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If you're a MMORPG gamer and you're not familiar with Eve Online, it might be a good time to check it out. There's an update that's about 3 weeks to a month off (as of this writing) and an upcoming expansion later this year, both of which will be developing and expanding upon the Deep Space game experiences, which focus greatly on player interactions.
In regulated space, their is a policing organization that retaliates against players making unauthorized PVP attacks. In deep space, however, you are beyond the reach of this organization and you are free to prey and be preyed upon. This offers PVP gaming but also creates a greater reliance upon other players. The strongest corporations and player alliances will undoubtedly be forged in deep space.
Part of the updates to support more elaborate deep space gameplay include Warp Beacons, which will allow large groups of players to warp into an area after a scout ship locates a beacon there, creating some interesting new dynamics and opportunities for ambushes and emergency aid alike. Also to be introduced are much larger ships with their own Warp drives, removing their dependency on Warp Gates. Also, to make those long travels a bit shorter, the introduction of Trans Solar System Jumps - to allow for long distance travel with fewer required waypoints.
Already, with the current available deep space experience, players have been creating alliances and claiming space, things that there currently is no infrastructure to support. This is merely emergent behavior, if you will, based on group interactions and informal alliances. To help support and regulate these alliances, the upcoming changes will include infrastructure for this, as well as some balancing issues. (It may get a bit harder to outrun missiles...)
Some features of the next expansion will be shown in October. This expansion is currently being called "Kali" and may include planetary flight, allowing the planets to become much more than just environmental background elements. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what Kali has to offer. |
