Ok, so a discussion in another thread got me thinking about this...
Basically as we all know we do have a capwhore problem, that is people that buy capships ONLY to kill people in combat and not rp but who's fault is it? it is easy to blame the people that do it, but what if they are just new players who don't know better? who were never exposed to great RP when they were new?
Most factions that I've seen try to reduce the Capship spam, by using only fighters BUT still have capships in reserve. Now the only time you see these capships ever online is when there is a threat, like enemy capships in the area.
Think about it.. a new player comes on, is amazed at the capships BUT the only time he ever sees them is when they are PVPing. After the PVP is over the capships simply disapear, offering not much RP. This may give an impression that that is all capships are good for.
Now the Radical idea is for Factions to start using their capships MORE often. Crazy right? Keep on reading and you'll see where I'm going. Most here can agree that the Factions are looked up upon by many, their RP in their fighters are often superb but their capships lack the same quality of RP. Often the capships stay offline collecting dust until they are needed to kill something, then after it is dead, they go back offline. What if the official Factions had a capship online and present almost all the time. I"m not saying to PVP whore it, but RP it. RP the standard operations, the boring stuff about captaining a capship(but it doesn't have to be boring either of course). When PVP arrives, you don't have to go fight but can command the fighters from wherever you are stationed but the key thing is to not simply disappear after the PVP ends. Capships, especially dreadnoughts shouldn't just disappear (unless they have a cloak but thats a whole different story) and there is much more to their operation then just flying in and killing things. All of this adds to the impression that capships are much more then just PVP tools.
So think about it, if a Faction kept say, their flagship online often, and RPing allot, perhaps we could stem the tide of capwhores with no RP. If new players are exposed to well RPed capships and don't only see them as fighting machines maybe, just maybe a few of these "future" capwhores can be changed, perhaps even make them want a capship even more, but for a whole different reason. Not to own everything in PVP but to RP.
Before we can get rid of capwhores the first step is to get rid of the image that a capship is ONLY there to kill things and I think the official factions and even indies in capships are perfect for the job, as long as it is done responsibly.
Think about it, its a crazy idea but what if it is true? I wonder how many of the current capwhores could have been changed by being exposed to great rp out of capships in the past?
Break off into groups and discuss, though please no flaming of anyone, official factions or indies... we are all responsible for fixing this problem.
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