The Community

EVE Online has the most mature community I've ever seen in the past 7 years of me playing MMO's. Bottom line. No doubt about that.

I know I'm going to be flamed to high hell for this, but its the truth as far as I can see it. Sure there are more proper and mature gaming communities out there but be honest: Where was the last MMO you've ever played that had people actively helping you as a newbie out? When was the last time you had someone give you advice out of nowhere when you looked to be in trouble?

Even better, when have you seen MMO company employees mingle and properly inform the community of changes and participate in the community? CCP are close to the community unlike SOE or others out there, who keep a "standoffish" stance to their community and sometimes, dont even act like they know something is wrong when 99% of the community just upp up and leave.

Yes, I'm looking at you $OE, and the bastard-child of an MMO you have there...

Of course, nothing's all perfect especially when dealing with other people, and you'll always find the everyday internet jackarse waiting to spoil up a thread. Thankfully, however, thats very rare on the newbie section of the EVE online forums, and mostly is contained, especially in the alliance talk sections, where emotions run high and hatreds run deep.

The PvP in EVE Online is brutal, and forces players to adopt an "adapt or die" attitude when the shooting starts. This both adds and detracts from the feel of EVE. For some, its the holy grail (some even claim they cant "get off" unless they've had their "fix"), for others, its what they left Counterstrike/Battlefield 2 for. Yes, when its PvP, talk its brutal, explenatives and emotions run left and right, so on and so forth, but this is to be expected from a PvP-based game. Someone will hate someone else because they either took their turf, or want their turf to begin with. For others, a matter of pride just sets it off. Combine this with the real sense of loss of ship and months, or even years of work if you lose, brings the ante up a lot higher than normal MMO's like World of Warcraft, wherein death is just a delay and an annoying "corpse run".

This is just one facet that attracts me to EVE. The fact that you and your friends have to really fight over stuff, or become weak and lose it all. Its sort of like a virtual "Darwinism" wherein the strong triumph over the weak. Note that even the weak are strong in numbers, or if they are skilled in another battlefield, like, say the market, or in politics, etc. They can still "fight" the strong in another way. Its just not brawn that wins here, but brains.