Man, I miss what Eve Online was. I started not that long after beta and stayed for about a decade. Every now and then I check in but wormholes were really the last hurrah, and after that it's been consistent decay. It's gotten visually less interesting, marred by micro-transactions, had it's atmosphere gutted, and no real interesting expansions since then. The game that fascinated is gone, and can no longer be played.
While there is always a focus on the sociopathic exploits of Eve players in it's coverage, the reality it's the most social MMO I've ever played. Player interaction was encouraged at every level. The framing was decidedly capitalistic, but this just made all the pro-social structures players formed feel special.
The randian nonsense makes for a fun dystopia too when freed from the horrors of reality. It's a challenge. It dares you to rebel against it and feels so rewarding to do. I never intended to participate in and form space communes, I didn't have the language to even describe such a thing at the time, but did anyway. In creating something so overwhelming capitalistic it somehow lead me to acting in the exact opposite manner.
It's danger was sublime as well. No game has every made my heart pound like Eve. It incentivizes you to take risks and gamble enough to be invested in the result. It's not just a respawn while being just forgiving enough to not take you out of the game.
