EVE New Citizens Q&A

Before you start playing, you should be aware that EVE is a very deep game technically and socially. According to CCP, "EVE isn't designed to just look like a cold, dark and harsh world; it's designed to be a cold, dark and harsh world." So keep in mind that EVE is an entirely PvP virtual world set in a dystopian future, with politics and treachery famously celebrated as part of the gamut of supported gameplay.

EVE can be a difficult game for new players, simply because it is a sandbox with technical and social complexity. In terms of the technical side of EVE, you'll find a wealth of information in the EVElopedia and through a morass of third party web sites: so much information that you are likely to get overloaded if you try to find it all at once. In terms of the social side, you will quickly learn the value of trust, the joy that some people have in abusing that trust, and the difficulty in getting straight, sensible advice.

To make life easier for the new player, I've managed to cull down the "essential" starting documentation into a handful of links. Trust me, I'm here to help!

In order to get started in EVE with the minimal amount of background preparation, I advise you to check out the following videos on YouTube, take the "personality test" on the EVE Online website, and download the "Industrial Size Knowledgebase":

• 10 things to know about EVE before you start playing[1]
• CDIA Files Orientation Video[2] (and the followup CDIA Files: Agent Missions[3])
• Personality Test[4]
• Industrial Size Knowledgebase[5]
• Golden Rules[6]

The personality test is only a few questions, intended to help you focus on one aspect of gameplay. It will recommend a "persona" type such as Pirate, Miner, etc, which you can talk about through in game channels and seek advice. You are not restricted to one style of gameplay, the persona type is just a cheesy guide to act as a set of training wheels through the new player experience. Later on you will discard the "personality type" training wheels and use St Mio's "What to do in EVE Online[7]" as a guide, it is an awesome reminder of what activities are available in this wide wonderful universe.

The Industrial Size Knowledgebase is a complement to the various articles on the EVElopedia. In this one reference you'll find the nearest thing that EVE Online has to an instruction manual. It includes a huge amount of useful information, which you will probably want to read in short stretches over the first few weeks of playing the game.

The Golden Rules are an eclectic collection of one-liners gathered together by veteran player Akita T on the old forums. It includes rules of thumb that will be useful to everyone, even veteran players.

When you start, I highly recommend going through the tutorials, watching Local chat, and joining Help chat. You'll be guided through the initial tutorial by the in game assistant called "Aura". Once Aura has finished with you, she'll recommend you head off to some Career Advancement Agents. If you get stuck on a particular mission while working through those career advancement missions, you might find assistance through Local or Help chat. As a fallback measure, you will find solace in the "How to Survive EVE Online[8]" walkthroughs.

Along with the tutorials, have a look at the new player guide starting with the article "Your First Days In Space[9]". If you're searching for help on the World Wide Web, you can get better quality results by adding the two words "eve online" to your search terms.

As you proceed through your first days in space, recognise that the most important asset in this game is not skill points, ISK, or what ship you can fly: the most important asset is friends. If you aren't already part of a community outside the game, find a community inside the game by watching Local, saying hello, and getting to know people who play at the same time as you, doing the same kinds of things as you. You will also find other people who share your interests through the forums (just be wary of degenerating into a forum warrior).

If you're interested in lore, make sure you check out Mark726's EVE Online Lore Guide[10] over on Freebooted blog (have a read even if you're not usually interested in the backstory of MMOs).

As far as subscribing goes, you have the option of paying using a credit card or WebMoney through the Account Management section of the EVE Online web site[11]. Although PayPal is accepted, I would advise against using it. The best option is credit/debit card.

And remember, EVE is a sandbox: the game is what you make it.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0M7jkv3xkQ
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI4VkO6qr0U
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBfEVd3bbf4
[4] http://www.eveonline.com/sandbox/personality-analysis/
[5] http://www.isktheguide.com/
[6] http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Golden_Rules
[7] http://swiftandbitter.com/eve/wtd/
[8] http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9A647F3121DFC21
[9] http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Your_first_days_in_space
[10] http://evetravel.wordpress.com/lore-survival-guide/
[11] https://secure.eveonline.com/AddGametime/

ISK The Guide is what Gallente parents use to scare their children when they are misbehaving. The Amarr have the Ashimmu, the Gallente have "the huge indigestible PDF of brain mastication" :)

But I see the benefit in getting people to download it ahead of actually being pointed to useful parts of the book to read it. I'd love to have an ePub version of that document , and ideally it would be usable on a Kobo.


Edit: bringing some stuff forward a page or two.

