updates and changes

After letting things fall into wrack and ruin on this blog for far too long, I’ve at last managed to update a few things about the place. I’ve put up details of the latest issue (which is about to be sent out), updated the back issues accordingly, added a few names to the About Us section and gone over the advertising side of things.

It’s worth pointing out here that whilst fundamentals of advertising in EON won’t be changing, those keen to promote themselves or others should be aware that there has been a clamp down on ads that go to CCP for inclusion as splash screens: Basically, there can be no hyper-linking or any mention of a URL in these ads in future, even if the service being promoted is for a service that is purely in-game. It’s a move that is unfortunate but totally understandable. On the one hand some sites have started realising the commercial potential for EON ads (a 250,000 captive audience is a good market, especially if the ad cost nothing to air), and pimping out of game services that CCP have no control over – especially commercial ones, is not something this service was ever intended for. On the other hand these sites potentially take people away from playing EVE, which is never a good thing.

Basically, while we are happy to publish ads in the magazine for anything and everything related to EVE, until further notice only ads specific to alliances, corporations and in-game services offered directly by players will be allowed to air as splash screens. Websites and third-party applications may of course advertise with EON, but their ads will only be accepted for inclusion in print. I’m sure there are grey areas, so if anyone has any questions, feel free to get in touch.

tour of duty

As someone who’s been to a number of game development studios across the years (yes, even Blizzard’s), the chance to win a tour of CCP’s recently completed offices (though, sadly, not their old ones) is not a competition I’m all that interested in entering. Don’t let me put you off as it’s all for a good cause, but you have to understand that I’ve been through CCP’s new fish hut enough times already. For instance, I know by heart the warning that’s taped above each lavatory should visitors be tempted to improperly dispose of paper towels.

Hilmar, CCP’s CEO, will be giving the guided tour, which will certainly make the wandering a worthwhile investment should you be as keen an aquarium buff as he is. However, aside from the Fanfest-friendly date and the fact that the winner will enjoy the undivided attention of CCP’s Great Leader (which itself is worth a small fortune), not much is known about what stopovers are planned for the tour. For the asking price, a raid on the EVE Store is a sure thing, but I also hope there are planned pauses at two of CCP’s most popular and worthy destinations; the coffee machine down by where I think the GMs live, and the crow’s nest dining room.

Now I’m not a massive coffee fan, but that machine makes such a good brew I swear it’s sentient (a possibility backed-up by the mechanical marvel being on Facebook). As for the food at CCP, let me just say that it beats the fare offered by any establishment I’ve ever worked at… and I work from home. In a country that can’t seem to make a decent sandwich and where a fresh tomato is rarer than fish legs, it’s quite a feat that so many fresh ingredients can be found in the same room, let alone combined and cooked to such great effect.

My advice to those keen on bidding is to insist you get coffee and dinner. Also, when going through the Art Department, don’t let Hilmar whisk you too quickly past all the desks. You can be sure than if you look carefully enough you’ll see some designs for new ships, or discarded designs for old ones. Elsewhere on your adventure, if you pass a whiteboard be sure to read what’s on it as you’ll probably glean many development secrets. Don’t make it look like you’re reading it too intently though, or you’ll be taken out and shot as a spy. If you survive all that, don’t forget to email me if you find anything interesting. Finally, of course, don’t flush paper towels down the toilet. It’s bad for the hamsters.

out of eon experience

EON#013 is done. It was actually done a couple of days ago, but other MMM duties required me get stuck into them immediately. For the wicked, it appears, there is no rest.

Of course it hasn’t all been ceasless toil and back-breaking work over the entirety of the last few days. A couple of weeks ago during a short period of downtime I rolled up a new LOTRO character. I played the game very briefly at launch and enjoyed it, but never really had the time to fully immerse myself in Turbine’s version of Tolkien’s fantasy blueprint. Truth be told I’m not much of a fantasy fan at all, but if I was to start lording about in a game with orcs, I may as well play the real thing rather than some cover version like World of Warcraft.

