Backstage - OOC Forums
EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources => EVE OOC Summit => Topic started by: Ciarente on 20 Apr 2010, 16:27
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A big challenge for Eve players is the fact that, due to the single-shard nature of the game, players come from all over the world and thus have all sorts of different playing schedules.
I can't comment on the effect this has on, say, null-sec warfare, since I don't have a clue about it, but I know that for RP it can be quite a challenge to come up with a) compatible times for a group of geographically disparate players but also b) plausible IC explanations for why your character misses the events they do, goes weeks without talking to a particular character, and so on.
I suspect this has a bigger impact on people in less populous (eve wise) time zones. Like, er, mine.
I tend to suggest in my blog and RP that there are indeed timezones in Eve - that different stations, for example, might be on different local times - and also that there are a variety of 'shifts' people might work. (I've heard the 'shifts' explanation from other characters in RP too).
Neither of these entirely works for me as a complete explanation. After all, Cia is an independent and wealthy pilot. If she wanted to run her operation on a different clock, she could do it with a click of her fingers.
I try to manage some of the contradictions by assuming that Cia does a lot of things when I'm at work anyway: OOC contact with players on agreed events that might happen when we're both off line fills in some of the gaps in Cia's life ('So, let's say our chars met up for a drink after work? Cia's had a haircut, btw. Oh, and she'd probably mention that guy she's seeing.') but I know that hand-waving such 'off-screen' stuff doesn't work for everyone.
How do you handle timezone problems?
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By creating/using boring stuff during offline times.
Miz is simply busy doing paperwork or boring administrative stuff when it comes to her crew, corporation, or any of the other thousands of little things that needs to be done in order to run multiple ships, crews, operations and so on. As the one in charge of everything she owns, and everyone she employs on said property... well, she's got the responsibility to make all of these things go smoothly.
This works for me, simply because I'm not constrained by timezones. I turn my day/night cycle around slowly but certainly at least once a week, and I'll thus be able to RP with people from all timezones sooner or later. Thus, my offline time varies, and I can claim it's simply paperwork or other 'non-ship' stuff that's piled up while I was pewpewing or mining or whatever.
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It's actually been a problem recently, now that Ulf has started dating someone on a different shift. I mean, why doesn't he swap shifts? (Because I have a job that expects me to not be sleeping during the day time?)
Ulf wakes up, spends a couple of hours with his new girlfriend, and then she falls asleep, then he goes out flying or wanders down to the pub...
I haven't found a reasonable explanation yet, but we've kind of OOC agreed not to talk about it too much. It could get messy if things get more serious.
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By being a sad, lonely solo player. :(
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Ok, this has been an issue for me. Being Australian, I'm a few hours ahead of most of you (and I've regularly noticed that the client shows the most users online when I'm about to go to bed on a Sunday night).
IC I just interact with who I can. In between doing regular Internet spaceship activities (ie generating ISK, fighting Gallente scum) this can result in interactions that are somewhat infrequent.
How do I explain it? Well, I've always assumed that even living on a station, there would be some sleep cycle that would probably align in some way with the planet they're orbiting. Therefore, my explanation is usually that Kivuli has certain sleep habits ingrained in him resulting from where he grew up.
Sure, capsuleers could change this. However, if it works for them (and possibly they might visit families or friends who operate on those rhythms) why would they bother.
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I get around this in a couple of different ways. The first in by being logged for a really, really long time. If you've ever stuck me in your addressbook, you'll notice I'm often logged on for between 8 and 12 hours a day. If this was the end of it, I'd have a serious internet addiction issue. Thing is, up to 60% of the time I'm on, I'm tabbed out writing a report or something. If I flip back and see some good RP (or PvE/PvP) coming, I pay attention for a few hours and then tab right back out. This means I can be "on" in the top European times, and then tab out for a few and come back when the top US time rolls around.
Now, being an inhabitant of 0.0, and as such rarely (if at all) actually in space with those I RP with, I can safely say that some of Esna's RP takes place in a "different time" than when I am actually out doing stuff in space. For instance, I might RP Esna going to hang out at a bar for a while after a long, boring patrol - while still actually on that patrol. But because the odds of encountering another RPer out in the middle of one of the drone regions is low to nil, there isn't a significant problem with this (at least in my view) because it prevents the main difficulty of such actions, said difficulty being someone encountering Esna in space while he's in a bar IC.
IC, I've just played it as Esna keeping his sleep cycles tied to that of the planet he grew up on, as a way of sort of maintaining his humanity despite being an immortal and awsomely rich and powerful person.
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I also tend to be online for a good portion on the day, however mainly "play" during later EST hours. During the day I can sometimes get in on a random corp/alliance op or a spur of the moment pvp opportunity however over the last year I have found a new aggro, baby aggro. I'm still waiting for the day when my son can sit at a computer by my side and help daddy tackle that drake trying to run anomolies solo, until then, I have to be content with what time I can actually get in game :lol:
RP wise I guess it would be easier to explain that since I work with a small alliance in a class 5 wormhole system, we have to take shifts to maintain some sort of round the clock defense, although at times it could be rather lonely when no one else is online