Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Eve has a rich body of lore and insanely complex and intertwined plots. There was a time when this content – because it is content, just as much as new missions, new space or new toys are – was delivered through events. Those stopped before I started playing, sadly. Then there were the Chronicles. Stories available on the eve website that really illustrated how rich and deep the lore of eve went. Then those dried up too.

This is not a “Bring back the Lore” thread. I recognize that CCP is doing just that already. I applaud them for doing that with all my heart. I love Eve, but one of the things that separates it from other games in a negative light is the lack of immersion. Eve has great stories to tell, but none of it is available in game.

So I'm asking for a bookshelf or library interface item for our Captain's Quarters that has the history and lore. There's no reason why we should have to go to a website out of game to read about the historical context of something that happened in game.

Eve has always been about emergent gameplay, where player activity changes the story. I like that, but it can sometimes be difficult to see what kind of impact you're making. Events are great, but by their very nature can't reach everyone due to time zone limitations.

There is a mechanic already in place that, if properly implemented, could be a vehicle for capsuleers to impact the storyline. That mechanic is the mission system.

As it currently stands, you go in person to a station and are given (offered and accepted actually, but that's splitting hairs) a task to accomplish within a few hops. The exact mission depends mostly on dumb luck, with the agent's division dictating what kind of mission it is. This stands counter to the dynamic system that are at the heart of eve. It means that the activities of those who oppose that corp are generated. If all missions on a given day were against a single entity, it wouldn't matter because that entity would not be impacted by the thousands of ships lost across the galaxy.

Enough preamble, here's my proposal:

A pilot registers themselves as working with a specific NPC corporation who then shows them all the jobs they have available in the form of a list of bookmarks. The pilot can then head to any of the bookmarked locations and kill and/or collect whatever they need to there.

The key here is that they all exist in space and can be scanned down. The payout system would have to change a bit with LP and ISK being paid out per kill instead of a lump sum by clearing the whole site. I would suggest that in addition to CONCORD bounties, the corporation tied to the site also pay a bounty per kill, and if the pilot is working for them, an amount of LP.

The concept here is that the NPC corporation that you're working for will give you the location, but it's entirely possible that when you get there, it's already under attack by someone else. Competitive gameplay without it just being your grind vs. my grind.

While generally something to avoid, that competitive grind mechanic is at the heart of how this would affect the lore. Within an empire, the various corporations are vying for power. The inter empire interactions are handled through FW, so this would only affect the balance of power within an empire.

There are several options to tracking this grind that come to mind. The simplest is sites. If a site is cleared by any pilot then it's a boon to its connected NPC corporation. Counting the number of sites cleared (or the value of sites cleared) could generate a comparative table to direct the lore.