Sharur
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Posted - 2005.04.20 11:25:00 -
[1]
I'd have to say I'm pretty impressed with the way Eve 'works' in terms of RP. As far as I can see it happens automatically. The fantasy settings of Certain Other Online Games makes it difficult, I think, because players have to consciously choose to act in accordance with some Tolkien-esque idea of what such a world might be like. Hence you get those who reject RP altogether and just kill monsters, and you get those who take it over the top, littering their speech with thee this and thou that.
Eve, however, is set in the future, and a distant one at that. So 'acting natural' actually contributes to the feel of the game, rather than detracting from it. Sure, those of us who're locked in the Rookie Help channel for the moment will find a lot of chat relating to how the game works and so on - but of course, contrary to popular opinion you don't HAVE to read it if you don't want to.
It's also why the silly names issue isn't as big a problem here as it is in Everq.. other online games. More or less any name can be consistent with the Eve universe, whereas seeing someone in a fantasy setting running around with a character called Britney Spears or suchlike is pretty jarring if you're interested in immersiveness.
Browsing the forums I came across a thread, or a couple of threads, dealing with the takedown of one corporation by another by covert means coupled with a military offensive. Although the action did prompt a lot of 'real-world' argument, the majority of the posters, intentionally or otherwise, spoke as though the corporations involved were real organisations, as though the money lost was real, as though the ships involved in the engagements were genuine assets rather than simply items in a game world. As I say, it may be that this is the easiest way to speak about such things without having to constantly clarify what's real and what isn't, and certainly to the people who've put serious time and effort into the game I suppose these things ARE real, in a way - but what I'm trying to say is that roleplaying DOES happen in Eve, and it happens whether you set out to roleplay or not. |