| EVE Online is a massively multiplayer game unlike | | | | missions, etc that you've done is important. There |
| any other on the market. With 220,000 | | | | are a lot of people who've spent a great deal of |
| subscribers connecting to a clustered | | | | time in the game - since it was in beta, making |
| supercomputer of over 60 servers running in the | | | | their characters, and letting their skills rise over |
| same persistent universe of 5,000 star systems, | | | | time. Not all of them are worth listening to, but |
| it is staggering in its depth, and there's a lot of | | | | many of them are - and they're the primary |
| demand for EVE Online guides out there. | | | | authorship base for EVE Online guides. |
| First - because of the nature of EVE Online's | | | | The next thing a good EVE Online guide will do is |
| architecture, a lot of the conventional "MMOG" | | | | walk you through the core concepts of the game, |
| guides don't work terribly well. Most MMOs can | | | | and one of the best EVE Online guides is the one |
| handle 300 to at most 2,000 players on a given | | | | that appears on the EVE Online home page, |
| server, and often run multiple instances of multiple | | | | covering what makes EVE Online different from |
| servers (City of Heroes, for instance, runs 18 | | | | other MMOGs. |
| servers at last count). EVE Online runs one server | | | | However, there's more to EVE Online guides than |
| for English speakers, one server for Chinese | | | | characters - there's also equipments (what |
| customers, and all players run on the same | | | | weapons to put on what ships from what |
| server. | | | | factions), economic guides (what resources to go |
| This does mean that any EVE Online guides are | | | | after in what sectors, and what to look for in |
| applicable to a wider chunk of the user base, as | | | | terms of opportunities), play style (how to form |
| there are fewer variations in code bases and | | | | corporations, and how to build trust with your |
| social customs by servers. It also means that | | | | corporation mates to make sure that someone is |
| there's a significant demand for EVE Online guides; | | | | watching the store) and how to market your |
| there's a lot to learn about a game as large and | | | | technology and blueprints to maximize your in |
| as open ended as EVE Online is. | | | | game cash flow in ISKs. |
| The first thing a good EVE Online guide will cover | | | | As you can see, there's a lot of ground to cover |
| is skill selection and training. While there are third | | | | in an EVE Online guide. Most run between $15 and |
| party applications like EVE Monitor, to help you | | | | $50 - look for reviews of specific EVE Online |
| select skills, the fact that EVE Online's skill | | | | guides before you buy, and make sure they're |
| selection and training has more to do with the | | | | updated for the Trinity client. |
| length of time spent playing than what quests, | | | | |