It's interesting that a single player can instill so much arbitrary fear in the entire population of a system, causing them all to flee.
I haven't been playing much at all, (A few days) but I still somehow learned that Mon'star was something you wanted to avoid like the plague. I don't know where I heard it from, but somehow I just... knew.
I was playing a few days ago, in New York, trading about end doing what it is that a Junker does when He suddenly appeared in game. I was on my way to Buffalo base, so I thought "Brilliant, I'm safe in the Badlands." The worst happened at that point in time.
Mon'star was at Buffalo.
My wireless mouse also decided that this was the opportune time to act up again.
I docked at Buffalo quickly, sold my cargo, and undocked, so I could make exodus as switfly as possible.
Needless to say, I was a sitting duck during my slow, paralyzed arc through the badlands and away from Buffalo. In the middle of attempting to get my mouse to work, I froze as I passed this strange ship... that was destroying everything in its path except for me.
I was happy that I survived my first encounter, unscratched my Mon'star. (But damaged by the Badland asteroids...)
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In my opinion, there need to be legends on a server.
There should be intereactive, overarching plot elements and recurring character that make you feel like you're really part of something. Having a crazed criminal like Mon'star is, I think, what a server needs. It's a random event that can bring enemies together in exodus and pull friends together in pointless last stands against the Fiend Himself.
It might be silly, but who said this is inherently serious? Sometimes the best villains are the ones who are incompetent and have a staff that does everything, or ones with an inferiority complex, or those who randomly kill everything in sight while laughing manically. Sometimes the best villains aren't the ones you take seriously - they're the ones you can laugh at - or with - as you get your entrails ripped out of you, or the ones who you can merrily chortle with as they launch a thousand missiles at you. They're the ones that you don't really mind getting killed by, it's so ridiculous. They're the ones that make the game more fun and interesting than it already is.
Despite how "cliched" he might be and how silly it might seem, there's certain things you need, certain things to bring a community together, certain things to pull the game together and break the monotony.
And I am quite sure that Mon'star is this certain thing - a crazy, evil, random criminal who spams with missiles and lays waste to entire galaxies between breakfast and elevenses.
So, in my humble opinion, Mon'star is an almost vital element to the role-paying in the game.
And I look forward to the next time we meet. Maybe he'll kill me, and maybe... just maybe... I'll escape and live to tell about it.
