A war is brewing in the SF-MMO EVE Online .
EVE Online is already a brand in itself: Players form large coalitions and alliances, there are power blocks, plotting, skirmishes, and large wars against each other. Often, gameplay progress built up over months can be destroyed within hours.
In this context, propaganda methods are also employed: People spread misinformation, seek to establish interpretative authority in forum threads or on websites over current events. They want to influence the “public opinion”.
EVE Online thrives on community and their stories
All pretty intense stuff: EVE thrives on the community and the unique dynamics that develop there – with meta-level upon meta-level. This is a war where, at times, a much-noticed forum post can be just as important as a skirmish victory. Because the forum post could determine whether other factions intervene in a conflict or not. The social component is immensely important.
Just like the question of whether you can truly trust your allies or whether they are pursuing their own goals? In EVE Online, for instance, there was a case of betrayal in 2009 where an enemy spy working as a double agent got to a critical position in the hierarchy of his new alliance and subsequently brought down this community of thousands of players, as reported by RPS back then.
A book has even been published about one of these conflicts between the factions within the vast space sandbox. And this book about the Fountain War could now indirectly lead to a new war.
Real Fire in the Sandbox After 2 Years
In recent months, it had been relatively quiet in EVE, except for a few skirmishes. The “Imperium,” led by “The Mittani,” was for a long time the last remaining superpower. They were even hired by games like H1Z1 on special terms to invade their game and create a stir.
But it seems a thick conflict is brewing in EVE Online.
On reddit, one of the players, “TheRealMartini,” stated in a much-noticed thread that it could be the first major war in 2 years. There are several reasons for this:
- On the one hand, there are gameplay changes to the domination system that favor guerrilla tactics.
- Furthermore, the “Imperium,” the most powerful power block, has lately become increasingly isolated. After a Kickstarter project by leader “The Mittani” failed due to the resistance from the subforum “Reddit/EVE”, it was about writing a story about the “Fountain War.” At r/EVE, they preferred a neutral party to handle it and supported the Kickstarter project of Andrew Gorden, a former writer for “Wired.” TheMitanni allegedly urged his people to avoid reddit.
- Additionally, some high-profile Imperium members are said to have left the dominant faction.
- And the website “I want ISK” is reportedly scheming against the Imperium and paying people to take up arms against them, as they are dissatisfied with the payment behavior of coalition members. “I want ISK” could be compared to the “Iron Bank” from Game of Thrones – not a pure bank, but one with political interests.
So far, this is the summary from “TheRealMartini.”
Voltron Coalition Against the Imperium
Initial battles in the new conflict have indeed been fought, and the “Voltron Coalition” has achieved initial successes. As the Imperium announced on its own website, it has lost the battle for the “Vale of the Silent” and subsequently retreated from the system.
According to EveNews24, the battle lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes, with 2260 players involved at the peak of the fighting. This makes the battle the largest engagement in 2016 so far.
This could just be the beginning. It looks like attackers are trying to open multiple fronts against the Imperium. It seems there is movement in the sandbox again. The author of the major book about the conflict (Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online) has commented: “Exciting things are happening in EVE again. I should write a sequel. EVE is still absolutely unique.”
Some amazing stuff is going down in EVE Online right now. I’ll have to write a sequel someday. EVE is still absolutely one-of-a-kind.
— Andrew Groen (@ScienceGroen) March 27, 2016
