By Jim Rossignol on September 3rd, 2009 at 3:52 pm.
In this, the final part of my look back on five years of the Eve Online corporation, Statecorp, we see our plucky heroes wander Eve, struggle for survival, and ultimately burn out in the long search for a home. Previously: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
With the changes in Fountain giving us ample reason to move on, we looked around for another similar locale. This was probably a mistake, but I was keen to persuade the gang to find actions elsewhere, and I would spend the following year trying to recreate the same scenarios we’d tasted in Fountain. The closest we were able to identify was a system called FDZ4-A in the region of Geminate. This seemed to be to provide similar opportunities: there were multiple alliance regions to be raided in the surrounding area, while FDZ itself was distant and obscure enough to be relatively quiet. We packed up our best toys – leaving a huge amount of assets in WY-9LL, which I believe remain there even now – and headed, once again, across the galaxy.
Initially Geminate was quiet, because the only people using FDZ were a small alliance called Fang. We began to engage them fairly regularly, and run missions out to the nearby alliance-owned outposts. Large conglomerations such as Roadkill and Hydra provided ample entertainment, not least when we piled straight into Roadkill’s core system and killed the faction battleship they put out as bait.
However, it wasn’t long before Fang had company in FDZ. Another alliance called Ground Zer0 turned up, providing us with regular (smack-talking) combatants in the same system. Now experts in this sort of warfare, we harassed them daily, culminating in the kill of a carrier which – for reasons unclear – had warped to an asteroid belt, and in a stand-up fight on one of the FDZ stations. This fight remains clear in my memory because it was such a beautiful turn of events. Fang and Ground Zer0 had brought together their largest gang in several weeks, causing StateCorp to dock at the station. The enemy gang surrounded the station at close range, hoping to kill one of our ships when the undocked. They outnumbered us at least two-to-one. Needless to say, we all jumped into very high damage ships and undocked all at once. I think we lost a battleship.
Once the locals were properly trounced we began to lose interest in Geminate. It was nothing like as rich or dynamic as Fountain, and the lack of sparring partners made things dull. We decided it might, after years of of independence, be a good idea to join up with old alliance friends and see how things would work out. The first foray in this direction was to return, for the final time, to Great Wildlands and to Veritas Immortalis.
The old names were still fun to fly with, but the -V- we found in Great Wildlands at that time were a shadow of their former selves, being harassed by the new Foundation, and battered by formidable Red Alliance and Tau Ceti fleets. We used the opportunity to raid old haunts in Scalding Pass, Wicked Creek and Curse, but it was clear the magic was gone. After a couple of months we moved back to Geminate, beating on some more transient locals, before looking north to what Celestial Apocalypse – the corporation who had enticed us to Fountain in the first place – were doing now. Again, what they were doing was a bold project.
Celestial Apocalypse, by then the lead in a larger alliance known as Insurgency, had moved into Venal, a neutral NPC region in the midst of the North. It was a giant version of what had been going on in Fountain. While Fountain’s core provided a good place to attack alliance assets in the region, Venal provided a base to attack assets in the whole of the north. The north of Eve, or The Northern Coalition, is a huge power-bloc, where many different alliances are in a non-aggression pact with each other. Insurgency was hitting some of the weaker members of this coalition, Stella Polar and Phoenix Allianz, and the rest of the coalition was doing little to intervene. StateCorp decided the tales of 100-ship heavy assault gangs rampaging around were too good to miss out on, and we moved on up.
As we arrived, however, bigger things were in motion. Insurgency were in the process of attacking a small arm of a region called Branch. It was a dead end section of space which could easily be blockaded, cleared out, and captured. Insurgency was, unbeknownst to us, and even the rest of the North, going to use this backwater assault as a trial run for claiming the entire Branch region.
When the assault kicked off it was the biggest collection of capital ships we had ever seen. Insurgency had swollen to around 1500 pilots, which was easily enough to produce the kind of fleets needed for the attack. It was also the size needed to produce massive capital ship action. While StateCorp had been off skirmishing and raiding we had also been buying capital ships, which were seldom used outside of logistics. Of course we weren’t alone: all the large PvP alliances of Eve had begun to amass gigantic capital ship assets, and Insurgency was no different. The sight of the massed capital ship fleet during the Branch assault was astonishing.
RoBurky made a video:
Insurgency crushed the far weaker alliances in a sudden blitzkrieg: they had taken Branch. This, however, woke the slumbering enormity of the rest of the North: a power-bloc that could field four of five fleets the size of Insurgency’s own. They begun to circle for the kill.
Roburky made another video:
And soon Insurgency would be crushed, and the north was lost.
But so too was the regular high attendance of StateCorp. The long, arduous attrition of the war for Branch was simply not the StateCorp way. As thrilling as 100-ship capital jumps were, it was our small, tightly organised gangs that had really kept us interested in the game, and now we were waning. By the time Eve’s northern powers rolled in to retake Branch, we were already making plans. We evacuated to a backwater system in Pure Blind, and spent a few weeks beating up a random Russian alliance who were picking on local mission runners. It was a brief flicker of the past, and of what StateCorp did best. Our numbers, however, were not enough to sustain interest on a regular basis. We were going to need to recruit, or to join up with larger, more active Eve entity.
