Eve Online: Commissioned Officer Edition review

The Commissioned Officer Edition is designed to encourage newcomers. Previously, you had to spend the first month of the game acquiring Learning skills that reduced the training time of future skills, but had no immediate practical benefit. The CO Edition gives you an immediate boost to replace these, so you can start acquiring practical skills from the outset. This should half the time it takes you to become a useful member of the Eve community, but still expect to put in a lot of work, and experience very little in-game interaction with others, for the first few weeks.

Eve Online is infamous for its steep learning curve – but there are player-run corporations, such as Eve University (www.eveuniversity.org), that take on new players and offer them a gentler, structured path. It’s also worth pointing out that while Eve looks beautiful, it actually has very low system requirements and can even run on laptops with integrated graphics chips.

Unlike most MMOs, Eve offers an emergent storyline that’s determined by the players, rather than a series of NPC-driven quests. There are websites devoted to charting the rise and fall of massive player-run corporations as well as blogs detailing life as a lone pirate or trader. In addition, CCP organises annual tournaments that attract thousands of YouTube viewers.

If you’re looking for something different, and are bored of the traditional MMO formula, this new CO Edition means you get a jump-start into some of the more rewarding parts of the game. This skill boost, plus the new Planetary Interaction field and its tie-in with Dust 514, means there’s never been a better time to join Eve Online – but be warned, it’s still not for everyone.