"How the hell does something like EVE Online survive and thrive for a decade?" The questions rattled around in my brain as I sat inside the Harpa – the symphony hall in Reykjavik, Iceland – watching nearly 1,400 players of EVE Online and Dust 514 converse for Fanfest, the annual show dedicated to all things CCP Games.

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Renewed Sense of Exploration

It doesn't make sense, really. There's no reason that a 10-year-old space game should still have as strong of a following as it does, let alone one that's growing at such an astronomical rate.In a single year, EVE Online went from 400,000 subscribers to 500,000. Before that, the numbers were much, much smaller; yet, somehow, it persevered.Throughout the show, I asked players, "What makes EVE different?" and their responses were all roughly the same: "EVE is whatever you want it to be." EVE isn't about what's already there for the player to explore, it's all about what the players want to do and how they can create their own stories that change the game drastically for not only themselves, but for everyone.EVE also isn't about following a set path. Sure, there are quests and missions that you could do, but that's not what makes EVE, EVE.In fact, that probably has very little to do with it.EVE is about going your own way, in your own time, for your own reasons. EVE isn't great because of the preset story, it's the player-made tales that set it apart.

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Corporations and the Economy

To that end, there's a renewed sense of exploration around every corner. "The second you think you know what's going to happen, that's when things go horribly wrong," said one EVE player attending Fanfest. And that holds true throughout all facets of EVE. Things change and you can never be complacent, because the second you are, you're dead.For instance, there was a recent, spur-of-the-moment event where a Titan pilot (the most expensive ship class in the game) accidentally clicked wrong and warped through space prematurely, before the rest of his corporation could jump with him. By the time the mistake was realized, he was in low-sec space (low security, meaning not much policing is done by in-game police) and vulnerable to attack. Multiple alliances jumped at the chance and by the end of the weekend, 3,161 players had entered the battle, with 222 ships biting the dust. This ended up costing players a combined total of 470 billion ISK (in-game currency, not Icelandic ISK).Not only is there a high monetary investment to creating a Titan-class ship in EVE, but there's also a significant time investment to building any kind of ship. Crafting a Titan can take months of real-world time and yet, it can be gone in a weekend due to one wrong button press.Something like that could only happen in EVE.If you've heard anything about EVE in the last few years, it's probably because some in-game corporation did something outlandish that ended up causing a chain reaction of events culminating in an all-out space war. That happens often in EVE.Take alliances like the Goonswarm federation, which spawned from the Something Awful community. If you play EVE, you either love them or hate them. As one member of Goonswarm explained it, "We aren't out to ruin the game, we're out to ruin *your* game." With a motto like "every ship counts," that doesn't sound too far off.

“ EVE's economy is so rich that CCP actually employs five full-time economists to keep things in balance and make sure that nothing is being done to abuse the systems set in place.

Constant Communication

Corporations and a sense of belonging keep players coming back to EVE where typical MMO guilds just wouldn't cut it. It isn't just about meeting up and taking down a raid boss, it's about controlling territory, competing against other corporations, and creating something that will continue to operate with or without you.EVE's economy is so rich that CCP actually employs five full-time economists to keep things in balance and make sure that nothing is being done to abuse the systems set in place. This system relies on a series of closely monitored and guarded set of principles that keep everything inside the EVE economy running smoothly and in balance.Due to the nature of a monetary value being assigned to PLEX, a form of in-game currency that can be purchased with real-world currency, even a small loophole could allow advantageous players to swoop in and make off with large amounts of ISK, possible creating an upset in the delicate economy.Despite this seemingly large problem, the economists are able to spot areas before they become a problem and keep issues like the loss of 470 billion ISK from affecting the economy.Constant communication between CCP and EVE players keep both sides constantly looking for ways to improve and keep evolving EVE. This open dialogue is one of the many ways that EVE has managed to stay relevant despite being released nearly a decade ago. Through this series of evolutions, EVE has been constantly improving and continuing to build on what made it relevant to fans in the first place.At Fanfest each year, CCP details what is coming to EVE in expansions over the next year. This is where the minutest details become huge hits with fans.

Innovation Without Change

“ A good number of high ranking players haven't paid for their subscription to EVE Online with real currency in years.

Moments That Can Only Happen in EVE

In 2012, attendees went wild after CCP revealed launchers and effects for missiles.This year, it was the addition of preset probe patterns. These are patterns that will more quickly and efficiently replicate what now takes players long amounts of time to input and draw manually each time.This is something that you'd only care about if you were the most hardcore of player, but that's exactly CCP's audience, so they don't have to worry about alienating newcomers; that's more or less what EVE has always done.With this closely tied cooperation between players and CCP comes an unspoken agreement. Improvements are great, as long as they don't mess up what's already there.This was proven true after the mid-2011 expansion, Incarna. It introduced stations and left a clearly defined path toward a microtransaction-based model, which directly contradicts the way that EVE Online has worked since moving to a digital-only subscription model in early 2008.You use real-world money or in-game ISK to pay for PLEX, which can be exchanged for in-game time, and that's the only way that CCP makes money from EVE Online.In the wake of Incarna, CCP was a different company. They felt that they had disappointed the fans, and many of those fans agreed. At Fanfest in 2012, they vowed to regain the fans' trust by returning to what made them great: space combat. They did so, bringing in more than 100,000 new subscribers and regaining the player base that quit after Incarna was released.Since then, they've realized that their players don't like unnecessary change and have learned to innovate without making core alterations to the game. This also has a good amount to do with the number of CCP employees who play EVE on a regular basis in their free time and know what changes they would or wouldn't like to be made to the game.

“ Players are allowed to trade, sell, and even steal PLEX from other players.

EVE Online is filled with moments that can only happen in EVE for a variety of reasons. Primarily, the gameplay opens up events like this to happen -- events that wouldn't be allowed to carry on in other MMO but are silently encouraged in EVE. Without them, it wouldn't nearly be what it is.For instance, PLEX itself is an item that can be paid for with real-world money, yet, is also stored at a physical location in-game, whether that's in your private hanger, corporate hanger, or on one of your ships. It is treated as any other in-game item and thus, players are allowed to trade, sell, and even steal PLEX from other players.That kind of thing can only happen in EVE.

While each of these separate moments might not sound extraordinary, when they all pull together, they make for something truly unique, and that's what EVE Online is all about. It doesn’t take new expansion content to bring players back every few months, it's the player-created stories that keep them invested in it so much that they can't leave in the first place.EVE is special, and that's evident in every facet of how it operates. Here's hoping that the next decade will lead to even more wild and crazy stories of dedication, corporate espionage, and missed calculations. Because that's what makes EVE, EVE.