Dallenn
Minmatar
Jericho Fraction
The Star Fraction
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Posted - 2009.12.25 16:35:00 -
[1]
A fascinating dissertation - it gets theoretical very fast, because obviously you can't pigeonhole people into these slots. You can't just categorize people by looking at what they do - it's about their underlying motivations, and the style they approach what they do. For many people that have played the game for a few years, all of the types might feel fitting - at least occasionally - I can't think of any aspect that I have not enjoyed repeatedly, except maybe the Troll but that too is debatable. People might come to the game as newbies expecting a few good fights (Brawler) but then get carried off by the market dynamics or grow to see the true larger-than life depth of Eve and for example find out that the real fun is when you have driven your enemies into dock and the local fills with the lamentation of their women.
Sticking to just one profile would not work for a serious player - because Eve is more versatile than that, and just doing one set of activities would mean you miss the vast majority of the fun. Eve is about running the whole value chain, or at least parts of it yourself: mine for minerals, research blueprints -> build your stuff -> haul it to the markets, trade it, get it to your base -> run your fleets for glorious PvP victories -> enjoy your smacking&bragging rights on the forums. The end game is pretty much about which fleet that proves to have the greatest economic backbone and tactical prowess, being able to dominate the battlefield and thus gain in reputation and egoboo.
Can you analyze corporations with this as well? The individual members might have a rainbow mix of aspirations, but perhaps the corp's activities have certain overarching themes and styles that make the game work for the members, at least in some cases like these Suddenly Ninjas guys. But most corporations would have at least a complex profile, if any at all can even be identified.
About suggested new archetypes, can't see why a Paladin would have point as an independent archetype - sure there are LOTS of people that claim to be "anti-pirate" and such, but often that goes with other motivations, like just looking for some good fights or wanting to protect one's industrial empire, or being a roleplayer with a character that just happens to have a "good" alignment (as perceived by the dominant local culture in the region). Helper would just be a mix of Social/Builder with maybe some Paladin thrown in. The Explorer is a common MMO archetype - which has its place in Eve but should perhaps be merged with the Optimizer archetype: you are out there to learn and amass knowledge, be it the arcane aspects of ship fittings or how wormspace works, it's about mastering the myriad technical details of the game. Freedom Flyers could be one more archetype, because Eve has lots of freelancing and freedom to go where ever you want and do what ever you want, and that appeals to a lot of people.
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