so many goblins, so little time

A couple of months ago I was asked by a  friend of a friend if I would like to edit a magazine. Without thinking too much about what I was letting myself in for, I said yes. The magazine is called MMOZine and from that you can probably get a good idea about what it concerns itself with. It’s not quite a magazine in the same sense that EON is, since it’s only available online and can be downloaded for free (yes, for free), but it’s a magazine in that it is planned, written and produced to the traditional conventions of a magazine. In other words it’s a pain in the ass to put together when compared to websites (in my experience at least): You have to gather everything by a deadline rather than publishing as-and-when, by which time you must also make sure you have all the page elements ready for proofing and design (body text, panels, captions, straps etc), rather than just running it through some content management template.

None of these issues are that big a deal since I’ve been doing this magazine shenanigans for a number of years, but what was a considerable shock to the system was just how time consuming persistent world games are to visit, even for a short while. Keeping up with EVE was difficult enough when it was mildly complicated by occasional forays into LOTRO, but when you suddenly find yourself having to re-acquaint yourself with World of Warcraft and Warhammer and get to grips with “lesser” games such as Runes of Magic at the same time, the spare time just vanishes in puff of subscription fees. I’ve seen more goblins and their derivatives in the past two months than I ever thought possible.

A large part of my reasoning for helping out with MMOZine was to get myself out among the general populace again and get some perspective on EVE and it’s place in the greater MMOG universe. That one aspect alone has been worth the journey: It’s quite an eye-opener to go back into New Eden when you’ve been on a whirlwind tour of every persistent world out there, seeing how they all handle character creation, how progression is managed and so on. Communication is something that in EVE really stands out after you’ve had to work though other worlds and their endless spam messages. Actually on that point I liked the way in FM Live that if you spam the mailing system you not only get a warning from the moderators – a public one, you lose in-game currency. Something the EVE mods should consider, perhaps?

With another EON deadline looming large on the horizon I’ve made my way back to the loving arms of EVE after finishing my first MMOZine as editor. It struck me though how almost impenetrable and confusing the official EVE site is. Seriously, if it wasn’t for the fact that location of certain areas have been branded into my subconscious mind over the course of many years, I would have been utterly lost. I do hope CCP are working on a thorough redesign because it must surely put a lot of newcomers off.

The ninth issue of MMOZine (my first as editor – feedback welcome) is out today. I should warn you that there is almost nothing about EVE it in, partly because I found other games were more worthy of the coverage. That may sound like a heretical thing to admit but MMOZine aims to offers a concentrated dose of general persistent world news and views, aimed very much at the rank-and-file of the online gaming fraternity. It would be a massive abuse to ram MMOZine full of EVE material just becuase it may be easy to come by. There are many more games than EVE in the online world (few better it must be said) and some are of far greater interest to some gamers than EVE will ever be. Maybe it has something to do with all those goblins. Be assured that I intend to discover why in the fullness of time.

back to the edge

After returning from picturing Fanfest V in the latest EON, Postcards from the Edge is calling out again for in-game images to adorn its pages.

Reading over my previous call for images I’m reminded that I never made good on my offer to send magazines out to those who had their’s published. As I admitted in my previous post I suck at credits, more than I realised. Time to make amends…

get voting!

Voting in the third annual EON Awards is now open! Spread the word and as members of the EVE community we can give ourselves a collective pat on the back for being awesome! Go to www.eve-online.com/eonawards.

pushing the envelopes

The latest issue of EON, the fourteenth, is on its way to subscribers around the world. I went to the MMM office yesterday to help with envelope-stuffing duties and to check out the magazine and I have to say that I’m really proud of it. Of course I’m contractually-bound to say that about every issue, but in truth it usually takes me a while to enjoy a new issue, but this one I ripped through as if seeing it for the first time (which I was, in a sense). I shall update the site later to include the new cover and contents, so stay tuned.