We got in touch with the resurrected Huzzah Federation, which had been living in Syndicate since our own roadtrip out there. We would join up with them again and fight a few more campaigns with our old Huzzah friends. First we’d boot Red Skull, Thorn, and Controlled Chaos out of their pocket of Syndicate, and then we messed around in Cloud Ring, making of a nuisance of ourselves as the region’s sovereignty changed hands. Fun escapades indeed, but a potent mixture of real life and Eve-fatigue was going to end my run, and that of most of our other pilots. StateCorp’s run had been long, and glorious, but our most active players had begun to fizzle out. One by one we just weren’t turning up for the ops.
Finally, last week, we realised it had come to an end.
Even without the fact that we were growing tired, and finding ourselves busy with other responsibilities, I think we had grown apart from Eve. We idealised small scale ship combat in 0.0 space. Neither the new generation of faction warfare nor the proliferation of capital ship combat really appealed, certainly to me, and possibly to other members of StateCorp. I think we existed during a sweet spot for both the game, and for the time our pilots could commit to it. Some of us will stay and play on – I’m certainly taking a break – but it’s clear that the singular joy of StateCorp had run its course. Insurgency was our last taste of what it meant to play the alliance game at a high level, and once again we decided we didn’t want it. We’d mastered small scale skirmishing, and so that no longer held challenge either. We’d done the lot.
Of course that should not diminish how incredible the journey had been up to this point, or how it could be for others in the future. All this stuff could only ever have happened in Eve. No other game or virtual world has the same vast potentials, or the intricate amalgam of sandbox freedom and ludic constraint. While StateCorp played out its many battles I wrote a book containing detailed ruminations on the subject of Eve, and many other essays and features besides. It’s been the most fertile source of story-telling and game design discussion I’ve ever come across. And most of those stories don’t belong to me, or to StateCorp. From the vast political intrigues, to the Great War, through the scams and the scandals, the pirates, the traders, the moon-miners, the explorers, the idiots, the savants: there are billions of stories within Eve. StateCorp has generated countless vignettes and takes of spacewar on its own, and there are hundreds if not thousands of corporations who have also lived through the past years of the game. Their stories, perhaps, can be told elsewhere, and will continue to unfold in the future.
Eve Online has been profoundly significant in the landscape of gaming. It saddens me still when I interview MMO developers who can’t say why Eve is interesting or unique. It’s so special that no other game can replace it. There will be another shooter, another RTS, another clever puzzle game, but it’s not clear whether there will ever be another Eve. For that reason alone, I can’t see myself ever stopping being interested in CCP’s amazing project.
Nor, ultimately, will I want to lose contact with the friends I’ve made. Thanks to the lot of you – you all know who you are.
Finally, I’m thankful it turned out like it did. I know our adventures might not have gone that way. I might not have written that feature for PC Gamer. I might have genuinely lost interest in that patchy first year of the game. Hell, Eve might never have happened at all.
Way back, when I first saw screenshots of Eve in 2002, an editor of the time leaned over and looked at them: “Pff,” he said, “an MMO by a little Icelandic studio? That’ll never even get released.”
I’m glad he was wrong. And how wrong he was.
Eve Online, StateCorp, I salute you.
03/09/2009 at 16:05 Ian says:
I don’t know whether to be a little depressed that I’ll never get into anything Eve to that extent, or just appreciate that there’s good reason for that and continue playing what I play.
Either way these write-ups, as with all the stuff I’ve read that you’ve written about Eve, have been splendid.
03/09/2009 at 16:06 Ian says:
Gah:
*anything like Eve
03/09/2009 at 16:10 Jockie says:
Had a similar experience of a completely different game, where it became an important fixture in my gaming life, where i’ve made friends that I’m still in touch with today and which ultimately lost the magic that had made it so amazing in the first place. It’s always sad to move on, but those gaming experiences tend to stick with us.
Whilst Eve never grabbed me in the way it did you Jim, I think a lot of gamers can emphathise with how important it should be to MMO’s and how the journeys and vignettes found within are what elevate games beyond a ‘timsesink’ or a diversion.
Great articles.
03/09/2009 at 16:14 Sam says:
Great series. Others have said this several times, but I love reading about Eve. It produces such good stories.
Really wish I had gotten into Eve years ago, but at this point in my life I don’t think I ever am going to put the kind of time I’d need to into any game again.
03/09/2009 at 16:19 Ben Abraham says:
*applauds*
03/09/2009 at 16:19 Ubernutz says:
Brilliant. I think that because I was a bit of a late comer, I could never really get into Eve, though it was certainly fun.
Even so, I really enjoyed these articles, and I think it’s quite telling that on AmazonUK “Customers buy this book ['This is Gaming Life'] with Phonogram: Rue Britannia by Jamie Mckelvie”.
