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[Katrina Oniseki]

I think its just a case of CCP being unable to write anything that isnt endless grimdark. Its getting old, really.

I am guessing the underlined italicized word there is what you meant to type. If so, I agree to some extent.

I understood going into EVE RP that New Eden is not just mere 'grimdark'. It's actually written and depicted as a dystopia, and for that reason I can't fault CCP too much for staying true to that. I don't think it was ever meant to be 'realistic', but rather unrealistically bad. That's the nature of a dystopia. Just like a utopia is a society that cannot exist because it is too perfect, a dystopia is a society that cannot exist because it is too terrible.

A good example of this is the mind boggling loss of life caused by Capsuleer ship crew losses alone. Not even counting NPC ship kills or structure kills, who have much much higher crew sizes. Add in planetary warfare from FW, Sansha incursions, and various natural disasters... you come to realize that the daily loss of life in the EVE universe is a bit ridiculous. This is okay, because EVE is not written to be realistic. It's written as a dystopia.

That being said, I agree that CCP needs to focus more on the mundane instead of the spectacular. For Fed RP, this could be so much. Celebrity gossip news, Federal court rulings for some cultural controversy like marriage law in the U.S., class action lawsuits against Quafe for making Federal citizens fat, or news of a market bubble boom or bust. Actual news headlines that don't include the spectacular and dramatic for once.

The problem with this is that if they start covering the mundane, they would be expected to do so often.. otherwise we'd question why we only see certain headlines every once in a while.

[Jace Carithias]

The problem with this is that if they start covering the mundane, they would be expected to do so often.. otherwise we'd question why we only see certain headlines every once in a while.

This seems to be a major point to me. We are hearing of catastrophic events because they are treated as the big ones worth telling. If a wider variety of events happened that included the simple and mundane, it would require a pretty active news system. Not that it can't be done, but it would be a much more intensive system.

That being said, I think they are going to have things swing back in favor of the Fed against the State fairly soon.

[Lyn Farel]

it would require a pretty active news system. Not that it can't be done, but it would be a much more intensive system.

Like in the past before they stopped lore oriented news ? 

[Seriphyn]

I admit it's pretty tiresome having to support and RP a faction that seems incapable of keeping its shit together. It's almost the Satire/Parody faction in EVE, constantly being shown as having irredeemable flaws without looking at any potential strengths. I'm fine with problems being shown, but at least balance it out with what sets it ahead of other factions. So many of us take democracy for granted IRL that we don't realize how it is not subject to the flaws of other systems, for example.

[Seriphyn]

Add to the above that most players/characters IC are incapable of discussing GalFed politics without going "lolol democracy is so stooopid", and can't distinguish theory/ideal from propaganda. Right. This is the second-largest empire we're talking about here.

[orange]

Add to the above that most players/characters IC are incapable of discussing GalFed politics without going "lolol democracy is so stooopid", and can't distinguish theory/ideal from propaganda. Right. This is the second-largest empire we're talking about here.

I think it doesn't help that for the longest time players on both sides assumed it was some grand interstellar democracy and not the federation of various nations, their colonies, and indigenous people.  This may be the greatest asset of the recent PF deluge, if played to appropriately.

[Katrina Oniseki]

I think it doesn't help that for the longest time players on both sides assumed it was some grand interstellar democracy and not the federation of various nations, their colonies, and indigenous people.  This may be the greatest asset of the recent PF deluge, if played to appropriately.

Exactly. In fact, pushing that envelope might even make the State look like that one problem child that just couldn't be a team player.

[Gesakaarin]

Add to the above that most players/characters IC are incapable of discussing GalFed politics without going "lolol democracy is so stooopid", and can't distinguish theory/ideal from propaganda. Right. This is the second-largest empire we're talking about here.

I would say that for Caldari and the State at least it makes sense to be undemocratic because it's a deeply nationalist, corporatist and illiberal society. The issue is that it's one thing to throw stones at democracy and liberalism but another to construct the intellectual lines of thought that form its basis.

The politics between the State and Fed is an old one and it's the conflict between the ideologies of nationalism/fascism versus liberalism/democracy.

[Lyn Farel]

I admit it's pretty tiresome having to support and RP a faction that seems incapable of keeping its shit together. It's almost the Satire/Parody faction in EVE, constantly being shown as having irredeemable flaws without looking at any potential strengths. I'm fine with problems being shown, but at least balance it out with what sets it ahead of other factions. So many of us take democracy for granted IRL that we don't realize how it is not subject to the flaws of other systems, for example.

