Eve takes place in a fictional galaxy in a far future, where humanity has splintered into four competing factions, the theocratic Amarr, the militaristic Caldari, the liberal Gallente and the rebel Minmatar. Players choose a side and find their own path.
At a stage when most games have long since stagnated, Eve continues to grow, recently passing 200,000 subscribers. CCP is planning a major graphics overhaul scheduled for Wednesday.
In many ways, Eve is like the real world. All 200,000 of Eve's players exist in one huge virtual galaxy spanning thousands of solar systems. About 40 percent of Eve's players are European, another 40 percent are North American and about 20 percent are from other continents. They all share one polyglot community around the clock, and at any moment tens of thousands of users are logged on.
More important, the economy and politics of Eve are almost entirely driven by the players themselves.
The most compelling aspect of Eve is that once players control a region of virtual space, they bear the responsibility of policing it, setting taxes, establishing diplomatic relations with neighboring groups and waging battles to protect their territory or take more. In most online games, the advanced content involves getting together with a few dozen friends to battle computer-controlled dragons and demons. In Eve, major battles involve hundreds of players fighting in starships in vast Star Wars-like firefights.
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