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Being a competent EVE Online player requires you to learn more about
the game and the universe it's set in than most high school classes,
but in recent months, the curve has been smoothed out. Instead of
feeling like you went all ten rounds of a championship bout with Mike
Tyson in his prime, it's more like going one round with his whiny
ear-biting self of today; you know he still hits like a Mack truck, but
your odds of survival have now vastly improved. What better way to
highlight this recent change than to give EVE another look from the
perspective of a beginner?

The Act of Creation

Character creation has gone through a few cosmetic changes, and from my
vantage point, they're all for the better. Rather than actually
changing any part of it, the process simply provides more detailed
explanations of each race, sect, and sub-sect. The development team has
taken the time to make the explanations more personal and give you a
feeling of actual investment in terms of your character's creation.



The act of creating the image of your avatar remains the same, but
that's not a bad thing. There are many ways to customize your character
portrait (including the angle and lighting), but there's no need to go
completely crazy since you never leave your ship. Note: At some point
in the future, you will be able to walk around stations, but this has
still not been implemented.



Once you've created your character, it's time to hop into the game with
every other online player as EVE still boasts a single server upon
which everyone plays. There are no instances for you to hide in, so
keep that in mind while you travel the space lanes. If you're a
complete and total tool, you're going to eventually find yourself
facing three choices:



1) Find a corporation (guild) of like-minded tools to run around with
so you're not hunted down like an unwanted dog.

2) Accept the fact that you'll be despised and inevitably hunted down
(most likely repeatedly) like the unwanted dog you are.

3) Create a new character and start over so you don't cry every time
you're at the keyboard since everyone is so mean to you.



Things may not be that bad, but you get my point, don't you? There are
no other servers to transfer to, no name changes, and no instances to
spend your time in. If you make a negative name for yourself, you're
stuck with it. Fortunately, the opposite of that is equally true and if
you're a polite and friendly player, that will be noted as well. EVE is
all about getting back only what you put into it. As the beginner
lessons continue, you'll quickly discover that for yourself.

Getting Your Feet Wet

The game starts out by putting you through a crash course narrated by a
computer assistant that has a disturbing resemblance to System Shock
2's SHODAN. The course is designed to give you the bare basics of
movement and combat. When I say bare basics, I really mean that. At the
end of it, you'll be able to fly to a point in space, lock on a target,
fight, and loot cargo. That's it.



It's in the missions that follow where you really begin to learn the
game and therein lies the strength of EVE's new learning process. If
you choose not to, none of these missions are mandatory. In fact,
nothing is really mandatory in EVE, as it is the reigning king of being
a true sandbox game. The addition of these new missions has given new
players not only a great way to learn how to play, but a sense of
direction as well. At any point in time, players can stop doing them
and pick some back up at a later time if they so choose.

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After completing a number of
missions in which you learn deeper aspects of combat and space travel,
you're presented with a choice of three profession specialist agents to
start working for. Each of the three will send you on a series of ten
missions. Although you don't have to, completing these missions will
prove to be invaluable to you. Not only will you get a far greater
understanding of how things work in the EVE universe than you most
likely would on your own, but it's highly lucrative as well. You'll be
rewarded with massive amounts of credits, a number of skill books, and
more than one new
ship.

The Dangers of Space

Once you've finished your set of specialist missions, you can still
locate other agents to get assignments from, but by now, you should be
getting the itch to do some exploring on your own. Most of the time so
far, you've been flying in secure space, meaning any sector with a
rating of 0.7 or higher has very little PvP
or random pirate
appearing during travel because it's considered safe space. This is
great for learning, but it's not where glory and riches are to be found.



As you progress further into lower numbered sectors, space becomes far
more dangerous, but as the risks increase, so do the riches available.
Inevitably, you're going to see the question of when you should fly
into low-sec space. The correct answer is always the same no matter who
asks or why: Never fly into low-sec space unless you’re
willing to lose whatever you're flying.



This doesn't mean you necessarily will (although the lower you go, the
greater the chances are of that happening), but it means you'll be able
to actually have fun there. If you've worked for a month to get a
Battlecruiser and all the skills required to fly it, are flat broke,
haven't updated your clone (if your skill points are higher than what
your current clone is good for), then fly into a 0.3 sector and get
blown out of space in less than two minutes, you're going to come
completely unglued. Take the extra time to earn enough credits for a
better clone, a second Battlecruiser, and insurance for everything.
Then you can fly around and just concentrate on having a good time.



Though EVE’s learning curve is still arguably the harshest
around, players around the world are continuing to check the game out
because of its immense depth and complexity. Rather than being a
complete deterrent, it’s actually one of the game's selling
points as gamers seek something to actually immerse themselves in. This
is how the MMOG world looked back in the day. There was very little
information to be had, we struggled forever until we got a grip, and we
loved it. Pay no heed to the tales of snapping like brittle twigs when
some bastard would kill-steal a mob we'd been waiting hours to spawn.
In those days, screaming was all you had. Oh, how times have changed.



Given a fair chance, EVE can be an extremely fun and rewarding game to
those that take the time to learn. The addition of missions to guide
you, a rookie channel to ask questions in, and an increased skill
learning rate have gone a long way towards making the game more
accessible to players around the world. All without taking away the
extreme depth and complexity that engrossed their continually growing
player base in the first place. That's no small feat to pull off and
kudos to them.