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EVE Online interview discusses players determining storyline
Split Infinity Radio, a gamer-run internet radio station (with a noticeable sci-fi MMO bent) recently interviewed Scott Holden, Lead Content Creator of EVE Online at Gen Con 2008. Holden has been integral in building up all the mission content that's about to drop in the upcoming Empyrean Age expansions over the next few months. Split Infinity asks Holden a question that's been on the minds of a number of EVE players: Can player actions really influence the storyline? Holden's answer is 'yes'... to a point. He discusses the initiative at CCP to create a system where events are announced in contested parts of space, prompting players to get involved. Their actions would be reported on through the in-game news, and in this way affects (or creates aspects of) the storyline. Participants in factional warfare, or anyone who reads the Interstellar Correspondents news pieces, know that this already exists to some extent in EVE, but Holden states that CCP would like to take the idea further as time goes on.
EVE alliance circumvents factional warfare restrictions
Factional warfare became a part of EVE Online in the Empyrean Age expansion, which ushered in a time of backstory-driven militia conflict for players aligned with one of the four races of New Eden. What promised to be a new avenue for EVE's roleplaying community ended up being inaccessible to roleplaying alliances. CCP stipulated that alliances cannot enlist with factional militias, as their sheer numbers could streamroll their opposition and create overwhelming odds for the disadvantaged side in the conflict. The only recourse EVE's alliances have is to form splinter corporations outside of the alliance, for the sole purpose of allying with a given racial faction. That is, until recently. An article from ISD Magnus Balteus, one of EVE Online's in-game reporters, states the Star Fraction alliance "has openly declared war on corporations that have joined the Caldari milita; the State Protectorate. For over a month, Star Fraction has been selectively targeting the corporations of fleet commanders in the Caldari militia."
EVE Online's 'Empyrean Age' a first step towards something greater
EVE Online's latest expansion, The Empyrean Age. has largely been a success, both from the standpoint of a number of EVE's players and what it will allow the game to evolve into from the perspective of CCP Games. EVE developer CCP RyanD's recent dev blog confirms that CCP is excited about the directions the game will now be able to take in the future. He writes that throughout EVE Online's five year history, there was a rift between developer-created storytelling and player-driven roleplaying. There were a few prominent storyline events run in tandem by the devs and volunteers in ISD, but while such events succeeded in some respects, they failed in others. The mixed response to the events made them a rarity in the game. But those initial faltering steps have given way to greater storyline interaction in Empyrean Age, as player created content and efforts begin to mesh with the developing story of EVE. CCP RyanD writes, "The path we are on now is really unprecedented."
EVE Online's war journalists report from the front lines
The creators of EVE Online are going all-out with their storyline-driven factional warfare in The Empyrean Age expansion, which is less than a day away from launch. They're injecting the coming struggle with as much gritty realism as they can muster. Massively has already covered the formation of EVE Online's in-game news organization, called Interstellar Correspondents, but it looks like the staff at CCP Games is setting their sites a bit higher. In a recent dev blog, CCP Ginger discussed the concept of embedded reporting in New Eden. Specifically, there will be war correspondents who report on the events that transpire during the clashes between factions. These members of Interstellar Correspondents will be in the thick of the action and report on world shaping events to the populace of New Eden.
