This is the second post in my series Casual Alpha’s Guide to EVE Online. Today I will be talking about property, represented fundamentally in EVE Online by ISK. It’s the in-game currency which sort-of has a real world equivalent value. I say sort-of because CCP Games (the developer and publisher) forbids any sort of direct conversion of in-game currency to real money which, I assume, is done to cut down a little bit on exploitative farming. They do, however, let you convert your real money into in-game currency (one can buy a monthly subscription for about $15 USD, or Ƶ1,000,000,000 ISK at current market rates). That’s why people can estimate the dollar value of ships in EVE, such as the $10,000 keepstar that’s under attack as of ten minutes ago at the time of posting (18:50 UTC-Reykjavik).
In the first hour and a half of tutorial missions, the tutorial bot Aura taught Aleff Knoll how to buy blueprints in the market using ISK. Using such small amounts of money, and the fact that I have done nothing to earn it but follow the very simple instructions in the tutorial, means that I understand the process of exchanging currency for merchandise, but not the value of money – much like the kid handed a few dollars to buy an ice cream.
Fleet Commander Vadari, the quest-giver NPC from the tutorial missions for my faction (Minmatar), does come off a little overdone. The narrative serves as an adequate framing device, but it’s not going to be winning any awards. Which is perfectly OK, because this isn’t the game for people who are looking for witty dialogue (these people are better off browsing the Bioware catalogue). EVE Online is a game for people who are looking for the biggest, most player-driven sandbox in the world that has enough lore in the background to make it work. I can forgive a little NPC ham here and there. The only reason it really sticks out is that I know how little the challenge and accomplishments were despite the effusive praise being thrown at me. Indeed, the significance of property hinges upon being seen and recognized. But I can claim all of New Eden as my property, and nobody would recognize my title no matter what kind of hero Vadari thinks I will become.
“One reason for the necessity of a society is its role in ascribing and validating the titles to property” (Carse, p.47, Finite and Infinite Games). We can presume that at some point, the title to property will be enforced by coercive force. In the context of EVE, it is presumed that my ISK and everything I buy with ISK belongs to my character. It is therefore a measure of my titles, that is, the sum of the public recognition of all the little finite challenges I have won.
Titles to property can be enforced by coercion, but no amount of force can truly make a person acknowledge a title – this is voluntary. As V says in the 2005 film V for Vendetta, “stealing implies ownership; you can’t steal from the censor.” No matter what kind of coercive force the Norsefire regime could apply, nothing could possibly make V recognize their titles. If enough people with enough power come to agree with V, then the regime loses all their titles to all their property no matter what their laws say. In order for laws (and the coercive force backing those laws) to be truly effective, the owner must persuade others that the titles are legitimate.
Legitimacy of the title is based on how well the owners can show that it is compensatory. “There must be an equivalency between what the owners have given of themselves and what they have received from others by way of their titles” (Carse, p.47, Finite and Infinite Games). And so, whether it’s my first frigate or a keepstar, in order for my to rightly consider a ship in EVE Online as property, it must be seen as appropriate compensation for the effort put into its acquisition. Although the game is more complex that a simple matter of property acquisition, it can be said that earning ISK and visibly consuming it by building bigger and more elaborate starships is one measure of how much I am winning the game. To get started on this road, I must therefore start acquiring currency.
In order to facilitate my accumulation of ISK, and get me started on the way to worthwhile measures of property, the end of the tutorial pointed me at some career agents.
It will be interesting to find out how my fun can be had in this area of the game. The ISK I earn from doing these career missions will represent something, whether it was “I completed a set of challenges for beginner players and am moving up the ladder” or “I put lots of time into grinding.” I hope for more of the former than the latter, as the grind can become a chore and I have more than enough of those to do offline.
I spent my last half hour of play time this week messing around with my skill training queue such that the valuable days in between sessions do not go to waste. Having training occur in real time rather than game time seems like a boon to players like me, whose characters can continue training while I am away for a significant amount of time. There are lots of guides out there, but I just started picking up whatever looked kind of useful. Bonus to shields? Sure, why not? I can specialize more later once I can actually understand those user guides. I will have to check in and see how things are going tomorrow, since I don’t think I will enjoy the time dilation I expect will be affecting the rest of today.
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