even have role players who claim they are agents from the Caldari State, admonishing us to defect. In case you're wondering about the wonderful channel I often mention, it is the University of Caille based in Sinq Laison. Often time novices would seek answers here as it is easier to get attention than the rookie help channel. Recently I got acquainted with two lively groups in various time zones, and when a topic that piques my interest is brought up I simply dock my ship and chat for a good hour or two.
To be honest, I am genuinely surprised and pleased at the maturity of my interlocutors. This isn't even a player run corp in which each member is filtered to match the tone of the larger group. It may just be my luck, but no one brings this up when listing the merits of EVE. I admit, some local channels are obscene but it's all part of the game.
Yesterday a couple of hours before the server downtime, veteran players in their secondary accounts were entertaining us with their gimmicks. Excerpts:
Blaster Babe > I am deep in null space running for my life this is exciting
Lord Exave > haha using what ship
Blaster Babe > atron
Blaster Babe > with cloak
Lord Exave > haha nice
Lord Exave > so what are u doing in there
Blaster Babe > I am shooting things
Blaster Babe > I found a tower and I shot it
Blaster Babe > it had no bubble
Blaster Babe > so it didnt attack back
Dax Jr > a tower? PoS?
Blaster Babe > these moris of mihi people dont seem to be friendly
Blaster Babe > I keep waving hello and they never anwser
Dax Jr > will you shoot them down as well?
Dax Jr > in your atron?
Blaster Babe > I shot at an offline pos
Blaster Babe > maybe it upset them
Blaster Babe > 08:11:26 Combat Civilian Light Electron Blaster hits Minmatar Control Tower Small
Dax Jr > massive hit!
Trevyn Allenco > it's super effective!
Blaster Babe > wont they get a mail that I am attacking them?
Blaster Babe > its like doorbell dashing
Dax Jr > when they see that you've done 4 points of damage, I'm sure they would cower in fear
Blaster Babe > bing bong bing bong then run away
Blaster Babe > oh I found a captial ship maintence array its so big
Then I began my rant on learning skills and once again met with positive feedback. :)
Dax Jr > the eleven learning skills are a real turn off
Dax Jr > 1. you train the learning skills for a couple of weeks and do nothing 2. you skip the learning skills and find out that you've gimped your toon
Adran Malu > Well you haven't gimped yourself unless you completly skip them. You just learned some things slighly slower
Dax Jr > come 1.6mil SP bonus, and no. it becomes a serious issue
Adran Malu > Key thing to do is priority the learning skills, but keep learning enough skills to keep the game intersting nd fun
Amber Khouri > impossible
Dax Jr > takes about 9 days and 1.5mil to train learning skills 4/4 with half the time. takes months to train without bonus
Adran Malu > No it doesnt
Amber Khouri > yes it does
Dax Jr > EVEMon says so
Blaster Babe > do learning
Adran Malu > I did it fine on my main
Amber Khouri > it does, I've done it a few times
Blaster Babe > do it all the way to level 5 and 4 for advanced
Amber Khouri > 4/4 is plenty
Blaster Babe > and remap for what you are going for combat or industry
Dax Jr > I'd prefer 4/4 except charisma
Amber Khouri > do 5/4 later
Blaster Babe > yeah the 5 in advanced dont help
Amber Khouri > do charisma
Blaster Babe > get cybernetics up to level 1 so you can use plus 3 implants
Blaster Babe > dont do charisma unless you are a trading alt
Adran Malu > Charisma helps with missions
Blaster Babe > or tradiing main
Amber Khouri > the lvl advanced gives an extra point in the attribute like all the rest but it takes too long
Blaster Babe > no really
Amber Khouri > lagg fest here
Blaster Babe > yeah I guess if you are going to mission alot you might do it but I would do it after I got my ship and weapons and all the rest done
Amber Khouri > cough*
Adran Malu > Right but the thing to remember here is that as a newbie with not much to do, sitting around in a station not actually playing for weeks on end because youre training learning and everyone shoves it down your throat = newbie quits.
Dax Jr > yeah. basically EVE has players paying for subscription for a certain amount of time without the player actually having to play the game
Dax Jr > pay, play EVE Offline
Blaster Babe > thats there goal get your money and never have you log in
Adran Malu > Right, and thats lame when youre new
Dax Jr > 'cause you can't do anything
Dax Jr > you want to, but it says you have to train some new skill, which you can't 'cause you're busy training learning. :P
Adran Malu > When you have an alt or some such training only Learning skills first is easy since you can go back to your main and actually play while you alt bakes
Blaster Babe > this is true
Blaster Babe > I am an alt of a main of alt of main's alt
Adran Malu > lol
Adran Malu > Im just an alt
Adran Malu > Training learning :P
Dax Jr > it works that way. this is my main.
