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Eve Fiction: A Comment.
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Pattern Clarc
Citeregis
#1 - 2011-12-27 04:19:16 UTC  |  Edited by: Pattern Clarc
TL:DR -Your doing it wrong....





First of all, lets talk about the difference between science fiction and space opera and why anyone should care?

Everyone has there own opinion on what science fiction is or isn't, but for a broad idea of were I'm coming from consider these two analogies...


Take a star was film (or most star trek films for that matter)
The sciency stuff is just there to move the plot on, character relationships drive the story, with familiar themes told with an unfamiliar backdrop.

This, for me, is space opera. Technology, aliens, everything is just window dressing for characters to strut their stuff...

Take an episode of star trek (original or tng if you will...)
It usually opens with a specific premise that could only be possible with the technology at the time. This same premise drives the plot of that particular episode until one of the red shirts die before terk/pickard saves the day.

This is science fiction. Sure, great characters, atmosphere and all the other literally devices are in place, but essentially it's about HOW HUMANS REACT TO technology, alternate histories or just whatever. A thoughtful, rational process drives a story that often forces you to reconsider things you probably took for granted.





And why does this matter, why should I care?
EVE is 99% space opera. There no is focus on some over arching theme about the universe, it's prime fiction or any of the material that can be consumed inside or outside the game. It's about everything and nothing at all. There are some vague hints towards immortality, though to be honest, Infinity Blade seems to have more to say on that particular topic than anything I've seen or read of Eve fiction. War and never ending conflict? What profound conclusion are we to draw from battles, politics and strategies which are suspiciously like naval engagements of year 19xx? Exceptionally little apparently. It seems like the new novel might have a little more to say on these things (then again it could just be another attempt to explain away everything again) although I suppose thats beyond the point.



EVE is about US. You, me, everyone that has played and existed, every corporation, alliance, rag tag gang of FW players, 1000 man fleet, incursoners trying to other throw sansha from the universe OR for instance, THE THOUSAND OR SO PEOPLE OBLITERATING THE JITA STATUE. For better and for worse, Eve is a sandbox, in which the players drive the story.

And yet, where the **** are we in the prime fiction? Where the hell are real characters, past and present, in written, spoken, visual, motion or even experiential fiction? Why aren't you embracing the names written in 1337 speak or the faces your character creator allowed us to painstakingly perfect?

In a game, a genre of games, that lives and dies by the idea of persistance, why is it that most subscribed today would have no idea of the accomplishments of people like Count TaSessine, the enslaver, Entity, Farjung, guiding hand social club or many other influential characters or groups who were far more important to daily lives of players than the fictional emperors.

Sure, I get it, you probably feel that if you committed to folding in subscribers in a heavy handed way you will quash the very cool stories players have, and do make (because we all like cheap and cute user generated content amirite?) BUT WHEN YOU ARE SPENDING SO MUCH TIME AND ENERGY GENERATING FICTION that appears but only to set up the next expansion and explain away stuff... AT LEAST MAKE IT RELEVENT!?

How about online comics (eg http://www.thinkwithportals.com/comic) featuring brief hints or shout outs to eve-uni or goonswarm? Name drop a Mittens or Sir Molle in to one of those 1500 word chronicles or maybe directly quote sentences from Eve-News in lines of dialogue for some extra Meta? Beyond that, eve fiction rocks when told in near in real time, whether its the real time updates during the Apocrypha downtime or the damage done to the starbase during the Empyrean Age, tying stories with events players can experience in game as they happen is good - making them the result of, or triggered by player action... Now that would be something.




In closing...Eve isn't science fiction, it doesn't have to be writen like science fiction and he tension between real players andthe empires should be the over arching story of Eve online as this is THE opera, with a cast of millions.

That so pathetically little has been done with this to this end so far in a modern, engaging way is baffling given the pride CCP take to be in, or aspiring to be in positions of leadership in every other sphere.

Ex CSM member & Designer of the Tornado. Gallente - Pilot satisfaction
Dirk Magnum
Spearhead Endeavors
#2 - 2011-12-27 04:23:03 UTC
Eve Online: The Phantom MenaceDOT

                      "LIVE FAST DIE." - traditional Minmatar ethos [citation needed]
Pattern Clarc
Citeregis
#3 - 2011-12-27 04:30:16 UTC
Dirk Magnum wrote:
Eve Online: The Phantom MenaceDOT

Basically.

