Play Voidspace
Posted: Mar 05, 2021
Eve Online, and Elite Dangerous, and Voidspace meme

Question: How does Voidspace compare to similarly ambitious games such as EVE Online? How does it differ?


There are not a lot of similarities between Voidspace and EVE, so lets start with the similarities:

  1. Voidspace is a science-fiction Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (for lack of a better genre).
  2. There is only one massive game world that all players reside and play within.
  3. EVE has a lot of player-driven content. Voidspace is purely player-driven content.

I have played EVE (briefly) so I have a basic understanding of what it is and what it has to offer. So here are some of the ways Voidspace is NOT the same:

  1. While EVE does have a single game world, it is split up into "zones" whereas Voidspace is completely seamless throughout the entire universe. With EVE, you cannot do interstellar travel between systems.
  2. EVE's questing system is fairly traditional for an MMORPG whereas Voidspace has no NPCs whatsoever. All quests in Voidspace are created by real players with real needs. There is no quest grinding or storylines to follow.
  3. EVE requires you to play on your desktop whereas Voidspace is completely cross platform. You'll be able to play on your desktop and then switch to your phone and play the full game there seamlessly.
  4. EVE discourages RMT (Real Money Transactions), making the inevitable practice dangerous for players since there are no protections in place to ensure the trade is done fairly whereas Voidspace encourages RMT and allows players to make money in the game. RMT is NOT a requirement to play the game however and only player to player transactions will be supported (no pay-to-win). Keep in mind that this will not be developed until after the game is released.
  5. EVE has predefined, pre-balanced equipment and game-world content. On the other hand, Voidspace has an innovative invention system that allows players discover and hone their own skills; no two skills are exactly the same. Inventions, discoveries, and really any man-made object don't exist when the world spawns and they only begin to come into existence as players discover and create them.
  6. EVE doesn't have the concept of permadeath (although loss can be quite significant from a death). Voidspace on the other hand will have permadeath. During early access however the permadeath features aren't fully enacted since instability can result in an accidental loss of character.
  7. EVE allows you to log out safely. Voidspace employs a very different concept which both supports and requires that player's characters be "online" at all times, even if the player isn't actively playing. Automation game mechanics are there to help facilitate this and this is used to protect the individuals in the player's group to keep them safe from attackers while the player is not actively playing. It is not required that a player be in a group, and a player could very well defend himself even if he were to play alone.
  8. EVE has the concept of "careers" which is a sort of sub-simulation of what it would be like to have a career. VoidSpace on the other hand models the game world at a lower level, enabling players to create their own careers just like they would in the real world. Players can create their own business that serves real players with real needs. Everything in the game has a natural value, just like the real world. There are no predefined "jobs" but lots of "needs" that continue to expand indefinitely as a player society expands technologically.
  9. I'll continue to add to this list, but hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of why VoidSpace and EVE don't really share the same space (no pun intended). One of the most difficult tasks I've had with this project is trying to explain to people what VoidSpace really is. Usually when trying to explain a game, you use other popular games that have a lot in common as examples, but VoidSpace was never designed as a successor to an existing concept and instead inspiration has been drawn directly from real life and how we as human beings experience our own universe.

Here is our mission statement that might explain where we're going with this...

We believe the video game industry is lacking in truly organic video games that model a real universe.

Traditional massive online games evolved from pen and paper style games; from a time when there was only so much you could keep track of before it got too tedious to play. But while computers and technology have advanced enough to better model the human experience in a game environment, games have continued idly down this path of game model simplification.

We believe it is time to break this paradigm. Games don't need to have a simple start and end; they don't need to simply simulate one aspect of life. We're ready to experience video games as a true and un-coddled participant in an alternate reality. We're ready to enter a vibrant and active reality that emulates our own, with no excuses and no deception, just the pure and simple emulation of a real world, where game mechanics only exist to ease the disconnect players face in a GUI.

Question: How closely do you think the final product will resemble the concept trailer?

I believe very closely, however the trailer makes certain assumptions about player behavior that could end up changing the game rather drastically from how it was envisioned. I don't have a lot of control over how the game will be experienced by players because we will allow players to spawn inside of existing player groups and those player groups would have a significant control over the new player's experience. That being said, with a decent rating system placed on player groups, whatever the experience ends up being it should at least be a good one.

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