EVE Online Prepares 500,000 Subscribers For BitTorrent Upgrade

Andy
March 11, 2013
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EVE Online,
games
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The popular game EVE Online is set to enjoy a boost from the world’s favorite file-sharing protocol. Developer CCP Games has announced that work is underway to improve the EVE Launcher so that EVE client updates may be rolled out more frequently and reliably. In future, more than 500,000 EVE Online subscribers will have BitTorrent under the hood.

eve-online When BitTorrent was invented it solved a problem, that of shifting large amounts of data round the Internet in a speedy, efficient and reliable manner.

For more than a decade it has achieved that task admirably but due to its great potential it still manages to feel somewhat under utilized at times.

BitTorrent Inc. is certainly doing its part to open up fresh avenues and applications for the protocol and today we learn of another company making use of BitTorrent to improve efficiencies and enhance end-user experience.

CCP Games is the Icelandic studio behind EVE Online, the space-based MMORPG game that first appeared in 2003. While BitTorrent enjoyed its 10th birthday a couple of years ago, EVE Online will celebrate its first decade this May, but not before a few changes have been made.

EVE Online currently has around 500,000 subscribers who are each required to run the EVE Launcher, a tool which installs, patches and repairs the EVE client. However, the company reports that they are not happy with aspects of the Launcher and how it behaves in certain situations.

“It is at times a bit cumbersome when it comes to updating the EVE client – how many of you had to download a full client install because the EVE Launcher patching failed? Quite a few according to our statistics,” CCP begins.

“Combined with our own desire to be able to push out EVE client updates more frequently and reliably, we have decided to go back to the drawing board and rethink some of the things we are doing; trying to find ways on how to improve the overall user experience,” they add.

To do so CCP are working on improving the Launcher’s self-update mechanism and its ability to download and update the EVE client. For this they will rely on an old friend.

“After careful investigation of a lot of different distribution and update mechanisms we have decided to base the EVE Launcher’s future download mechanism on the widely used and battle-tested BitTorrent protocol,” CCP reveal.

“The main reason why we are doing this is that BitTorrent itself can utilize a number of different transport channels at the same time and is thus less prone to failing on that level. Our current mechanism is built on HTTP 1.1 only, which is a protocol that was not designed for transferring large amounts of data.”

Due to this design shortcoming, HTTP transfers – especially partial ones – are prone to errors which can corrupt the EVE client. With Bram Cohen‘s baby, this isn’t an issue.

“With BitTorrent we do not have this problem as it can run on top of a number of different protocols. Furthermore the protocol does a double validation of transferred data, ensuring that it is actually what we wanted to download and not some digital garbage,” CCP explain.

“Eventually it is also possible to prioritize files over others when downloading which opens up a whole lot of possible future improvements to the user experience – for instance the ability to create your character while the game is still installing.”

While the BitTorrent implementation will be transparent, there are bound to be plenty of EVE users who understand the protocol and how it functions, and might therefore be worried about it greedily eating up available upload bandwidth as it seeds the client to other users. CCP say they have that covered.

“By default the new EVE Launcher will only make you share the data required for installing the client while you are downloading; once your download is complete you will not be distributing it to others, unless you explicitly enable this in the options – after all it might be useful for sharing the installation across your local network. We are also, by default, limiting the upload rate so that it should not affect your normal internet usage. This can be adjusted within the settings, should you wish to do so,” CCP conclude.

Facebook and Twitter previously revealed that BitTorrent is doing wonders for them too, so it’s great to hear of another successful application taking place outside the regular file-sharing space.

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DemoRepublic Corporate Amerika

I’m surprised corporations have not set a price for people to use the bittorrent protocol.
- Guest
  
  because it’s p2p.
  ergo, it don’t cost anything for them – using user’s computing power.
  - DemoRepublic Corporate Amerika
    
    Just because it does not cost anything for company’s to use the bit torrent protocol does not mean that they can’t charge people for using it. I also doubt certain company’s care if its p2p or not.
  - http://twitter.com/KarimBenA35 KarimBen
    
    like Willie replied I am taken by surprise that a stay at home mom able to get paid $8974 in 1 month on the network.
  - http://twitter.com/KarimBenA35 KarimBen
    
    …..—-goo.gl/0tQYy (Home more information)
- Gunni
  
  See: Gopher and why it failed
- http://twitter.com/MinnieHiebert Minnie Hiebert
  
  up to I looked at the paycheck which was of $7382, I accept …that…my sister was actualy taking home money parttime online.. there great aunt had bean doing this less than 20 months and a short time ago cleard the mortgage on there appartment and bought BMW. we looked here……….. BIT40. ℂOℳ
- Scary_Devil_Monastery
  
  The answer is simple.
  
