What does every massively multiplayer game need? Players? Check. A compelling storyline, plenty of features, and lots to do? Check. A dedicated user base, lots of updated content, and compelling expansions with new features to further trap players into additional months or years of gaming? Check.

A dedicated television show?

Whether you agree with that last one or not, it’s exactly where the ever-popular EVE Online franchise is now heading.

According to developer CCP Games, the EVE Universe television series is officially in development, led by filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur of “2 Guns” and “Contraband” fame. And in an interesting twist on the traditional television development model, CCP and Kormákur plan to base the show, in part, on some of the stories that gamers themselves have submitted via EVE’s “True Stories from the First Decade(Opens in a new window)” website – a repository of gamers’ favorite memories of spacefaring during the game’s first ten years of existence.

“The inhabitants of the notorious and beloved EVE Universe have ten years’ worth of dramatic stories to tell,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CCP CEO, in a statement(Opens in a new window). “Our close collaboration with Baltasar and his creative team gives me confidence that we will capture EVE’s essence, inspiring millions of TV viewers with visions of humanity’s future.”

Bad news for those currently skulking around 0.0 space looking for something to do (or something to watch on a second monitor): There’s no indication as to when production on the EVE Online series is scheduled to officially begin, nor when gamers might officially expect to see their in-game exploits translated over to the TV screen. And while CCP is pitching the entire affair as a television series, it’s unclear if episodic content will also be offered via the Web as well.

CCP also announced that it’s turning the EVE Online world into a comic book series, thanks to a new partnership with Dark Horse Comics.

A 54-page graphic novel will arrive in winter and EVE enthusiasts will be able to download the work a free digital book or purchase the comic from stores. Both entities are also working on a larger, 184-page hardcover book called “EVE: Source,” a written companion to the game that will contain a detailed history of the universe of both EVE Online and DUST 514, as well as plenty of details about the universe’s factions, races, and other story elements.

“It’s going to take everything we’ve got to capture the amazing visuals and rich history of the EVE Universe in a single volume,” said editor Dave Marshall, of Dark Horse Comics, in a statement(Opens in a new window). “As we fill it with material from EVE Online’s stellar space combat to the ‘boots on the ground’ action of DUST 514’s planetary conflicts, EVE: SOURCE is shaping up to be one of the most stunning books we’ve ever published.”