The basics behind the political structure of EVE Online

One of the great triumphs of CCP and their game EVE Online is how player driven everything in the game is. From resource collection, to professions to politics, it all comes from the players. While no one can ever adequately describe a current political situation, (that's best left to later historians) it is possible to see the scenarios behind how those politics evolve.

What CCP realised in building EVE Online was that to genuinely make the most of the "massively" part of "massively multiplayer" they had to put player-interaction at the top of agenda. This wasn't a game about banding together to defeat monster X, it was about banding together to defeat other players. And why do this? For the riches. Players plus resources, plus more players, equals conflict. That's the basic mathematics that powers EVE Online. And it's been working for over five years now.

I think that's a good thing for other MMOs to keep in mind the future as well. "Players plus resources, plus more players, equals conflict." And conflict equals politics.

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