Random Access 3.0

This game has the main feature that I loved about Star Wars Galaxies before it was ruined. It is basically a huge sandbox for you to play in. You can do what you want, how you want, and there is no 'class' just basic races with basic starting points.

And there isn't a 'grind' for experience like in other games. Basically, it's more of a time sink - real time that is. You learn skills from books, and then you can train these skills to higher levels. Skills can be anything from how to fly a frigate class ship of the Minmatar race to how to run a corporation (AKA Guilds), how to sell more items at a time on the player economy, or how to improve the time it takes you to learn new skills.

These skills use real time, not in game time. So if it says it takes an hour, it takes one real hour. The higher the level of that skill, the longer it takes. For example over Christmas break I needed Minmatar Frigate Level 4. It was a six day train. No big deal because I was gonna be away for Christmas for six days...click train, go on vacation come back and I'm at the next level.

Tired of frigates? No big deal, find another class of ship and learn it. Some have dependancies such as the cruiser I'm now in needed level IV Minmatar Frigate and Spaceship Command Level III before I could learn Minmatar Cruiser Level I.

Oh yeah, the first 14 days and the software is a free download (click the picture for a link to their page).

It's like other typical games. You pay $19.95 the first month, $14.95 each month after or buy multiple months at a time gets higher discounts.

One of the most fascinating things to me about this game is that it's very popular in Europe, and Australia, but not in the United States so much. So most of your players are from Europe. The developer of the game CCP is based in Iceland.

Also unique to MMORPGs is that there is only one gigantic persistent universe. Around new years they set a record for 17,000 simultaneous users. Lag is fairly non-existant, and I've been in solar systems with 200 to 300 people nearby.

If you enjoyed the Origin Privateer line of games, or Wing Commander even this game might appeal to you. You can be a miner, a manufacturer, a Pirate (or rat as they're called in game) or any combination there of you've thought of. There are Agents at space stations that give out courier or kill missions. There are NPC pirates and 'drones' to whet your early combat appetite. However there are also uncharted, unprotected solar systems where you can start up your own starbase.

The 'guild' function is more of a corporation. You can even hold an IPO and shareholders get a share of your profits. It's pretty impressive universe.

One of my biggest annoyances about MMORPGs is the number of 'alts' people have. Meaning you could have a guild with 300 people in it, but since the game lets you create 6 characters per account you could really only have 50 people in the guild. EVE doesn't restrict you from creating multiple accounts, but the rub against it is that there is no longer persistent skill training. Meaning when you log that character out, he doesn't continue training the skill unlike when you have a single character.

Now this doesn't stop nutjobs (like my brother) from creating a second account. Most miners do this. One to mine, one to transport.

I find this game very facinating and I'm having a lot of fun. Right now I'm in a pirate corp, but I'm mainly mining to help stock up for our player owned structure.

Personally I want to get a carrier one day, and name her Galactica.