First of all, I have a bad relationship with EVE Online. Not because I lost everything, and got pissed off by some PVP. No. This has nothing to do with that. My anger with CCP and EVE Online has more to do with the fact that CCP has completely squandered their unique take on a space exploration and combat MMO. This goes *all the way back* to the Summer of Rage.
Incarna was only the beginning, though, and this was a very complicated mess. It was Incarna, an admittedly awesome vision for the future of EVE. Walk around in stations. Stop being just a spaceship. Meet players and hang out in what could have been a virtual world based in space. For me, this was something I’ve always wanted, alongside the things I already did in EVE (trading, mining, skilling).The Incarna expansion was to be the fulfillment of a longstanding dream of CCP Games. Because EVE Online is famously difficult for new players to grasp, the company had long sought to make EVE Online more accessible and understandable to the average person. One of the big problems, they believed, was that average gamers don't want to play as a spaceship. CCP believed they wanted to play as an avatar who pilots a spaceship. It was a subtle semantic difference with enormous design and production implications.
Their solution and vision for the future of EVE Online was the "walking in stations" feature. Previously, EVE players' avatars were little more than a small picture in the corner of their user interface. With Incarna, CCP spoke of a dream for EVE in which players could dock their ships and walk around a personal space called their Captain's Quarters, or even "ambulate" around major stations like Jita 4-4 and encounter other players at shops, bars, and meeting places. In the most far-flung visions, it might even be possible for players and mercenaries to assassinate one another in these public spaces.
But, this wasn’t the only thing they were planning. There was also DUST 514, an FPS shooter not only based on EVE Online, but actually in the MMO itself. Meaning, people who were fighting in DUST, were actually on different planets within EVE! Sounds awesome, right? Well, yeah, except for the fact that it was a PS3 exclusive (which eventually killed it, entirely).
DUST 514 is no longer playable.
And then, which was revealed through leaked internal documents at CCP, they were planning a mass push for microtransactions, but not just microtransactions, they had pushed out really expensive cosmetic gear. Like, for example, a 70 USD monocle your avatar could wear. All of this usable in your tiny station environment, and seen by other players only via your character portrait.
All studios have to make money, sure, but it was these things that sparked the “summer of rage.”
The hardcore players who didn’t want anything to change, the anti-MTX crowd, the players who wanted DUST on their PCs, the whiners who thought things like, “I don’t think development resources should be spent on anything but spaceships,” and the far-flung nullsec PVPers who, again, also felt as though the game should not change.
And, because of all this, EVE Online *has never changed*. The station environment was eventually removed. Microtransactions made their way into the game, anyway, and they became the biggest feature, the biggest thing you see when you log on and interact with the game.
Which brings us to now, as CCP prepares to launch this “new” title, in which they barely clearly explain to you, a potential buyer, as to what the game actually is.
What is it?
It’s EVE Online, but with new controls, presumably completely different servers, a hardcore “scavenge to build” ruleset (if what I’ve figured out is correct), and, most importantly, and also groan-inducing … an on-chain cryptocurrency that can be traded within and outside of the game.
I’ve looked, and am still looking: This is not revealed anywhere on the official Frontier website. But, neither is a majority of information actually about the game, and whether it’s the same, or completely different from EVE Online, or not.
My current consensus is that … it is. It’s the same. But it’s more like a, “We enjoyed the concept of Classic World of Warcraft Hardcore, and decided to do it our own way.” Which, is fine, I guess! But why are we hiding the fact that you, as a company, are utilizing graphic-card farm currency within a game?
Needless to say, the years of raging summers are over, and I don’t think something like that will ever happen again. CCP and EVE Online are currently owned by Pearl Abyss, the MTX MMO developers of Black Desert Online. Which, hey, alright, is a pretty cool game, and its systems share a lot of similarities with EVE Online. And, I should note, I don’t particularly hate MTX. I think it’s a great way for developers of persistent online experiences to make money. You know, as long as you’re not selling competitive equipment. Nobody should have to fight against millionaires with too much time on their hands … in a videogame.
But, it does rub me the wrong way that not only is CCP kind of keeping a large portion of the game a secret, or, at least, making it difficult to decipher what the game even is, but they’re also completely obscuring the fact that a likely large portion of the game revolves around their own personal cryptocurrency.
Are they doing this intentionally? Is it the fault of being out-of-touch with coherent web development? Who knows.
At 40, 60, or the maximum 100 USD ask for founder access, I don’t think I’m all that interested.
What I wanted out of EVE, the social aspect, the character avatar development, the hand-to-hand combat, the seamless FPS play on the surface of planets, and all via your PC: All of that is dead in the water, and never coming back. Plus, I haven’t seen any confirmation that Frontier is even able to be run under Wine on Linux. So that’s likely going to be a double “No” from me, chief.
Source: https://mkultra.monster/gaming/2025/06/16/evefrontier
