JP - (and Dad and H):
If you guys are looking for a cool online game that requires a bit more maturity than most online games, you should try out EvE, which I have been playing since early December. It's a space-based game, where you can explore over 5000 solar systems, fight other players one-on-one or in massive wars, or build and defend a trade empire.
MMORPG.com (MMORPG = Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) just announced the winners of its 2005 MMORPG Readers' Choice Awards.

There is stiff competition in the MMORPG world - World of Warcraft (a.k.a. WoW) has over 5 million subscribers, to EvE's 100,000 subscribers.

EvE won in the following categories:
Favorite Company - CCP, the company that created and runs EvE, is a small, independent Icelandic outfit, with great customer service. EvE won with 44% of the vote.
Best Graphics - EvE won with 51% of the vote, an absolute majority! Even though the game is almost 3 years old! Space is beautiful!
Best PvP (Player versus Player) - Eve won a run-off with 55% of the vote, in a category in which it was not originally nominated!
The PvP is fun because being killed has real consequences, unlike the other games. You lose your ship, all your equipment, the goods in your cargo hold... Plus, there's the potential of being attacked at any time (however, the game has many high security sectors, where the in-game police would instantly destroy your attacker).

And finally,

Best Game - EvE wins with 40% of the vote! The WoW players are upset - you can read their whining in the comments at MMORPG. But this victory is even sweeter when you consider that the player base for WoW is fifty times bigger than EvE's. But EvE is the best game!
As EvE players would say, "CCP 4tw!" Translated to: "CCP for the win!" (They usually say '4tw' to indicate what it was that finally turned things in their favor in a fight...)

Check out the game! You can play a free trial for 14 days, and if you like the game, you can convert this character into a paying account (it's $15/month).

P.S. H - I'll take a look at those materials this week!
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/18/2006 11:23:00 AM