Released by CCP Games in 2003, EVE Online has grown to be one of the world’s leading massively multiplayer online games. In a galaxy spanning more than 5000 solar systems, industrialists and merchants speculate on the open market, pirates look for juicy targets, mission runners seek their thrills against rogue drones, all while huge empires - some consisting of thousands of players - vie for control of vast territories at the edges of space.
Once every year, hundreds of EVE players travel to Reykjavik to take part in the EVE Online Fanfest, a celebration to all things EVE. At Fanfest, the players spend three days discussing the serious business of internet spaceships. Friends, allies and ancient enemies meet to talk about the game, drink beer and party at the top of the world.
This year, we’ll be bringing our cameras to document the community in action; to capture the spirit of the game and to explore the sometimes complicated relationship between said community and CCP Games themselves. Through interviews, done both behind closed doors and on the busy Fanfest show floor, we hope to find the answer to why the players love and live EVE Online in the way they do.
The end result will be the documentary A Tale of Internet Spaceships.
What is A Tale of Internet Spaceships?
There’s no doubt that EVE Online is unique amongst massively multiplayer games and that it is bigger than the sum of its parts. The EVE galaxy, New Eden, is a complicated place. Due to the very nature of the game; many aspects of it can't even be covered in a documentary. It would be impossible.
A Tale of Internet Spaceships won’t be an unashamed tribute to all things EVE. What we aim to capture on film is the relationship between CCP and the people that play the game; a love-hate relationship that, several times during the game's lifespan, has been quite strained. What makes thousands of players start an in-game riot and what did it mean for the player base when it was all over? What did it mean for CCP? What kind of power do the consumers wield over the companies that supply a game service like EVE? Why do hundreds of players travel to Iceland every year to celebrate the game? What kind of bonds do massively multiplayer online games create between players, and between players and the creators?
These are all sensitive questions. They will be handled with the utmost respect for the subjects involved and we will try to include as many perspectives as possible.
Our aim is to create a film that will be fascinating for everyone - from the most hardcore of players to outsiders, an exclusive inside look into a virtual world and its denizens. The goal is to make a full-length documentary film and post-production is planned to wrap up during the fall of 2013.
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Now we need your help!
To make A Tale of Internet Spaceships as good as it possibly can be, we need your help. The film is a completely non-profit venture and every penny you can help us with will go straight into the production. What we do need help with is funds for renting equipment and tech, any travel expenses (not to Fanfest, that part is taken care of already), marketing, unforeseen costs, etcetera.
Because of this, the perks we can offer you for your investment are quite modest. We’d love to shower you with all kinds of love and perks, but since our budget is small and we wish to keep it that way, we want to put as much focus on the film as possible.
If you have strong opinions and want to be interviewed, don't hesitate to get in touch. We'll try to get as many voices we possibly can into the movie.
I want to know more!
If you want more details about A Tale of Internet Spaceships, make sure to read our interview with TheMittani.com or listen to episode seven of the High Drag podcast (the interview starts at around the 50 minute mark). Winterblink also did an interview with Petter and Philip over on Warp Drive Active.
Who are we?
The team behind A Tale of Internet Spaceships consists primarily of media students from Malmö University, Sweden. While the members of the team have various degrees of experience with EVE Online itself, all of them have a deep fascination with new media, media activism, communities and virtual worlds and have experience from games journalism (including EVE Online/CCP coverage), music, filming, marketing in social media and TV-production.
The team is still growing, but the core group includes:
Petter Mårtensson has worked as a games journalist for almost ten years, working both freelance and as assistant editor. He’s done extensive video work for Gamereactor TV, one of Scandinavia’s biggest gaming web-TV channels, and have covered EVE Online, CCP and the community for many years. He’s also played EVE since 2006, but calls himself “the noob with the most amount of skill points in the galaxy”.
Philip Raivander has worked on skateboard films, video livestreaming and music production. He’s made songs for several indie ad campaigns, and while he loves to play his guitar he’s currently focusing on the production side of music and sound. In later years he’s found a creative tool in video and film.
Elin Thedin has a background in Swedish television. She instinctively knows what a production needs, has an eye for details and she brings a fresh perspective to the world of EVE Online.
More ways to help out
We’d love help to spread the word! If you can, please post about us on Facebook, Twitter - we'll be using the hashtag #atois - and on other social media. Any little thing helps!
