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Mikael Izra'il
University of Caille Gallente Federation
5
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:15:00 -
[1] - Quote
I recently started this character, but I used to play eve for two years straight quite a while ago.
I remember the most exciting period of my EvE life, and it was thanks to someone. I don't know why he was motivated to act like that, or whether or not his actions were practical or just roleplayish, but what he did was completely awesome.
This person came out of nowhere and contracted me the task of finding and killing specific people he wanted to see dead, from my vicinity. I took the assassination job and surprisingly, I got paid really well. The fact that this "job" had came up from emerging gameplay really made me feel part of something big, and it's a sentiment I'd like other people to experience.
I understand however that this scenario of intrigue required an effort from his part. I suspect he kind of "acted" for me, and I thank him for that.
All this came to my mind when, recently, I was considering interesting or creative occupations for a possible corporation. I thought it would be pretty cool to form a corporation of "actors", whose job is, for a certain fee, to carry certain people (aware or not) through a piece of narrative, an event of sorts.
This supposed corporation could pose as a theatre company or something similar, and it would offer different services in the shape of "plays", with complex plot, surprises and special rewards. Depending on the budget of the "play", more effort could be put into the narrative, more ships could blow up, and so forth.
Of course some of these events would involve actual risk, not only because the plot itself may involve PvP engagements with the actors, but thanks to the inevitable dangers of EvE life. All possible plot branches should be taken into account and the event should be a rewarding experience regardless of the outcome of any particular fight.
This is just a rough sketch in my mind, but I think it would be a beautiful thing to do, and EvE looks like the perfect canvas in which to paint an engaging picture of mystery and intrigue. Of course EvE by itself is awesome when it comes to emergent stories and gameplay, but the potential of having one party working to deliver a compelling experience to another has a great potential (think pen and paper roleplay). Also, since the actors are working for the customers (which may be aware of the plot having paid for it, or unaware if it's a gift from a third person), it's easy for the actors to adjust the level of challenge to the skills of the customers providing a thrilling run to everybody.
So here is my question:
Would you pay for such a service? Would you pay ISK in exchange for experiencing an interesting interactive story, that merges with the EvE lore and takes you through a different experience? If so, how much would you be willing to pay and what sort of experience would you expect? Also, which of the following payment schemes would you prefer?:
a) Paying up front b) Base amount and then the possibility to tip. c) Set amount, but only after the experience. d) Any of the above, plus a significant extra amount to have it recorded and narrated (with your particular corp/ships being the centerpiece of the clip).
Please don't think this is conceived as a money-making method. The idea comes just out of vocation and the possibility of making something beautiful. I'm interested in knowing whether or not people would pay for it because it would likely require a significant budget, and viability is a concern.
Any of your opinions and ideas are of course welcome. |
Riot Girl
RADIO RAMPAGE Initiative Mercenaries
375
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:25:00 -
[2] - Quote
So you get a group of actors and you perform the play in local while blowing up ships for the battle scenes? It seems interesting and quite imaginative. |
Kainotomiu Ronuken
Dreddit Test Alliance Please Ignore
39
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:26:00 -
[3] - Quote
The obvious payment method would be e) Pay some up front and the rest afterwards.
As for whether or not this is a good idea: yes. It is. Do it.
I'm not sure how much business you'd get, though. EVE is marketed as being about creating your own story, so paying someone else to do a fake one for you might not be awfully popular. Personally, I feel that I'm already story'd up enough, so I wouldn't pay for this service. I can imagine myself paying you to do it to an unsuspecting friend, though.
Either way, it's an awesome idea, and just the kind of thing that you can and should try in EVE. After all, if it fails, you've not lost anything, and of it does well then you've created something amazing and original out of this sand CCP has given us. So do it.
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Inxentas Ultramar
Ultramar Independent Contracting The Paganism Alliance
98
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:28:00 -
[4] - Quote
OP needs to see that movie The Game. 10/10 for creativity. I live in lowsec and have Science V. Where can I sign up for the part of the mad scientist? |
Mikael Izra'il
University of Caille Gallente Federation
5
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:29:00 -
[5] - Quote
Riot Girl wrote:So you get a group of actors and you perform the play in local while blowing up ships for the battle scenes? It seems interesting and quite imaginative.
Not quite. It's more like a long term thing.
The idea is to immerse the target "customers" into a story, which perhaps merge with the canon EvE lore. Maybe some of the actors could pose for Guristas loyalists (using faction ships and such) and communicate with the customers saying that they've decided to part ways with the band and share the location of some important loot/documents.
