Games can be more than just a fun timesink; at times they are a thing of true beauty. This biweekly feature is dedicated purely to demonstrating the beauty of modern day gaming. So every other week another Screenshot Spotlight will appear featuring some sort of beautiful, or otherwise interesting, screenshot I recently acquired.

However, rather than simply posting some pretty picture and leaving it at that, I’ll include a bit of information about the game it was taken in - and the circumstances of the screenshot. Think of it as an optional background story for you to read. If you don’t care for any of that you can of course simply admire the picture and be done with it!

Background:

This screenshot was made yesterday as I activated a new EVE Online trial account and guided my freshly made character through the tutorial. This was basically the first combat sequence in the game and with a horribly poor ship, but the explosion looked nice so I thought it’d make a nice addition. It’s not hard to see why this game still managed to rake in the Best Graphics Award last year during mmorpg.com’s annual Readers Choice Awards. That said, it is starting to look a little older nowadays - but CCP isn’t sitting still and will soon be releasing a full visual makeover for the game to make it even prettier.

Game:

EVE Online is a space mmorpg which was released in 2003. It’s not just the only successful space mmorpg, but it’s also well known for it’s very unique gameplay. Contrary to most mmorpgs, EVE Online is essentially entirely player-driven and everyone plays in the same, enormous, galaxy. With a constantly growing subscriber base numbering in the hundreds of thousands of players, this means that a server population of 10,000 players is the bare minimum you’ll ever get to see. In fact, CCP announced just last week that they had hit a new peak concurrent user record, with over 35,000 players logging in to play the game, simultaneously!

There are many more unique aspects to the online world of EVE, ranging from purely time-based skill training to gigantic fleet battles with hundreds, if not thousands, of players participating. In recent months there has even been a vast intergalactic war between two super-alliances of players, competing for control over 0.0 sec (lawless, non-newbie) space. Other interesting aspects that set it apart from ordinary mmorpgs are its extreme complexity, sandbox environment (no WoW style quest-to-quest grind here), no levels, complete freedom & constant threat of PvP. It’s beyond a shadow of a doubt the least carebear/newbie friendly game you could imagine, with treachery, spying, scamming & piracy being accepted as part of the game by much of the player base. Add to that the fact that you lose your ship and everything you had on it when you die - and you’ve got one heck of a hardcore game. Sounds bad, lame, not worth playing? I thought so too, until I gave it a try and discovered it’s one of the best damn mmorpgs on the market.

Look forward to more coverage of EVE in the coming weeks. I still have 13 days left on my trial account, you can get yours here, and I still have a time card lying around somewhere to use when my trial expires. If you decide to give it a try and happen to create a Gallente character, then by all means: send me an evemail so we can hook up! My name in game is Aeroth Aerinaeris, currently residing in high-sec Gallente space and still looking for a decent corp to join, while I train up to my first million skill points. Oh and whatever you do: do not skip the tutorial! It’s essential in this game.

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