I'm not going to spend hours defending it simply because I don't devote that much time to forums. EVE has bad apples just like anywhere else. Because of the huge focus on PVP, the competitive spirit really shines through in the local chats. This does generally translate into a lot of taunting as players try to lure the competition into making stupid mistakes. This tactic works more often than it should.
CCP doesn't have lazy devs, they have devs that have to focus on different aspects of the game than other devs. Most MMOs are filled with servers that duplicate a world. This is preferable for a theme park environment because it cuts down on the lines for all of the rides. Too much traffic in an area slows things down, which takes away from your gaming experience. CCP has addressed this issue in ultra-crowded areas by introducing tidi (time dilation) into the game. During tidi, the functions of ships are slowed down (guns and defensive capabilities have a longer cool down) in order to place less strain on the server, helping to ensure that the environment doesn't just crash. Tidi does suck, I won't lie. Everyone hates tidi. Still, it's better than crashing servers. EVE has crazy awesome servers that have been upgraded recently, so it's more of an issue with technology in general than their equipment.
Anywho, when CCP creates or updates something, they have to take into account the fact that their changes will have an impact on multiple servers simultaneously instead of just slapping it onto one server and calling the work done. In theme park games, what is good for one server is generally good for all of the other servers simply because it's the same specs on the server duplicating the same information. In EVE, different servers handle a different level of strain depending on which part of the gaming world they support. EVE actually has two worlds. The first is the actual live world and the second is the test server. CCP accepts feedback from players as they test out changes on the test server.
The fact that anyone who isn't in your corp is your enemy is nothing more than a myth. True, anyone who isn't in your alliance (a collection of corps) is a potential enemy, and you should likely use caution, but it isn't a hard rule. Especially in high security space. If you kill someone in highsec then CONCORD (the police) kills you back. Quickly. There is no escape. You get blown up. In Lowsec or Nullsec... yeah, then you're fair game. Just watch where you go. I'm a part of EVE University, a well-known corporation that helps new players learn the ropes. Unistas (that's what most people call us) are typically seen as very easy targets and yet we don't have many problems with people ganking our members. We have several in-game chat channels for different purposes, Mumble channels, and offer classes that anyone in EVE can participate in. It's a great community that I'm proud to be a part of, and it's certainly the largest clique I've ever participated in. Lots and lots of friendly faces. If you go solo or join a small corp then yes, things can be rough. But being part of a small group is a choice. The larger corps recruit, most aren't difficult to get into, and nearly all have a place for you.
CCP doesn't have lazy devs, they have devs that have to focus on different aspects of the game than other devs. Most MMOs are filled with servers that duplicate a world. This is preferable for a theme park environment because it cuts down on the lines for all of the rides. Too much traffic in an area slows things down, which takes away from your gaming experience. CCP has addressed this issue in ultra-crowded areas by introducing tidi (time dilation) into the game. During tidi, the functions of ships are slowed down (guns and defensive capabilities have a longer cool down) in order to place less strain on the server, helping to ensure that the environment doesn't just crash. Tidi does suck, I won't lie. Everyone hates tidi. Still, it's better than crashing servers. EVE has crazy awesome servers that have been upgraded recently, so it's more of an issue with technology in general than their equipment.
Anywho, when CCP creates or updates something, they have to take into account the fact that their changes will have an impact on multiple servers simultaneously instead of just slapping it onto one server and calling the work done. In theme park games, what is good for one server is generally good for all of the other servers simply because it's the same specs on the server duplicating the same information. In EVE, different servers handle a different level of strain depending on which part of the gaming world they support. EVE actually has two worlds. The first is the actual live world and the second is the test server. CCP accepts feedback from players as they test out changes on the test server.
The fact that anyone who isn't in your corp is your enemy is nothing more than a myth. True, anyone who isn't in your alliance (a collection of corps) is a potential enemy, and you should likely use caution, but it isn't a hard rule. Especially in high security space. If you kill someone in highsec then CONCORD (the police) kills you back. Quickly. There is no escape. You get blown up. In Lowsec or Nullsec... yeah, then you're fair game. Just watch where you go. I'm a part of EVE University, a well-known corporation that helps new players learn the ropes. Unistas (that's what most people call us) are typically seen as very easy targets and yet we don't have many problems with people ganking our members. We have several in-game chat channels for different purposes, Mumble channels, and offer classes that anyone in EVE can participate in. It's a great community that I'm proud to be a part of, and it's certainly the largest clique I've ever participated in. Lots and lots of friendly faces. If you go solo or join a small corp then yes, things can be rough. But being part of a small group is a choice. The larger corps recruit, most aren't difficult to get into, and nearly all have a place for you.