RPS is brilliant, kudos to all of the writers (even the one’s who don’t have books) and people who make it possible for me to sit on my fat hole rather than go buy a magazine. You all put a lot of work into the site and we thank you.
03/09/2009 at 16:19 DF7 says:
“but our most active players had been begun to fizzle out.”
Is it just me or does that not make any sense?
Other than that, great read. I’m another one of those people who has never played Eve but loves hearing about it.
03/09/2009 at 16:21 Gurrah says:
Great stuff! Nothing else to add.
Fly safe, where ever your are.
03/09/2009 at 16:23 mihor_fego says:
It doesn’t matter that I can’t afford the time to play such a rich but demanding game; I feel like gaming has made a giant leap forward with EVE.
Having played WoW and GW, I know these can in no way produce such experiences as those Jim described in this series of articles. Perhaps this game should be an example of what MMO games really ought to be. Politics, alliances, territorial wars… The usual MMORPGs can’t really immerse you in a persistent world when your actions have no consequence whatsoever. No guild can conquer an opponent’s outpost, nothing is really at stake if raiders kill Thrall. Everything sets back to “normal”.
Perhaps a MMORTS game could feature many of those characteristics but then again, would it be able to get you in the shoes of the tiniest tank commander? In EVE it sounds as if you can be pilot, trader, politician, diplomat, general.
Of course, tackling all the above takes a lot of dedication, but if I ever was to play any MMO other than casually, I’d like to know something this deep is around…
03/09/2009 at 16:23 The Fanciest of Pants says:
Great series Jim. You really do write about Eve well, cheers.
03/09/2009 at 16:24 Zarim says:
Awesome series of articles. I’ll admit that I didn’t have a very good idea of what made EVE so great; I could only ever play for a month or so and never joined a corp. This article really makes me understand and appreciate the game a whole lot more. I think I’ll also look at buying your book too! Again great stuff.
03/09/2009 at 16:29 Mike says:
This was a seriously good feature. It’s a shame to see something like this come to an end, I know Eddie/James talked to me about StateCorp a lot too. The thrill of a small, social group is always working as a team on what you love, and when a game loses those things it is inevitably time to move on from it. Still a great loss.
EVE is a fascinating game. More than any other game out there, it’s one I can’t play but wish I could. The time and understanding required are immense, but so is the payoff. It’s an unreal and brilliant idea, yet one that no other dev has learnt from.
I hope EVE and Dust keep doing well into the future. CCP are a really special developer.
03/09/2009 at 16:33 -bok says:
Nice read.
03/09/2009 at 16:37 Kieron Gillen says:
Jim: I still smile at that Ed comment too.
KG
03/09/2009 at 16:37 Steelfists says:
Really absorbing and gripping. Makes me want to play Eve more than any advertising banner. I wonder how long before game companies start using NGJ to sell games?
03/09/2009 at 16:38 animal says:
Props for the great articles.
I flew with you guys in Insurgency battling the odds, sadly I was part of the ill-fated Helios Inc. I lost the will to play after the corp maracas, and when the corp/alliance started fragmenting I just stopped playing one day.
I’ve only been back once since then to check out the wormholes/game changes…but who knows, maybe I’ll give the game another proper go some time and see what happens.
03/09/2009 at 16:41 Steelfists says:
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=293023
“His [Jim Rossignol's] populist group-blogging project rockpapershotgun.com continues to expand its cult popularity.”
So now we know who’s really pulling the strings…
03/09/2009 at 16:45 Jim Rossignol says:
As if there were any doubt.
03/09/2009 at 16:50 Eben says:
INSRG was the best fun ive had in Eve. The feeling of pure desperation, it was like being at Rorkes drift every time you logged on.
A point on Eve burnout i really think that INSRG was responsible for a vast number of total Eve fatigue cases, i certainly never really got involved in anything seriously since the evac and disbandment, i dabbled in the MAX campaign and tried to reignite my love of the game with BoB’s last stand but niether gave me the heroin hit id become used to. Now 5 months later I’m attempting to re-invigorate Eve for myself in a whole new way, i hope some day that you do too.
Grats Statecorp, fly safe
03/09/2009 at 16:53 Acosta says:
I wanted to wait until the last episode for saying how awesome has been these series. My hat would go off to you if I had one, has been really fantastic.
After six months playing Eve in and out, what pains me more each time I log is knowing I won’t live these kind of adventures, or won’t come anywhere close to the big alliance game that made me create an account in first place. Yes, I will be able to fly a BC, but I doubt I will participate in anything small or big, 0.0 cation is completely out of my reach.
I don’t mind, but my obsession these days is locating the new Eve. I will keep playing MMOs because I love the genre, but I want to be part of the new Eve from the beginning, I don’t mind if it´s 10 years ahead, I will be there and I will be part of it.
03/09/2009 at 16:54 feet says:
Read all 4 of these articles today. They genuinely capture the imagination, truly excellent stuff.
03/09/2009 at 16:57 Acosta says:
By the way, we demand the name of the ed to point and laugh. Who was he? Ross? Mark? Spill the beans, we want to know the dirty secrets of PCG. (when I say “we” it´s a more effective way of saying “I”.)
