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[Saede Riordan]

Inbound rant. You have been warned.

I'm sure most of you are aware of who my character is, but for those who need a recap, Nikita is roboticist and a cyberneticist,  she is a sort of capsular without a capsule. Through a series of events within her backstory, Nikita developed...damaged, she refuses to stay within her pod, despite the fact that the system she has rigged up instead of it is not nearly as safe, her ship is entirely automated through her own expense of leg work, combined with powerful AIs and enough drones and robots to colonize a planet.

That's my character, yes, she breaks some of the 'rules' that seem to have been laid down in eve RP, even though the RP is freeform, and there really are no rules. Now, I don't want to play a different character, I've put a lot of time, and energy creating a character that is human, and has flaws, and isn't a Mary Sue. Everything written into her backstory is completely plausible in the eve universe, I read pretty much all the eve fiction I could get my hands on before I made her, and I even went through the item database to figure out what items she could cannibalize to do the things she is doing.

I think I did a pretty good job. Evidently, according to some people, a pretty good job isn't good enough, and well thought out and unique translates to bad, and stupid. So I must ask, what is wrong with my character? Why am I being told by multiple people that the entire premise of my character is bad, and that I should just completely start over?

I'm not willing to completely redesign my character, I LIKE her, so what do I do? Should I just stop roleplaying because the sandbox isn't big enough for my ideas? Should I what? What do I do?

[Milo Caman]

Honestly, do whatever you want with your character. If people have an issue with it, let them rant. I've heard a few things regarding this (Am still pretty Hazy) and it sounds like a lot of people also have no issues with it.

I'm of the opinion that people should be able to do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't impact upon the freedoms of others. RP'ing a character different from the 'norm' doesn't harm anyone, or It shouldn't.

Stay on track, and props for creating an interesting and significantly different character.  

[Nakatre Read]

Just keep doing what you're doing. There's nothing wrong with being out of the ordinary, and you should just ignore those people who criticize it.

[Kaldor Mintat]

While i have not interacted with you ic as i can recall here is my 5 cents:

Yes, some of th things you have written in your post do not perhaps conform totally to pf. so what really? Its nothing major as i can see.

As always bottomline is that YOU should have fun.

[Kaleigh Doyle]

I hate to be the piss in the proverbial Cheerios, but im guessing you're looking for constructive advice, not an orgy of roleplay diversity acceptance.

One thing to consider are the ramifications of not being in your pod. What if you ARE podded and say they have your corpse? If people had the power to control ships that remotely, why are ANY of us in the damned things? Personally, I find the implications far too great to be immersive for me, and I'd probably ignore interaction altogether.

HOWEVER, I do think this has tremendous potential if approached differently. What about a psychological disorder like a phobia for drowning or claustrophobia; some kind of disorder that adds some flaw or weakness to the character. Seeing how people overcome these kinds of hurdles to achieve their goals can be fascinating and rewarding.

[scagga]

Go out with a bang. Orchestrate an elaborate death to immortalise the good memories of your character before the bad ones start building up.  Then start again.

[Goshien]

Playing like that, I wouldn't, simply because of the ramifications of death. Which I experience often enough that I don't bother with implants. (Still have a habit of not clicking my escape tab till its too late and session change deaths.)

Regardless, if I were to play something outside my pod, I would do the whole haul. If I died (even now) outside of my pod, I'd be dead. I'd log out, and you'd never see Goshien again. I know the thoughts a tear jerker for all of you but sadly, I am devoted to the idea that minus my brainscanner, I am mortal.

[Saede Riordan]

I hate to be the piss in the proverbial Cheerios, but im guessing you're looking for constructive advice, not an orgy of roleplay diversity acceptance.

One thing to consider are the ramifications of not being in your pod. What if you ARE podded and say they have your corpse? If people had the power to control ships that remotely, why are ANY of us in the damned things? Personally, I find the implications far too great to be immersive for me, and I'd probably ignore interaction altogether.

HOWEVER, I do think this has tremendous potential if approached differently. What about a psychological disorder like a phobia for drowning or claustrophobia; some kind of disorder that adds some flaw or weakness to the character. Seeing how people overcome these kinds of hurdles to achieve their goals can be fascinating and rewarding.

Well the thing is, your however senario is exactly why she won't go in the pod, there was an accident when she was growing up that left her floating alone in the dark in a fuel tank for three days before being rescued. She isn't special per say because of how she does things, she is damaged goods.

Well the pod exists for several reasons:
1. it functions as a sensory deprivation tank, which doesn't work with my character for some reason, she is always aware of her body, which plays more off her issue with being in the pod.
2. The pod functions as a neural link to control the ship by, I still have the neural link, it takes a lot of mental willpower to be able to control both the body and the ship concurrently but I manage well enough.
3. To clone you upon death. I have built a backup burn scanner into my brainstem, using information I've gained through my consulting work on Project 514, I also I have a pod, that I can jump into if the need to leave the ship arises, but for everyday things, I don't need to be in it. my pods are also personally modified to be well lit inside, and gravimetrically stabilized, instead of using ferrofluid in the dark.

