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Roleplay has a long and rich history in EVE, but lately it seems to have fallen by the wayside of the grander scale of 0.0 warfare, and the gigantic clashes of player alliances. The current state of roleplay in EVE is poor at best, and this is not something we as a community should be proud of! This game is much more than just “internet spaceships,” the term so commonly thrown about when someone is taking this game too seriously, and many of us are not doing this game justice by declining to engage in roleplay. Even more, roleplay can take a much more active role in EVE than most other games due to it’s open ended nature (more on this later).
But there is a small point of light in this darkness! A few corporations and alliances still participate in the varied and ancient art of roleplaying, and indeed some individuals stand even above those especially in the more taboo forms of roleplay (as this is difficult to roleplay in an entire alliance). Every single one of us here owes our thanks to two individuals who have taken roleplaying in EVE to the next level: Backdoor Bandit and Blackhole Bob. They aren’t afraid to innovate, to breach subjects normally clamped shut to most players, to penetrate our mental barriers and to force their unique mindset into the dark passages of our sensibilities. But I get ahead of myself!
Part 1: What is Roleplay?
In roleplaying, participants adopt and act out the role of characters, or parts, that may have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. Roleplaying is like being in an improvisational drama or free-form theatre, in which the participants are the actors who are playing parts, and the audience.
People use the phrase "role-playing" in at least three distinct ways:
* to refer to the playing of roles generally such as in a theatre, or educational setting;
* to refer to a wide range of games including computer role-playing games, play-by-mail games and more;
* or to refer specifically to role-playing games.
Roleplay has a variety of uses, from emergency medicine to personal gratification. It has a varied history (cave paintings have shown evidence of roleplay as early as 8000 B.C. ) and has existed in literature since the time of Jesus, throughout the Medieval ages through the time of Edgar Allen Poe and the Industrial Revolution. It’s primary uses range from training (popular among emergency personnel, who have to deal with stressful situations involving screaming victims) to drama (plays can be called a form of roleplay, can they not?) and more “interpersonal” roleplay which will be discussed later.
Part 2: Amarr-Minmatar Roleplay
The most prominent opportunities for roleplay, of course, occur between the Amarr and Minmatar empires for obvious reasons. The Amarr are a dominant, slaveholding alliance used to throwing their weight around and subjugating all that try and resist, binding them into slavery and subjecting them to their dark will.
The Minmatar are former slaves who recently freed themselves from the weight and force of Amarrian oppression, removing the oppression that had penetrated and permeated their society like a white hot iron, groping blindly at the soul of their own existence. Directly opposed to the dominating Amarr, this young, fresh society (almost supple in their innocence) but hardened, their way of life against the wall in the face of continued aggression for the Amarr, fight long and hard to stay free.
Part 3: RP Organizations
CVA – CVA is a famed Amarrian roleplaying alliance that has survived many of EVE’s wars and has maintained a strong grip on the Providence
PIE – This splinter sect of Amarrians support and worship not the emperor, but the divine mathematic variable that defines the circumference of a circle. They are also great fans of an ancient baked desert consisting of a sweet dough stuffed with various fruits and baked.
Urshra Kahn – The Minmatar Alliance who directly oppose CVA. Though they have been driven from Providence by CVA (I suppose they didn’t tank EM/Thermal), they are still around and no doubt are planning a counterattack of some kind
Sani Sabik – I don’t really know anything about these guys, but they sound pretty cool and appear to be fighting CVA
VETO – They roleplay pirates, and are important consumers of pirate-related goods
IAC – Though the details of this are not known to me at this time, the Interstellar Alcohol Conglomerate tends to roleplay my father, down to their recent revocation of their NRDS policy. Please IAC, can you accept that fact that I love you?
Star Fraction – They roleplay anarchists, and are notable for both defeating the non-RP Band of Brothers alliance in the latest tournament and for having a logo that makes me randy
Part 4: The Current State of RP in EVE
Well, I’ll just say that it’s not good. A few talking points:
1. People make fun of RPers
2. Game Changes – POS Warfare harms RP due to lack of realism
3. RP corps aren’t involved in the grand alliance wars
4. RPers are not so smart
5. Lack of AI in cyno jammers
6. Inability to have knife fights in burning buildings
7. CAOD Trolling
8. Lack of individual impact
References:
Role Play x EVE
RP Questions
Part 5: The Real Question – What Can We Do?
Folks, we must obligate outselves to stir the pot! We need to shake up the EVE community with revolutionary RP. We need to sneak up behind them and grab them, evoke their responses, even unwillingly, in order to make them feel the glory that is RP. We have to drill into their soul with our commentary, ram our ideas into the mainstream psyche, even if they bleed a little in the process.
But we need exemplars. We need people who demonstrate these principles, these firm ideas. But who can we look to?
Part 5: Backdoor Bandit and Blackhole Bob
Part 5.1: Backdoor Bandit
Backdoor Bandit founded what may indeed be the most famous of the RP organizations, the Minmatar *** (homosexual) Right’s League. It has existed for over two years, and has frequented the seedy underbelly of many organizations, from the journey of INNOMINATE NIGHTMARE to the closed, tight intellectual spaces of the CAOD forums. He has touched (willingly or unwillingly) the lives of many pod pilots and stood up for his rights as a pod pilot. He is a figure to be respected, feared, and watched. Seriously, don’t take your eyes off him unless you’re in a crowd.
Part 5.2: Blackhole Bob
Blackhole Bob is well-known among his alliance as a capable leader, intelligent fleet commander, and for mentioning EVE gatherings in May 2007. Clearly his accolades have few bounds – he predicted the failure of EVE voice, and even assisted n00bs regarding their security status. His most famous deed until recently was his corporate guide, but no longer!
Part 5.3: Their Copulation
Taken apart, both Blackhole Bob and Backdoor Bandit are excellent players in their own right, but together, they form something much greater, something much more beautiful.
The true extent of the actions that took place several days ago cannot be recounted here, due to both length and the teen rating of the forums, but beautiful if was. Their verbal dance, followed by foreplay that was both incredibly intense, yet subtle, was sure to quell the voices of any critics. What followed- the beauty of the ritual itself, both incredibly arousing and terrifying at the same time, could not possibly have been more grandiose in scale. How could two men, using the Phobos and a Gallentean Outpost, possibly have devised such an intense dance of mind, body, and soul? I don’t know, and maybe I’m simply incapable of wrapping my puckered braing around the sheer girth of this artistry. The soundtrack, Curzon's own Romance in EVE, only served to heighten the atmosphere.
I, for one, stand firmly with these two innovators; they have broken all the boundaries! They have struck deep within the supple minds of traditional pod pilots, and let forth a torrent of emotions and feeling, sighing in pleasure at the mental release. Personally, I may not be able to gain satisfaction from my more normal forms of pleasure for weeks, simply waiting for my legs to regain function, for my mind to slowly float down from this high. Kudos to you, Backdoor Bandit. Kudos to you, Blackhole Bob.
I’ve played with many pod pilots in my time, and while I’m not a roleplayer personally, there were some intense times that I don’t entirely remember – it’s wholly possible that a roleplayer was in the mix, maybe more of them! Maybe I even played along out of curiosity, who knows! But these events make me want to push the envelope farther, to subtly prod and experiment with the prospects of roleplaying with eve, because if there are more pilots out there like those two, there are good times ahead for all of us. Good times ahead.
Amarr Victor! Fabular Victor! Long Live Roleplay in EVE!
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