Ex CSM member & Designer of the Tornado. Gallente - Pilot satisfaction
Razin
The Scope
#4 - 2011-12-27 06:04:30 UTC
Pattern Clarc wrote:
BUT WHEN YOU ARE SPENDING SO MUCH TIME AND ENERGY GENERATING FICTION that appears but only to set up the next expansion and explain away stuff... AT LEAST MAKE IT RELEVENT!?

How about online comics (eg http://www.thinkwithportals.com/comic) featuring brief hints or shout outs to eve-uni or goonswarm? Name drop a Mittens or Sir Molle in to one of those 1500 word chronicles or maybe directly quote sentences from Eve-News in lines of dialogue for some extra Meta?

Completely agree. When I was reading the Empyrean Age novel I remember thinking how much more that work would have been if some of that rich player history was mentioned, even if only at a very high level.

The other thing I was thinking was that this would have been beyond the author's already overstretched ability. CCP need to hire themselves a real writer.
Amitious Turkey
10kSubnautic
Warriors of the Blood God
#5 - 2011-12-27 06:07:49 UTC
So...in summary...

You want CCP to create fiction (or write stories of, or base the direction of the game off of) about real players.

I kind of like this idea. But instead of simply petitioning CCP to do it, why not start it yourself? Start writing about all the crazy stuff that happens in this game. Maybe CCP will pick up on it and gradually make it a part of the canon *shrug*.

I can see it now. "Newest Eve Chronicle: Chribba, Bane of Veldspar"

I like to lick things.

Haunting the forums since 03.
Apollo Gabriel
Kill'em all. Let Bob sort'em out.
Ushra'Khan
#6 - 2011-12-27 08:34:07 UTC
Can you imagine the tears if CCP used YOUR character and had them do things you don't agree? What is your toon turned out to be gay and you didn't know it?

Always ... Never ... Forget to check your references.   Peace out Zulu! Hope you land well!
Nicolo da'Vicenza
Viziam
Amarr Empire
#7 - 2011-12-27 09:18:47 UTC  |  Edited by: Nicolo da'Vicenza
tbh, this should be done in game, not in text.
Hopefully the CCP fleets will help reacquaint GMs with game mechanics and let players, corps and alliances be once again woven into the canon of EVE, something that hasn't been attempted for years.

Faction War needs a definite boost in relevance to the lives non-FW players somehow so that fiction involving it doesn't seem ludicrously ballooned up. Remember when the Caldari 'conquered Gallente space'? Happened in FW for a while
Akrasjel Lanate
Immemorial Coalescence Administration
Immemorial Coalescence
#8 - 2011-12-27 09:40:48 UTC
Pattern Clarc wrote:
In a game, a genre of games, that lives and dies by the idea of persistance, why is it that most subscribed today would have no idea of the accomplishments of people like Count TaSessine, the enslaver, Entity, Farjung, guiding hand social club or many other influential characters or groups who were far more important to daily lives of players than the fictional emperors.


Blessed be the ignorant.

Most of the players give a .... about the story you should know that.

Apollo Gabriel wrote:
Can you imagine the tears if CCP used YOUR character and had them do things you don't agree? What is your toon turned out to be gay and you didn't know it?


Roll


Also puting player characters can make the comunity rage... lik "why him, not me"

CEO of Lanate Industries

Citizen of Solitude
baltec1
Bat Country
Pandemic Horde
#9 - 2011-12-27 09:58:22 UTC
Akrasjel Lanate wrote:



Also puting player characters can make the comunity rage... lik "why him, not me"



This.

CCP right from the start vowed no players, corps or alliances would get into a book as it would not be fair upon the masses.
Chung Ju-yung
Doomheim
#10 - 2011-12-27 10:02:17 UTC
I've been a huge fan of the metagame stories of EVE and all the user-created goodness we've enjoyed over the years. That said, I don't want to read about it in a novel or novella, ever. It just has no place there. The published fiction is supposed to be that part of the "story," that you otherwise wouldn't get much of. There are some epic mission lines that fill you in here and there, but EVE isn't the sort of game where you go out and find out through quests what the latest lore is. That is what the fiction is for. It is the skeletal framework on which the players build their communal identities. Some might reject the idea they should directly roleplay like PIE or U'K, but in the end everyone is more or less a character in the space opera you're talking about.

To use the same analogy as the OP. Imagine a star wars or star trek film based entirely around the activities of the fans. Something tells me that a few iterations on "fat trekkies playing pc games and watching porn," would be less fulfilling to the fanbase than another piece of fiction to build upon.
Pattern Clarc
Citeregis
#11 - 2012-02-23 22:18:34 UTC
*sprinkles anti-freeze*

Ex CSM member & Designer of the Tornado. Gallente - Pilot satisfaction
Revajin
Doomheim
#12 - 2012-02-23 23:19:19 UTC
I can see it now.