  They can’t.
Whatever

Not so much on topic…

This was the first (and last) online game i was almost, for a very brief moment, tempted to try (Mr Data would say an eternity for an Android).

There were several reasons why not but the thing that most annoyed me was the that the price 1 Euro = 1 Dollar. Effectively 30% less for the US users (at the time that i looked at it long time ago).

It could be argued that a difference in price could be reasonable to let people in a poor country pay less but with the US having the highest average income it makes even less sense.
- Kyle Platt
  
  Average != median just because a few people have elenvity trillion $ doesn’t make the rest of us rich.
  - http://blog.ssokolow.com ssokolow
    
    More true than you may know.
    
    This video graphically illustrates how much more unequal American incomes are than even what we think.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
  - Whatever
    
    I am aware that the US (almost typed America) misses some social parts of society but it is still a very rich country in comparison.
    
    (Not counting that the US actually doesn’t own any of its assets with the huge debt the country has)
- Grammar Police
  
  EVE hasn’t, at any time in the past decade, had 1 USD = 1 EUR pricing.
  - Whatever
    
    Really ? Needed a search engine to find the prices again as it isn’t on the main page:
    
    For our players in Europe: 1-month-plan € 14.95
    ….rest of the world, ….: 1-month-plan $ 14.95
    Comes down to 1 USD = 1 Euro according to my calculations.
    (Somehow the UK/Russia do seem to get a different price)
    
    http://support.eveonline.com/pages/kb/article.aspx?id=21
    
    Also way to expensive for the little time i would have for it (besides several other reasons).
    
    Or do you have some magical mathematics to disprove it.
- b00bmail[dot]
  
  EVE has localized rates for subscription. The reason is is and never will be free-to-play is that they would lose the majority of their paying customers who would feel hard done by. The subscription model works for this game, a decade of this is proof.
  - DemoRepublic Corporate Amerika
    
    How come when people think about free to play MMO games they never think about how much it costs to keep the servers running? What do people think this is the star trek universe? Not everything is free dammit all!!!!
    - http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell
      
      You are missing that many of the ‘free-to-play’ games also have ‘Pay to get extras’ in them, which keeps them in business.
      
      Personally, I feel it’s a sleazy thing to set up your game so that you have to pay more or extra to excel in it.
    - Guest321
      
      I would much rather know the cost upfront. I avoid anything that involves hidden costs like the plague. I think its a very dishonest way of making money.
      
      I was absolutely sure I was gonna buy Diablo 3 when it was finally released but then I heard about RMAH and decided against buying. Online multiplayer is supposed to be a showcase of one’s skills and not how deep one’s pocket is. If anyone can plonk down the cash and buy uber gears, where’s the competition?
    - Scary_Devil_Monastery
      
      So…you’re saying Guild Wars 2 wasn’t as striking a success as guild wars 1?
      
      Sony converted Everquest 2 into F2P because they imagined doing so would lose them money?
      
      All the studies showing F2P games to be more lucrative than subscription-based ones are fudging numbers?
      
      Funny, by the way, that you should mention Star trek as “Star Trek Online” is also free-to-play.
      
      Today, games can only subside in subscription if a massive client base are all agreed they want an entry barrier in order to avoid being flooded with casual gamers.
  - BuddhaFacePalmed
    
    That, and the fact that most EVE players are in their late 20′s to 30′s. It appeals to them because EVE online is as close as you can get to real life market with hostile corporations and balance sheets. Besides, who wouldn’t want to shoot down space ships the size of Manhattan?
    - Whatever
      
      The spaceship blasting sounds good but no freedom. Following is based on what i remember from a few years ago checking it out.
      
      One needs to join a faction and follow government rules (in a faction game?) to get somewhere. I think i read that actions that would be (virtual!) destructive to the game (blow up space stations) isn’t allowed resulting in real sanctions against a player (they could also have programmed the game differently).
      
      In essence CCP doen’t like shifts in balance (like MAFIAA) because it would mean less profit. So the game is driven by maximizing profit, not the program itself.
      
