As I continue on my investigative journey through EVE’s communities, the focus of most Exploring EVE Online articles will be on the player organisations which are my monthly destinations. However, this month will be a little different.

At Fanfest back in March, CCP Chief Marketing Officer David ‘CCP Pokethulhu’ Reid coined the phrase “the Nation of EVE”. In line with that concept, this article will be a departure from the usual examination of the corporations and alliances which function as the households and towns within this nation and will take a look at the infrastructure which links them all together. Just as a real-world nation has its TV channels, newspapers, national sports and renowned celebrities, so too does New Eden have its streams, podcasts, blogs, tournaments and celebrity players.

Before I get too much further, I have one caveat; documenting the entirety of a phenomenon as complex as the extended EVE universe is far beyond the scope of a single book, much less a two-thousand word article – so this will be more of a highlights reel. Just as Douglas Adams’ mice in A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy were each just a tiny physical protuberance of a vast metaphysical consciousness into our reality, so too will this piece be a fleeting glimpse of a rushing mammal disappearing into a rabbit hole of impossible depth.

Also to be considered is that each community and site is governed by its own rules of behaviour and standards of content. This gives rise to rich diversity and colour, and exploring many of the sites will undoubtedly reveal astounding ingenuity and breathtaking creativity. But it may also lead the explorer to discover some darker, more offensive behaviours. The wider EVE community, like much of the internet, is unrestricted and those of a delicate or sensitive disposition should proceed with caution. But, with care, the rewards are well worth it and will greatly enhance any EVE player’s experience.

Welcome to the crazy universe of EVE Online‘s metagame. Down the rabbit hole we go.

EVE Gate & the EVE-O Forum

As with most gaming communities, EVE Online has its own dedicated forum. This is as good a starting point as any for our metagame journey, although you will see later that it is not the only logical launchpad for the EVE metagame experience.

The EVE-O forum is linked into its proprietary EVE Gate portal, which provides access to certain in-game functions, such as EVEmail, calendar, voice-comms and a substantial Wiki in the form of the EVElopedia. As such, this requires an active EVE Online account for full access, with every player posting on the forums as one of his characters.

This is the best environment to benefit from one of the unique aspects of EVE Online – unprecedented access and communication with CCP developers. Many development teams scour these forums for feedback and even for leads on what improvements to tackle next. There are subforums allowing discussion of every aspect of EVE Online, including New Citizen Q&A, Fiction, Politics and much more. These forums have been increasingly (and controversially) heavily moderated of late, in an attempt to curb an ever-present trolling culture – the war on internet-based behavioural disorders never ends.

However, bad apples aside, the EVE-O forum provides a wealth of information for the community. In order to take a step further into the rabbit hole, two subforums best showcase the world beyond the EVE client; My EVE and Out of Game Events and Gatherings. There can be found links to discover the vibrant, inspiring and chaotic world of the unfettered EVE player.