EVE

eve logon.jpg^^Opening Screen^^Eve? You've probably heard of my on-again, off-again addiction to Eve. Attached are a few screenshots to help you see why. |eust I.jpg^^Quick Descrip^^Eve is an online, multi-player, role playing environment. Within this environment thousands of players (between 5 and 10 thousand at any given time) work in space in never ending quest to accumulate wealth. |map.jpg^^A Galaxy As Playground^^And there's a reason I call it an "environment" and not a "world". Eve is a real galaxy in cyberspace. The environment consists of thousands of solar systems, each of which has multiple planets, space stations (or some exploitable resource). Players travel through this cyberspace using a beautiful combination of warp drive and stargate/wormhole technology. |choose 3.jpg^^Chief Flyinghawk^^Character "development" in Eve occurs at several levels. When you first start a character you have the ability to fine tune the character's appearance. You also get to define the character's origins, ethnicity and school. |choose 1.jpg^^Sqa EvilTongue^^Then the fun begins. |tamar-i-3.jpg^^The Mine Grind^^You'll first start off in a beginner's ship. (if you're amongst the elite you also get started with a little money to start you on your way.) The only way to start from scratch in Eve is to mine ore from the numerous asteroid belts orbiting planets. Be careful though, the best asteroid belts are protected by pirates - and they WILL blast your ship to smithereens. |mining.jpg^^Mining Like Jack Kirby Would^^You will mine ore, and mine and mine and mine. |tamar-i-10.jpg^^More Mining (The Tamari)^^I typically play the game as a small-time miner finding ways to excavate exotic ore without being observed by pirates. |group mining.jpg^^The Mining Drone^^Having three accounts I'm able to make characters of various specialties and skills (such as drone control skill, or industrial ship command), and have them all working together at the same time. |singularityb-1.jpg^^Engage! (The Singularity)^^Then you'll use your ship's warp drive technology to haul the ore and move it around the solar system. |stargate hilfhurmur.jpg^^Stargate Hilfhurmur^^If you're mining one of the less populated regions of the galaxy there won't be any processing facilities around. You'll have to seek out a stargate to transport you and your ship to a planetary system with refineries and factories. |stargate roleinn.jpg^^Stargate Roleinn^^The stargate network is along the outer edges of most solar systems. |stargate eust2.jpg^^Stargate Eust2^^Approaching a stargate is simultaneously beautiful and dangerous. As a funnel through which all must pass, stargates attract the most low-life characters around. These characters (both NPC's and other players) hang-out at the stargate, blast your ship out of the sky, and take the cargo hold of whatever goods you were hauling for themselves. They're also known to destroy your escape pod too (for laughs I guess). (Those who know how to read the starmap can tell which systems are currently inhabited by troublemakers and plan accordingly.) |dammalin.jpg^^Docking Request Accepted^^After you've safely made it through the badlands you take your goods to a space station. |tamar-i-9.jpg^^Docking Request Accepted^^Approach to a space station can also be a thing of beauty, however unlike stargates, space stations are heavily guarded and the security patrols will fire on those who dare to act inappropriately. |tamar-i-6.jpg^^UnDocking, Course Set In^^All sorts of business occurs in space stations, trading, space ship repair, selling and purchasing of goods, refining of ore into usable materials, and manufacturing and organizing anti-pirate raids and hauling-convoys. Eventually it's time to leave station again. |thegatherer5-cropped.jpg^^Warp Drive (The Gatherer)^^And then it's time to let that wondrous invention known as autopilot (which didn't exist during initial beta's - oh those were the tedious days), help with hauling materials across vast expanses of space.