Abstract
The massively multiplayer game EVE Online relies on a complex fictional history to create the sense of a narratively cohesive universe. To support this history, EVE features sites that reflect the game’s emphasis on violence and war. Dark tourism in EVE Online allows players to explore these sites and connect to an uncertain collective history. In an unfamiliar virtual world, tourism is a familiar way to engage with a fluid, fictional past.
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Notes
- 1.
Benedict Anderson , Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 2006), 6–7. Despite being scattered across the world, EVE players have formed various communities online and offline, often meeting in person such as during the EVE Fanfest held yearly in Reykjavik, Iceland.
- 2.
Brendan Drain, “EVE Evolved: How Many Subscriptions Does EVE have?” Massively Overpowered, accessed August 17, 2016, http://massivelyop.com/2015/04/19/eve-evolved-how-many-subscriptions-does-eve-have.
- 3.
Due to Chinese government regulations, Chinese nationals are not present on the Tranquility server. Chinese players are on their own server, Serenity, operated by the entertainment company TianCity in partnership with CCP .
- 4.
By way of comparison, World of Warcraft spreads out its players among over one hundred servers.
- 5.
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Nick Webber , “EVE Online as History,” in Internet Spaceships Are Serious Business, ed. Marcus Carter, Kelly Bergstrom, and Darryl Woodford (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2016), Kindle edition.
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- 9.
Webber , “EVE Online as History,” Kindle edition.
- 10.
Ibid.
- 11.
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- 14.
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- 15.
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- 18.
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- 19.
Jay Winter , Sites of Memory , Sites of Mourning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 39.
- 20.
Erik Champion , Critical Gaming : Interactive History and Virtual Heritage (New York: Routledge, 2016), 81.
- 21.
J. John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster (London: Thomson, 2007), 198.
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Britta Timm Knudsen , “Experiencing Dark Heritage Live,” in Dark Tourism: Practice and Interpretation, ed. Glenn Hooper and John J. Lennon (New York: Routledge, 2017), 183.
- 23.
Winter , Sites of Memory, 3.
- 24.
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- 25.
Debbie Lisle, “Consuming Danger: Reimagining the War/Tourism Divide,” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 25, no. 1 (January–March 2000): 97.
- 26.
Winter , Sites of Memory, 7, 78–79.
- 27.
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- 28.
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- 29.
Stephen Miles , “Battlefield Sites as Dark Tourism Attractions: An Analysis of Experience,” Journal of Heritage Tourism 9, no. 2 (2014): 135.
- 30.
Non-player characters are individuals and factions within the game that are not controlled by a human player but rather the game engine itself.
- 31.
Lennon and Foley, Dark Tourism, 3.
- 32.
Feiryred, “Grieving Jamyl Supporters Perform Ritual Suicide in Safizon,” The Mittani, accessed August 15, 2017, https://www.themittani.com/news/grieving-jamyl-supporters-perform-ritual-suicide-safizon?nopaging=1.
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Alizebeth Amalath, “Funeral Mass and Vigil (Updated times Monday 24th),” EVE Online, accessed August 28, 2017, https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=5983476.
- 34.
Ibid.
- 35.
The Titan was named for Steve Irwin, who died the same month the ship was constructed, making the vessel itself an in-game tribute to the late naturalist. Phillip Warr, “EVE Online’s Historian Talks Battlefleets and Betrayals,” Rock Paper Shotgun, accessed July 30, 2017, https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/03/23/eve-online-andrew-groen-interview.
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- 37.
Ibid.
- 38.
Ibid.
- 39.
“An unpaid bill leads to costly video game battle,” USA Today, accessed July 10, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2014/01/29/eve-online-battle-gaming/5020753/.
- 40.
CCP Dolan, “The Bloodbath of B-R5RB.”
- 41.
Azai Burgi , “EVE Cemetery,” Azai’s Bolthole, accessed July 10, 2016, http://www.aziaburgi.me.uk/cemetery.php.
- 42.
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- 43.
Although a second message at the Titanomachy site also implores capsuleers to consider their mortality, the warning is undercut by the primary broadcasted message.
- 44.
Svarthol, “Molea Cemetery Destroyed by Jihadswarm.”
- 45.
Ibid.
- 46.
Svarthol, “Molea Cemetery Weathers Second Assault,” EVE Online, accessed July 20, 2017, https://community.eveonline.com/news/news-channels/eve-online-news/molea-cemetery-weathers-second-assault/.
- 47.
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- 48.
Sarah Victoria Turner, “The Poetics of Permanence? Inscriptions, Memory and Memorials of the First World War in Britain,” Sculpture Journal 21, no. 1 (2015): 73.
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- 51.
Lisle, “Consuming Danger,” 92.
- 52.
CONCORD is designed to be unstoppable, although that has not stopped players from finding ways to circumvent CONCORD’s retribution long enough to attack and destroy other players. These tactics are considered an exploitation of game mechanics.
- 53.
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- 56.
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Henry Jenkins, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 139.
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- 65.
Lennon and Foley , Dark Tourism, 16.
- 66.
Webber , “EVE Online as History,” Kindle edition.
- 67.
Miles , “Battlefield Sites as Dark Tourism,” 136.
- 68.
Amalath, “Funeral Mass and Vigil.”
- 69.
Jay Winter , Remembering War: The Great War Between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 39.
- 70.
Lisle , “Consuming Danger,” 94.
- 71.
EVE Online, “This is EVE—Uncensored,” YouTube , accessed August 5, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdfFnTt2UT0.
- 72.
Despite identifying as an explorer, Matt726 in a blog post expresses the desire to have been present to witness a battle between the Shansha and Sleepers, two factions within EVE. Mark726, “Silent Battleground,” EVE Travel, accessed July 29, 2016, https://evetravel.wordpress.com/2016/04/03/silent-battleground/.
- 73.
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CCP Dolan, “The Bloodbath of B-R5RB.”
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Fandino, D. (2018). Remembering Fictional History and Virtual War in EVE Online. In: McDaniel, K.N. (eds) Virtual Dark Tourism. Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74687-6_14
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