Massively^™

One of the interesting features of EVE Online is that it has a drug trade in which players are actively engaged. Rather than merely being an illegal commodity, drugs -- called boosters -- enhance the performance of EVE's pilots, albeit with some potential side effects.

To understand boosters though, we'll need to look into the game's setting a bit first. The thing to remember is that as a player, you're a capsuleer. You're not standing on the bridge of your ship barking orders at subordinates. Rather, you're floating inside a metallic capsule deep within your ship. Your mind is interfaced with the ship you pilot via neural implants, thus your vessel is an extension of your body and its senses; you regulate the ship's activities merely by thinking about them. Not all people in EVE's setting of New Eden have the raw potential to become a capsuleer, making your character one of the elite. However, when faced with others of your caliber in combat, every possible edge you can gain over rival capsuleers helps. That's where boosters come in... they're your edge. Boosters augment aspects of your mental processes and thus provide certain bonuses when piloting your ship.

Our favorite D&D fan Schad dropped a note to remind us that the Dungeons and Dragons Online second anniversary celebration is set to go on as scheduled on Sunday. We're not quite sure what that entails, but whatever it is, it'll show up ingame on Sul, Therendor 2nd (that's Sunday, March 2nd for non-nerds -- I kid!), and Schad tells us that there will be cake. We'll believe it when we see it.

And in case you've been away from the game, the anniversary celebration will also feature a "welcome back" week, offering old players their characters back and a 25% XP bonus until March 11. Apparently that was nerfed from last year, but more XP is always good XP, right? Plus, if you left the game before Module 6 was introduced, now you can go see all those vidoegame-inspired levels in the Shroud.