EVE Fiction

Hiya CCP! I'd like to raise a bit of an issue I've been having lately with all of the factions, but in particular with the pirate factions. While people have talked about this before, I feel like no one has really taken steps yet to actually try to address this issue with CCP.
When the fiction was originally written, looking back at a lot of the older material, and even things as recent as Black Mountain, the pirate factions were all depicted with a large degree of depth, complexity, and moral ambiguity. They weren't really 'good' people, but whether or not they were really 'bad' people came down to a character's personal convictions and position within the Universe.

Recently though, I feel as if that's changed. First with Incursions, with Nation losing a lot of the interesting moral questions and interesting ambiguity that was present in that faction, Sansha and His Nation went from being seen as a fairly tragic figure by some, to a fairly one dimensional cartoon villain. He was bad, concord was good. That was all there was to it. The poor Sansha RPers got chewed up and spat out by their live events, and ended up almost universally reviled.

And now I see this happening again with the Angels, my chosen faction. For a long time, the Angels were depicted as these rebellious anti-heroes, fighting CONCORD oppression, sticking up for the little guy, supplying aid to those who needed it, etc. My character is from Skarkon, and I made her that way specifically so that she viewed the Cartel in a positive light.

But now, the angel loyalists are coming into the summit bragging about how they casually destroy cities. Smoking their ill gotten gains with smug expressions of indifference. And I have to ask...wtf CCP? Why do all of the pirate factions have to be cookie cutter villains? What happened to the morally grey areas?

I want to be an Angel, and do interesting and shady criminal things. I don't want to be the villain of the week for the Empire/Concord loyalists to use as a punching bag, laughing manically as I kill people for the pleasure of it.

And so basically, it comes down to this, my character wasn't designed to be a complete villain, and if things are going to go in that direction then in the words of Trudy Chacon: I didn't sign up for this ****.

Sorry if I come off as a bit bitter. I could feel the bittervet starting to seep into my bones as I wrote this post. I'm going to go look at pictures of cute animals for a while

I waise old amarrian Roleplayer ones said -- on the backstage.eve-inspiracy.com-Forum -- something like this:

"You are not a real roleplayer, if CCP hasnt ***** over your work ones."

It was a comment which he left to a AJ member which was alittle bit destroyed that Templar One had give many answers, which he seeked to explored in the project. Which leaves him with a bad taste in his mouth, and with the question how to RP a char which actually doesnt know this information, but in the sametime as to do science in that field (if I remember right that was more or less the topic, sadly cant find a link). As for me I had a small "arrg" moment ones, but wasnt so bad (As CCP hasnt totally change the point... about the question if the KK is independent or not).


Long story short... If you fell; that some changes, has pull the carpet under your feet ; be welcome in the large RP family. If I would just mention Jamyl and EA or TO etc.... I think. if I would start a whole new/old topic here, you would only hear sadness.

Please fully censor any inappropriate language. - CCP Eterne

The feedback we've had from a lot of Sansha loyalists suggests differently. The vast majority of those who've been Nation loyal for a number of years have seemed pretty content so far.



The Angel Cartel are just that, a Cartel. They'll do whatever it takes to get the job done, and make sure their business is profitable. They're on the wrong side of the law, and they know it.

Sure, those people who the Cartel have assisted would see them in a positive light, but in the same respect they assist people because it's good for business. What could be better, and more politically damaging for the Republic than news spreading across the cluster that a pirate cartel was doing more to assist its citizens than their own government?



What better than psychological warfare? Maybe the Serpentis Corporation have further plans, and want to use Federal rage as a weapon against them? Maybe they don't? Rage clouds judgement and leads to fundamental mistakes in the chain of command when people aren't thinking straight.



Then you don't have to be. Each to their own. In any criminal organization there are going to be those who just basically do it for the sadistic fun of it. Generally, those people are the ones who're valued the most, because they get the job done and take pleasure from it.

That's the beauty of it, the Cartel and the Serpentis Corporation are both businesses, but at the same time why put people who're a little soft at the core on the front line and risk them having a crisis of conscience when they're ordered to destroy something?



That's entirely your character's call, of course



Not at all, and we appreciate the feedback. In the same respect though, a character shouldn't sign up to be a pirate loyalist if she's prone to having a crisis of conscience.

I suppose in the end it all makes for very solid character development, if you decide you want to part ways with the Cartel

Sorry if I came off bitter as well. I guess what upset me most is the lack of mechanical ways in which players could support the pirate factions, particularly in hisec events. Even if pirate roleplayers throw together a competent, well-organized fleet they can't do anything except get CONCORD to come and blow their ships. That being said, it was clever how ECCM was implemented as a way to stabilize the Sansha wormholes, so props to you guys for that.

As for Saede's dilemma, I suppose there was the viewpoint that the Cartel and gang were much more covert in their operations, preferring a complacent population to sell drugs and questionable wares to. If this MO has changed, then I look forward to the corresponding change in goals those factions have taken on!

CCP Falcon should write a book detailing all this.

Yeah, I think I echo CCP Falcon's sentiments. I don't think I've ever seen the Angel Cartel objectively depicted like this. They're a major slavery force outside of Amarr Empire and Sansha's Nation in New Eden...and "in the century they've been lurking in deep space they have stolen, plundered or sabotaged countless number of ships and kidnapped, molested or murdered thousands of people".

Outward foreign policy versus actual intent are two very different things, as Borascus has pointed out.

Regarding the Sansha loyalists, it was kind of disappointment to see them not have any roles in incursions. It would have been interesting to see combat sites in incursions become PVP zones between incursion runners and Sansha loyalists, a kind of combination of PVP and PVE. But probably to work such a thing out would be difficult in the long run.

(would have certainly prevented incursions from becoming such an elite shiny ship pageant)

Totalitarian copyright adherence!!!!

You'll need to get the Jowen Datloran pages to reflect the 2012/2013 copyright.

Sure, until unhappiness decays and splits into constructive and destructive unhappiness...

I'll shut up now. I didn't take philosophy in college either.

@Valerie

thats actually a really good point. I guess at some point I started believing my character's 'we're actually the good guys' thing.

I'm reeeally not sure where to go in terms of RP at this point. I was sort of thinking of going sort of half and half where she's not an 'angel loyalist' but still helps them if it doesn't morally conflict with her, while in general doing her own thing. Basically transhumanists with some shady angel ties.

My character is already aligned with/a member of the Thukker Tribe. I'm just not sure if my corporation is really aligned enough in that direction for any Thukker roleplay I do to be noticed and really have any influence on the EVE universe. Plus there doesn't seem to be a large Thukker RP crowd, so any Thukker-related live events are unlikely to happen in my estimation. But of course it would be a pleasant surprise if a Thukker live event happened!

What it really comes down to is, does an individual's roleplay matter more or less than that of the corporation they are in?