Up the top of the New Citizens Q&A forum is the "New Citizens Q&A Resources" sticky. That sticky is jam-packed full of useful stuff for new players (and yes, there's a lot of reading).

When searching for stuff about EVE Online, make sure you prefix your search terms with "eve online", which will help the search engine filter out articles about marauders that don't relate to EVE (just as a random example).

Sasha Kaine wrote A Newcomer's Guide.

Louis deGuerre wrote the Epic Skill Guide and the Epic Overview Guide.

Blackhuey runs the Srs Business podcast.

Shalestina Sulistaine wrote a site for EVE newbies!

If you're even slightly PvP curious and don't want the obligations associated with joining an elite PvP corporation, check out Red vs Blue.

And a note for players old and new alike: Learn to love your frigate :)

@AzualSkoll has blogged various articles relating to ship types & PvP, worth reading. For more advice on fitting ships for PvP, use the advanced search to filter articles from the Ships & Modules forum (and throw Liang Nuren in there for good measure).

The account name that you choose has absolutely no impact ingame. You will have three character slots to fill, it is only these character names that will be visible ingame.

So many links to follow! How will you ever get to actually play the game when you have so much to read?

Set google as your in-game browser homepage and ask it anything you dont know in this format "eve online (what are armor hardeners / what is that red flashy thing on my overview / why is there a greasy smear on that warpgate where my ship used to be?)"

Secondly my advice to all new players would be to fly with people as much as possible even if you make less money doing so. Flying solo is good and all, but seriously its a multiplayer game and you are robbing yourself of the most valuable training tool in the game if you don't join up with other people.

Any new players feeling a little lost, i invite you to contact me in-game and we'll find a way to get you into a fleet at least for an hour or so, secondly me and my guys will be happy to assist you with any game related info you may need. Just because this is EvE, no there will be no cost and no i don't want ur stuff :D

I like your new player startup stuff Mara, and will be directing new pilots i come across to read it.

+1

An excellent collection of advice for any players looking to get into the game. I'd also highly recommend dropping by Help Chat after Rookie disappears if you have any particular questions. I'm in there quite a bit and the people are generally very helpful (and if your question gets swallowed by the pacing of the chat, don't be afraid to re-ask a few times!) and some of the smartest people I know when it comes to game mechanics.

Many thanks to Mara for the shoutout as well with the Lore Guide. It's a longer one, totaling about 20,000, so I've taken the liberty of attaching the table of contents here for anyone who'd like to delve into a specific spot of the lore (though, perhaps self-servingly, I really do recommend reading the entire thing to get a handle on the backstory):

1. “EVE Online: The Greatest Story Still Being Told” (foreword by Seismic Stan)

2. An Introduction

3. The Empires

The Amarr Empire
The Minmatar Republic
The Gallente Federation
The Caldari State
CONCORD

4. The Frontier Organizations

Ammatar Mandate, Angel Cartel, Blood Raider Covenant, Equilibrium of Mankind, Guristas
Intaki Syndicate, Interbus, Khanid Kingdom, Mordu’s Legion, ORE, Rogue Drones
Sansha’s Nation, Serpentis, Sisters of Eve, Society of Conscious Thought

5. Technology & Miscellany

Capsules, Cloning, FTL Comms, Stargates, Warp Drive, Vitoc
Calendar, Languages, Seyllin/Wormholes, Conclusion

I've also put together the full guide in PDF format, either with pictures or without. There's also an ePub version of the guide, linked here (apparently the forum does NOT like me linking directly to it, yeesh).

That would be excellent advice for the "first days in space" page. I will see if there's a clean way to get it in there, otherwise I will clutter up the Day 0 advice with it (ICK).



I will update the link to point to your existing TOC over at http://evetravel.wordpress.com/lore-survival-guide/

Thank you for putting together that awesome lore guide

Great post! Thanks!

The EVElopedia is a maze. See if you can figure out how to get from "Your First Days in Space" to "Golden Rules". LOL.

Good guide. Read it in my first couple days and it helped me tremendously.

I'm now about a month into the game and loving it.

-Cael

Suprise ! A good thread appears !

I've written some guides in my time and am in the process of revamping them.
The first one has been released on the new forums:
Louis's epic skill guide v1.1.

Coming soon in this forum : The revamped Epic Overview Settings.

Stay tuned, don't change this channel !

Nice work :)

One line I'd add for new players

"If you think in terms of I can't do X untill I have Y, you'll never do anything"
Specifically, even a 1 day old character can be usefull in PvP, just dive in