Then those actors would proceed to interact with the customers through, say, a week, engaging in battles, events, negotiations, whatever the plot would take.
Like a branching novel, different outcomes would come from the customer's decision. In fact, I think it would be great for every "play" to have a "jackpot ending", a prize that greatly surpasses the fee that must be paid to take the ride, and if a corporation / group of players manages to navigate the story perfectly, they get to take the big prize. What do you think? |
Riot Girl
RADIO RAMPAGE Initiative Mercenaries
375
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:29:00 -
[6] - Quote
Inxentas Ultramar wrote:OP needs to see that movie The Game. 10/10 for creativity. I live in lowsec and have Science V. Where can I sign up for the part of the mad scientist? I've seen that movie! I loved it. |
Riot Girl
RADIO RAMPAGE Initiative Mercenaries
375
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:34:00 -
[7] - Quote
Mikael Izra'il wrote:What do you think? I think it sounds like a lot of hard work to plan it and make it work. I'm not sure how much interest you would get from it either, a lot of players have other commitments in games with alliances and such so it could make it tricky to find a suitable time when the customer and your actors are all available. I like the idea though but I think you're thinking a bit too big at the moment. Try doing something on a smaller scale, like the guy who hired you as an assassin. If you start building a reputation and getting more interest, maybe you can start expanding into bigger and more adventurous ideas. |
Mikael Izra'il
University of Caille Gallente Federation
5
|
Posted - 2012.11.07 23:35:00 -
[8] - Quote
Another fun thing about pre-designed battle scenes is that they can reward following clues that the players might have taken from the narrative.
For instance, one of the actors could've casually dropped a line about their squad leader being a coward, who runs away when being under fire. Then if the players remember that and actually call it primary (despite being a heavily tanked ship) he would fly away making the battle much easier.
This is just a random idea... But you get the point. |
Mikael Izra'il
University of Caille Gallente Federation
6
|
Posted - 2012.11.07 23:36:00 -
[9] - Quote
Riot Girl wrote:Mikael Izra'il wrote:What do you think? I think it sounds like a lot of hard work to plan it and make it work. I'm not sure how much interest you would get from it either, a lot of players have other commitments in games with alliances and such so it could make it tricky to find a suitable time when the customer and your actors are all available. I like the idea though but I think you're thinking a bit too big at the moment. Try doing something on a smaller scale, like the guy who hired you as an assassin. If you start building a reputation and getting more interest, maybe you can start expanding into bigger and more adventurous ideas.
Sounds reasonable. Starting small scale is always good, and I think this could function at different scales so I'll try to keep it simpler for now. |
Casirio
DEEP-SPACE CO-OP LTD Exhale.
120
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:41:00 -
[10] - Quote
or you could have a corp of role playing mercs? People pay you for contract, that contract creates emergent gameplay, and you can role play it so its part of the lore and all that.. ? Just seems a bit of fluff to me, where as an actual merc corp is creating content unscripted. just my thoughts. |
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Beckie DeLey
Living From Scraps
152
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:44:00 -
[11] - Quote
If you build it, they will come. So... i am preparing an industry blog at www.derbk.com/eve It has skillful MS-Paintery on display. Also, i made a post! |
Mikael Izra'il
University of Caille Gallente Federation
6
|
Posted - 2012.11.07 23:51:00 -
[12] - Quote
Inxentas Ultramar wrote:OP needs to see that movie The Game. 10/10 for creativity. I live in lowsec and have Science V. Where can I sign up for the part of the mad scientist?
Thanks for your interest! We'll talk about it =) |
Kainotomiu Ronuken
Dreddit Test Alliance Please Ignore
40
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Posted - 2012.11.08 00:01:00 -
[13] - Quote
Casirio wrote:or you could have a corp of role playing mercs? People pay you for contract, that contract creates emergent gameplay, and you can role play it so its part of the lore and all that.. ? Just seems a bit of fluff to me, where as an actual merc corp is creating content unscripted. just my thoughts. Nah brah, it's been done before. RPing mercs isn't so much emergent as already emerged, and OP's idea is something completely new.
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svenska flicka
The World is Flat Jean-Luc Picard.
113
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Posted - 2012.11.08 00:08:00 -
[14] - Quote
I am willing to be your first consumer if you let me fraps it of course. Just mail me when and where etc. |
Pohbis
Neo T.E.C.H.
71
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Posted - 2012.11.08 00:47:00 -
[15] - Quote
It sounds like a great idea.
I would probably not be a customer for the "big events" simply because I don't fly with people who'd take much interest in it, but I could definitely see some people being willing to pay for this kind of service. Although RP communities, who'd be the biggest potential target group, usually have their own setup in terms of how they want to run things. Some you might be able to work with I guess.