Massive thanks to everyone who helped with this issue. The star cast of writers includes EVE TV’s StevieSG, The Blogfather, Karox Lominax, and even flashfresh was entrusted with a pen (which he wielded with a level of sophistication unbecoming of a nasty pirate-type). Blinky’s WDA is a classic – too good not to have been used in a news story. We had some great Fanfest and band photos, from CCP’s Ben Maths and Tinna Arnardóttir, as well as images from Brian Knight, Ben Cousins and others that I can’t remember if we used or not. I suck at credits. I think I’ll be owing a lot of beer to a lot of people.

the tag stops here

Ok, this tagging thing has gone far enough… actually it seems to have gone as far as is possible, and I appear to be among the the last victims to take part in this merciless prank, which lets me off the hook for volunteering further unpleasantness upon my fellow bloggers.  Hoorah!

So, it appears I’m required to write a few facts about myself:

• I came up with the name for the Exodus expansion, hoping it would be enough to earn me an honorary dev shirt. It wasn’t.
• I once had my eyes removed from their sockets for an operation to fix my wonky vision, after which the surgeon told me they were lolling about my cheeks in a most amusing way. I was sedated at the time, obviously, but looking in the mirror the next day convinced me he was probably telling the truth.
• I’ve spent a small fortune on driving lessons and it took me nine attempts to pass my test (11 if you include theory exams). My instructor – having put his four kids through university at my expense – finally suggested I get stoned, or take prescription pills that would have a similar effect, in order to be able to fool the examiner that I be allowed to drive a car unaided. I did, and passed.
• I love hardcore strategy games of  the grand/4X variety, and I completely suck at playing them.
• As a kid I ran across a live firing range on a British millitary base for a prank. Many years later I found myself in a gun club in Vegas, shaking with fear, holding a handgun at some paper target. I dropped the pistol, it went off, I survived. I don’t think I should be allowed near firearms again, just in case I’ve already ridden my luck. (Suits me just fine.)
• At the front of a packed Front Line Assembly gig a friend* decided it was probably futile to try to get to the bathroom before the band came on, so he emptied himself in a pint glass and tucked it behind a monitor on the stage. Minutes later, the lead singer ran on, kicking the stage monitor. The glass tipped over and the leather-clad vocalist slipped on his arse in what he probably thought was beer. My chum  and I decided to then watch the rest of the show from a few rows back. (Yes, a real friend. It wasn’t me!)
• I’ve been a passenger in Sid Meier’s car and it was like the inside of a stationery cupboard that had been ransacked by rabid wolverines. Over lunch, at our destination, he confided that he watches real football and supports Arsenal. (I think so… it was a few years ago now.)

blatant name-checking

24 hours after returning from Fanfest (the MMM “Pub Team” like to drag things out for a few extra days), I find myself somewhat refreshed and reinvigorated, as I always do after coming back from the annual EVE pilgrimage in Iceland

As ever it was great to meet the real faces behind the pretend names who I’ve come to rely on to help me with the magazine: CrazyKinux has become a close ally and it was great to catch up with the Blog Pack leader as he launched himself from one presentation to the next like some fevered journalist (he was probably the busiest guy in the building). Yoshito Sanders was another EON stalwart it was good to be reacquainted with, who at least seemed more alert than when I last saw him, crashed out on the EON sofas at Fanfest last year. Fellow fictioneer The Cosmopolite offered a hand in friendship, which I was happy to shake, and, In fact, over the course of the three-day EVE extravaganza (of which I lazily attended two) it was a bumper year for name-checking: Alienhand, LaVista Vista, and Reiisha… just a few of the many legends I spoke with.

Sadly not everyone could come to the party, and given the 250,000 players who might have turned up, it’s probably a good thing they didn’t (although I suspect the economy would have embraced such a delegation). Notable absentees include the elusive Winterblink. Likewise Urban Mongral’s non-bounding about looking for his podcasting other-half also made the halls seem a little emptier …although my bar tab was lighter as a consequence. Thankfully there was an off-the-leash Midnighter happy to pick up the slack. An abiding memory of Fanfest V will be a vision of him, drenched in RoXoR love and cheap beer, clutching the neck of a smashed guitar. I trust he managed to get it back through customs.

