turn left at jita

For a while now CCP have been engaged in “other projects” that we at EON towers have been refused permission to even talk about. To a certain extent such blanket refusal to even allow us to put the words ‘darkness’, ‘world’ and ‘of’ in any way that might suggest CCP don’t have their eye fully on the here and now of New Eden is fair enough. EON is an EVE magazine after all. However we can’t help but assume a position of smug superiority in proclaiming we’ve been involved in a few “other projects” of our own, ones that extend beyond the temporary stewardship of EVE TV Weekly.

Actually the first of these projects came about through EVE TV, when Serenity Steele popped over to London be a guest on the weekly show, bringing a prototype copy of his EVE Strategic Maps book with him. So impressed were we that we would have published it right there and then had we the resources to devote to it. Fast forward a few months and those resources have become available and after more than two years in development, the book is now on sale.

Of course I am rather biased so I won’t tell you how great I think EVE Strategic Maps is, but I would like to praise SS for his patience and determination at seeing the project through. A lot of effort has gone into the design of the book in trying to reinterpret EVE’s in-game 3D mesh for the printed page. When you think about the number of systems, all the links between them, plus stations, complexes, ice fields and rocks, it really is a triumph of style and function that the book is so easy to decipher. In fact I’d rate it up there with the London Underground map, but hey, I am biased.

the 1.0 experiment, anyone?

Many I’m sure have fond memories of the “0.0 Experiment” by EVE player Innominate Nightmare (I must resist the full-caps version of his name as I have a headache this morning): It was, over the course of a few months, the consistently lively journal of an unknown character as he tried to explore the murky backwaters of civilized space, gradually making himself more well-known by shining his indomitable wit into the gloom and discovering it’s even murkier out there than some of us had suspected. If you missed his superbly-crafted musings, I suggest you go and read through them over the course of a few days (it’s a fine coffee-break read if nothing else). Among the dozens of diary entries there is much to learn about how 0.0 space works, how much of the time it just doesn’t, and, whilst many of the alliances mentioned within are no longer active, the activities of their successors are much the same.

So I was wondering, since there has been a recent “official” tribute to the works of the dearly-departed Inno, whether it was time for someone to become properly inspired by his endeavors: Not to jump in a shuttle and go exploring nullsec – since it’s kinda been done already and unlikely to be done much better – but rather for someone to sit in a station and try to earn a few billion by trading, fleecing, begging and betting. The “1.0 Experiment“, if you will. Just a thought.

surveying monkey

I recently started up a discussion with regard to the possibility, desirability and consequences of one single power being able to dominate EVE, or, rather, the lawless expanse known as 0.0 space. Rather pleasingly there have been some very interesting responses so far, but now that the chat seems to be drying up, now seems as good a time as any to get more opinion – this time about what players think of their own alliances and how they operate.

Rather than collect this extra info via a discussion (far too unwieldy given the nebulous subject matter), I’ve put together a survey that I hope will bring about a good number of responses over the course of the next few days. The final grand aim is to help us come up with a cracking article for the next issue. Should the survey prove successful, I’m sure more will follow. In fact, I’m starting to think that I should have arranged for the Awards to have been voted for through the same site. Maybe next year.