03/09/2009 at 16:59 Vasagi says:
wow the year and and a bit i hung round for was a blast, but im looking for large changes to 0.0 before i return for some zoom in my malediction
/hugs
03/09/2009 at 17:00 Eben says:
@ Acosta dont be daft man! Theres still plenty of life in the old girl yet, especially with some as yet undisclosed sov changes on the horizon, im desperately trying to get people like yourself to come together in a corp and show you that not only is .0 within your reach, its within your reach right from the get go! Please have a look at my (admittedly poorly put together) spiels on the forums in the “Eve Online:Again but please bear with me” thread and if youve got 1/2 an hour come and have a chat at 21:00 UK time tomorrow.
03/09/2009 at 17:09 Psychopomp says:
O7
03/09/2009 at 17:13 Serondal says:
Aw, this is sad :( I Was hoping that Statecorp would become a super power and dominate the galaxy or something, but hey you had fun and that is all that mattered.
This has been a great read I think you could very well write an entire new book just detailing the adventures of Statecorp
03/09/2009 at 17:19 chesh says:
Thanks for writing these, Jim. I doubt I’d be playing EVE today if it wasn’t for your writings on it.
For what it’s worth, my corp (EPIME) is part of one of the smaller NC alliances (Majesta Empire). While we do occasionally take part in huge NC cap-heavy fleets or even smaller alliance POS bashes, we absolutely love small gang pvp, and have been at or near the top of the alliance kb for the last few months because of our incessant gate camps and small roaming gangs, and even a few intrepid and skilled pilots who like to roam solo. The 15-man HAC gang is far from gone, mate!
03/09/2009 at 17:32 chesh says:
@Acosta also I must second what Eben said. I’ve only been playing for six or seven months and sure, I’m not in Morsus Mihi or anything but I’m in a quite accomplished and capable pvp corp in a very nice part of 0.0. My ship choices are still fairly limited — right now I fly interceptors almost exclusively in pvp — but each time I go out I get better at it. It’s scary to make that jump out of empire but it’s quite doable and the rewards are more than worth it, IMO.
03/09/2009 at 17:44 iamseb says:
o7 Jim
A fitting tribute to Statecorp. Fly safe!
03/09/2009 at 17:45 Jim says:
Nice series. I’ve never played EVE, but I’ve always been interested in the game. I will check it out when I get a capable computer.
03/09/2009 at 17:50 Serondal says:
Jim have you guys ever been in battle where two Titans faught each other? Are they really as powerful as they appear to be ?
03/09/2009 at 17:54 abhishek says:
Nice series of articles Jim :)
03/09/2009 at 17:57 roBurky says:
Titans don’t really have any ability to fight each other. They only have one effective weapon – the doomsday – that can only be used one an hour, and is only used for clearing a site of smaller craft. When not firing that weapon, they have no reason to be on a battlefield.
03/09/2009 at 18:02 Vinraith says:
These write-ups have been fascinating, thanks again Jim.
03/09/2009 at 18:14 wyrmsine says:
Indeed, thanks Jim. I’m currently in the first year of my time away from Eve, and while I’m frequently tempted to go back, I suspect my enjoyment of the game reached a zenith when playing the small game. As opposed to the massive corp engagements, which were starting to turn into a second job…
03/09/2009 at 18:16 Billzor says:
/ovation
Bravo, sir.
03/09/2009 at 18:33 Baltech says:
Bravo indeed. What a fantastic series of written words in four parts. They also whet my appetite for this game considerably so I inted to take a gander at the 14 days trial this weekend. Unfortunately, none of my regular folks has an penchant for space stuff, so I want to humbly ask the RPS retinue… wanna accompany a n00b to the edges of that particular universe? I prithee, drop a line.
03/09/2009 at 18:37 Acosta says:
Hey Eben, thanks a lot. I have just read all your posts, I loved the part of selling something to someone and then making him pay to leave for not being destroyed. The idea of joining is really tempting but I’m already in corp and they helped me a lot on the first months, so I don’t want to leave them without feeling I have gave them something in exchange. Thanks a lot for the offering, I will keep an eye on the thread (name in Eve is Azkabeth).
However, when I wrote my last post I didn’t specify that some of the reasons I feel that way are personal and not related to the game:
a) Big combat, when I joined I tried to be a tackler in Faction warfare. Problem is that each time we engaged, 30 vs 30 more or less, the lag went crazy and I couldn’t even move. My connections tend to sucks, so I guess is that.
b) Language, my English is far from perfect and I have serious problems to understand some stuff through Vent or EVE voice, because the quality is not great and there are certain type of voices. In fact, I don’t even have microphone because I tend to avoid any game that requires voices in multiplayer. Sadly for me, it´s mandatory in EVE which lot of times meant that I didn’t even understand which one was the primary.
c) I suck at PVP in EVE. Really, I have lost an insane amount of coercers and punishers these months without being able to do anything at all. I don’t mind losing, in fact I like a game where I feel I’m losing something, but I would like it more if I had a real chance to fight.
