I’ve tried a few MMOs, and never found one which I could sink my teeth into. It was all the same stuff, populated by people far better, more interested, and more obsessive than I was, making it not too much fun. Besides, after about 3 of them, they all looked the same. I finally stumbled across/remembered (since I remember when it came out, I took notice but ventured no further) EVE Online. It’s a space-based MMO, but it is/it at least seems to me to be more cerebral than most MMOs. Not only is it in outer space, making for some very beautifully-designed scenery, but the main foci of the game are the economic system (meaning trade between various locations), space combat (of course) and mining. It’s one of the geekiest and number-heavy games out there.
And I love it for some reason. There are parts which are full of nothing, while you wait to warp to a solar system or something. But while that’s going on, you can organize what skills you learn, or something unheard of while playing an MMO – do something ELSE ENTIRELY! Read a book and leave EVE on in the background – it’ll tell you when you’re there. Or work on some other program – it’s not a super memory hog and still looks great. And the community is amazing; so far I’ve had plenty of offers to help, and one guy even gave me a large sum of in-game currency as an apology for one of his team members killing me unprovoked. That’s a far cry from the profanity-spitting 15-year olds of most MMOs.
Yup, it’s chill. And fun. And has apps for your computer and/or phone to optimize your training and trade. Like I said – it’s geeky. For all I know every MMO does this kinda thing, but I never noticed it. Nor would I have cared. So I leave you with some gratuitous screenshots of one of my ships mining an asteroid for ore. Click the image for full-size goodness.