What I would donate for, and what comes closer to your initial experience, is for a corp who would do these things with unsuspecting capsuleers. Call it emergent if you want.
If you set up a blog, describing the events, get some feedback from the involved people and so on, I think a lot of people would be willing to throw ISK your way, simply to enrich the New Eden experience. It would also be a way to start out small and get the ball rolling.
I really hope CCP will introduce a mechanic to officially support this kind of thing and let people create ther own "missions" for others to enjoy. Like the "Quest Builder" from SWG. For a company who promote emergent gameplay, I don't understand why something like that isn't already in EVE.
So yeah, +1 indeed. I'll look for it. Good luck :) |
Johan Civire
Dirty Curse inc.
183
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 01:23:00 -
[16] - Quote
It was mario .... o wait wrong game. Great story. |
Karn Dulake
Sad Flutes
977
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 01:25:00 -
[17] - Quote
I like your optimism which is sadly lacking in this game.
Most of the battles ive seen in this game normally depict the Battle of thermopylae, but instead of 300 rock hard Spartans against 200 thousand persians its more like 300 noob ship pilots jumped by 200 thousand titans.
Post what you get up to on this forum as its sounds interesting and ill suspend my trolling status and only post valid comments.
Also +1 for optimism. we haven'e had that in these parts for a very very long time. I dont normally troll, but when i do i do it on General Discussion. |
Solstice Project
Carebear Cadaver Productions
2035
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 02:00:00 -
[18] - Quote
Fascinating ! Original !
I would have *never* gotten the idea of playing a role in a random system, maybe even at the hek of new eden, entertaining the masses with drama and explosions ! Wow, what a genius that must be to come up with something like that !
If i ever ... eeeeeeeever ... did that, though, then i would *never* *ever* ask people to pay me for my theater, because that would be bad in regards to the structural integrity of the fourth wall !
But i *think* i can *imagine* a different way !
What if you removed the *paid* service and changed it to a *free* service ?
Instead of offering a publicly known, paid service which desintegrates the fourth wall ... ... why not just ... hm .... ... why not have a *cause* like ... i don't know ... random example comes to my mind ... ... shooting afk ships, because they are ******* idiots for doing so ... ... (which is a stupid idea for *you* and you need a better one) ... ... and only lower the fourth wall when nobody actually recognizes ...
... and just play *with* the locals ... *for* the locals ...
... people *might* actually give you money just !because! they *love* what you're doing ... ... and because you're !entertaining! them even by creating drama ... ... and maybe - not that i'd ever do such a thing - heavily insulting them *daily* ... ... (ignore that, i really don't know what i'm talking about) ...
... and then people might, just might, one day ... ... even tell you that they are glad to see you back when you took a months break.
Just saying, you know. Not that i ever thought about options of a paid entertainment service, or - worse - doing something for FREE ! That would be ... i don't know ... nobody believes that anyway !
Now, we all know this is just hypothetically speaking and i am *not* trying to give you any hints on this, or any advice at all, because i actually have no fun sitting at the undock all day and i don't talk in local *ever*, and the system i am in is almost boringly empty anyway and i have *no* idea what i am talking about.
It's just that ... entertainment that needs payment also needs paying customers. Entertainment for the local masses, though, brings gratitude from fans. (i'm not only talking about them being gratefull ... i'm also talking billions here)
I wish you luck. ^_^ Inappropriate signature removed. Spitfire |
Elliot Vodka
School of Applied Knowledge Caldari State
26
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Posted - 2012.11.08 03:34:00 -
[19] - Quote
Id be up for doing random skits just to see peoples reactions who think whats going on is real... I would even help you do it, eves been, a bit boring lately... Besides messing with people is always fun.
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Rath Kelbore
Surface Warfare Tribal Band
283
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Posted - 2012.11.08 04:18:00 -
[20] - Quote
Wasn't Sean Penn in this movie?? I plan on living forever.......so far, so good. |
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Akirei Scytale
Test Alliance Please Ignore
2657
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 04:24:00 -
[21] - Quote
So what happens when someone randomly shoots an actor in the face during a monologue? TEST Alliance BEST Alliance |
Inxentas Ultramar
Ultramar Independent Contracting The Paganism Alliance
100
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 08:20:00 -
[22] - Quote
Then you improvise off course! |
Mistah Ewedynao
Center for Advanced Studies Gallente Federation
91
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 08:34:00 -
[23] - Quote
GET.........A..........LIFE
All of you. If this fascinates you.....wow, just wow. |
Riot Girl
RADIO RAMPAGE Initiative Mercenaries
380
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 08:44:00 -
[24] - Quote
Problem? |
Mikael Izra'il
University of Caille Gallente Federation
10
|
Posted - 2012.11.08 09:11:00 -
[25] - Quote
Thank you very much for the awesome ideas and support! I didn't expect such a positive response, and this is really motivating.
