We as RP'ers have a special relationship with the PF that other players do not have. A huge chunk of our gaming experience is based in it, and I do not like it when that chunk is turned completely on its head. To me it's as though CCP suddenly made Amarr ships missle specialized. It's just... wat.
I find the setting of New Eden uniquely detailed and appreciate it as a somewhat dystopian sci-fi world devoid of ridged foreheads and blue skins. In truth, however, the setting could be any place or any time if the narrative were good enough. I think I enjoy RP primarily for the stories that develop from conflicts between
player characters as a result of their personalities and choices. I value this part of RP much more than the in-character posing I have to do in order to integrate any particular character within the backdrop of EVE PF. In that way, maybe I don't think there is a special relationship between myself as an RPer and the PF, as you do.
Remember that neither the major TEA/T1 characters like the Empress nor any character of epic story arc-shaping influence has ever been controlled by a player. The elections and ascensions and smaller events played out in the early days depended on
community involvement, just as the recent incursions did. For me, PF provides the stage and the props. The world my mind plays in thrives on the actors and the lines and the stage direction at levels at least a few tiers below the grand council chambers and situation rooms of the empires with all their necessary gravitas and cookery of :
important events:.
How about a live event where some people have to go get the super weapon for her? Or an arc where we might possibly uncover the truth about her? If we're not going to be involved in big world-shifting events and personalities we might as well not pay attention to them, like most players do.
My point is that I don't need to fly in a fleet on the way to recover Item X to stop Enemy Y in order to save Planet Z because CCP Actor A said so in local chat in order to come away from RP experiences feeling entertained and fulfilled. It could be fun, certainly, and I would love to do something like that more often, but I don't find it
necessary to enjoy the setting or the game. The fact that such things do
not happen very often at all does not diminish my enjoyment.
Very few people in real life will ever find themselves personally involved in world-shaping events in such a way that their own actions affect the outcome. EVE, like many escapisms, offers that experience, but it does so rarely. Often the terms of such engagements involve player alliances and nullsec politics rather than the next evolution in PF events. Just like non-RPing players who dream of the day when they might play out their fantasies of making choices of epic and lasting consequence (such as those described in the
"Causality" video), we RPers dream of the day when we will shape the PF in such a way.
Maybe someday you'll get that chance. The vast majority of players won't. It is instead the smaller choices of the second, the minute, the hour, and the day, that we have to work with. I don't think they have any less potential to be thrilling or meaningful or simply worth the time just because of their scale. Forget about the zombie cyborg empress and her idiotic plans. She is a weak character built on a shallow premise: shock value and cartoonish conspiracy. She and everything else like her in the PF, all the over-the-top crap of bloated importance TonyG gave us, is there for one purpose: they are excuses. Spit on someone, draw swords, and conduct :drama:. Or smile instead. But please, for the love of the game, don't tie your happiness to TonyG's pen or CCP's schizophrenia.