EVE Online, the spaceship MMORPG, is a very deep game, and one that has a steep learning curve. With its open-ended gameplay, PvP where death matters, and losing ships means wasting your ISK, conflicts can get superheated. So imagine being a part of an epic PvP battle and being on the losing side. Would you seek revenge, or maybe cut your losses and retreat? EVE Online features epic virtual battles with thousands of players, and reading Empires of EVE is like a history lesson of the great wars. It was so successful that author Andrew Groen decided to launch the second volume earlier this month. In just hours of its launch, Empires of EVE: Volume II already reached its goal.
In history, we have had wars involving huge leaders like Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Well, Empires of EVE tries to capture that feeling of how these EVE Online wars started. And what’s great about the book is that you don’t need to be a fan of the online game. The stories are interesting, and you’ll get to know a lot about how one would lead a virtual battle involving thousands of players, and how others would fail.
Groen has interviewed many notable players in order to get both sides of the story. Before the book, if one were to look up information on the history of EVE Online, they would have to sort through message boards and Wiki pages. Some wouldn’t even be that detailed and others would be filled with propaganda from the victors.
The figures involved are just players, and some don’t have experience with military tactics. This can lead to chaos. Imagine yourself as the leader of a group filled with players of all backgrounds. How does one communicate with someone who knows a different language? I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t end well.
Since the game can act as a second home for players, there’s a certain pride in the glory of claiming territories.
Excerpt from the book: “When you’re at the point where you’re losing your real-life job because you’re trying to achieve something… you have to keep going,” said Mikhail Romanchenko, AKA Death. “Because otherwise all of those losses were for nothing. When you set a goal for yourself… you have to achieve it. No matter what.”
The focus of the book is on the big scale conflicts, and we get to meet groups (AKA corporations) like the Red Alliance, Ascendant Frontier, Mercenary Corp, Band of Brothers, and Goonswarm. Groen paints an interesting picture where reading about the battles can actually be more fun than watching them. Even though the game is played in a virtual world, the heart of the conflicts is the people behind it and their ambitions.
See how empires rise and fall, and how art imitates life. You can still back Empires of War: Volume II at its Kickstarter page.
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