12) EVE Online

The action-packed Citadel cinematic trailer announces EVE’s latest expansion allowing player corporations to create new citadels and ever bigger superweapons.

Players join the game as spaceship pilots and from there, well, what do you want to do? You can probably do it, from being a mercenary to leading a player-run corporation. Seriously, pretty much everything is player-run. As such, there’s no real story or even level progression. Whatever you want to do, do it. Maybe another player will stop you, maybe not. Each character has different tools, depending on your skills, and how you use them is up to you. Since this applies to every player, it results in the players themselves determining the history and socio-economic landscape of the game, rather than precoded or prewritten lore from the developers.

 The gameplay is a bit slow, in that it might take a long time to achieve your goals due to lack of a levelling system. It’s a very dense game, as well, and you might find yourself utterly lost for the first few days until you get the hang of things.

 Except for bug abuse, any action possible in game is legal, from betraying and attacking your allies to massive Ponzi schemes robbing corporations of billions of in-game currency.

 EVE is a game in which you have to make your own fun, rather than wait for it to find you. With no real questing system, you can make up your own, which some will say is the best part of the game.

 EVE Online boasts a large and very involved player base, whose in-game wars occasionally even make real-world news!

Picture of the Battle of Asakai, possibly the largest and longest video game battle in history.

Footage of one of the game’s biggest battles: more than 4000 players fighting.