I think I could have ironed some of these problems being there from the beginning. But now people are way too experienced and I’m kind of embarrassed to ask them for patience while I understand the basics of not blowing up my stuff the first minute of fighting.
03/09/2009 at 18:53 Duoae says:
Great series of ruminations…. Thanks for sharing Jim!
03/09/2009 at 19:06 Ergates says:
Hurrah for Statecorp. The bestest Eve Corporation that ever there was.
03/09/2009 at 19:30 arqueturus says:
If there’s anything that people need to realise from these recollections is that we, 40 random individuals of StateCorp became players on a Galaxy wide stage with a cast of thousands, the parts we played mattered and we acheived things together that had lasting effects on Eve’s history.
In no game but Eve is this really possible and despite what you may think it can be still be done and is done every minute .
I’m a veteran of StateCorp, a veteren of Eve in fact and when I bought the game back in 2003, I considered long and hard whether it was worth playing a game with fee. I reasoned it would be worth it if I could squeeze 6 months out of it. There’s no reason why the same logic still can’t be applied.
To Jim, Jamie, Rob, Janek, Seb, Hardie, Simon, Walker, Michael, James, James, Mark Andrew, Andrew, Neil, Dan, Owen, Thesp, Rogue, Ryan, Bobsy, Dark, Jon and the many others, it’s been an utter pleasure.
03/09/2009 at 19:31 Saad says:
“All this stuff could only ever have happened in Eve. No other game or virtual world has the same vast potentials, or the intricate amalgam of sandbox freedom and ludic constraint.”
I recognized this in EVE from the very begining. It was a shame; I played through the trial 3 times, but each time, after 3-4 days I was turned off by the meticulous combat, the fact you can’t fly your own ship, the money grind, and the _vast_ distances between places you’d want to go.
03/09/2009 at 19:43 Colin says:
Damn you Jim, now I’m thinking about resubbing. Though knowing me (especially in light of the probe changes from like eight months ago) I’d probably spend a week flying around with people, then go and get lost in wormhole space and maybe come out for cap ops.
Either I’d burn out again while trying to get all my junk out of Upper Syndicate, one or the other.
03/09/2009 at 20:03 TooNu says:
woohoo! great read, cheers Jim :) now if only your book didn’t cost £20
03/09/2009 at 20:14 Jim Rossignol says:
A cheaper paperback version of the book will be out soon.
03/09/2009 at 20:22 Vinraith says:
@TooNu
If you didn’t want to wait for the paperback, I do notice that the version from amazon.com here in the US is $20. With the exchange rate, that should be a significant discount for you island-dwellers.
03/09/2009 at 20:28 Janek says:
To paraphrase an old friend, I have a wobbly heart.
Been a fantastic run, and I’d do it all again. Many thanks to all those we’ve fought against and alongside, and of course my lovely corpmates past and present. Even Whispous.
o7
03/09/2009 at 20:58 Nallen says:
Where do we get the paperback version you mentioned in your last blog?
03/09/2009 at 21:00 Nallen says:
wireless show even…
03/09/2009 at 21:17 We Fly Spitfires says:
Great article (again). You should write this isn’t a book :) Awesome video too.
03/09/2009 at 21:35 dartt says:
Great stuff though endings always make me sad.
I hope you keep writing about EVE even if you aren’t playing it any more; it’s always been a pleasure to hear about.
03/09/2009 at 22:15 DSX says:
Excellent series, Eve proves yet again it often makes better second hand reading then playing for those on the sidelines – especially when penned by someone so talented.
03/09/2009 at 22:17 Railick says:
OKay so titans don’t have any weapons on them other than a giant doomsday weapon O.o that doesn’t make a lot of sense but okay. Do they provide some other service besides randomly destroying an entire sectors worth of smaller ships out? I’m pretty sure I read you could dock ships at them, are they like moving space stations?
03/09/2009 at 22:25 Janek says:
Titans are also able to generate jump portals, effectively allowing normal sub-capital ships to bypass the gate network and instantly jump to an endpoint potentially many systems away. Makes them an incredibly valuable tool for logistics.
03/09/2009 at 22:40 roBurky says:
Titans do have conventional weapon ability as well, but nothing that matches the other combat-specialist capital ships, and nothing that you’d want to risk a titan in order to use. They are typically fitted with smartbombs and energy neutralisers instead of guns – stuff that helps them survive or escape a tricky situation.
They have all of the fitting and ship-carrying abilities of the smaller carriers and motherships. They can also give large command bonuses to the rest of their fleet when in the same system.
But the main other unique ability of a titan is creating jump portals for moving fleets of conventional craft instantly around the galaxy. I would say that’s probably the main thing Titans are used for.
03/09/2009 at 22:53 Jag says:
Great series Mr Z, although it ends on a bit of a depressing note. We’ll be sorry to see you go, although I think we’re all hoping some of you will stick around.
Two things have kept me playing EVE: (1) it is ever-evolving and expanding and (2) it is what you make of it. The key, in my opinion, is not to play it too intensively and enjoy it for the slow burning game that it is.
