Sideshow & Syrana

This week I offer you some gaming, writing, and movie link love.  Enjoy!

Do you want to be a writer? Then check out this job posting for the position of being an unpublished writer.  (A fantastic guest post from Tami!)

Also, if you haven’t been to Tami’s site… just… go.  I starred several of her posts, but really I  need to star her whole blog.  So instead of linking every wonderful post – I am just going to urge you to head on over there!

Mutant Reviews From Hell have a list of the 10 romantic comedies worth watching.  Personally, I usually don’t watch many of those, but this is a good list.  And it has one of my favorite movies on there!

Check out Polygamerous Episode 12: Russell and the Mothman! Not only was it a fun show, there’s this awesome interview I did with CCP Games…

Darcy and Russell had the opportunity to talk with CCP Manifest (PR Associate) and CCP Jasonitas (Content Team) from CCP Games, the developer of EVE Online.  They provided us with some great information regarding the unique sandbox game world of New Eden as well as some of the challenges of running the universe on a single shard.  CCP Manifest and CCP Jasonitas discussed their current roles and how they got started with CCP Games.  CCP Jasonitas shared which mission he wrote is his favorite, and what their favorite aspect of the game is.  We also took a look at the relationship between the developers and the player community, especially in regards to the Council of Stellar Management (CSM), which gives elected players a chance to meet face-to-face with developers to discuss issues, concerns, and suggestions.  We lightly touched upon the highly anticipated Incarna expansion and the console MMOFPS DUST 514 which are currently in development.  Of course, we confirmed they have been Polygamerized as well.  Oh! And we even asked CCP Jasonitas about the Mothman.

Also! Make sure to listen in to Slash 2 Podcast this Friday at 7pm CST, where Sideshow and I join them for an evening.

Euripedes of Critical QQ reminds us that gaming is a hobby and ponders why it isn’t always viewed that way by outsiders and even some insiders.

Miss Medicina shows us her geeky nerd side.  Or is it nerdy geek side?

I love a good song parody, and there’s one about the new dungeon finder tool set over at Kill Ten Rats.

Speaking of Kill Ten Rats … Ravious has been working with Massively on how bloggers can build relationships with community managers.  I found it pretty informative – check out Part 1 and Part 2.

The world isn’t big enough to contain me.  I must seek domination far and wide.  Space is a good place to seek ultimate domination.  Not just world domination – but universal domination! Wait, even bigger than that!

Although, a noob like me in the vast and complex outerworld that is EVE Online probably won’t see any domination… yet.  (Never underestimate a warlock.)

Ok, so, there aren’t warlocks in EVE.  But! I am IMMORTAL! Mwuahahaha!  (See, it pays to live off the souls of lesser opponents.)

Let me start at the beginning-ish. (continue reading…)

Remember me? I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but fortunately we have Syrana to keep you occupied with her wonderful posts. I’m definitely still playing Warcraft, but a little less than usual. I tend to have a short attention span with some games. I jump around a bit at certain points. While this helps me keep from getting to bored with one game, it also spreads out my attention to a few games.

I jumped a bit back in EVE Online recently. If you’ve never played EVE, it’s a MMORPG set in space. It’s tough to generally compare EVE and WoW, so I won’t really try to do that here. Their major similarities stop at MMORPG.  EVE’s description, from their website, is “a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) set in a science-fiction based, persistent world. Players take the role of spaceship pilots seeking fame, fortune, and adventure in a huge, complex, exciting, and sometimes hostile galaxy.”

There are no levels or level caps in EVE. You gain no experience from kills and quests. You gain skills by simply choosing to learn that specific skill. You learn these skills in real time, whether you are logged on or not. Skills range from Combat to Mining to Industry to Covert Ops. In WoW, your leveling speed is limited by how quickly you can do quests or grind. In EVE, you learn skills at, more or less, the same rate as any other player. How fast you learn skill points is determined by your attribute points – intelligence, perception, will power and so on.

But, you say to yourself, “Uncle Sideshow, won’t people who have been playing longer be that much better than me?” Yes and no. Obviously, there are some players who have been playing since the beginning and are extremely awesome. Though, most of the players have specialized their skills into a certain area, so you could easily be better than them in your chosen skill set. It’s just about, if not, impossible to learn every skill in the game.

Here are a few things I really enjoy about the game:

• Almost all of the items in game are created by the players in the game. There are few items that are sold from a few vendors, but these are usually Tech I (lower-level) items.
• It has one of the most advanced and detailed economic markets in any game.
• Everyone plays on one server, not on “shards” like WoW. So, when you here about some crazy stuff happening in EVE Online, it happened in the same place that you play.
• Even though it’s a very good PvP-based game, overall, it has a ton more to do if you’re not the fightin’ type. Players need ships, which are made from materials, and those are created from minerals, which are mined from asteroids and then these things need to be shipped all over the galaxy through safe and hostile territories. Pick one.
• I am gaining skill points as I sit and type this post.

I admit, the game has a bit of a high learning curve, or at least it did, but I think I’ve heard that they worked on the tutorials. There definitely some great sites out there to help new players out and even an in-game Corporation dedicated to that exact thing named Eve University. I was in this corp for a bit in the beginning and it was amazing. Classes, videos, podcasts, tutorials, etc all done by volunteers to teach you the game.

Maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but it is something new to try. If you do give the 14-day trial a shot, look me up. My two characters are named Earl Scolari (my blue-collar workin’ man) and Xander Kivotsky (my rough, badass-looking soldier.)

While browsing after this post, I found this amazing video made by an EVE player using all game footage. Definitely watch it in HD at YouTube.