It wasn’t the most hedonistic Fanfest, nor the busiest – American attendees seemed particularly thin on the ground, but from an EON perspective, it was among the very best. Aside from catching up with contributors, there was some big announcements – all of which are by now well known, but need careful pondering. For the next month, that’s pretty much what I’ll be doing.

the opinion of the masses

I feel obliged to fight for the honour of games reviewers (in a limp-wristed non-fighty way*) after reading Blinky’s latest blog entry, which points to a post on the EVE forums where an old review of EVE has resurfaced. The review, from Gamespot in 2003, rated EVE with a rather low 6.6 score out of ten, which has earned it – as it probably did back in 2003 – the ire of the faithful, as well as the contempt of those who believe games reviewers to be either terminally corrupt or blatantly incompetent. Or both.

I can only really speak for myself in this defence but I’ve reviewed EVE three or four times over the years, all of them before my tenure as EON editor. A couple of reviews were for PCZone (89% at time of release, 91% after Exodus – neither of which appear to be online to view, although an old preview of mine is). I also wrote a review for PC Gamer in the US (again after Exodus). I stand behind all of them. I stand behind every review I have ever written. Even my Star Wars Galaxies one

A review is no different to any other opinion. An opinion can be arrived at at different times by different people. The only difference with a review is that it’s by nature a more crafted opinion, and one that has hopefully earned some remuneration by way of manufacture.

It’s true that online games should require a far larger time investment that any other game in order to form an opinion. Sadly reviewers are paid only on their pre-approved output and not on their input. That was the case in 2003 and remains the case in 2008. Either the system should be changed, or the reviewer, fearing they may not be able to give the game the required attention, should decline the commission.

In the case of EVE, I know of no-one that was ever given special treatment or high-end gear in order to help them complete their review. When a game is launched there shouldn’t be any need to. Expansions are more difficult because they tip the balance toward high-end gameplay; where in-game advancement is a prerequisite to being able to amass opinion. Hopefully by that point a publication will have someone embedded – an in-house fan – who will know what is going on. Sadly PCZone lost theirs when he was asked to edit an EVE magazine.

As Blinky correctly says, things are a little different these days, but not by much. Being first with a review is no longer the big deal it once was, but being first with information is. MMO Reviews don’t actually count for much in this day and age, but interviews and first impressions do. Taken as a first impression – which is all a review of a newly-launched MMO can be, the Gamespot “review” is a good one. I suspect a typical reviewer thrown into EVE today would have similar opinions of it. As has been said since 2003, EVE isn’t for everyone.

As much as the review might suggest how much EVE has changed for those of us who’ve been a part of the evolution, it probably hasn’t changed enough for those who haven’t. Greg Kasavin, the author of the Gamespot review, is now working at EA. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not touched EVE since and he probably has no desire to. I’ve not played Galaxies since I reviewed it. Go figure.

*Also obliged to write a blog entry, since it has been a little while ;)

a forgotten view of eve

You would think that being interviewed for a TV show, even one aired online, would be something you wouldn’t forget in a hurry. In this case I had completely dumped all memory about a show I was asked to be a small part of for Joost a couple of summers ago, back when I was also heavily involved with EVE TV.

Called “Around The Net In 20 Games”, the series was simply a bunch of games journos yabbering on about their favourite interactive vices (it didn’t involve any net navigation). I had expressed an enduring love for a game called Total Annihilation and was invited along to an East London studio to justify my appreciation before a man with a camera and a presenter with impossibly white teeth. When I arrived and announced I also quite liked a game called EVE, I was interviewed about that as well.

(Watch: Around the Net in 20 Games: EVE Online / Total Annihilation)

As I say, I’d totally forgotten about the interviews and hadn’t even seen the shows until receiving an email this evening saying that Joost.com was now browser-viewable. With my memory pricked I decided to seek them out. I’m glad I did. …You may not, since to view them you need to register. However, they are fairly interesting, if only to see an unusually animated Zapatero with long hair and a view of EVE that seems quiant and outdated. How quickly things change… EVE I mean, not my view of it :)

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.