Anyway, fly safe and may the zoom-zoom-zoom be with you, always. :)
03/09/2009 at 22:54 Railick says:
Awesome! Thats for the info guys that really clears it up.
For some reason this story really reminds me a lot of some of my own stories in Ultima Online. I know it is a totally diffrent style of game but the early days there were lawless and wild as well. I have nothing that really compares to this though.
03/09/2009 at 23:08 nill says:
Awesome — I could read stories like these all day long!
Will have to pick up EVE soon, if only to support games such as this one.
03/09/2009 at 23:14 Railick says:
Eve is one of those games I REALLY wanted to play the day it came out with a public trial and I played the trial about 5 freaking times over the years but I could just never afford to play it : ( One of my friends really wanted to get into it with me too but he was to addicted to WoW (You see his brother gave him his WoW account and kept paying for it so my friend could play for free, why wouldn’t he get addicted right? Not to mention he was one of the best PvPers I’ve ever seen. Once watched him slaughtered 5 enemy hoard who were all about 5-10 levels higher than him in some sort of bezerk rage , was very fun)
03/09/2009 at 23:28 Deepo says:
Fantastic series of articles, thank you.
They make me sad though. I always thought Jim would continue playing EVE for it’s entire 50 year lifespan. I started dreading the end of this article series from the moment I read the first one. Now I’ve finished reading it I feel empty.
Ok, that may be slightly over the top, but it really moved me in some strange way. Impressive writing I must say! Hope you find your new EVE, Jim.
03/09/2009 at 23:42 Railick says:
What is kind of amazing about all this is that, not only are there stories out there that are similar to Jim’s but there are stories out there that are 100% different than State Corps. There are stories out there, no doubt, about extremely intelligent corps that trade and construct and build and made insane amounts of ISK off of all these wars. IF you think about it with all this huge corps going to war with each other business must constantly be good for miners/builders/traders ect and I’m sure a lot of people out there have very interesting stories about politics and back stabbing ect.
Maybe Jim can write a new book that combines several personal stories from people he has interviewed for the book. Say a story for a master politician, a story from a dreadful pirate, a story from a daring trader, a story for a gallant warrior who protected his friends and laid low his enemies (Jims own story perchance) A story from a CEO of a massive corp about epic war and the feelings involved in watching all your plans and hopes and dreams stand on the pin point of a needle ready to fall either way, for or against you. The crushing feeling in your chest when you read the reports that your entire fleet was destroyed or the uncontrollable elation you feel when your entire fleet is unharmed and the enemy is totally destroyed and broken after weeks of fight. The feeling only the man at the very top, who put in all those nights of hard work laying down every little plan and making sure they turned out the right way could feel. Maybe a story for a pirate hunter who tracked his prey through 0.0 lands nearly dieing countless times only to pull victory and bounty out of almost certain defeat with interesting new tactics that had never been used before.
I have a feel that the range of stories you could get from players is just as broad as the colors of the rainbow Jim, you could REALLY put together one hell of a compilation.
03/09/2009 at 23:43 Cunk says:
Can I have your stuff?
03/09/2009 at 23:57 Funky Badger says:
Wonderful articles, thanks.
04/09/2009 at 00:26 Pedwarpump says:
Funny, my alliance, similar to your own, fell apart lately for pretty much the same reason. The ISK saturated, cap and blob fest that 0.0 had become has smothered the small gang tactics we mastered and enjoyed. The game’s changed, some of us are still hanging on, but it’s not the same.
04/09/2009 at 01:38 Psychopomp says:
@Railick
As one of the devs put it, “Titans were never meant to be cost efficient. They’re a giant dick.”
04/09/2009 at 01:53 Serondal says:
lol
04/09/2009 at 03:20 SuperNashwan says:
Amazing stuff, thanks for sharing it Jim. Many writers would’ve been tempted to embellish the text too far, but you’ve got a real talent for writing directly and engagingly about this kind of thing.
04/09/2009 at 08:38 Tapin says:
Jim great series of articles sad to hear that you are officialy ending the story of StateCorp was fun to fly with you guys while I did.
I’d Just like to add that while in Pureblind you helped fund my first capital and that was very much appreciated, you might even be glad to know shes still in one peice after over a year of being put in harms way.
04/09/2009 at 08:41 arqueturus says:
@Conk
In all my time in Eve I’ve never met anyone that is as bad at making ISK as Jim. Hand to mouth for almost 5 years.
If he does have any stuff left (unlikely) he probabably owes it to other people for loans in the past :)
04/09/2009 at 09:05 TooNu says:
Oh I live in Sweden, I could order the hardback version but I will wait for the paperback and relish in its words of gaming spirit :)
04/09/2009 at 10:24 luckystriker says:
Loved the 4 articles.
Anyone know of a good site where I can find more ripping yarns about the EVE universe?
04/09/2009 at 10:31 luckystriker says:
Loved the entire series.
Anyone know of a good site where I can find more ripping yarns about the EVE universe?
04/09/2009 at 10:44 megaman says:
Thanks for these great articles, Jim! I wish I had played Eve, and I wish I had more time to play games. I’ll take a look at the book.
