Last week I was reading some random online article reviewing computer games. They began discussing online games and reviewed several that failed and compared them to the successful ones.

This was the first time I ever heard of Eve Online.

The article essentially lambasted the game and the author seemed to be astonished that it was at all successful. Strangely, every reason the author used to slam the game made me become more and more interested in checking it out.

It was accused of being unfriendly, not having enough guidance or support, not having any immediate gratification, being overly complicated, having a steep learning curve, encouraging lying, cheating, stealing, and killing other players, and intentionally not policing bad behavior; even of experienced players taking advantage of newbies. Finally, the author of the article quoted one of the game developers as saying, "Eve Online was not designed to appear like a cold, harsh place, it is a cold harsh place." That line sealed it. I never finished the article because I googled the game, downloaded a trial version, and have been playing for about 3 days now.

Every negative comment about the game is true, and I really, really, like it.