I am definitely going to make it happen. It will take a while though, partly because I'm quite busy now and also because, regardless of the scale (which will be small first) I want to give a quality performance, and that requires practice, detailed study of the lore and training. Expect the first results around summer, but I'll try to work on it as soon as possible.
Since I see some people would like to hear more of how I think the story could be delivered, here's a description of how a "play" would be performed mechanically (this example involves a low scale play in which the customers are aware of the fact it's an act).
Structure of a play:
Corporation A decides to purchase tickets for the play "XXX", advertised as being 2 hours long, intended for 4 to 8 players on frigate-sized hulls.
Soon after the payment, all six pilots from Corporation A are greeted by EvE-mails explaining the rules and mechanics of the play. They're instructed to be at a certain high-sec system at a certain hour, where the play will take place.
At the designated time, all the players are invited to a private communication channel. In there waits a faceless, hooded character called "The Voice" or "The Narrator".
The Narrator doesn't take direct part in the story. His role is to deliver the narrative, sort of like an interactive quest mission. He will feed the customers paragraphs from the narrative (which are pre-written or improvised depending on player choice). Also, he will receive the player input when the time comes to make an "action" (For instance, if players must enter a password they must deduce from the plot, they will do so at the "Narrator" conversation). Everything the Narrator says would have narrative quality and be flavourful and lore rich.
The Narrator may also start private conversations with any of the players to convey information only one of them must now.
At this point, the Narrator will establish the base of the story and likely introduce communication with other members of the play. Perhaps a Concord official greets the player offering them a risky infiltration mission, or a treasure hunter mentions a legendary stash. By cooperating (or not) with those characters, the customers will navigate a story which should involve mystery, puzzle elements and some fights adequate to the level of ships required.
The idea with the fights is to exploit their interaction with the narrative. A good way to do this would be to present the customers with seemingly impossible challenges, that they might overcome if they paid good attention to the plot. For instance (and forgive the wacky example). They might face a crazy Dominix pilot, who was been reported to never attack moving people with his Warrior IIs, and never attack stationary people with his Hobgoblin II. This would never be said up front to the players of course, they must work this information out. Then with this information, they may face the Dominix and kill it by changing their movement when a new flight of drones comes out.
This simple play I'm exemplifying may span between 2 and 8 systems and take in the vicinity of two hours, and have enough branching paths to make it interesting for more than one corporation that buys the tickets. Also, there is the idea of the "Best Ending", a very, very difficult path to take that will completely solve the plot mystery and reward the customers with an accumulated jackpot prize.
That's a rough sketch. Obviously this isn't the only model that could work. Ideally, I'd like to start the service with two "plays". One of them like this, in which customers are aware of being involved, and another in which they aren't (requested by a third party). Obviously though, the second one would be harder to pull off, and more difficult to assure quality, as the customers may behave in any way including zero cooperation, so the interaction would have to be a little more limited, but still doable. |
Mikael Izra'il
University of Caille Gallente Federation
11
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Posted - 2012.11.09 08:14:00 -
[26] - Quote
One last bump for opinions on my last post and I'll get to work on it. |
Ai Shun
818
|
Posted - 2012.11.09 09:16:00 -
[27] - Quote
So making people pay for what boils down to a role-playing event? EVE Ambulation and Avatars as a separate game - see here |
Jake Warbird
Republic Military School Minmatar Republic
1783
|
Posted - 2012.11.09 09:29:00 -
[28] - Quote
Sounds like fun. Would love to read about it when it gets underway. |
Pohbis
Neo T.E.C.H.
73
|
Posted - 2012.11.09 09:31:00 -
[29] - Quote
Ai Shun wrote:So making people pay for what boils down to a role-playing event? You could put it that way.
You pay for a service.
Just like hiring mercs, which boils down to paying people to pew pew. |
DeBingJos
Avalon Project Shadow Rock Alliance
435
|
Posted - 2012.11.09 10:34:00 -
[30] - Quote
If executed well this could be very entertaining. What kind of isk are we talking about to hire you? Ungi ma+¦urinn ++ekkir reglurnar, en gamli ma+¦urinn ++ekkir undantekningarnar. The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions. |
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