Now yes, things are at a lull. No one can deny that. But lulls don't get fixed by people sitting on their hands moping about it, they get fixed by people getting up and taking initiative.
What do you propose to fix them ? One does need a clear picture on what to do to begin with.
Even before I left, I was left with absolutely no clue on how to proceed. It was not just about being part of the PIE little private circle, it was about RP actually happening. It is very easy to tell that to others when you are in your self sufficient niche when most of the former aren't. When the former are the ones actually trying things here and there out of despair.
The only alternative I saw before making my decision to leave was to create a new character and get a new start. Creating something very mainstream to be sure to fit in the correct few surviving circles. When I saw that the only solution was to join PIE or any other few surviving RP closed circles, starting anew, it just killed the last flame I still had.
tl;dr : I find it a bit harsh to get told something like that by people actually being in the easy position. Tell us what is your magical plan for it to work and i'll get back ingame asap.
Edit : sorry if that came out a bit harsh. I'm so sick of having been told that again and again and again over the past years that it's a bit like the last straw for me. I mean, maybe people are not just complaining and waiting to be fed. Maybe they are complaining for a reason ?
There is no magical plan. There never has been and never will be. People want to believe there's one, that a thriving RP community is something that pops up out of smoke and air and pixie dust, but it isn't. It takes hard work and effort. Every RP community ever believes that RP is dying. This is not limited to EVE, and you will find the same thing whereever you go. You are sick of what I said, while I am sick of over a decade of reading "RP is dead" threads every few months in every single RP community I have ever been in. Many of which have had random RP as limited or
more than EVE's. Indeed, even in a lull the Summit as a global channel still provides more daily random RP than empty streets in a city in a traditional MMO, and the IGS is an especially useful tool in providing a setting for roleplay that is devoid of the normally heavy restrictions imposed by timezones and busy RL schedules. I certainly get more RP in EVE right now than I do in any of the other MMOs I have focused on recently.
I have to pause here for a moment to expand on because it's a seriously significant thing: the IGS, not the Summit, is the tavern of EVE RP, superior even to taverns in most MMO RP communities in its capacity as a springboard for further interaction. Characters who post here express their desires, interests, and actions in a widely-accessible, permanently-visible medium, making every post a potential opening for those who wish to explore further discussion and development through use of external communication methods like mail, in-game conversations, or space activities. Random RP is ideally a starting point, rather than a goal in itself.
The fact is that despite Jace's wishes, being a door-to-door salesman is a required trait in being a roleplayer. Healthy roleplay is built on proaction, not reaction. If you don't have contacts or storylines for your character then you have to create them. You need to venture out and find friends (or enemies) and build those relations. You have to cast a line if you want to hook a fish. Make up reasons to interact with people you otherwise wouldn't, or create events to bring people together, and then build on those new connections. Watch the Summit, watch the IGS, watch what people say and do, and reel in when you find something interesting that you'd like to get deeper into. Once those connections are formed, you have a foundation on which to proceed moving forward. On the Amarr side of things, people like Odelya, Nauplius, and Lunarisse are an excellent example here: Odelya and Nauplius both served in the oppositional role, Odelya using IGS disputes as an excuse to create connections with and drag two otherwise unaffiliated roleplaying corporations into (violent) contact with each other (PIE and Stormcrows), and Nauplius working to provide content as an antagonist force to the point of creating his own corp so he could be war decced and launching his own towers so they can be shot at. Then Lunarisse going around being the diplomat gathering multiple different RP corps together and setting them off towards in-game space goals.
EVE is at a lull. But why is it at a lull? It's at a lull because CCP cut off the free food it was giving the RP community since launch. When CCP starts posting news and live events again, activity shoots through the roof (as seen spring last year). This demonstrates that these RPers are still around--they are just waiting for content that they can latch on to. This is because what creates RP is something to talk about, and EVE's RP community believes that CCP are the ones who should be providing this content. I don't think this is something that can or should be relied on moving forward; issues, topics, and content need to be generated by the RPers rather than the devs.
Also, Lyn: There is no private self-sustaining PIE RP circle. Very little internal RP happens; most of our alliance RP is done through space pew pew. Occasionally there's stuff between me and Aldrith and sometimes Mitara, and occasionally other PIE people show up at RP events, but for the most part my IC contacts lie outside of PIE. Despite Sami being a horribly withdrawn character, I've made sure to cultivate a wide net of IC connections which give me multiple options for RP both inside Amarr and out.
I think it should be noted, that I do understand the feeling of having all of your previous contacts and stories disappear and having no one else to turn to and no energy to rebuild it all. I've been there before, many many times, in EVE and in other RP communities. I've gotten drained, stressed, and encouraged to quit. But ultimately that unwillingness is my own doing; you get out what you put in, and if you've lost the energy to put in then you won't get much out. Usually a break is enough for me to recharge my batteries enough to dive in again after a few months and give it another go. Sometimes it isn't, and you decide that you're done for good. There isn't anything wrong with that. What never helps the community though is to bittervet about how things are bad and will never improve, as it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where current players feel that it's pointless to put in work to improve things and so don't. One should always, always encourage initiative and agency. An experience with community leadership in another faltering RP community two years ago taught me just how much a few people can do when they have the energy and will, so I prefer to encourage people to think positively (though I can't deny that I get caught up in the bittervetting myself often enough, but it's something I know I should avoid).
And Jace, I apologize if you didn't intend for this to be an 'EVE RP is dying' thread. The question about what keeps us coming back is marred by the rest of the post being about how bad you believe things are, which isn't encouraging to those of us currently playing. In answer to what makes us come back,
I'll link to a post I made on a similar topic on the official forums, which sums up my beliefs.
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Topic: Why Did I Come Back To EVE? (Read 12013 times)