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[Shintoko Akahoshi]

Asteroid, here o/

[Ammentio Oinkelmar]

As was discussed briefly in-game, actually, most Achur come from Saisio, lots of Amarr from Amarr...

There is no accessible locales in EVE beyond the homeworlds. Listing off the top of my head we've got...Caille, Hueromont, Lenoika, Dam-Torsad...er...that's the only cities available.

Yeah, if I was completely new to EVE, I wouldn't dare make up my own place either.

Ammentio was from Caille, because Hueromont is associated with Mssr. Toba's kamikaze attack and I hadn't planned to make him war-crazed when I wrote his background. In hindsight, it might not have been a bad choice at all.

In line with Lyn Farel's comment, it might be useful if your background story offered other characters some ideas on what to expect from you, and if it possibly contained some starting points for a discussion.

Coming up with your own city is kind of tedious, because no one else knows anything about it and one should be prepared to answer tons of questions. Admittedly, world-building can be fun but if your intention is to do something else, it will steal away time from your primary objectives. Furthermore, the effort will be wasted if no one is interested, like Lallara Zhuul and others suggest, or if the outcome attracts only negative response.

Not saying it's ur doing it wrong to do it that way, but it is something to consider especially given CCP's handling of the setting.

I don't understand. They have left lots of details open to allow players to use their imagination. Why does it follow that there is something wrong with the creative efforts of the players? It should be easy to skim over a description of a hairdo if someone doesn't like it.

Also, sometimes I wonder why people role-play in Eve. Is it to meaningfully interact with other players (ie. MMORPG)?

When a character is not an established "bittervet", it is quite hard to find meaningful IC interactions, and the backstory and your other own creations are basically everything you have. You just have to hope that they lead to something more meaningful.

If it is to come up with pages of text on imaginary locations and facts in the Eve universe, I question whether it would be better for them to write their own setting, book or whatever.

Because the community that reads those is even smaller than the RP community, and the authors may be hoping that their creations will lead to character interactions.

CCP inserts the setting details here and we play within their framework. That's not to say never come up with anything, which is absurd, but there is a difference between filling in the necessary details and being a rogue co-creator of the setting (also there's a way to create on top of CCP's pile rather than over it).

Well quite a few details of the EVE world have been left open, in my opinion deliberately, and since the new content will now be released as part of the events, expansions etc. it's likely that the situation won't change any time soon. I think it would be impractical to avoid or delay role-playing because more details might be released in the future. There have been discussions on which kind of made-up "facts" are acceptable, and I fully agree that there's a limit to what a single player should do.

Why is this important? In a different setting (for example table-top) I would heartily advocate such collaborative creation, but this is an MMO where we should cleave to established canon to avoid conflicts and discrepancies which will cause problems.

I agree that we should avoid conflicts and discrepancies with PF, but that's about it. We should be able to handle it. It does not follow that collaborative creation should be suppressed in MMO's.

It could be two (groups of) players disagreeing on interpretation or it could CCP running roughshod over your creation... and in both instances, it really is your own fault for getting into.

Whenever there exists two or more differing interpretations of the canon, I would consider that to be a great source of role-play and character interaction, and it wouldn't make any sense for CCP to stop it by settling the issue with a line of PF (just think about the midi-chlorians). On the other hand, if they did happen to release something that contradicts with your own stuff, that'd be a great opportunity for some hand-waving and fishy-explanation fun. Everyone's aware of this risk, and I guess most people take it into account when they put forward claims not backed up by the known facts.

[GoGo Yubari]

First I need to address one apparent misconception about what I wrote. I didn't (and I don't think Lallara did either, but not sure so he can speak for himself) speak against having any backstory at all. Indeed, it makes sense to understand where a character is coming from. I was just saying you don't need to come up with a lot of weird and made-up details concerning the Eve universe to do it. There is a big difference. Less is more.

Also, sometimes I wonder why people role-play in Eve. Is it to meaningfully interact with other players (ie. MMORPG)?

When a character is not an established "bittervet", it is quite hard to find meaningful IC interactions, and the backstory and your other own creations are basically everything you have. You just have to hope that they lead to something more meaningful.

Well, every bitter vet started somewhere.

If it is to come up with pages of text on imaginary locations and facts in the Eve universe, I question whether it would be better for them to write their own setting, book or whatever.

Because the community that reads those is even smaller than the RP community, and the authors may be hoping that their creations will lead to character interactions.

Less amateur writing, more role-play. But again, I don't think there is anything horribly wrong about writing stories about your character, etc. Some of it might even be quite readable! I'm on about the made up facts about the universe... and the exercise in extended setting creation. Also, how for some it seems that the writing and coming up of stuff is more of a purpose in itself than any role-playing which seems very misplaced to me.

Ahh, having a hard time explaining myself without a huge wall of text and because it basically amounts to talking somewhat badly about a large sub-set of role-players I think I'll just pass on trying to get my point across. "If you don't have something positive to say..." and all.

So, I'll just repeat and bold what I said earlier as I take my exit out of this discussion.

That's not to say never come up with anything, which is absurd, but there is a difference between filling in the necessary details and being a rogue co-creator of the setting (also there's a way to create on top of CCP's pile rather than over it).

[Wanoah]

Speaking personally, for any character that I write (and by extension, any character I make for a game) I will want to have some answers to basic questions to get a sense of character. I might never have to actually refer to some of the details at all, but I still want to know them, even for a minor character. I think in terms of some common everyday scenarios, like introducing yourself on the first day of a course, or chatting to a stranger at some social event, and the very basic personal info that everyone can provide without a second's thought. What's your name? How old are you? Where are you from? Where did you go to school? Did you go to uni? What do you do for a living? What did you used to do before this? Do you have any brothers and sisters? Are you married/single/co-habiting?

I think that place is really important. You don't have to have some strong sense of national identity or anything like that, but the town you grew up in and the schools you went to play a massive part in shaping who you are and how people can perceive you. These things are tricky to establish in Eve.