These forums have been archived and are now read-only.

The new forums are live and can be found at https://forums.eveonline.com/

EVE Fiction

 
  • Topic is locked indefinitely.
 

What Does It Feel like to Be a Capsule Pilot?
Author
Previous Topic Next Topic
Jikane Ronuken
Pator Tech School
Minmatar Republic
#1 - 2012-04-18 04:08:38 UTC  |  Edited by: Jikane Ronuken
So I was reading item descriptions recently when I came across this:
Quote:
It creates a temporary feeling of euphoria that counteracts the unpleasantness inherent in activating shield boosters

This got me to thinking, what does it feel like to be a capsuleer? Does the pilot retain a degree of separation from their ship, and feel everything as an analogue on their body? Or do they, for all intents and purposes, become their ship, thus having experiences unique and seperate from anything their body feels (or could feel) while out of pod?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
Horatius Caul
Kitzless
#2 - 2012-04-18 07:01:12 UTC  |  Edited by: Horatius Caul
Jikane Ronuken wrote:
So I was reading item descriptions recently when I came across this:
Quote:
It creates a temporary feeling of euphoria that counteracts the unpleasantness inherent in activating shield boosters

This got me to thinking, what does it feel like to be a capsuleer? Does the pilot retain a degree of separation from their ship, and feel everything as an analogue on their body? Or do they, for all intents and purposes, become their ship, thus having experiences unique and seperate from anything their body feels (or could feel) while out of pod?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
The capsuleer's brain effectively becomes the ship's main computer, and our noggins do have a lot of sensory systems that make sense to feed mechanical input into. Camera drones feed into our visual cortex and the ship simulates sound to give us easy spatial management. Similarly, it would make sense to link the ship's armour integrity sensors to be analogous to skin touch, pressure and pain; and perhaps thinks like targeting to the detailed touch perception of our fingertips.

Not saying taking a shot would feel like someone pinched you on the arm, or that losing a lock to ECM would feel like having your fingers numbed, but that the ship links to the relevant processing areas of the brain and effectively gives you a synesthetic experience. You wouldn't feel like the ship represented parts of your body - you'd feel as if the ship was your true body. Your kinesthetic sense - what lets you know where the parts of your body are - would be completely co-opted. When you are piloting a ship, you don't feel your body, you feel only the ship.

This is why capsuleers become jaded towards humanity and feel extremely frail out of the pod - when you have grown to consider a mile-long starship as your true form, returning to the human body is an alien and completely powerless experience. It's also what caused mindlock in early capsuleers - where the mind couldn't handle returning to the body.

Amarrad - Amarr language project
Che Biko
Alexylva Paradox
#3 - 2012-04-18 22:26:55 UTC
Horatius Caul wrote:
This is why capsuleers become jaded towards humanity and feel extremely frail out of the pod - when you have grown to consider a mile-long starship as your true form, returning to the human body is an alien and completely powerless experience. It's also what caused mindlock in early capsuleers - where the mind couldn't handle returning to the body.

It's probably one of the reasons, but not the only reason why capsuleers become jaded.

Also, about that it causes mind-lock, I'm gonna have to ask you to point me to a source.

Coordination Channel for Consolidated Space Rescue Cooperation

Open Letter to the Aidonis Foundation Directorate
Horatius Caul
Kitzless
#4 - 2012-04-20 14:17:30 UTC
Che Biko wrote:
Horatius Caul wrote:
This is why capsuleers become jaded towards humanity and feel extremely frail out of the pod - when you have grown to consider a mile-long starship as your true form, returning to the human body is an alien and completely powerless experience. It's also what caused mindlock in early capsuleers - where the mind couldn't handle returning to the body.

It's probably one of the reasons, but not the only reason why capsuleers become jaded.

Also, about that it causes mind-lock, I'm gonna have to ask you to point me to a source.
You're right, I don't have a source, because everything I wrote was my own conjecture.

Amarrad - Amarr language project
Jikane Ronuken
Pator Tech School
Minmatar Republic
#5 - 2012-04-21 02:57:26 UTC
Che Biko wrote:
Horatius Caul wrote:
This is why capsuleers become jaded towards humanity and feel extremely frail out of the pod - when you have grown to consider a mile-long starship as your true form, returning to the human body is an alien and completely powerless experience. It's also what caused mindlock in early capsuleers - where the mind couldn't handle returning to the body.

It's probably one of the reasons, but not the only reason why capsuleers become jaded.

Also, about that it causes mind-lock, I'm gonna have to ask you to point me to a source.


Mindlock is mentioned in the short story The Jovian Wetgrave, near the end.

Horatius Caul wrote:
The capsuleer's brain effectively becomes the ship's main computer, and our noggins do have a lot of sensory systems that make sense to feed mechanical input into. Camera drones feed into our visual cortex and the ship simulates sound to give us easy spatial management. Similarly, it would make sense to link the ship's armour integrity sensors to be analogous to skin touch, pressure and pain; and perhaps thinks like targeting to the detailed touch perception of our fingertips.

That all makes sense, but what about shield systems, we have nothing remotely like that. Would it be somehow related to how we sense changes in air pressure (like when changing altitude in a plane), higher the more damage the shields take. What about extra sensor systems, like system scanners, or scan probes? Would they feel like a sixth sense, would you just "know" what they found?
MasterChief Justice
Direct Entry Denial
#6 - 2012-04-24 07:42:51 UTC
This is a very good question as as far as i can see no one but ccp could give you a True Answer

but as far as im concerned we have 5 main senses so it could be a simple rewiring of them once you are in your pod and when it comes to your shield and Armor i guess that could almost be modified for what ship you are flying if your a shield tanker it could feel like having air hit you at a High velocity and armor could be like taking a Punch

But the brain is a complex thing and it could be alot nicer on you then that if you actually become your ship well then your senses would be rewired to match that of what the ship has so you might actually feel like you have 3 layers since the human body has Several layers of skin it could simply feel like peeling back a very thin layer of skin and Activating modules could be a simple tingly feeling of your senses since im sure the Nervous system is more complex then any ship in eve im sure there is Plenty to rewire on your body

and since there is no law on this you can write it down as how ever you like it to be and what you write might just become law