04/09/2009 at 11:03 TinyPirate says:
Hands up if you miss EVE! o/
04/09/2009 at 12:40 Zwiebelkopf says:
Besides being overwhelmed by EVE tales (once again) I really have to know the title and artist of sont used in the first video.
Thanks :)
04/09/2009 at 12:57 Tony says:
Man, I wish I had stories like this.
And I wish EVE was twitch, because then I might enjoy it. Alas.
04/09/2009 at 13:50 Mr. ThreEye says:
Excellent article series, thank you.
04/09/2009 at 16:56 Sunjammer says:
It’s a damn shame Eve simply isn’t going to let me in. It’s an exceedingly hostile game experience to get into, demanding more from you than any other MMO i came across. It asks you to spend a long, long time doing unfathomably boring things before you grow a social network large enough to make the political game available to you, and even then you’ve got literally years ahead of you until you have a real impact.
I absolutely applaud what the game represents, but it’s one of those things, like DCS Black Shark, where all the knobs and cool twiddly bits are obviously there, but still hopelessly far away from you to get to effectively play with. From playing the beta up until release, the game had an absolutely opaque user interface and painfully limited number of things to do as a beginning player, it just repeatedly turned me off every single time i tried to get back into it.
As important and awesome Eve is to some people, i honestly can’t help but compare it to obscenities like Darkfall, which are so idiosyncratic and limited in appeal that only a select few ever become privvy to what is actually offered. Honestly, at times it almost feels elitist; like a kind of in-crowd of MMOs.
04/09/2009 at 17:42 Will Tomas says:
I love these articles, and reading about Eve in general, so congratulations Jim, on finishing 5 years of what sounds like the most fantastic gaming experience. Your regular articles on Eve have made facinating reading.
The videos though do show why I won’t be joining Eve, in spite of all that, partly due to lack of time, but also because the actual mechanics of playing it are much less interesting than what they seem to inspire people to write about. I get the feeling that half the fun of Eve is in relating what happened later, as much as it is the process of going through it. I like it’s there, even though I know I won’t be joining it anytime soon.
04/09/2009 at 17:46 Davee says:
Awesome read.
I was myself in a smaller alliance called RISE around this time (BoB allied). Altough we were based in Feythabolis, so I wouldn’t be able to meet you guys in combat. We had this awesome “fort” that was almost impossible to take control of. A single “pipe” of about four systems leading to a central system wich spread out into four others – all with a station each. We fought bravely to defend it from Goons and Reds – we even had a BoB titan aiding us at one time to repell the invaders. But small as we were and strong as the RedSwarm was, we eventually sucumbed. But it was damn fun.
Hail StateCorp, RISE, CCP and EVE! And fly safe ;)
@ Zwiebelkopf: That’s music from Team Fortress 2, made by Valve. Fits the vid perfectly.
05/09/2009 at 07:59 mpk says:
Goodnight Statcorp, sleep tight. To everyone who has flown under our banner, farewell. It’s been amazing. This is genuinely part of my life changing here.
Love you all
M
05/09/2009 at 08:09 nutterguy says:
Thanks for this Jim, been a really good read. Definitely an RPS high point.
I really miss EVE but there is very little point in only playing it every so often…
I point I would like to make is that, with EVE the more time you put into it the more it will become one of, if not the best gaming experience of your life.
Time played = Enjoyment.
05/09/2009 at 08:45 pepper says:
Great reading,
EVE is the only MMO i really seriously looked at. I’m just no fan of pay per month thingy’s. Maybe someday when there is a new EVE around….
05/09/2009 at 11:39 neems says:
I never played it (well except for the tutorial in the trial version for about ten minutes) but i always got the impression that Eve wasn’t a game so much as a genuine fantasy world, second life, call it what you will – far more so than your WoWs and what have you. As so many have said, amazing to read about, but somehow playing it just doesn’t appeal to me.
The overall tale of StateCorp, to me, comes across as some sort of ‘How The West Was Won’. You were pioneers, carving out your own little piece of space to call home (well, you kind of sound more like brigands at times, but heh). Kings of The Wild Frontier, as it were. Unfortunately ‘civilisation’ always catches up in the end. It sounds like you need a new frontier…
05/09/2009 at 13:01 Val says:
Despite being a fairly hardcore gamer (most FPS), there has never been an MMO that has appealed to me and substantial subscription costs put me off further.
After enjoying this series immensely, I’m now 2 days into the trial for EVE and have even subscribed for an additional month. I’ve even managed to drag another of my regular gaming buddies with me.
The idea of travelling around with a small squad of players appeals a lot, hopefully I’m not too late to the game for that still to be possible and fun, we’ll see. Think I’m already persuaded to but your book when it’s out in paperback, thanks for the great articles.
05/09/2009 at 18:30 Eschatos says:
I’ve decided to try the free trial. Anyone got a buddy code available?
