PC Gamer has released an in-depth interview with CCP Games revealing more details of their upcoming game Eve Frontier.
While I’ve acquired founder’s access myself, primarily to gain access to the in-depth information on the game, I’m still up in the air as to whether I’ll be playing it or not. The primary reason for this is that, even though I’ve played games extensively in the past, I’m finding more and more that life itself is the greatest game of all. Thus the excitement that I previously had with playing video games no longer seems to be there.
All that said though, the difference with Eve Frontier is that it is most definitely more than just a “game”. I’d say it’s more a simulation or even more appropriately a “grand experiment,” similar to how the United States was birthed and emerged out of the exploration and colonization of North America by people from Europe.
In terms of Eve Frontier, I believe it is a grand experiment that answers the question of “What would a self-organizing, digital civilization look like?” That’s because it’s using block chain technologies in a way that, as far as I’m aware, nobody has done yet to date.
Beyond that though, I’ve got this suspicious feeling that the experience of the game itself will be dramatically different than what people are used to in CCP Games other existing game Eve Online. That’s because the experience will be much much harsher and survivalist to the point of potentially being horrific. What this means is that collaboration and cooperation will be essential.
It also means that I think the experiences within the game could be so intense, immersive, and challenging that they could potentially propagate the psychologically development of a person playing the game.
I know that seems ridiculous but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now, as I’ve seen how experiences in other games I’ve played over the years have helped with my development by seeing patterns within the game as aspects of vertical development.
For example, I noticed that when I used to play World of Tank Blitz, there was a similarity between what I called tactical, strategic, and adaptive players within the game and single, double, and triple loop learning (PDF), as well as with Robert Kegan’s work in describing a socialized mind, self-authoring mind, and self-transforming mind.
So all said and done, while I don’t want to play conventional games anymore because it’s a time sink and distracts from my life’s work, somehow I’m intuitively feeling that there is a potential “role” for me to play within this game by showing how it’s not a conventional game. And perhaps even more so, it’s emergent environment will make my Life Is a Role-Playing Game framework even more evident to people, thus leveraging my work as a whole.
…through this we might be able to increase the collaborative spirit in the world over all.
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson