Just after I posted the previous, this:
MMORPG.com: 30K PCU Broken
More congratulations due! EVE Online reaches it's 30,000 online mark, which is particlarly impressive as they're all in the same gameworld, and as we all know, nobody likes Sci Fi, so bonus kudos there. (Sort by Genre - 146 Fantasy, 38 Sci Fi and 16 Other).
Of course I'm not really playing EVE at the moment, so am in no real position to judge, but I do wonder if a single world with that many people in is a plus point, or a minus. Certainly it makes for a busy universe, full of people going about their business, and obviously, any Massively Multiplayer game does rather depend on there being a massive number of players in it, otherwise you might as well just go with Peer-To-Peer Lan style gaming instead, for free. On the other hand, the last few times I have poped in to EVE, to set a skill training or try the odd desultory mission, I'm not sure I've seen the same other player names twice in succession. Pretty much everyone in there is just a name for me, easily seen, easily forgotten. I've seen it mentioned that people of your 'Earth' are only psychologically capable of maintaining meaningful social connections with around 150 people in total anyway (Clickypedia here!), so I have to wonder if a server of 30,000 players is better or worse than ten servers of 3000. Still, it does mean that pick-up grouping is easier, I guess, and from a purely financial perspective, it can only be good news for CCP - people are interested in their game!
My own EVE aspriations continue to smoulder in a dormant state. I am still subscribing, and am training up Gallente Battleships IV at present, in preparation for the V skill run, which I can then leave going and unsubscribe, ready to become The Dominix-meister upon my eventual and inevitable return during my next EVE Phase. The game at present seems a little burnt out for me, but future plans for Factional Warfare and Exploration do sound interesting, and something I do want to see.
And perhaps next time through, I'll find the guts to push off out of Empire Space, join an Allaince 0.0 Corp of some description, and try to experience the Real EVE, as intended by the designers. The last three years of my EVE life has seen me largely clinging to the safety of Empire space, effectively just grinding cash and not having much to spend it on. I've been so paranoid about material loss as a result, that I've not wanted to place myself in any kind of situation where that might be a possibility. Something of a vicious cycle - the more I grind, the more I don't want to have to grind to replace any losses. It must be nice to be a Frigate Newbie again, I think, but what with Alt-Spy-Paranoia running at an all time high, simply making up a new 0.0 Character who really does have nothing to lose, will mean no 0.0 corp will let me live, let alone join in their ongoing crusades and great works. No...if I want any of the effective 'end-game', I shall have to commit and invest.
Anyway, well done EVE, and I'll see you again soon!