What if the faction recruitment process was different?

[Mímir]

Heya, I played a bit of Eve Online but I never really got that heavily into it (too steep a learning curve for me). I like the game for its atmosphere though and I still visit pages like the Mittani and read random stories. (Psst, just skip to the bottom section if you don't care about Eve).

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What strikes me is how non-roleplay player-driven actions adds so much more depth and atmosphere, given the structures of the Eve MMO universe. I read about a group of players claiming sovereignty over a few empty systems in deep space, and how by pure luck a scout came across a small ultra-rich research corp deep inside a wormhole, sporting an unescorted Titan (a huuuuuuuge player-built ship that is so difficult to get hold of or even operate or outfit it's hard to imagine*). The non-roleplay battle report tells a gripping tale of how the colossal ship was slowly drained of power by a host of small interceptors, and how vital systems were shutting down one by one before it was withered down and destroyed; sending out a powerful message to any research corporation refusing to pay their taxes while striking a blow to the offending corporation that they might never recover from.

Mind you, it's a different game with very different structures you can't really install in Disco; but so many of the non-roleplay actions of players become stories of their own. The small-time hustler scamming rookie pilots in Jita, the budding adventurer discovering a wormhole with unfathomable riches, a green trader's journey to become a master manipulator of the player-driven markets or a logistics officer supplying state warfare mercenary corps with precious combat ships deep behind enemy lines using jump freighters and thus tipping the tide of war, fragile political alliances, financial warfare, ethically questionable research on hidden deep space facilities, deceit, theft, backstabbing - there's so much drama that it creates an absolutely astonishing atmosphere. Even the respawn function is nicely covered by folks having escape pods and clones. None of it is roleplay, yet it feels so much more alive than Disco.

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I read a non-rp post on the forum for a high-level industrialist player. Someone who spent most of his time playing the game docked at research stations, but with a huge catelogue of blueprints and an array of skills that takes an immense amount of time to amass. In other words, he's a tremendous asset to any large scale corporation that want access to cheap ships, modules, stimulants and so on. So he made a non-roleplay resume, listing what his character is capable of and what he is looking for in a new corporation; and people were trying to acquire his services by offering him a steady pay, influence within the alliance, access to shared resources and other perks. The same goes for great PVP combat pilots and fleet commanders with high-tier skills - players that have the knowledge and characters with the appropriate skills to use specialized ships and modules that opens up to certain strategies and command benefits. None of this is roleplay, it's just the games' structures that promotes "realistic" behavior. If a player changes side from one faction to another or shoots someone who believed he should have been friendly/neutral, no one is at the sideline going "no u shouldn't be doing that, your character would never do that", they simply keep on playing but with a tarnished reputation as a traitor or a ruthless killer - i.e. a dynamic story not fully in the individual player's control, and thus all the more interesting.

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Now what if recruitment in Disco was reversed? What if there was a job listing section where players could really flesh out their characters and what they were looking for and post a resume, and factions could find a suitable match for specific or freelancer jobs or more general/permanent contracts within the faction (in case of corporate-like factions)? That way you would get different constallations - I think we all have the habit of finding ourselves in factions with the same players all the time. It could add some atmosphere too, and characters could more easily work for various factions. Factions could advertise - say if Gateway is building a new POB, they could do some photoshop or BB magic for 30 minutes and make a cool looking post in the section regarding the specific job-offer, and that would tie things together more nicely than the way it is now. Factions would of course still be able to maintain regular recruitment, people could have links in their signatures for the "static" recruitment and still get players on board that way.

Long story, but whaddya think?

* Fun fact: There's a permanent wreck from the first Titan lost in the Eve universe / main server, players can go find it. The Titans are all player built, so when they were introduced it was a race to be the alliance to first construct one (and to be the first alliance to destroy one). It's great that things like that are recorded Eve history, but there are certainly some downsides to the non-rp core: The historic Titan was named 'Steve'

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