What I like about Lord of the Rings Online is how relaxed it is. Levelling up is just something you do as you go from place to place reading boxes of text. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it the ultimate Tolkien experience, since having tried and failed to get enjoyment from the books, if LOTRO was true to the source as I recognise it, I would have thrown it on the fire long ago. Fellowship of the Ring really is the most tedious bit of fiction I’ve ever encountered. (No, I’ve not read the Bible.)

Rather more recently I bought and installed Warhammer Online, and though I used to like Warhammer back in my school days, the 40K universe was more my thing. In the realm of GW fantasy, I far preferred the battle system to the role-playing one.

Now WAR is quite a different beast to LOTRO and one I’m not fully sure if I like. Having picked a Dwarven Engineer and toyed with a Goblin Healer, the classes feel quite unique, but I can’t help but feel like I’m playing a bad version of Team Fortress whenever I get into any RvR. As for the public quests, most are frequented by morons, but then most new MMOs are full of such beasts. The server I’m on lags most nights and the graphics are not too great, so I’m hardly having the time of my life. However it’s too early for me to call a halt to my proceeding with the game, but I seem to have returned to the Shire to learn the ways of the carrot farmer, at least for the time being. I seem to find planting vegetables near Michel Delving more interesting than planting my spanner in orc faces.

Of course I will be back in EVE over the course of the weekend, but I always take a week of extended downtime after finishing an EON, just for the sake of my sanity. In any case, I’ve missed two successive mining ops and I fear I shall be kicked out of my corp unless I make amends quickly. But these carrots are sooo crunchy…

the long night

So it appears we are at the end of another production cycle for another issue of EON. Achingly close to the end in fact, but not there yet, as I’m waiting to get some information out of CCP in order to make sure the cover feature isn’t a six-page cluster of blank pages.

We have one day to go until we miss our print schedule, which doesn’t leave much time to write and design what is supposed to be the centrepiece of the magazine, but I’m hopeful CCP will come good at the very last minute, even if it does mean I’ll have to pull an all-nighter in order to get everything written up. As we all know, CCP are last-minute kinda guys, and a deadline isn’t much of a deadline if it doesn’t involve some last-minute panic and at least one night of both-end candle-burning.

fly safe gabe

Sad news reached me today about the passing of Gabe Knight. Last summer Gabe was a massive help to us on EVE TV. He provided, always at short notice and never with any hint of complaint, brilliantly delivered scripts of alliance and ship profiles that we aired on the weekly show.

Away from EVE TV Gabe was 29 and a regular DJ for Split Infinity radio. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends, as well as his many colleagues among the MMOG community.

the dark wheel

One of my favourite stories when I was going through the pains and pressures of adolescence was a novella called The Dark Wheel. Written by Robert Holdstock it told the story of a young star pilot forced to blast his father’s assassin with fiery hot laser death. …OK, so not the most original story,  but it came free with a game called Elite and that itself was a big deal at the time. It marked the first time an established author worked alongside a computer game developer. If you’re in the mood, you can read the whole thing in full online.

Anyway, the reason I’m bringing it up here is because The Dark Wheel of the title referred to a shadowy organisation that existed only to rate the so-called ‘Elite’ pilots of the universe. No-one really knew who the Elite were, or what constituted being “Elite”, but those who were the best knew they were the best because they had to be pretty ruddy good to survive in a very harsh world where death lurked around every corner (space is full of it you know). It was kinda like Highlander, but before Highlander, and with spaceships instead of swords. And no Sean Connery… although had there been a film he would have made a good Rafe Zetter… but I digress.

I’ve often pondered whether a Dark Wheel could exist in EVE: a loose association that traded it’s markings beyond and betwixt the New Eden corporate structure – there to decide who really was the best of the best of the best. …Not necessarily the most skilled, or the richest, just the best. Well now such an organisation does exist, and it shall serve to decide who are deserving of the title of ‘Elite’ among EVE’s good, bad and ugly.

Oh, you want more details? Sorry, The Dark Wheel will never be mentioned again. It was just a boyhood fantasy anyway. Nothing to see here. Move along please, move along ;)