06/09/2009 at 00:00 Jante says:
Ah, some of my best EVE moments have been in FDZ4-A and the surrounding area, hunting Fang and their numerous allies. :D
06/09/2009 at 03:27 Kirrus says:
Its this type of story that makes me want to play Eve. But then I get fearful that I’ll never actually find any clans or groups to play with, and so don’t get past installing the client :(
06/09/2009 at 12:45 cowthief skank says:
This series should be compulsory reading for anybody who ever says games are just “games”. Sincerely, well done.
07/09/2009 at 01:10 Knathraq says:
This has been most enjoyable reading Jim, you always get my attention fast when posting, this time I had to support and subscribe for this great story hub, Thnx!
07/09/2009 at 04:37 K.Boogle says:
Eben,
Would you happen to have a link to the thread you refer to as the “Eve Online:Again but please bear with me” thread?
07/09/2009 at 10:41 Hermit says:
I always enjoy reading about EVE. The game itself I’ve never really managed to get into, but it’s definately one of the few unique MMOs out there. CCP don’t get enough credit for it, and not enough MMO devs take note. Warhammer Online could have learnt a lot about PvP and real risks and rewards from EVE.
Roll on Dust 514 as well.
07/09/2009 at 18:53 Damien says:
Great series.
Like a bunch of people, I tried to get into Eve a few of times after reading stories like these, but the style of gameplay kept turning me off.
It does say something about the ways games can keep a player-base interested over time — the pull-a-lever, get-a-pellet grind-fest that is something like WoW against the emergent, socially-engaged and consequence-filled PvP that is Eve.
I’m waiting for an FPS Eve: something more skill-based, with a persistent, open world that offers the ability to gain real power at the risk of great loss.
21/09/2009 at 21:44 ry says:
Statecorp was good times indeed, and space without Statecorp is a cold harsh vacuum. State was the only corp i was ever pert of, and will likely remain so.
It’s difficult to explain to non-members just how great state was, so i won’t try. i’ll just say Thank You to jim, rob, jamie, arq, aram, rogue, red, jannek, jaldo, owen, kael, dark, sg, steve, thesp, tapin, everybody i forgot to type and – goddamnit – even bloody whispous! you guys made Eve-Online one of the best and longest games i’ve ever played.
Years from now my little boy will look at me and ask, what did you do during the great war daddy, and i shall proudly reply: I smacked them son, i smacked them hard on the forums.
I’ll raise a toast to Statecorp this evening.
27/09/2009 at 12:56 feremir_grey says:
Great article. Would read again.
26/10/2009 at 11:15 Dizzident says:
I played the beta of EVE, the patchy first year and a large part of the second year…and I miss this game so incredibly much. I was part of the ill-fated CFS alliance, that failed miserably in the end, due to bickering and, dare I say it, cowardice of a lot of its associated member corps. Being hammered on by a competent opponent makes you learn quickly, but it can also be a hard lesson that can end in failure.
With the CFS gone, I couldn’t really find another corp or alliance that had the same ‘ideals’ to fight for, and it was clear where the game would go..massive alliance battles.
Without a doubt the best gaming experience of my life that year and a half.
18/10/2010 at 12:03 Owen says:
It was a great time – I just found this and what a wonderful tribute.
To all I flew and fought with, it was an honour.
24/11/2010 at 00:29 Sardaukar says:
Just some words for those having trouble grappling with the appeal of EVE.
First, if you find yourself troubled with the indirect combat, ask yourself: Did you like Nexus: The Jupiter Incident? For what is nowadays an obscure game, it’s one that almost every single PC-owning sci-fi geek has played and loved- at least the many I’ve asked have. Would you like a supersized version of it? That’s pretty much what EVE is, as far as interface goes.
Regarding room for budding empires, I cannot speak for nullsec (0.0) space today; I have no idea what it’s really like out there since I’m spending my time in the Amarr Militia. What I can say is that before this, I was about to join a wormhole corp, and wSpace is like a new EVE. It has its own new intricacies, even more risks, even greater rewards, and for the most part it’s largely untapped.
It’s like Oregon Trail in space- success in wSpace is all about that first preparation before you embark, but with enough provisions and allies, adequate knowledge of wormhole navigation, and one good prober, you can plant the seed for a new stellar powerhouse. I think it’s just a matter of time until, one day, a wormhole opens and thousands of ships pour out bearing a banner no one recognizes, flying ships so advanced you can only make them outside the mapped galaxy, and trained in combat against the smartest corps and AI EVE has to offer. I think New Eden will tremble that day.
29/12/2011 at 20:00 Sauceror says:
I don’t have any experience with Eve, though I secretly researched stuff about it, wanting to know about the titan class ships and the guy who ripped a lot of people off by offering a funding system..,
but still this reminds me a lot of the times I had in other games. I played WoW since release, with smaller and longer breaks until I stopped for good half a year ago, yet it is the smaller more insignificant games that gave me the same experience. Getting to know someone you will be in contact with for life.. having high times battleing in the big leagues and in the small, until it all looses its charm.
Even if you stop the game, you still fondly look back to the time spent and wish you could live it again.
30/12/2011 at 14:42 S Jay says:
I never played EVE, but this really gave me the wish to try it.