Before I had my daughter I played this game all the time. The politics, drama, and complexity of the game are very compelling. Their infrastructure and design always impressed me. Keeping the whole world in one instance makes for a lot more fun when playing with people you know.
Also a former player. They do have instances, but they are based on locations, like star systems. I think someone should rewrite the drive mechanics so that instances are attached to reference frames. (Which have a fictional physics upper limit on the number of ships that can join to prevent lag.) This way, a battle could rage in a particular system, but it would consist of many encounters. Such a system would load-balance itself!
Hehe, one of the most compelling features of Eve Online is inventing ways to make the game better. I'm sure I've spent more time discussing that on forums and with friends than I ever did playing it.
Then again, though the battles are extremely short it's the most exhilarating battle I've ever had in an online game, the death penalty is pretty harsh so you do get real adrenaline rushes. Pity they're always so hard to find. I can still remember most of my non-trivial ship losses.
Then again, though the battles are extremely short it's the most exhilarating battle I've ever had in an online game
Carriers/Dreadnoughts vs. a fleet of non-capital ships. This can go on for a very long time. If you're on the non-capital side, you can die quickly, but you'll still be listening in to an exciting event.
