“The significance of the moment coupled with the uplifting realisation that I had become part of something greater filled me with a profound sense of belonging.” - Sturmer
EVE’s 20th year has come to a close. And boy oh boy was it a good’un! CCP gave us two popular expansions, one heck of a Fanfest, the long-desired Angel titan, and revealed EVE Vanguard. We could easily fill an article with official EVE Online highlights, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to celebrate player highlights - the moments and memories that made your year special.
In response to our EVE highlights bounty, we received a great variety of submissions from new players, veteran players, and even those who are taking a more formal role within the game. So, whether they’re weird, wonderful, or water-coolers, here are the Just About EVE Online community’s highlights of 2023.
Community growth and helping new players
As the name suggests, EveOnlineTutorials runs a YouTube channel packed with helpful EVE content. Their highlight of 2023 was using that community to help other players.
“We fly around new-player systems and transfer anywhere from 50-100 million ISK along with a ‘welcome to EVE’ message to the new players we find. We did this to one player who just sat on undock for 20 minutes afterwards. We then received a surprising EVE Mail… from his mother.
“It turns out that the player was only 14 years old. Apparently, after he received the ISK and realised it was a gift, he ran to her screaming with excitement. His mum wanted to thank us personally as he was finding the game difficult to understand and considering quitting. The ISK gave him a boost, and he was delighted. It’s great to see how our team can help and improve other players’ experiences.”
Discovering new services and new friends
KAZO+AR provided two different highlights, one practical and one sentimental. Let’s start with the practical:
“I discovered PushX as an alternative delivery and courier service to RedFrog and BlackFrog. They’re fast, safe professionals with a no-autopilot policy. And they’re very nice people.”
And now for the sentimental:
“I met so many people in-game, and I’ve started to become independent in my career path choices. I can finally connect and have access to loads of content and different gameplay styles. That’s important for me in my continued learning and understanding of New Eden. It makes a big change from doing the same thing every day, which is the path I’d previously chosen. So, it’s been a great year, and there are a lot of exciting things coming in 2024. I wish you all a wonderful year ahead .”
Completing EVE
Yes, we know that nobody really ‘completes’ EVE Online. But Jaques Ufaltred set their own impressive goals, and 2023 was all about completing them.
“This year was a major milestone in my EVE career. I’ve been playing as an Alpha clone, but I’ve been able to PLEX up my accounts a few times to get more skills and enjoy some Omega perks. This year, I reached the point of having enough SP (Skill Points) to finish every single Alpha skill. It’s roughly 21 million applied SP and three million unallocated SP. As a busy student with diminishing time for internet spaceships, I feel that this is likely my endgame. But I’m proud to have reached this milestone regardless.”
And so you should be, Jaques.
That sweet Icelandic water
Cool, refreshing, and devilishly moreish. No, that’s not a quote from my dating profile, it’s praise for Iceland’s pristine drinking water. Which, at least according to his bounty submission, was Kane Carnifex’s highlight of the year. While we suspect that this entry was tongue-in-cheek, at least those cheeks were filled with Iceland’s crisp H2O.
“Fanfest 2023’s free water! At the previous Fanfest, you had to buy it or grab a glass from the bathroom. If this isn’t a highlight for you then perhaps we’re at different points in life and satisfactory hydration hasn’t become your endgame boss yet. At any rate: Icelandic tap water = the best water ever.”
Just wait until he hears about all the glaciers, waterfalls, and black sand beaches.
Fanfest, fleetups, and philanthropy
No one who knows him will be surprised to learn that fleetups have been the highlight of FUN INC’s year. When you look back at the last twelve months, it’s easy to see why:
“2023 - wow - what a year! 2023 has been awesome! We have run so many fleets, advertised so many different content creators, and helped NPSI grow once again. We aren’t the largest NPSI group, but FUN INC does a hell of a lot when it comes to developing, showcasing, and highlighting the content available to the wider community. I can only narrow my in-game highlights down to three: 1. Version 2 of the NPSI community gateway calendar landing page!
2. Being asked to FC the LAN party at Fanfest!
3. Presenting at Fanfest! As for outside the game, I should probably mention raising £1,000 for the Iceland Children’s Hospital. For so long, I was a passenger in EVE. Now, oddly enough, I feel like a leader! 😁”
The meeting at the top of the world
Given how spectacular Fanfest 2023 was, it’s no surprise that it features in many players’ highlights. Sturmer had a lot of love for their trip to Iceland; the pinnacle was a poignant meeting at Reykjavik’s EVE Online Monument.
“Seeing Iceland, visiting the CCP Games office, and the various activities of Fanfest were all highlights. But for me, the most emotional moment was this meeting at the EVE Online Monument.
“As I approached the site of the monument, I found myself overwhelmed by emotion. An inexplicable melancholy enveloped me, which in reality turned out to be deep joy. The significance of the moment coupled with the uplifting realisation that I had become part of something greater filled me with a profound sense of belonging.”
Art and connection
Fanfest also topped Cpt Armarlio’s EVE highlight list. Receiving a personal invitation from CCP made the trip no less than monumental:
“My highlight was being invited to Fanfest by CCP, running a stall there selling my artwork, and getting to take pictures of my character at the monument. It was really lovely meeting people who I’ve spoken to over the years and finally meeting the various pilots who’ve been following my art since I started. Oh, and visiting Iceland for the first time too. It’s such an amazing place.”
Councils, conventions, and community
Kshal Aideron had such a great year that they could only narrow down their highlights to five choices, each worthy of commendation and celebration:
“Wow, looking back at 2023, I really don’t know what the highlight would be. It could be:
The two-year anniversary of Eve Rookies
Hitting 2,000 players in the Eve Rookies Discord
Presenting at Fanfest with two really awesome community leaders and being asked to participate on two panels
Standing up an average of 35 fleets per month and having 75 brand-new people fly with us per month
Becoming part of CSM 18
It’s amazing and humbling to look at this list. Especially because the end of January marks my four-year anniversary as an EVE Online player. I’m excited to see what 2024 brings!”
A rather impressive Upwell structure
For orik Kado, however, there was only one choice:
“The most significant achievement of 2024 was undoubtedly the purchase of our corp’s first Azbel. Our corp already had a series of specialised Raitarus for manufacturing almost any in-game item, but we were still missing something to build capitals. However, after our change of alliance, we were given the opportunity to acquire one. Now, we have a broader manufacturing capacity. The key to achieving this goal? Teamwork.”
Behold! The Azbel:
Unveiling the future of EVE Offline
As one of his many roles in the EVE community, Rixx Javix has been working on Empires at War - the upcoming EVE board game that we’re all extremely stoked for. Understandably, unveiling the prototype was Rixx’s 2023 highlight:
“There were so many great moments in 2023, but easily the greatest was unveiling the upcoming EVE board game in front of a crowd at Fanfest. Watching the faces of the players as they slowly realised what they were seeing, answering questions, interacting with players, and finally meeting the Titan Forge team in person, it was easily the greatest moment of my year and possibly of my entire career in EVE Online.
“The icing on the cake was getting mentioned during the Keynote and having our picture shown on stage. The entire experience was unreal, like watching a dream come true. I’ve been hard at work on this project for over a year now. I work alone in my home studio, so feedback and interactions can often be challenging to come by. But the experience at Fanfest really helped me connect with the community and give me the energy I need to keep going. I’m super excited for this amazing project and for bringing it to life in 2024.”
Some text has been amended for brevity. You can find the original wording at the bounty post.
Image credit: Razorien and member-submissions
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