I've been over most of this stuff, and I accept and acknowledge and have addressed all the issues with it, its not the idea per say as it is what to do about the people who don't accept it, which from the feeling I get from most of the posters, is just to do my own thing and let them be elitist asshats elseware. 

[Kaleigh Doyle]

The block button is a cool feature. Or just tell them to get over it 

[Goshien]

Block button I wield often enough. It's useful, both as an IC and OOC tool. Basically comes down to the same thing, if I don't want to listen to someone, I don't have to. Neither does Goshien, though that carries the issue of not being able to talk at all OOC as well.

OOC wise if I block you it's more or less permanent. You now do not exist outside a flash on my overview if it comes to that. Being a fan of online games as long as I have, it's the only was to deal with asshats is to wipe them from your mind entirely.

[Silver Night]

On the one hand, there are large parts of your RP that are to some extent or other not really compatible with PF.

On the other, you can certainly RP your character in any way you would like.

It is valid for other people's characters to react to you as if you are nuts, though. If your character approached most of my characters with, for example, the bit about the burning scanner built into your head, they would just assume your character was delusional.

That doesn't say that you are doing it wrong, or I'm doing it right. At some point, though, OOC you and I start playing by a set of rules different enough that we aren't in quite the same game anymore. That really hampers how we're going to be able to interact IC.

Most of us take liberties, of one degree or another, with PF. Either where something isn't defined at all, or where there is a bit of controversy about what PF there is, or even where we need to make a bit of a stretch for character reasons, as it might be said you have done.

Accommodating those various quirks from other people's characters is a courtesy, not a requirement. Everyone draws the line at different places. A problem arises when you simply expect people to accept  (OOC) these things. You are effectively the one that is going 'I'm right, you're wrong' in that case.

I think it is fair for people to say to you, OOC, "This is something that breaks PF and my immersion, so I'm not going to interact with you." or IC, "You're obviously crazy."

It is fair for you to say to them, OOC, "I think this is possible, and it's how I play the game." or IC, "No, I'm totally not crazy!"

Neither side should expect the other to change things because there is one 'right' way of doing them. There isn't. It's a sandbox. People just have different ideas about where the sides are, sometimes.

All that being said, the further afield you go with PF, the more likely you are to have more limited RP opportunities. Someone who says 'I'm Jamyl Sarum's Long lost daughter!' or 'I'm a cylon!' will find themselves with very few opportunities for RP, long term.

Obviously your character is situated somewhere where a lot of people will have issue with it (Though it isn't all that far up there, on a scale from 0 to Cylon). As some other replies here show, there are people willing to accommodate it. So, you have them to interact with. You have people who will probably be willing to interact even though their characters IC might think your character is quite eccentric, or shake their heads sadly and go 'Podder dementia. Sad it's got another one.' then move on and have meaningful interaction anyway.

So people don't agree OOC that your character fits their ideas of what PF is. Don't RP with them. Block them if they make a big deal out of it.

Just keep in mind, some people, and I probably would have done this myself if I had run into IG OOC, might not being doing it to go 'Ur wrong' they might be doing it because they would like to RP with you, but they would have to change their characters for it to work.

[Vikarion]

Yeah, I fall pretty much on the hard-PF side of the line. Everything my character can do and has experienced (technologically or setting-wise, not relationships, of course) I've tried to extrapolate from Eve PF.

So, if my character interacts with you, it's going to be "oh, look, another crazy", which has been his impression to this point.

[Verone]

Well the thing is, your however senario is exactly why she won't go in the pod, there was an accident when she was growing up that left her floating alone in the dark in a fuel tank for three days before being rescued. She isn't special per say because of how she does things, she is damaged goods.

Well the pod exists for several reasons:
1. it functions as a sensory deprivation tank, which doesn't work with my character for some reason, she is always aware of her body, which plays more off her issue with being in the pod.
2. The pod functions as a neural link to control the ship by, I still have the neural link, it takes a lot of mental willpower to be able to control both the body and the ship concurrently but I manage well enough.
3. To clone you upon death. I have built a backup burn scanner into my brainstem, using information I've gained through my consulting work on Project 514, I also I have a pod, that I can jump into if the need to leave the ship arises, but for everyday things, I don't need to be in it. my pods are also personally modified to be well lit inside, and gravimetrically stabilized, instead of using ferrofluid in the dark.

I've been over most of this stuff, and I accept and acknowledge and have addressed all the issues with it, its not the idea per say as it is what to do about the people who don't accept it, which from the feeling I get from most of the posters, is just to do my own thing and let them be elitist asshats elseware. 

I prefer freeform and dynamic RP as opposed to anything that's scripted or already has a pre-decided outcome.

I am however with Vik on this one, and while a lot of Eve's PF is pretty open ended and free to be indulged and expanded upon there are certain things that are there, are fact, and can't be changed.

I also share the same sentiments as Silver, so please don't take the following as flaming when I say that being a capsuleer is one of those things. The technology, how it works, how the cloning process works and the neural scanning process works is all hard written into PF and is what makes a capsuleer who they are.

Personally I've got no issue with people fiddling with PF a little for creative reasons, but some people (read pretty much everyone who cares about PF) will take exception to the fact that you're pretty much re-writing PF as you go.

