Kenreikko Valitonen
Guiding Hand Social Club
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Posted - 2011.05.31 05:28:00 -
[1]
The new Aura tutorials appearing on the test server have raised some questions as to the nature of (player) capsuleers and their place in the universe of New Eden.
For one, as has already been discussed on this forum, the very first tutorial suggests that every capsuleer's original body dies in the process of becoming a pilot. If so, this is a major, absolutely defining part of any capsuleer's life (consider the ramifications for a devout Amarrian, for instance), and it's something that CCP has taken more than 8 years to clarify. Must everyone go through this process? Has it always been this way? If yes, there are many detailed, interesting, even beautiful characters out there whose entire existence must be rewritten.
The better part of a decade has passed since eggers first took to the skies in large numbers. I am left wondering why something as fundamental as the routine euthanasia of one's prime body upon becoming a capsuleer would go unmentioned until now... and be introduced unceremoniously in a tutorial of all places. Was there any thought behind the choice to write those lines? Were the implications on years of character development by devoted fans and roleplayers considered?
There is also the issue of just how much a role we capsuleers are able to play in the wider universe of New Eden. Discussions often arise as to how much a capsuleer can see, experience, and influence outside of what is represented in the client. In the past, the official stance has been a bit vague. Understandably, roleplayers often step outside the pod (and quite a bit further afield than even Incarna will take us) to expand upon their characters' backgrounds and stories for dramatic effect and entertainment.
And yet there seems to be a trend toward walling off the population of player capsuleers from the empires and the (tens of) trillions of people of New Eden. Among other signs, the death of regular news items more than six months ago leaves the universe feeling cold and empty: a cluster-sized deadspace pocket. The living story of New Eden, a story that used to grow and shift around us, adding context and value to our own choices and player-level interactions, is being slowly boiled down to a Large Collidable Object that you only really notice by changing an overview setting and then, well... it's just floating there in space. Very quietly.
I summed up this feeling elsewhere:
 Quote:
You might as well say that once you become a capsuleer, you cease being human. Just go on coveting absurd amounts of wealth and power, :raeg: against your fellow capsuleers, and build a little empire for yourself in nullsec... playing a great game of influence in a vacuum.
Certainly that's one way to look at it and a perfectly fine angle to roleplay if you like, but it rather bleakly disconnects both player and character from the richness of the EVE background lore and story. It says to the player, "Here is a vast and interesting universe full of competing groups and compelling stories. And you are not part of it. Now go play somewhere else." I think that attitude renders in-character thoughts and actions frighteningly arbitrary.
I started playing EVE two years ago because I've enjoyed large, freeform spaceflight stuff ever since Privateer 2. So in '09 I thought I'd pick up the latest game in the "X" series and see about building an interstellar trade empire when I thought, "Why play by myself?" I found EVE and realized that what I'd always thought of as "that space MMO" had not only survived but thrived and was in fact more than a game, but a brilliantly realized virtual universe.
As I learned to play, I saw President Foiritan fall from grace after the Caldari militia conquered Placid and I was deeply, deeply impressed. I'm not sure what's afoot these days, but I'm worried. Worried that this living, breathing universe is becoming just a game and our characters, much less than demigods, just pawns on the board.
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Kenreikko Valitonen
Guiding Hand Social Club
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Posted - 2011.06.01 01:55:00 -
[2]
Actually that was a rather solid reply, Dropbear. It relieves many of my concerns, and I can't think of anything major that you missed. Thank you for taking the time to provide some mediation and explanation to we roleplayers. Sometimes talking about these things with only each other we suffer from the echo chamber effect, conflating perceived issues and wringing our hands over things that aren't really problems. Always helps to have some input from the "dungeon masters".
Very happy the clone change is not a retcon 
...and that you guys have lots more planned 
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