There are many MMOs out there, but most seem to be inspired by World of Warcraft, the market leader. Eve Online is an exception. As well as being set in space, rather than in a fantasy world of dragons and elves, it does away with the traditional formula of classes, levels and experience points.

In Eve Online, any character can learn any skill. You choose what you want to learn, and you also choose how to spend your time - whether taking part in massive space battles for the control of space, doing missions for agents, researching and building spaceships or transporting goods across space.

The level of freedom Eve gives to players can be daunting if you are more used to MMOs which tell you what to do and where to go. But it also makes for a far more compex and immersive game, for those who stick with it.

The result is a world which really is made by the players. It's players that control the economy and, across much of the map, it's players who decide who owns which bit of space. There's a heavy PvP element but if you prefer to play it safe you can stick to the relatively safe areas of the map where PvP combat is restricted.