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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Wouldn't work. Some people already do things like that - see Sparks' recent posts in the Comm area - but there aren't enough applicants or enough interested people to make it the norm.
You also then get the result of factions simply carpet bombing all adverts that are posted with desperate approvals, because they're all scrounging for recruits. In EVE, there are hundreds of thousands of people, so it's a buyer's market. Plus character skills actually matter there, because they're mechanically a part of the game. Here, not so.
Here, we're massively undermanned and factions will usually take anyone who shows even cursory interest. Skills and suitability don't usually factor into it. Plus people usually design characters specifically for factions they want to join, which favours direct applications.
Feel free to follow Sparks' example if you want, but I certainly wouldn't wish to impose the system on anyone. Too impractical and inconvenient.
There are not enough people who are interested into placing effort into their faction characters for that sort of thing. Those who do are already happily engaged in the factions they are in.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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I'll start with what's important..i did played EVE and that sort of recruitment won't work inhere
Why?Because eve it's totally different:
-you have one character(you will not use more because you can't train them at the same time,not without paying some nice dollars a mount for plex and etc..),so a faction will not invest the time and money for your improvement because you will not be loyal to them,since you will have plenty of characters who will fight against them a lot of times..
-a faction in disco is way more limited than a corporation in eve,you can't influence the game in any way,everything is just..placebo inhere,if you know what i mean..(would it worth a change?sure..)
So..alternative to recruitment process: Official factions should choose atleast 2-3 new players to train them in RP and game mechanics if they apply and not just expect them to know all or anything for that matter
Those who don't: loss of official status
People want to believe that God has a plan for them.
They don't wanna believe that anyone else does..
I think I belong in the majority of players who develop their characters after they join a faction as this is when you get more chances to roleplay them and flesh them out. By creating all those little details that make them interesting, details when at the time of the creation are considered unnecessary to write them down.
As for the topic's title, I think only the Lane Hackers currently have a recruitment system which is different from a simple filling a template with words. On the other hand, I think the LR- is the official faction with the "least demanding" recruitment. You only need to write three or four sentences about your Rogue.
Yes, now take a glance at the recruitment process for LR- and see how many are accepted. The recruitment process is so lenient because I need to see whether or not the person has a good enough grasp of the English language. Everything else is then up to them. If they want to put effort into their character, I will give them all the help they need from the faction's side of things. If they just want to fly with others and have fun without thinking too much into things, I see no problem with that either.
Put forward effort on your part and you will be rewarded accordingly.
The more effort a faction member is going to put in, the more of a say he will have in the faction's progression. This is why the recruitment system is so simple. I know there are people who will want to put effort into it, although so far they are an outstanding minority when it comes to such, others just want to fly and have a good time. I see both choices as equally legitimate for a player if they choose to fly my faction's colors.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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I understand your reasoning and that's perfectly fine for me. It falls to the player's discretion the level that they want to develop their characters.
Well I think we are looking at it wrong when we look at it in terms of "easy", "lenient", "difficult" and similar.
What we should focus on is a process that is "exciting", "creative", "interesting", "fun" and things like that.
Like, I joined a bunch of different factions (I've also been a horribly inactive member in almost all, so of course it's my responsibility too), and what it basically is is that you get thrown into a skype chat with some people (half of which you are in other skype chats with), you get a rename pass for a ship and a rank, and you log when people say "log log log" and post reports to gain a higher rank. That's ALL there is as a regular faction member in most factions - some (very few) make an effort out of making it an experience for the player to join and try to promote the player to develop his character; but the majority of factions are just clan-like skype chats, but the members still parade the forum as if they have some god-given legitimacy due to their tag and official status. I think the general recruitment process and the pressure to maintain it due to faction activity requirements (as well as parts of the "faction mentality") create barriers for factions.
That being said, there's a big difference in the number of players in Eve and Disco, that's a good point. But adversely that we are so few players also gives each of us knowledge of what the other players are capable of, even if it is a game without a character sheet and "skills". Say, if Raymond Lister was to announce that he's tired of rocks and is looking for a better contract with a new employer, a lot of factions would be interested due to the reputation that player built up. There'd be an interest in recruiting different players with different strengths in different roles.
It should be noted that trying to change the ranking system mid-fly is highly problematic. Especially if there is new criteria for the ''new and interesting system'' and you cannot just re-assign ranks. If you make everyone grind up from 0, they will not be too pleased.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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(06-27-2015, 03:10 PM)Mímir Wrote: Like, I joined a bunch of different factions (I've also been a horribly inactive member in almost all, so of course it's my responsibility too), and what it basically is is that you get thrown into a skype chat with some people (half of which you are in other skype chats with), you get a rename pass for a ship and a rank, and you log when people say "log log log" and post reports to gain a higher rank. That's ALL there is as a regular faction member in most factions - some (very few) make an effort out of making it an experience for the player to join and try to promote the player to develop his character; but the majority of factions are just clan-like skype chats, but the members still parade the forum as if they have some god-given legitimacy due to their tag and official status. I think the general recruitment process and the pressure to maintain it due to faction activity requirements (as well as parts of the "faction mentality") create barriers for factions.
Honestly, this is a problem with faction leaders and not their recruitment threads. You're looking at a systematic symptom of the attitudes of the people at each faction's helm. Slightly tweaking the format of the standard recruitment thread isn't going to help with that.
Generally speaking it's rare for characters to transfer between factions as well. Presumably because people have invested in developing said character within its original setting, which implies they have a vested interest in keeping it where it is. To further extrapolate on that point, usually if said character is uprooted, it's because the player has been removed from the faction in question, leading to potential discomfort for any faction they then subsequently apply to.
Some people do freely cut and change between factions as their character development requires, but lets not kid ourselves into thinking this is the standard, or even particularly common around here.
If you want to make a non-standard application to a faction, for example by posting a resume type thread or some other contrivance, most factions are open to that if you talk to them beforehand. You say this proposal is about generating fun, but it's not really - only a very small sector of the player population actively find forum based RP/bureaucracy fun. Being able to account for both tastes by enabling people to go as in-depth as they do or don't choose is pretty much essential.