EVE Online is a player-driven persistent-world massively multiplayer online game set in a science fiction space setting. Players pilot customizable ships through a universe comprising over five thousand solar systems.Most solar systems are connected to one or more other solar systems by means of jump gates. The solar systems can contain several entities including but not limited to: moons, planets, stations, asteroid belts and complexes. Players of Eve Online are able to participate in any number of in-game professions and activities, including mining, manufacturing, trade and combat (both player versus environment and player versus player). The range of activities available to the player is facilitated by a character advancement system based upon training skills in real time, even while not logged in to the game.

It is developed and maintained by the Icelandic company CCP Games. First released in North America and Europe in May 2003, it was published from May to December 2003 by Simon & Schuster Interactive,^  after which CCP purchased the rights back and began to self-publish via a digital distribution scheme.On January 22, 2008 it was announced that Eve will be distributed via Steam. The current version of Eve Online is dubbed Quantum Rise. The next expansion (yet to be named) will be released on March 10, 2009. At that time, the game will also be available in boxed form from stores, released by Atari.

 

Gameplay of Eve Online
Players start the game by either selecting a previously-created character or by creating a new one. Each Eve Online account allows for up to three characters to be made.[19] When players create a new character they start by choosing one of the four playable races of Amarr, Gallente, Minmatar and Caldari. Each race is further divided into three bloodlines that give characters different pre-defined abilities. After further refining the character’s starting skills by selecting features such as ancestry and career the new character is ready to begin its life in the Eve Online universe.
 Universe
The playing environment in Eve Online consists of over five thousand interconnected star systems. Systems are classified by their Security Index where higher-ranking systems have a higher presence of CONCORD (Consolidated Cooperation and Relations Command) NPC law enforcement units. Star systems contain different types of celestial objects, making them more or less suitable for different kinds of operations. Typically, players find asteroid fields, planets, stations and moons in a system.
 Advancement
Contrary to other massively multiplayer online games player characters in Eve advance continuously over time by training skills, a passive process that occurs in real world time so that the learning process continues even if the player is not logged in. Skills vary in their Rank, an indicator of how many skillpoints players have to acquire in order to train the skill. For example a Rank 2 skill takes twice as long to train as a Rank 1 skill.
 Economy
The in-game economy in Eve Online is largely player-driven. While non-player character merchants supply some items, players can gain the ability to manufacture them for personal use or for sale. The economy in Eve is known as an open economy in that there is no fixed amount of money or materials in the universe. The current open economy is automatically balanced by introducing extra materials in underpopulated areas to encourage an even spread of players.
 Ships
Main article: Spaceships of Eve Online
Ships in Eve Online are organized into classes, varying from frigates to titans. Ships fill different roles and vary in characteristics such as size, speed, hull strength and their potential firepower. Roles and characteristics aside, the concept of ships in Eve Online is different from other massively multiplayer online games in that ships represent players in-game. While Eve Online introduces the players to the idea of avatars, a player’s avatar remains a two-dimensional portrait. Players move in-game within their ships and as such are represented by the ship type they choose. CCP is currently developing a feature that will allow players to move freely outside of their ships in space stations, represented by three-dimensional avatars. See the Planned future developments section.
 Players and communities
Players have several options when playing Eve in regards to how they interact with the community. Every activity is possible for solo players but larger and more complicated tasks become more feasible for groups, for example pirate clans or corporations.
 Corporations and alliances
Players can organize themselves into corporations (similar to guilds or clans in other MMOs). Corporations are run by one chief executive officer (CEO) who controls the corporation’s assets. The CEO assigns roles to corporation members such as director, accountant and personnel manager. Corporations may also band together to form alliances. Corporations and alliances come in different shapes and sizes. Some player groups write press releases about new business openings and send out IPO information to potential in-game venture capital investors. Alliances can control enough star systems that their territory can be plotted on the Eve game map.[23] Alliances based in lawless space often form unofficial political power blocks with other alliances. These power blocks are typically referred to as “coalitions”.

Corporations take up numerous business models such as mining, producing ships or “ratting” (raiding NPC pirate bases, as NPC pirates have bounties depending on their class of ship). Normally members contribute a portion of all business proceeds to a pool and receive help in the form of cash and equipment. This is by no means the only model though many operate in this fashion as it helps to build loyalty amongst corporation members.

Players also form corporations for the exclusive task of pirating other players. Pirates may stake out jump gates waiting for other players to arrive, attack players operating in asteroid belts or hunt for players carrying out an NPC agent-assigned mission. Because these activities are considered to be “illegal” within the game mechanics, pirate players often will have low security status and may even be branded as outlaws by CONCORD.

While attacking another player in secure space will result in a loss of security standing and the risk of the attacker losing his ship to CONCORD, there is a way to conduct warfare in high security space. A corporation or alliance can declare war on another corporation/alliance at the cost of a weekly fee, thus allowing for combat in all regions of space without the fear of standing loss or the intervention of CONCORD.However, if the target of a corporate war elects to make the war mutual, there are no fees involved for either party.