I tried the F2P "alpha" mode for a month a couple years ago. Very fun, in a nerdcore kind of way, but ultimately there is next to nothing you can contribute as an Alpha pilot. I played enough to rig an exploration vessel, hunting for deep space artifacts. Several times I forgot to mark the wormhole and got hopelessly lost. One time my ship was destroyed by another player out there, and I attempted to drift home in my pod until I realized the vastness of space that is Eve. After a couple weeks of fruitless relic searching I tried my hand at mining, only to find that alpha accounts are taxed higher than subscribers by the market, to the point one can't compete. Overall, not a bad month of free gaming on the Internet and the graphics are actually engaging, if slightly dated.