      Lack of time, the price and pricing system were an easy way to forget about even trying it (but the pictures do look nice).
    - BuddhaFacePalmed
      
      I think you misunderstand something.
      
      In EVE online, the only thing that requires cold, hard cash is the PLEX, an in-game commodity that allows you to play for a set amount of time. Furthermore, you’re allowed to pay for it using in-game currency (ISK). And most EVE players, especially the hardcore fanbase, set up multiple accounts that allow them to farm PLEXs without spending a dime.
      
      As for joining a faction and following government rules, that’s only for the high-sec areas, where OP ships will blow you up for wanton aggression against new players.
      
      There’s no real sanctions for in-game actions. If you wantonly destroy stuff, you lose the ship you were blown up in and your security rating will be reduced to the point where you’re no longer allowed in high-sec areas. And where toxic players will end up is called null-sec, space controlled directly by player corporations (guilds, in other MMOs) which will blow unaffiliated players to smithereens.
    - Whatever
      
      Well the payment system i meant was the real monthly subscription and the US/EU difference. I don’t suppose you can pay your subscription with “PLEX” money.
      
      As for the game itself, are you saying that space is not continuous in that game and can’t fly with the biggest baddest ship in existence or a fleet of those (will probably take long) into any place you like regardless of “rating” or “sec” ? Not blowing up new players is understandable to a point but look at my examples more like space strategy type games where conquest is the purpose. You can’t do that. It makes players “toxic” as you explained which is because of a real world economic motive of CCP. If some player (or group) tips the balance in the game then CPP makes less (real) money because some people will want to stop.
      
      The way you describe it is like WOW in space (I knew someone playing WOW all the time).
      
      But i do appreciate the further explanation about the game and everyone having fun with it should continue to do so. I was tempted once but won’t go for it (too bad, no EVE offline).
      
      Starts to feel like a South Park episode now.
    - BuddhaFacePalmed
      
      Ok, then. I respect and agree with you that EVE isn’t for everyone.
    - http://extropolitca.blogspot.com Mirco Romanato
      
      Someone buy PLEX (30 days of game time) for US or € then sell them in game for ISK, so they are able to buy ships, characters and many other things.
      
      Someone, in game, have a lot of isk and use them to buy PLEX and play without paying his subscriptions.
      
      The PLEX price is settled by the free market and float freely. CCP make a gazillion of money with PLEXes
  - Whatever
    
    I have no idea what you are replying to. Never mentioned free anywhere.
    
    Actually all users from EU should feel wronged by EVE online.
    (or Iceland again after their banks)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=676827475 Luke Solis

CCP and Eve. How I playing and being part of that community.
Krom

I don’t play EVE Online, I know it’s an interesting game though,
I’m paying close attention to their next game: “World Of Darkness”,
which is based on RPG books released in 1991,
I’m confident this company will make a great MMO version,
there are already PC games based on the same universe, BTW.
Guest

You could try fixing the bugs in your client too, there’s nothing difficult or tricky transferring large files over HTTP. It’s just about your implementation
- Guest
  
  The usual download speeds for the whole client are horrible. I guess it’s a way to speed things up while saving on their bandwidth bill.
  A game of this magnitude will always have bugs, have patience and submit bug reports when you can.
  - Guest
    
    I agree with that, i just don’t like that HTTP is not capable of performing this task. It more than capable – BitTorrent really only helps reduce EVE’s bandwidth costs
  - Guest321
    
    I don’t like commercial establishments using Bittorrent in this manner. They are trying to save on bandwidth costs by passing the burden of distributing updates to the end users but at the same time taking money for subscription. That’s just not done. If you’re gonna use P2P then you ought to reduce the subscription charges as well.
    - http://twitter.com/TrueFurby Last Furby
      
      It’s not forced. There is an option. You don’t have to share your client with anyone. And distributing client has nothing to do with subscription. Actually you should even pay more because the speeds will be much faster now and you can play sooner.
joblo

Why isn’t EVE ONLINE free to play yet?
- DemoRepublic Corporate Amerika
  
  I want to see you put a MMO on multiple servers without paying for uptime. You would fail miserably.
  - Scary_Devil_Monastery
    
    Guild wars 1 and 2?
    
    EQ2?
    
    Every title issued or owned by Perfect World?
    - Jorge_C
      
      You are highly underestimating the issue at hand. Take a look at the hardware they are using already (they have regular dev blogs that show off this kind of geeky info) to get a sense of the magnitude. This hardware is still inadequate for the task and they are always looking for ways to increase performance (like moving some bandwidth requirements to the users).
      