Well, in the novels the Feds were like the nice guys to counterbalance... 

And at the contrary, the Amarr were the bad scapegoat slavers but without being the usual victim the Federation is.

[orange]

The politics between the State and Fed is an old one and it's the conflict between the ideologies of nationalism/fascism versus liberalism/democracy.

I am not sure that is entirely accurate, but those very ideas are wrapped up in the internal conflict of the Federation itself as well.

[Katrina Oniseki]

I admit it's pretty tiresome having to support and RP a faction that seems incapable of keeping its shit together. It's almost the Satire/Parody faction in EVE, constantly being shown as having irredeemable flaws without looking at any potential strengths.

Well, the Federation is really the only society any of us would actually want to live in. So maybe to keep with the grimdark dystopia vision of New Eden... maybe the Federation's flaw is that for all it's good intentions, it simply doesn't work.

I guess what I'm saying is that maybe that's the intended idea. Maybe the Federation's grimdark trope is that it's inept?

[Seriphyn]

Add to the above that most players/characters IC are incapable of discussing GalFed politics without going "lolol democracy is so stooopid", and can't distinguish theory/ideal from propaganda. Right. This is the second-largest empire we're talking about here.

I think it doesn't help that for the longest time players on both sides assumed it was some grand interstellar democracy and not the federation of various nations, their colonies, and indigenous people.  This may be the greatest asset of the recent PF deluge, if played to appropriately.

I think it doesn't help that for the longest time players on both sides assumed it was some grand interstellar democracy and not the federation of various nations, their colonies, and indigenous people.  This may be the greatest asset of the recent PF deluge, if played to appropriately.

Exactly. In fact, pushing that envelope might even make the State look like that one problem child that just couldn't be a team player.

I like these responses.

Also that might be the 'grimdark trope' versus Amarr slavery, Caldari coldness (esp. to non-Caldari, disenfranchised, disabled), Minmatar amorality (can't do anything worse than slavery). That being Gallente ineptitude. Some might say that means the Federation is 'working as intended'. Eurosceptic countries IRL, for example, would much prefer a weak EU than a strong one.

[Laerise [PIE]]

I admit it's pretty tiresome having to support and RP a faction that seems incapable of keeping its shit together. It's almost the Satire/Parody faction in EVE, constantly being shown as having irredeemable flaws without looking at any potential strengths.

Well, the Federation is really the only society any of us would actually want to live in. So maybe to keep with the grimdark dystopia vision of New Eden... maybe the Federation's flaw is that for all it's good intentions, it simply doesn't work.

I guess what I'm saying is that maybe that's the intended idea. Maybe the Federation's grimdark trope is that it's inept?

You're really only speaking for yourself there. I know a lot of people who'd be very happy to live in the State, and even a couple who would be happy living in a theocracy like the empire.

[Gesakaarin]

The politics between the State and Fed is an old one and it's the conflict between the ideologies of nationalism/fascism versus liberalism/democracy.

I am not sure that is entirely accurate, but those very ideas are wrapped up in the internal conflict of the Federation itself as well.

It's not entirely accurate because it's a very brief summation that popped into my head

What I was referring to is that the corporatism, nationalism, collectivism, authoritarianism, militarism, as well as the cultural and ethnic homogeneity that underpin the fabric of the Caldari State does not integrate well with the libertarian, liberal and democratic ideals of the Federation. They're polar opposites in mindsets (at least in my view) to the extent that they will always remain in conflict to one degree or another.

There's also a reason why my own Caldari characters hold a grudging respect for Gallenteans like Roden and Blaque as well as the SDII and it's because they share certain values in common.

Addendum: Just a note though, I'd probably say I'm a pretty damn liberal and libertarian guy in reality, but Eve to me is a fictional and dystopian sci-fi vision, so I tend not to have any issues divorcing my own politics in order to delve more fully into dark world CCP has created in New Eden.

No, I don't wear jackboots in RL. 

[Seriphyn]

I'm not confident CCP can write about the GalFed without some sense of irony, satire, or parody.

Go in-game and just read "Edimmu Warfighters" corp desc, and compare the ship descriptions of "Corax" (badass etc) versus "Algos" (gotta be able to retreat!)