December, 2017: "Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online" by Andrew Groen

	Author: Andrew Groen
	Genre: Science fiction, history
	Published: 2016
	Locations: 4694
	Reading started: December 5th, 2017
	Current progress: Location 1661 of 4694 (35.4%)
	Reading ended: December 27th, 2017. This book was abandoned after 22 days. Why?
	Final review score: N/A

Description

Amazon: Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online is the incredible true story of the dictators and governments that have risen to power within the real virtual world of EVE Online.

Since 2003, this sci-fi virtual world has been ruled by player-led governments commanding tens of thousands of real people. The conflict and struggle for power between these diverse governments has led to wars, espionage, and battles fought by thousands of people from nations all over the world. There have been climactic last stands, wars for honor and revenge, and spies who caused more damage than a fleet of warships.

Empires of EVE is the history of how political ideas first began to take hold in EVE Online, how that led to the creation of the first governments and political icons, and how those governments eventually collapsed into a state of total war from 2007-2009.

Why was this book abandoned?

When I came across Andrew Groen’s Empires of EVE: The History Lectures podcast, I got really excited. I used to play EVE Online back in the days, but I was totally oblivious to everything happening in nullsec. It’s really interesting to listen to the stories of the early history of a game that I’ve spent so many hours playing, and written about. The podcast is great, and I really enjoy it.

When I realized that Groen had written a book that the podcast is based on, I immediately found it on Amazon, and threw my money at it.

Unfortunately, the quality of the book is not that of the podcast. It feels clumsy and confusing, and it’s more or less impossible to keep track of what’s happening. A major reason for this is of course that the history of EVE is very complicated, with corporations, alliances, and allegiances changing by the minute. The problem is that Goren doesn’t manage to organize the mess in a manner that is easily understood in the book. The podcast, however, is a totally different matter, and I wholeheartedly recommend that.

Please note that I read and abandoned the Kindle edition of the book. The printed editions might contain visual aids that make everything easier to understand.

Perhaps one day, when I have the time to sit down with a book for hours, I’ll return to The History of EVE.