      This is a single world universe all running on one cluster. 50k players all interacting with hundreds of millions of active objects/events going on in the game. The market system alone takes more horsepower than some mmo’s require for their entire game.
    - Scary_Devil_Monastery
      
      No I’m not.
      
      My response was to the following:
      
      “I want to see you put a MMO on multiple servers without paying for uptime. You would fail miserably.”
      
      It’s been done. You discussing EVE online (which has a subscription model and, as you say, a different structure) misses the debating point of F2P completely.
    - Jorge_C
      
      The point was the amount of capitol needed for EVE Online to go F2P would far outstrip the amount coming in from micro-transactions alone. Even with a subscriber base they can’t afford the amount of equipment needed to satisfy the performance requirements.
- Guess
  
  In a sense it already is, you can get electronic time codes and convert them into ingame items that are sellable on the market, so if you make enough ingame money you really can play for free
- X-ellent
  
  Because its system of subscription works very well all these years.
  
  Some games that goes from “Pay to Play” to “Free to Play”,
  it’s because nobody wants to pay a subscription for them.
WonkRonk

YOu have got to admit that looks liek its gonna be good.

EliteAnon.tk
Montisaquadeis

*yawns* BLizzard has been doing this for at least Diablo 3 since it came out and I believe it was doing it with the beta client as well. Not sure if their other games use it or not tho as I don’t play anything else except the Diablo series from blizzard.
- Pubstar
  
  Starcraft 2 and WoW use bittorrent
bobmail

The boost will mostly be their bottom line, as they shuck the responsibility to host upgrades, and instead let the users pay for it out of their bandwidth.

It’s a great move for any company with a larger user base, as they can lose all the costs of distribution for an upgrade. It’s not about supporting torrents, it’s about supporting their business bottom line.
- Guest321
  
  Right on the money. For once I agree with you Bobby. Upvoted!
- Jorge_C
  
  As a subscriber of EVE online I couldnt be happier that they are “shucking” the responsibility over to us. The lag monster must be fought on all fronts!
  
  Don’t speak for EVE players if you aren’t one yourself.
- MC
  
  Less business overhead = less cost to the customer ultimately.
  
  You really are desperate for things to say against bittorrent. You come across as intellectually vacuous.
Guess

“EVE Online currently has around 500,000 subscribers” erm really eve has 500K subs? think someones adding the dust 514 community in that number, eve online subs is lower than 500k it MIGHT be 500+ with the dustbunnies added.
- Uzza
  
  Nope. They have explicitly stated that the 500k does not include dust. It does include Serenity though, the Chinese server.
  I remember reading that players estimate that there are a million DUST players.
Guess

Plus eve online had the most hideous nastiest community you’ll ever meet, for anyone who plays LoL eve community makes that community look like a bunch of schoolboy choirboys in comparrison.

http://evenews24.com/2012/08/07/lol-awox-tears-are-the-best-so-listen-to-this/

http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/news/eve-fanfest-alliance-panel-leads-to-controversy-for-csm-chairman

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/26/ccp-investigates-player-panel-amidst-controversy/

his excuse on the panel incident was “I was too drunk to know what I was saying” funny, cause I’m sure if he caught his best friend in bed with his GF that he wouldn’t accept that as ok as to why his best friend and GF are in bed together do you? :)
- Southern Cross
  
  You’re just proving the sad person that you are.
- BuddhaFacePalmed
  
  EVE online is the Wild West of MMOs. More sandbox than GTA, and the best part is that players are allowed to retaliate against others if they want to, instead of waiting for a hidden system to punish toxic players
- http://extropolitca.blogspot.com Mirco Romanato
  
  EVE Online is not for sissies and pussies.
  If you think it is too hard to play, there is Hello Kitty Online for you.
  http://www.hellokittyonline.com/
  Hello Kitty Online the official Sanrio MMORPG with social network and social media features.
http://twitter.com/Life1sPeachy DarkSideOfLife

If you guys remember Twitter uses bit torrent protocol also

http://torrentfreak.com/twitter-uses-bittorrent-for-server-deployment-100210/
- boral
  
  So also facebook.
kiko

nice
frozar

My Dramiel and Hound can leech quite quickly, but they don’t seed at all.

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EVE Online Prepares 500,000 Subscribers For BitTorrent Upgrade

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