Oh yes, blog. I keep forgetting about that, I'm far too busy to think nowadays. It's something to do with Eve and weekly podcasts I think. Episode 15 of the podcast is here. It's a bit different this week as we go all chatty and discuss guilds, corps and cities in online games, with stops in Guildwars, Eve and SWG. And I'm King not Queen, OK?

One of the big things I love about achievements/trophies/whatever a game wants to call them is that they encourage you to play the game more, whether it be to get through to the end of the game, go back and play content you missed, or even to encourage you to try different play styles. Last week Uncharted: Drake's Progress was patched to support the trophy system on the PS3, the first full retail game to do so, and so I dropped in to have another look at the game. The first time I played it was just...

Eve has given me a strange ability, and it's really quite handy. I can time things really well if I don't think about them. Not in the "this has taken X minutes", but in a "this will finish now" kind of way. It only works when I'm not thinking about it but I can log in to Eve just when a skill finishes without remembering that the skill was even going to finish soon. I can also be where I need just before the timer on the oven goes off, or just before washing finishes. Of course it's nothing more than...

Not long ago I thought that skill points don't matter. I have lots of skill points, and new players don't, but you only ever use as many points as you're currently using. Then I tried faction warfare with my first fresh alt in years. Ouch, being a newbie hurts. My first ship fit plan was scuppered by the reality that I didn't have the skills to use the equipment I needed, let alone have the skills to fit that gear if I could use it. Fitting is tight at the newbie end of life. So there I was in a frigate (rifter at...

I have a very big problem with Eve, and it’s not one that many of my readers have. I have a podcast, and Eve gets talked about a lot. It’s my main game, and it also generates the most interesting subjects to talk about. Warhammer has innovative PvP? Bit small isn’t it, why not have the scope of Eve. WoW is adding new tradeskills? What they really need is a proper player economy like Eve! Conan has a well developed first 20 levels of PvE content? Well Eve… OK, it breaks down there. My problem is that I can’t talk about...

Last time, as part of this insane post every day for a month challenge, I said that I need a break from the game but can’t do it and said that I would tell you why. The reason? I feel like part of the universe. There are wars going on, alliances rise and fall and although I’m not involved with most of them the fact that it’s all the same single universe means that I want to keep watching what happens, especially with our local alliances as if I drop out of contact for a while then I’ll never be...

As listeners to the podcast will know I’m a little burnt out on Eve. This has nothing to do with the game itself, I’m just burnt out and need a break. The problem is that I’m the CEO of a corporation and so have responsibilities. Eve is now 5 years old, but I’ve not played 100% of that time. I was there at the start though and for the last few years I’ve been playing all the time. This got me thinking: do I need a holiday? I have no idea what I want to do personally in Eve (I...