Space Opera?

Communications Center General Discussion
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This game has long claimed to be a space opera.

The definition of a space opera according to Wikipedia is:
“ Space opera is a subgenre of science fictionthat emphasizes space warfare, melodramaticadventure, interplanetary battles, chivalric romance, and risk-taking. “

If we assume the average player plays entirely in highsec… which of these elements are still experienced?

My assertion is that none of these are normal now… but that single player hoarding has replaced these things.

In the days of can flipping, small personal wars (that cost 2 mill), and abundant crime and fighting… drama and stories and emotions and entertainment abounded.

What’s highsec like now? It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. It’s fecking boring.

How do you expect noobs to want to be part of a space opera where nothing happens?

No wonder the game is dying. Go play the new player experience in Akiainavas.

That used to be one of the top 10 most dangerous systems in the game. It used to be exciting and crazy.

Now the noobs are safe… but they’re all quitting because they’re bored.

It actually is boring. Try and play it.

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The most melodrama we get these days is when mother’s china rattles on the shelf as people slam the door behind them.

I lost three saucers and a gravy boat when blackout was announced.

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Ha space opera haha ■■■■■■■■, Infinite Space a game on the Nintendo DS is more space opera than EVE has ever was and will be and if you seen Macross or Legend of the galagtic heroes well I can tell you that making a mmo a space opera is impossible just because how different every one is and how diffrent every one plays the game.

Reason Legend of galagtic heroes is a great space opera is you have a huge war 2 factions one democratic the other one ruled by an Emperor that wan to rule all. Then you have love and heroes and all that.

EVE has a bunch of different people some enjoy war for no reason more than the thrill of killing others. Some enjoy relaxing mining and what not.

If eve was a single player game where you see a war Amarr VS Galente or Minmatar trying to free them self from slavery that could make for a good space opera. But in a mmo nope will never happen ever.

So stop blaming people how they play for ■■■■ sake.

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Man Ive been after that for ages

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Yeah it´s super good game totally worth owning a DS for. Some one in Sweden selling it for about 95 bucks damn.

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I freed a lot of slaves during the HS Minmatar liberation limited-time event… I miss the seasonal themed, limited-time events.

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You guys are missing the point.

The space opera was the PvP.

It was drama between people. That was the opera.

Drama between you and an inanimate object or NPC isn’t really drama.

Pre-crimewatch… can flipping was remarkably dramatic. And exciting. And interesting. And pervasive. And story inspiring. And war inspiring.

And, emotionally, real.

That depth was the space opera. That depth is gone.

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The space opera also cause players, tons of them, to not log in and cancel their subs because they were the target of a grief war. It’s not such a great opera when the audience is walking out the door in the first 10 minutes. PvP is not the answer to everything. Take a look at other PvP mmo’s out there. They all have bare minimum player bases. Aion, Archeage… others I can’t remember.

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I think today’s stale, stagnant, and boring decline could be viewed as evidence that the absence of PvP isn’t its own virtue.

We have reached a point where the average Eve player can’t see anything going on… ever. No fleets. No fights. No squabbles. No thefts.

The dark gritty crime infested New Eden of yore has been tamed.

I’m not actually advocating for PvP… PvP without interaction doesn’t create the drama. I’m advocating for crime and other political/dramatic/emotional and interactive forms of PvP where people get to know each other and remain friends or enemies afterwards.

It’s not PvP that makes the hay… it’s the interpersonal interactions that go with certain styles of PvP that give us the stories and interesting occurrences that made Eve great.

Hub humping was always bad PvP because it’s not interactive. Ganking isn’t much better.

Can flipping and local war decs had downsides… but the intimacy made for great relationships.

That’s meaningful, as I define it. And it was amazing and hurtful and vivid.

And addictive.

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In your specific context of hisec only:

Space warfare can be inflicted any time via ganking or wardeccing. Even though relatively rare, either can happen any time. Plus, risk from roving triglavians should not be dismissed just because they are NPCs.

Any militia member is immediately open to inter-Empire warfare via opposing factional players. Yes, rather different from interplanetary warfare, but still similar in principle

Melodrama can be found after any gank, miner bumping on ice belts, in most public chats and especially on these forums. The “adventure” part is though a tad moot, I’ll give you that.

