Riding the Ever-Changing EVE Bike

"Like riding a bike."  These words are the epitome of the recognizable and mundane.  Many things in life fall under this category, once learned, they are almost impossible to forget.  This concept is easily applied to many video games, such as some of my favorite first-person shooters and other unnamed RPGS.  EVE Online is definitely not one of those games.

If you have ever taken an extended sabbatical from EVE Online, or are just beginning your EVE Online adventure, you are well aware of the trials faced when diving into this rich and complex video game.  As I come back from a 1.5 year break, I'm excitedly crawling my way back to the level of competency I had when I left the game.  For now, most of my time spent "playing" is actually spent reading about changes or fiddling around with new ship fittings on EFT.  

Not only am I playing catch-up with all of the major changes (the biggest being capital ship jump travel),  I'm finding that I have forgotten how to do many simple things that used to take little thought.  My fellow corp-mates were about to go on a frigate roam and told me to grab a fully fit Tristan out of the corp hangar.  I spent a good five minutes trying to remember how to access the corporate hangar before finally finding the right menu.  Shortly afterward, I was helping my friend move his jump freighter.  I shamefully admit that I had to Google search how to broadcast a cyno before my friend could make the jump<ins>facepalm</ins>.

If you find yourself in a similar situation I encourage you to read all the patch notes which have been released since you started taking your break.  Read them in chronological order (starting with the oldest first) and plow your way through to the latest patch.  This will alleviate some of the confusion you may feel while getting back into the game.

If you're a new player I strongly suggest reading up on as much as you can about the game.  Pay close attention to how dated your resources are, as they may not be applicable to the game anymore.  There are many guides and articles on the EVE wiki worth checking out.  Finish the in-game tutorial and join the "Help" channel.  There are amazing people in that channel that can help you answer almost any question.  It can even be a good resource for those that consider themselves EVE experts.

Taking a break has given me a whole new appreciation for this game.  The intricacies and numerous changes that have taken place in the short span of a little under two years is a testament to the greatness of EVE Online.  I am invigorated knowing that my time and money is invested in a game where the developers are dedicated and passionate about what they do.  CCP's open ears to feedback and their communication with the players far surpasses that of any other developer.  I'm happy to know that I'm playing a game this is continually modified and added upon.  Some of the changes currently being presented at Fanfest 2015 look incredible.  I cannot wait to see how this game will be morphed and shaped into something less recognizable in the years to come.

Moving and the Science Behind the Sci-Fi of EVE

Until this last week, moving into a new home has never been distressing for me.  I would gather and organize my few posessions and load them into a truck in an order that maximized the efficiency of the packing and that of the consequental unpacking.  This time it was different, a lot has changed in my life since my last move; I'm in a steady relationship, I have a new job, and I've bought a LOT of stuff.  This time I felt like a Hoarder pilot trying to organize multiple stations worth of unpackaged goods in 10 different regions while using auto-pilot and having my assetts, sort-by, and stack all menu options disabled.  Can you spell cluster-f***?

At one point I had an amazingly nerdy thought, "God I wish I had a jump freighter."  Which got me thinking about the plausibility of future generations obtaining some of the technologies portrayed in EVE Online.  I was reminded of a series of articles published under the EVE online backstory that are mock scientific articles which give pseudoscientific explanations to some of the technologies that make the fiction of EVE possible (FTL Travel, FTL communications, Cloning, etc...)

I re-read these pieces and was very impressed with how each pseudoscientific idea or principle was presented.  Many explanations referenced and extrapolated upon real-word scientific principles and used scientific termonology while doing so, which gave the articles an air of credibility.  Out of all "explanations" for sci-fi technology I've encountered in media, these articles are the ones that really set the bar.  They were both fun to read and thought-provoking; reading them made me feel as if all of this fiction could one day become a reality

There are many leaps, bounds, hurdles, and stumbles before humanity can even hope to obtain interstellar travel, but I really hope I live to see the day when those awesome capabilities are within our grasp.  Let's hope that governments and parents alike don't lose sight of the importance of education and the proliferation of science and math.   Perhaps one day we will witness the creation of a "depleted vacuum", "mass boson sphere", or the "entanglement of quantum states".  :)