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Planetside 2 design "greatly influenced" by EVE Online

Planetside 2 has been shaped by Sony Online Entertainment boss John Smedley's EVE Online habit.

Speaking to well-known (and controversial) EVE Online community figure The Mittani, Smedley confessed to a great deal of love for CCP's space-faring MMO.

"My Eve experiences have been some of the most amazing of my gaming life," he said.

"I am a true PVP'er at heart and I'm not a big fan of rules. EVE provides the perfect environment for a person like me."

Smedley said his experiences playing EVE "have had a huge impact on Planetside 2".

"The concept of Cert Points and the notion of gaining them offline came straight from there, although our system gives you points that are flexible and we also give you more experience when you're online than off," he said.

"Also our resource system started out very similar to Starcraft but it's evolved a lot into something more akin to what EVE has. Right now it's not going to get as much use as it will in the future when we allow player owned bases that require rare resources that players fight over. Right now we don't have a market but that will come over time.

"I like to give credit where credit is due and it's fair to say that Eve greatly influenced my thinking as an online gamer and as someone running an online gaming company."

Smedley also said that sandbox games, like EVE, have the right approach in giving players the tools they need to make their own emergent content, and that's something Planetside 2 aims for too.

"We're going to make huge continents that are empty and have vast resources on them and players can fight it out and put down their own bases there and other players can come and obliterate them. Sound familiar EVE players?" he said.

"I personally thought SWTOR was a great game. I loved Diablo III. The problem is you get to the endgame and as game makers it's not just expensive. It's impossible to stay ahead of the curve."

Shooter MMO Planetside 2 is currently in closed beta and is expected to launch this year.

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EVE Online

PC

PlanetSide 2

PS4, PC

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About the Author
Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.
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