Filed under: Guilds

For every story of deception and betrayal in EVE Online that grabs the headlines, there are far more acts of altruism in the game's setting of New Eden. A fair amount of that goodwill is connected with EVE University [E-UNI], a corporation in the game that exists to help new players and has been doing so for nearly six years. When veteran player Morning Maniac established EVE University, he pioneered the concept of a corporation that teaches new players and exposes them to aspects of the game they would likely not experience on their own. Since its inception, EVE University has brought thousands of new players into the fold and shown them what's possible in the sandbox of New Eden. After a long tenure, however, Morning Maniac announced that he will step down as CEO of EVE University on February 1st.

He wrote: "Five years and 11 months ago I founded Eve University to create a place where new players could get together and be appreciated for who they were. Classes and doing things together were important but nothing was, and is, more important than the positive attitude towards new players."

One of the things we really like about EVE Online is how the game experience is player-driven, and that goes far beyond the more notorious aspects which have garnered a lot of attention of late. EVE's open setting of New Eden allows players to establish all types of ventures or organizations -- anything ranging from lotteries and banks to corporations focused on wormhole colonization is possible. Some players opt to create training corps that teach new players about the many aspects of this rather complex game.

When it comes to training corps there are several well-known options. EVE University is perhaps the most famous training corp in New Eden, but others like 1st Steps Academy and Trader's Academy exist to help out new players. For those hell bent on jumping into PvP, Agony Unleashed offers classes that can help you on your way. Now there's a newcomer to the roster of training corporations in the game -- the Open University of Celestial Hardship [OUCH].

A large part of MMOs is the social aspect of gameplay, and a large part of being social is trying to find a guild that suits your style. From listening to guild recruitment shouts in cities and recruitment channels to reading all of the recruitment posts in fansite forums and official forums, there's many things you need to take into consideration when picking a guild.

So for today Massively readers, we wanted to know what you look for when you're choosing your guild. Do you look for a casual environment where you can go at your own pace with other guild members? Do you look for a guild that's all about the PvP? Is roleplaying a high priority on your list? Or do you want to go for a guild that does all of these things in different combinations?

Give us your thoughts on this matter by dropping a comment on this post. We're interested to hear how you make this difficult choice!

Finding a clan to join can sometimes be a very difficult process. Pouring over pages and pages of guild recruitment advertisements in forums and talking with people in-game seems to be the only effective way of selecting a clan that can meet your needs. Even then it's a hit or miss opportunity, as the clan you may choose might turn out to be something you didn't want to be a part of.

Well, Fallen Earth is seeking to help alleviate some of the burden this January with a daily look into one of the many recruiting clans in the game. Each day on the website and official Facebook page, a new clan will be highlighted for your clan joining needs.

So if you've been looking for that perfect group in Fallen Earth, you'll want to keep your eye on their website all this month!

One of the games we're looking forward to playing next year is Earthrise, a post-apocalyptic MMO currently in development at Masthead Studios. At launch, Earthrise will offer guilds a wide selection of buildings and facilities that can be built within their controlled territory. Masthead Studios has bigger plans for city building and Territorial Conquest game mechanics post-launch, though. Long term goals for this aspect of guild-level gameplay include expanding options for guilds to become less beholden to the major NPC factions (and the cities of Continoma and Noir).

Specifically, Masthead Studios would like for players to establish administrative buildings, which will provide some of the conveniences and features generally found only in NPC-held cities. According to the Earthrise devs, "Administrative buildings will remove the requirement to visit cities even further by providing access to Market, Warehouses and more from inside the Guild owned territories."

Earthrise is an upcoming post-apocalyptic/sci-fi MMO from Masthead Studios that we've been keeping an eye on. As a sandbox MMO, Earthrise takes place on a single but vast island called Enterra. This means finite territory and ultimately a trigger for conflict between guilds. Given there's strength in numbers, it stands to reason that collective action taken by large guilds could allow them to become political and economic powerhouses in the game. But what about smaller guilds? Will Earthrise have niches for small to medium-sized guilds or will they always be in the shadow of the larger player entities?

This won't be a game where only the largest guilds can succeed, according to Moll, the Earthrise Community Manager. She explains that while territorial conquest will not be an endeavor best suited to small guilds, much less solo players, these smaller groups will be able to tap into a steady stream of resources and income. One way is to provide services to the playerbase and even the larger guilds.

Earthrise fans will still have a bit of a wait ahead of them in terms of getting into open beta, but development and improvements are ongoing through the current closed beta. Masthead Studios CEO Atanas Atanasov was recently interviewed by MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller, updating Earthrise fans on the game's current status and details of some of the game mechanics of skills and tactics. Noteworthy -- Atanasov discusses why Masthead Studios chose to develop a sandbox MMO and foster a player-driven setting, rather than a more typical game where players move quickly through the content and then wait for the next expansion to release.

"The sense of involvement and power to create and change can invigorate and keep players glued to the game for years to come," says Atanasov. On that topic of sandboxes, the interview also discusses how MMO titles like Ultima Online and EVE Online have been part of the inspiration for Earthrise.

Yesterday at the morning Second Life mentors' meeting, Linden Lab staff announced that Linden Lab's sponsored mentor group, which had been functionally closed (in all but name) for approximately a year now, would finally be disbanded in practice. The move doesn't really come as much of a surprise to observers of the Lab's sponsored volunteer programs over the last eighteen months.

Almost immediately more ex-mentor Second Life social groups than we could comfortably count sprang up, as people prepared to maintain their network of contacts without the overarching group umbrella. While there was surprisingly little actual yelling, some members of the organization feel the blame lies squarely at the feet of Linden Lab's CEO Mark Kingdon, though there's not a lot of apparent evidence to justify that.

