The EVE Universe’s Storyline Primes for Conflict with Escalating Live Events

Something is about to happen in the emergent gameplay universe of EVE Online and DUST 514.

A recent developer blog hints at a large-scale live event — The Battle of Caldari Prime — scheduled for Friday afternoon UTC (22 March). CCP Games‘ recently formed Team Illuminati live event co-ordinators have been masterminding a sequence of increasingly ambitious dynamically scripted in-game events which have told the story of rising political and military tension between two major factions of New Eden.

The Gallente Federation and the Caldari State have a long history of kicking chunks out of each other (the short clip to the right is from 2008), but the recent emergence of DUST 514‘s super-soldier mercenaries is behind the latest aggressions. Oh, that and the whole stealing each other’s planets thing. It’s a long story, but all you need to know is that the centre of the latest hostilities is a planet called Caldari Prime, which is in the Luminaire system of Gallente space. I think you can already see the problem.

An uneasy peace had existed, enforced by the presence of an orbital Caldari Navy fleet including a Titan class capital ship (extraordinarily large and rare vessels usually unable to enter high security systems). However, recent news bulletins have shown the peace to be eroding and escalating aggression on the ground is causing the ceasefire to unravel.

A New Era of Sci-Fi Storytelling

Over the past decade, EVE Online‘s backstory has had time to develop and mature into one of the most rich and well-realised science-fiction universes in gaming. The wealth of canonical fiction hinted at within the game client is further documented in the EVElopedia, in three novels and a library of chronicles. The future history of the human race is there to explore – from epic clashes between space-faring nations to the deeply personal individual struggles of the ordinary denizens on New Eden.

Despite this treasure trove of lore, the player-led nature of EVE Online‘s sandbox culture often meant canon and player activity were not happy bedfellows. In recent years, CCP Games’ development direction resulted in focus on the technical, balancing and eSports aspects of the spaceship combat portion of EVE Online, leaving the storyline to gather dust.

There is a poetry then, that it is dust which has also reignited the developing storyline. Namely DUST 514 – the PlayStation 3 shooter which links directly into EVE Online‘s universe.

As a long-time campaigner for CCP to pay more heed to their rich lore, I’m glad to see they are finally trying to weave the two most powerful elements of the unique EVE Universe experience together – namely the community and the lore. They have been separate for too long and I hope that this new initiative can find a synergy which might launch a new era of dynamic and immersive gameplay in New Eden.

To see how events progress and to play a part in the live fiction of New Eden, Luminaire in the Essence region will be the place to be tomorrow. The Battle for Caldari Prime may be a unique moment in the history of EVE Online and one not to be missed and can be viewed on CCP Games’ Twitch.tv channel for those unable to get to a game client.