I'm familiar with preposition 'in' in terms of using past tense. E.g. to denote that something is hapenning during the year 2000, I can say:
I joined the project in 2000
But in some authentic articles, I often come across collocation "back in XXXX", for example from here:
Since EVE Online launched back in 2003
My question is: What is the difference? Does the 'back in'-collocation have some specific connotation? Thanks.
Best Answer
You would say "back in XXXX" to emphasize that it happened some time in the past. Otherwise there is no difference in meaning.
You can also say "way back in" to emphasize that it happened a (relatively) long time ago, as if it was ancient history.
So with regard to your example: saying "EVE Online launched back in 2003" emphasizes that the game has been around for quite a while. I expect this is relevant to some other point mentioned in the article -- for example that, as a result, the game is polished, or has an established player base, or that the developers are committed, or something similar.