The Dominion expansion for EVE Online is so-named for its heavy focus on the game mechanics of "Sovereignty" or control of territory in the New Eden galaxy. There's been no small amount of controversy surrounding CCP's proposed system, however, particularly as it's slated to go live on December 1st with the Dominion release. While some of the core game mechanics of control are still undergoing revision, CCP Games recently explained how ownership of solar systems will change hands in a dev blog titled "Storming the Gates."

EVE developer CCP Abathur lays out how new equipment will be used in claiming space and repelling invaders.

The settings of Darkfall and EVE Online are worlds apart, but there is some common ground between the titles. PvP combat permeates both sandbox games, and given a potentially hostile environment when starting out, it's always good to have a helping hand. EVE Online players have training corps like EVE University to show them the ropes in what can sometimes be a brutal game. Darkfall now has an analog of EVE University called "NEW" which Syncaine recently pointed out on his blog, Hardcore Casual. NEW is short for "Newborn on Agon", a North American server clan that provides training in most any facet of the game for those willing to learn.

Although Darkfall can be harsh to newer players, NEW provides a (comparatively) safe environment where players can spend 30 days learning what interests them, or developing the skills to succeed in the game once it's time to move on. The clan is politically neutral and owns the city of Hammerdale, contributing to NEW's potential to become a haven for new players. Also, some of Darkfall's major alliances support the idea of NEW which could be beneficial in the long run.

It's great to see things like this happen in sandbox MMOs, and hopefully Darkfall will continue to see its players establish lasting institutions in the game.

Major EVE Online roleplaying alliance Curatores Veritatis Alliance (CVA) disbanded today, possibly the result of a traitor within their ranks, leaving a power vacuum in the Providence region they once held. It's possible for high-level directors of an alliance to disband the organization, and this is exactly what happened today to Curatores Veritatis Alliance. CVA was an alliance loyal to the game's NPC faction the Amarr Empire and had a long history of enforcing rule in lawless space and resisting rival player organizations of Minmatar freedom fighters -- notably Ushra'Khan -- who they branded as terrorists. In short, CVA has played a significant role in the player-driven setting of EVE Online.

At this point, speculation as to how CVA was disbanded is rampant. The concept of a mole using high-level access to destroy an alliance from within is not unprecedented in the game, although some players are asserting an account hack took place. EVE pilot "BULLETPROOF 50CENT" of the corporation Traceless Representatives of Anonymous Players (TRAP) has claimed credit for the disintegration of CVA. He stated: "I am known as bullet, just a small, relatively unknown member of a covert organization, created by and dedicated to the taking down of what we saw as the single largest evil in EVE -- CVA."

The next EVE Online expansion will be Dominion, slated for a December release, which will introduce some major changes to the game and new features as well. The "Fleet Finder" is one such feature, explained in today's dev blog by EVE Online Technical Director Jon Bjarnason (aka CCP Atlas).

The Fleet Finder will give players much greater control over forming a fleet and, as CCP Atlas says, there will be "No more 'x up in corp channel' messages." The feature will also streamline how information is conveyed to other pilots.

Big changes are on the horizon for EVE Online in the Dominion expansion and beyond. Alliance sprawl in 0.0 security (lawless) space is going to be curbed, in favor of a new paradigm where alliances claim less territory but can derive much greater value from what they hold sovereignty over. This is the focus of a dev blog from EVE Game Designer CCP Chronotis -- "The Streams Must Flow".

Streams in this case refers to EVE's various revenue streams which are going to be altered in the coming months, and how this will affect players in 0.0 alliances. In the past, supporting a large number of players required an alliance to draw upon the resources of many different solar systems, specifically high-bounty pirate NPCs and valuable ores in addition to a very high passive income from rare moon minerals. CCP is adjusting how those rare minerals are used in Tech II production, meaning more common materials will be used, so Dominion will allow alliances to upgrade their controlled space as a means of generating more income.

Brian "Psychochild" Green and Ferrel at Epic Slant recently discussed an ongoing challenge facing game developers: designing for the team instead of for the loot.

Balancing game mechanics and rewards with player goals and desires, while still encouraging people to play as a group has always been tricky. Players are there to have fun, which usually translates into some sort of reward system, be it in-game cash, leveling up, further quests, or better loot. The foundational goal of an MMO in this case is for there to be a learning curve: go out with your group and learn how to succeed at this encounter by working together as a group, playing off of one another's strengths and weaknesses. In the end, learning and succeeding is the reward.

Unfortunately, this gets lost quickly in the race for better loot - that drop that you need to advance. Players forgo groups in favor of solo farming, or wind up bickering with their group over who gets the loot, moving away from what many consider to be the main purpose of the game.

Psychochild and Ferrel explore some ideas and solutions, as well as suggestions for balancing the goals of both players and developers.

When EVE Online developer CCP Soundwave isn't entertaining fans of internet spaceships with his wit during the EVE Alliance Tournament, he's apparently finding new ways to ... impose taxes on players? His dev blog today explains that CCP Games will tax the earnings of players in NPC corps and their reasons for introducing this taxes. This won't apply to those in EVE's player corporations or those enlisted with a militia for factional warfare. "Service guarantees citizenship and all that, so keep on trucking," he writes. (Note: For those less familiar with EVE Online, this deals entirely with in-game currency of course, InterStellar Kredits or ISK. No real world taxation is involved.)

After all these years, why impose taxes on players in NPC corps? CCP Soundwave explains it all in "I Bring Gifts! (By Gifts I Mean Taxes, Sorry)". NPC corps have a few advantages over player corps in that they cannot have wars declared against them by player corporations; immunity to wardecs is perhaps a key reason some players don't move on to player corps. In addition, members of NPC corporations don't have taxes subtracted from their NPC bounties and mission rewards, which most player corporations impose.