Community Spotlight: Wormhole Fundamentals
W-Space. Anoikis. Whatever name you know it by, the unclaimed and uncharted systems connected by wormholes are a dangerous and mysterious place. There are no stargates connecting them, you can't set an autopilot to show you how to get home, there is no local channel warning you when a potential hostile enters system. For the uninitiated, it can be an intimidating prospect, fraught with peril.
So how does someone who knows nothing about wormholes delve into them? There is always the option of trial and error, learning as you go. That is, after all, how the initial brave explorers of this frontier approached it. But that already puts the newbie at a disadvantage. Luckily, not all those who came before are stingy with their knowledge.
Adhocracy Incorporated, spearheaded by Asayanami Dei, has put all his experience together to create a series of educational videos helping players understand the various intricacies of wormhole space.
History
Asayanami has been making videos about wormholes since the day he started living there. At first, they were simple videos of PVP footage set to music. As he learned about video editing they became more polished, longer, and a bit better. Along the way, he was learning about wormhole space and how to survive there. He wrote a EVE Wiki article about living in wormhole space, answered questions from new players, and made events for EVE University encouraging players to try them out.
He wanted more people to experience the environment he was living in, something he considered amazing and special. One day, Asayanami was talking with corpmates about ways to achieve this goal. Lectures for EVE Uni and the wiki article proved people were interested, but they all thought there could be something more.
Then Asayanami was hit by inspiration. Why not make educational videos? Minutes later he was writing a post on his corp forums to outline the idea. It was simple; short videos, each explaining one mechanic specific to w-space. The plan was to make as many as possible until they ran out of topics to cover. The videos aimed to be about 5 minutes long, teach the basics, encourage people to do their own research, and give wormholes a try.
Thus the Wormhole Fundamentals series was born. Shortly after the 2nd episode was released, the corp obtained the domain name www.wormholefundamentals.com and a site was created for the series. Now after a year, there are 11 videos, detailing everything from using the directional scanner to capital escalations.
So far the series has been a great success! The videos have had over 70k views and people are always offering suggestions on the next topic to cover. People find the videos helpful, so Asayanami considers it mission accomplished!
Areas of Focus
The project began by tackling the basics of what they thought everyone should know. They started with simple things such as what system effects are, what the Sleepers are, how w-space connects to known space, what kind of things you can find there, and similar. They still have not yet finished covering all the various sites people encounter in w-space. It remains an ongoing process.
Afterward, they moved on to PVP and PVE in wormholes, how it works compared to k-space, how to use the directional scanner and probes to your advantage, and related mechanics. With the exploration changes in Odyssey, they have focused on updating that information as well as trying to fill any gaps left behind. They most recently released a Capital Escalations video (a highly requested video), while one on Gas Sites is in production.
People often mention videos about PVP in w-space. They released a video called “Hunting in W-space” which covers the basics of how to find targets efficiently. The main issue with PVP as a feature to cover is that it is too vast to be contained in a single video. In order to fully cover what people have been asking for, they would need to have multiple episodes about every possible scenario one could encounter in their adventures, something which is outside t he scope of the series.
However, in order to fill this need from the community, Asayanami has created a second series called U-Boat. U-Boat is what Wormhole Fundamentals could not be. It captures footage of Adhocracy's combat in wormholes and shows off the realities of wormhole PVP. On it's own, it has roughly 30k views since the first episode.
The plan is to continue both series alongside each other, with Fundamentals covering basic mechanics while U-Boat looks at the PVP aspect of wormhole space.
Production
Despite the quality of the videos, Asayanami uses what he has available to him to produce them. His PC is 4 years old and has a GeForce GT 9600 card, 3 GB of RAM, and a 2.4 GHz Dual Core Processor. His HDD is also fairly full, constantly leading to jokes from corp mates, especially when he must sadly report that an amazing fight went unrecorded.
He uses DxTory for recording footage and Sony Vegas for editing, both of which Asayanami finds easy to use. Photoshop is used for creating any graphics. He has been learning as he goes, as he has no previous experience with video editing.
Coming up with topics can be a challenge, as there is only so much that can be covered in a 5 minute video and the options are vast. Most of the videos reflect what they do on a daily basis. Adhocracy has a forum section dedicated to people posting ideas for videos. Once an idea is accepted, the person most familiar with the topic writes a short script. This is the most difficult part, because the script must explain a concept in detail within only 3-5 minutes.
Once the script is finalized, someone is found who can read it to provide narration. Once the script is finished, the recording of footage needs to be done. This is where Asayanami goes to work. Often, collecting footage that meets the narration is simple, because it is what Adhocracy does on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes it must be delayed, however, because they require footage from a specific site that is currently not available to them.
Immediately after recording the footage, Asayanami begins editing the video. He syncs the video with the audio, attempts to correct any mistakes he notices, and records some additional footage if necessary. Finally, he renders the video, which can unfortunately take a while on his aging computer.
The entire process can be difficult, because it requires coordination from a large number of people. Regardless, the team manages to get it done!
About Asayanami
Asayanami is from Poland and has been a gamer ever since his godfather bought him a Playstation in the 90s. He loves single player games as much as MMOs and has played quite a few of them over the years. He started playing EVE in 2009 after hearing about it from a high school friend. Having just recently finished watching Battlestar Gallactica, he was eager for something sci-fi themed and a change from the usual grind other MMOs offer.
He found himself amazed by the complexity of the game! After the CEO of his first corp scammed everyone and ran off with the ISK, Asayanami was hooked by the possibilities. He decided he needed to learn everything about EVE and joined EVE University. He spent 8 months learning and eventually decided level 4 missions weren't making him enough ISK. He eventually started scanning for wormholes, got himself a Drake, and began running w-space anomalies. He eventually decided to move on from EVE Uni and connected with another former EVE Uni member who had joined the wormhole corporation Adhocracy Incorporated for which he still flies.
Aside from EVE, Asayanami is a huge movie buff who watches at least a dozen a week. He currently studies Tourism at university and is about to graduate.
Final Thoughts
If you're interested in adventuring into wormholes, but have never quite known how to get into them, take a look at the Wormhole Fundamentals series! You'll learn an amazing amount. The videos continue to be released, with plans for future written content in addition to the video releases.
Asayanami would like to thank all the members of Adhocracy Incorporated, EVE University, and all the people who have watched the instructional videos and then dropped by the Adhocracy Public channel to say hello, offer their support, and provide feedback.