Chivalry occurs in the form of every individual who hands out boosts from orcas just because they can. Again, the “romance” part is a little tenuous, although being the romantic hero who helps out the downtrodden (who might otherwise rage quit) might well be real for any number of players.

As to risk taking, you do that every time you mine, or fly a hauler to Jita, or fly an abyssal site.

True. On the other hand, they are still normally available each and every time you log in.

And that is the point others are making. Your complaint is about people. People like you. Not the game. I am arguing all the elements of space opera are there, in the game, and that they are there all the time. It is the players who are lacking (in all senses) .

And whose fault is that? As an example… all I see with respect to events is CCP continuously trying to force players to interact with each other and the player base as a whole refusing to do so. Latter is either, 1) because they claim there is not enough isk per person or, 2) precisely because these players cant solo it.

The biggest “opera” on show is actually between carebears and CCP, CCP and nul bloc, nul bloc CSM and carebears, and meanwhile neither you nor me are actually on stage, on the digital platform, actually doing anything!

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Man I remember before crimewatch there was some nice loopholes, like if someone killed you in low sec without you firing back on them you’d get 30 days of killrights. So I used to find camps of like 10 or 20 dudes who were weekend pvp’ers and I’d let them kill me and then I’d hunt them in high sec in their finest missioning ships while they were completely unaware, now that was a drama! I could write a TV mini-series about all the shenanigans I got up to by doing stuff like that in high sec and low sec.

Those days are all gone now though, everything sanitised, all loopholes closed, buy plex and buy skins and train your traglavian skills and fly your cloaky t3 etc. etc. What I wouldn’t give to play eve in 2011 again and just roam in a vexor or prophecy and get actual fights once more.

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I’ve got great stories about crazy stuff that happened.

I could tell them all day. Can flipping used to devolve into a crazy mess on a regular basis.

Today’s player doesn’t have stories because all the mechanics that created chaos and numbnuttery were stamped out and sanitized.

Why would they stay? Because they want isk?

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Like getting rid of nul blackout you mean? So, here’s your platform … what would you do for hisec to introduce more drama?

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Scrap crimewatch and re-introduce the classic crime mechanics.

Then I’d make every Corp eligible to declare 1 war… for 2 mil… against any Corp.

I’d re-open the profession systems for PvP… noobs need to see the drama or they’ll keep leaving and wondering what the hell everyone was talking about.

Oh yeah, and I’d banish T3 and triglavian ships from highsec. That would make noob boats relevant in PvP again… which would allow noobs to compete.

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To be honest, if you’re playing entirely in high sec you are only experiencing a tiny percentage of the full game, and are missing out on the elements you described.

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Funny thing is I never started to play eve back in the day for pvp for me it was a friend told me about this space mmo and as a fan of freelancer, startrek,macross and so on all I could think was oh a sci-fi game awesome I want to play.

What was good about EVE is you could play how ever you want pvp,pve,mining. You have the freedom to play how you want to play.

But I wonder why are you guys so damn hung up on pvp so damn much it´s like no pvp the game sucks people not playing pvp sucks and so on, If your so damn hung up on pvp why not play dreadnought or fractured space ? That is what I know PVP only game with spaceships.

But I say stop hating on people for playing eve the way they want it. PVP wont save the game nor will pve.

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I am worried about Eve I fear that all will be left is a smoking ruin of a once great game, ccp does not and have never made eve great. It was always the players, all thats left are the die hards, griefers, bots and clueless nullies who want everything their way and don’t give a rats arse about any other part of the game. While having the ear of ccp through the failing csm who whinge constantly about nullsec nullsec nullsec who will soon be representing nothing but empty space. A damn shame i really like this game i suppose im one of the die hard mission runners lvl 5 missions back in high-sec please Hilmar. Im going to unsub and leave it for a few more month see where the wind is blowing.

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Not sure where you’ve been but the game was much more exciting a few years back. It is getting boring and people are leaving.

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Ha, exactly. I was blown up day 1 after going suspect because I didn’t know what can-flipping was…and I didn’t quit.

I’m sick of the “don’t blow up the poor noob miners” crowd. People try this game because they hear about the crazy ■■■■ that happens, not because they want to mine or farm peacefully.

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I was never a PVP character and I think we need more of it.

It’s not about how I play is different than how you play. It’s about the game being stagnant. I used to get nervous as hell doing PVE stuff but knowing the PVP threat was always there. Now, not so much.