My problem with the vast majority of MMOs is that there is almost no real freedom to them. For example, you try to attack a fellow player, and the game just doesn’t let you take a swing, with no attempt at explanation. And in general, the whole feel of them is that the players are competing together against the computer-controlled enemies, not against the other actual empires they’re supposed to be fighting. Eve Online was a great breath of fresh air in this respect. You want to run a convoy through wild space, sure go ahead. Just watch out for the human players who are going to stop your ship and either demand a ransom or just blow you up to take your stuff. It wasn’t perfect in this respect, but it was much freer than any other game.
Now, the problem with Eve Online was that it was the most boring game I’ve ever played in my life. It was like a job for which you pay your employer for the privilege. Especially the travel system, which was equivalent in excitement to watching paint dry. The setting was also a bit dry; I don’t mind space or sci-fi, but do you really have to confine me to a ship 24/7?
I’m not really looking for people to convert me back to Eve Online (although I am open to if it really has gotten a lot better since last year). I want to know if there is another game with a similar level of freedom, especially to fight other players, without the mind-boggling boredom of Eve Online (leveling up based on pure time elapsed, what the heck?!). The flavor is not really all that important, nor are the specific mechanics, as long as it is actually fun (they haven’t made any new MMOFPSs since the abortion that was Planetside, have they?). As an example of something that sounds really cool (when it ever comes out) that is not an RPG, see Society.
The only other MMO that comes to mind is Ultima Online, but that’s probably not what you’re looking for. If there’s another out there like EVE, I don’t know of it.
To elaborate, if you found it boring, you weren’t getting into the right fights. If you’re not PVPing, it’s boring. Also, EVE doesn’t have levels for a reason, and that’s why you don’t ‘level up’ with time, you just improve skills. That makes it so that anybody who’s put in a basic investment into the major skills can compete on a relatively level playing field and can always be of some use in a gang/fleet.
I’d also say that travel can be white-knuckle exciting if you’re running 0.0 dodging bubble camps.
In a fragmented shadow of its former self, AIUI. Servers are run by players more than the company, I believe. I never went back to check it out, haven’t touched it in a decade. But yeah, it’s impressive that people are still hanging on to it. I felt like UO was the first game that got it right; although there were still many flaws, it was not only the first MMO (Meridian 59 was more of a graphical MUD than an MMO), but it was also the first MMO in which you didn’t have to fight monsters to advance. I spent days just chopping wood and making crossbows and bows, and I was happy doing so. I really felt like EQ was a step back in game design, if not in graphical achievement, and I was annoyed that it stole the spotlight over UO.