Amber Khouri > I'm glad somebody has a main :D
Blaster Babe > wait wait let me be the first
Blaster Babe > Can I has your stuff?
Dax Jr > hmm?
Blaster Babe > its an eve joke
Blaster Babe > when ever someone complains about eve
Blaster Babe > you say... Can I has your stuff please?
Dax Jr > oh, you expect them to quit and leave their loot?
Blaster Babe > sure sure
Dax Jr > haha
Dax Jr > cute
Adran Malu > rage quitters fill the forums every time a new exp pack comes out
Adran Malu > as is the general MMO rule.
Blaster Babe > oh come on they have removed more fun out of this game then added in the last few years
Amber Khouri > this game makes you rageQuit
Ozzborg > lol why. dont adapt to change?
Blaster Babe > but its still the best game i have ever played
Amber Khouri > it can be a little harsh at times
Adran Malu > cause man! change is the devils work!
Dax Jr > this game reminds me too much of Ultima Online
Blaster Babe > I have adapted and adapted and adapted
Adran Malu > i like pushing a hoop around with a stick, fuck all this shit
Amber Khouri > same theory as UO
Blaster Babe > can I has your stuff?
Dax Jr > I expect CCP to announce officially sanctioned macros at some point for $15
Ozzborg > much the same grind
Adran Malu > lol
Dax Jr > maybe more :P they're a hungry bunch.
Ozzborg > i can never figure out macs
Adran Malu > nah, they'd be a strain on the server.
Blaster Babe > oh go to the drone region
Blaster Babe > all you see is macro ratters
Dax Jr > when a dev sees the opportunity to monetize on a certain function, they will do it at some point
Blaster Babe > its why zydrine is low now
Blaster Babe > the macro rat build super caps
Dax Jr > only the official CCP macro will have a dedicated server to handle the load. easy enough.
Adran Malu > oh no shit, never been out that way. Im a mission runner and wormhole explore. stay out of null for the most part
Blaster Babe > at least they fixed the POS exploit after only 5 years
Amber Khouri > no point goin to nul unless you are joining a nullsec alliance
Adran Malu > exactly
Blaster Babe > people made trillions of isk
Blaster Babe > for free
Dax Jr > tranquility isn't a single shard. technically, it's dozens of servers put in parallel
Amber Khouri > just get camped at every second gate into 0.0
Blaster Babe > 120 blades or more
Amber Khouri > nodes
Blaster Babe > running off military grade SSD's
Amber Khouri > Hamsters
Adran Malu > heh
Amber Khouri > the little wheels, DT is to feed em
Riser Mae > Are the hamsters military grade, too?
Adran Malu > lmao
Dax Jr > don't get me wrong, I like EVE Online very much.
Amber Khouri > they need a few more hamsters tho
Dax Jr > some people can't see others criticizing their game... extreme fanboiism
Amber Khouri > you know, to help the lag
Amber Khouri > Dax, fuck em if they dont like it!
Adran Malu > its the holy grail of mmos imo. only one thats managed to hold my attention for this long other than shadowbane.
Dax Jr > ahhhh shadowbane. haven't seen anyone mention it in ages
Adran Malu > o/\o
Dax Jr > o7
Amber Khouri > Jita is packed :P
Amber Khouri > man, it's overrun
Dax Jr > someone throw smartbombs in Jita for me. I'll even pay you
Adran Malu > lol
Adran Malu was generous in sharing his thoughts and time. We talked about machinima, Incarna, and the great scams of EVE, all of which I plan to cover in future posts.
When the servers were online again, I noticed that my wallet was blinking. My agent must have procrastinated and forgot to transfer the rewards. Still the balance wasn't right. So I checked the latest transactions.
My patron donated money with a Minmatar character. Before sending him a thank you letter, I wanted to make his gift worthwhile by doing meaningful things. Only I had no idea. Well, since he seemed pleased with my blog it was obvious I should post something about it. But what if he wished to remain anonymous? Then the answer came to me. I shall return the favor by helping fellow newbies overcome obstacles, although not in a financial way. Dax Jr. became an ambassador of good will. Sort of.
There is always someone in the middle of the newbie epic arc stuck at a bottleneck. Out of a total of 50 missions in eight chapters, seven chapters are quite easy and doable in frigates. Then there's the nasty spike in difficulty at chapter eight. Kritsan Parthus is in a neut battlecruiser which seems out of place when taking into account the string of 45 missions that leads to him. The logical choice is to either board a larger ship or find help. That's when I come into the picture. For one fellow corp mate, I kill Kritsan and wrap it up by killing Dagan as well. For the next guy who is waiting in private chat I take out a patch of drones. It was getting late but I felt this wasn't enough. There was someone who had trouble with a level 1 mission so off I went. Helping others was a reward in itself, and I hope to continue my volunteer work on the sideline.
Thanks again, anonymous donor. You have made a difference.
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