Sor'vulk stood on the bridge of his Nightmare battleship examining the scene unfolding 100 kilometers below on the stargate. Alessia approached him tentatively, "Sir, M1LF Fister69 requests an audience" she said. "Patch her through," he replied. On his vid screen appeared a woman wearing nothing but a push up bra and open brown vest. Her massive sagging 36E breasts were prominently displayed for all to see. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?" Sor'vulk demand. "Lol lern to fukin play dum ass," was the reply. "You entered our space, attacked our industrialists, and expect no retalia-" "Sry dnt spek english very well m8 wer cumin 4 ur nightmre lololololol"

The battle raged for only a few minutes. Sor'vulk's ship was in ruins. Alessia was dead, a crossbeam from a heavy pulse laser had torn through the bridge. With only seconds before the hull integrity failed and the ship came apart he grabbed his broadcast communicator. In his dying breath Sor'vulk typed out two letters and broadcast them to the system, "GF".
Radelix Cisko
JUMP DRIVE ACTIVE
#13 - 2012-02-24 01:58:35 UTC
....off to write a book with eve content in it. Much easier since races, tech, and the universe exist and already has names and "history"

Despite my posting prowess I really am terrible at this game
Jita Alt666
#14 - 2012-02-24 02:06:05 UTC
Pattern Clarc wrote:

And why does this matter, why should I care?
EVE is 99% space opera. There no is focus on some over arching theme about the universe, it's prime fiction or any of the material that can be consumed inside or outside the game. It's about everything and nothing at all. There are some vague hints towards immortality, though to be honest, Infinity Blade seems to have more to say on that particular topic than anything I've seen or read of Eve fiction. War and never ending conflict? What profound conclusion are we to draw from battles, politics and strategies which are suspiciously like naval engagements of year 19xx? Exceptionally little apparently. It seems like the new novel might have a little more to say on these things (then again it could just be another attempt to explain away everything again) although I suppose thats beyond the point.



EVE is about US. You, me, everyone that has played and existed, every corporation, alliance, rag tag gang of FW players, 1000 man fleet, incursoners trying to other throw sansha from the universe OR for instance, THE THOUSAND OR SO PEOPLE OBLITERATING THE JITA STATUE. For better and for worse, Eve is a sandbox, in which the players drive the story.

And yet, where the **** are we in the prime fiction? Where the hell are real characters, past and present, in written, spoken, visual, motion or even experiential fiction? Why aren't you embracing the names written in 1337 speak or the faces your character creator allowed us to painstakingly perfect?

In a game, a genre of games, that lives and dies by the idea of persistance, why is it that most subscribed today would have no idea of the accomplishments of people like Count TaSessine, the enslaver, Entity, Farjung, guiding hand social club or many other influential characters or groups who were far more important to daily lives of players than the fictional emperors.

Sure, I get it, you probably feel that if you committed to folding in subscribers in a heavy handed way you will quash the very cool stories players have, and do make (because we all like cheap and cute user generated content amirite?) BUT WHEN YOU ARE SPENDING SO MUCH TIME AND ENERGY GENERATING FICTION that appears but only to set up the next expansion and explain away stuff... AT LEAST MAKE IT RELEVENT!?


Good point here. Made with dash too much verbosity but made none the less.
Eve Mione
Eve Industry Unlimited
#15 - 2012-02-24 02:17:51 UTC
If I do recall, there have been in the past shout outs to capsuleers in fiction. In the short story: "CRIELERE" I do believe they reference the person to make the final blow on the NPC/Event ship.

I found the snippet of text:

Quote:
"The Guristas were getting away, Fatal and his men shielding the Rabbit and his marauders with their valuable cargo. But the defense forces, bigger than ever, where giving the Guristas everything they got. The pirates fled towards the Olettiers system, with the defense forces snapping at their heels. Finally, one of the puppies managed to bite into Fatal. The pirate's ship slowly disintegrated as his comrades sped away, none willing to share their leader's fate. Fatal, in his pod, made a futile attempt to reach the stargate jumping him to Olettiers and safety, but Doc Brown was having none of it and promptly obliterated the pod. The rest of the Guristas got away, but they had paid a heavy price for their wild foray into the Crielere system."


I do agree, they should start the short story section up again. I am glad to see the chronicles are back. So hopefully we get some more player/story driven events that can be published like this. Who doesn't want the bragging rights, similar to publishing/eve-mailing the top 10 incursioners during incursions? A little recognition is nice to have.