Eve Online has just stepped boldly into its third decade over the weekend. Which, by any measure, is just insane. I'm sure the idea would have been incomprehensible to the founders back on day one. A single shard MMO lasting well into 20+ years - unheard of. And yet, in many ways, Eve is not the same game that launched on day one. It has continued to evolve, adapt, introduce new elements while often being somewhat hamstrung by old ones, successfully adopt new market movements and surprisingly stay relevant for a very, very long time.
Can it continue to do that into the foreseeable future? Is it even possible for Eve to last, not only another decade, but perhaps even longer? The future is unknowable in so many ways that it would be challenging to predict potential major upheavals or market shifts that suddenly make such a massive game irrelevant or quaint. Those types of big movements can happen and have happened in the past, but beyond those there is truly no reason to believe Eve is on the cusp of suddenly becoming "old" or "out of date". But that also doesn't mean it doesn't have its own challenges to confront.
One of the biggest threats facing Eve right now, in my humble opinion, is the rapidly changing landscape of social measures that we have all witnessed over the past twenty years. In many ways Eve built a reputation on the back of what was considered cool and relevant in the 1990s - a resurgence of gritty, harsh, dark, and anti-heroic stoicism that was highlighted by cultural and creative expression in the late-eighties and into the nineties. All of which was being expressed in gaming as well as film, books, and other creative outlets. Eve itself was sold, for many years, as a formidable and daunting world built on the premise promised by those very same expressions. A Punisher comic book fan might well feel right at home in the universe of New Eden for example.
There is no way this image would have been used to celebrate Eve's 10th Anniversary.
And, in fact, it wasn't.
Beyond playing with the Eve Forever infinity symbolism, the new anniversary graphics also represent the increasing lightness and color that has started to slowly transform Eve over the past decade. And I don't believe this is unintentional. The game itself has started to lighten up somewhat graphically as well - not only through graphical improvements - but also with skins, abyssal space, and other ways both subtle and more obvious.
I can't be the only person who has also noticed a sharp decline in the levels of vitriol being spewed in Eve's general direction online as well over the past few years. While Reddit remains a powder-keg at times, it is nothing like its former self. I could say the same for other platforms as well. Although this in no way is a scientific presentation of facts, only my own observations. Eve certainly has a long way to go towards dealing with larger issues of harassment, bullying, racism, and other important social issues - it does feel like some progress has been made. Speaking as someone who only recently was being harassed quite publicly inside of the game, again.
I for one hope that Eve does indeed continue to thrive and transform itself well into the future. How will the emergence of AI impact the game, if at all. How does a game largely built on the back of 1990s aesthetics continue to remain relevant into its thirties or forties? The trick is going to be constant evolution and transformation. Something that, if the past is any indication, CCP has managed to do rather well over the past twenty years. (Not perfectly by any measure, but Eve is still here and I am still talking about it.)
It should be an interesting ride.