Please don't take this as flaming (it's honestly not, i'm trying to offer you some insight into why people might be treating you with hostility because of your roleplay), I'd like to address your three points from the standpoint of someone who's been digging through Eve's PF for a little over two thirds of a decade.

Again, this isn't intended as flaming, it's more intended as a way for me to perhaps shed some light on why you're getting the "lol, fucking nutcase" treatment.

1. it functions as a sensory deprivation tank, which doesn't work with my character for some reason, she is always aware of her body, which plays more off her issue with being in the pod.

The pod functions as COMPLETE sensory deprivation, it's designed basically to create an out of body experience and make the pilot feel as if they're not using a human body any more. It's there fundamentally to remove the delays of reflex action, and keeps you bio-electrically linked to your ship's core systems to ensure that your ship responds as fast as you can possibly think.

Not being connected to a capsule and immersed, and controlling both your body and ship at the same time basically negates the need for a capsule. To bring to light just one of many contradictions and strange concepts, I can't understand what your character would "see" when she was piloting in this respect, as she'd still have control over her body and her sight, yet she'd be receiving a neural intercept from the link to display the images from her camera drone.

2. The pod functions as a neural link to control the ship by, I still have the neural link, it takes a lot of mental willpower to be able to control both the body and the ship concurrently but I manage well enough.

In this case, the willpower your character would have would probably put her on the verge of being able to perform telekinesis. Out of hundreds of trillions of people in New Eden, there are a couple of million people who can be capsuleers.

They first have to have the correct genetic makeup, then they have to have a solid enough mental state to be able to cope with the stress of being neural linked. When linked, a capsuleer's mind is in complete control of a ship's core systems. We're talking trillions of calculations per second, petabytes of data being shunted through the neural link as the ship's systems communicate digitally with the capsuleer's brain.

The Neural link is in the place it is at the base of the skull for a reason. It's designed as a hard wired bio-electrical intercept that effectively hijacks the capsuleer's central nervous system where it leaves the brain close to the medulla oblongata. The capsuleer is effectively in a state of complete physical paralysis while piloting, but has intricate mental control over their craft.

99.999% of New Eden's population can't handle this influx of data, the vast majority of them either dying, or suffering the effects of the "wetgrave", also known as a mind lock, where the state of paralysis remains once they're unhooked from the neural jack. Capsuleers have that extra sliver of "neural bandwidth", lets call it that for simplicity, that lets them do what they do.

Effectively, by claiming to have full control over both your ship and body at the same time, you're claiming to have double the mental capacity of a capsuleer. That's something that's never been heard of, your character would be one of a kind, and a god among demi-gods. Not even the most successful sovereign leaders can claim that.

3. To clone you upon death. I have built a backup burn scanner into my brainstem, using information I've gained through my consulting work on Project 514, I also I have a pod, that I can jump into if the need to leave the ship arises, but for everyday things, I don't need to be in it. my pods are also personally modified to be well lit inside, and gravimetrically stabilized, instead of using ferrofluid in the dark.

The burn scanner is something that's detailed quite heavily in several pieces of prime fiction. If I can find links to them I'll dig them up and post them here. In a nutshell (or an eggshell, if you want a pun), the technology comes from the Jovian Directorate. It was first handed to Ishukone many years ago in a trade deal, and was so sought after than Ishukone rose from being the bastard child runt corporation of the Caldari State to being one of the largest and most successful corporations in the Liberal bloc.

To this day, the tech is so advanced that it's still not an exact science. There are still fuckups, and capsuleers who're tried and tested, and fully qualified occasionally still end up mind locked. The premise is simple. The burn scanner watches for a breach in the hull of the capsule, monitoring its state thousands of times a second to make sure that the process is instant. On detecting a breach, the burner fires, and creates a neural backup of the capsuleer's brain in its exact state at that precise point in time. (Imagine a computer locking up hard, and then a piece of external software making a note of the on/off status of every single transistor of the hundreds of millions that are on the die of the CPU, and pulling a hard copy of the contents of the system's RAM.) That's projected to your cloning facility for download into your waiting clone.

The equipment is bulky, heavy and extremely sensitive, being able to be triggered by slight changes in pressure. Walking around with it on wouldn't be advised. That's why it's fitted to the capsule to give it the most stable platform possible to operate from. The videos for Incarna show us that it's also not just a case of "jumping into" a capsule. It's a process that takes time and a lot of technological know-how. It's easy enough to get in and out of, but it's not like jumping in the bath.

As for a pod being well lit, and stabilised with artificial gravity, there's little point to it given the control a vessel has over your nervous system. With regards to it not being filled with fluid, even the concept of this really doesn't make sense. Fluid pressure will always overcome gas pressure. A liquid in general terms cannot be compressed (some will argue that it can, by microns, and this is true, however we're talking in general laymens terms), while a gas can. This means that hydraulic (liquid) pressure is always more stable than pneumatic (gas) pressure, hence the prevalent use of hydraulics over pneumatics in heavy industry. Hell, sometimes people even use "air over oil" systems, with the liquid force of the oil giving the actuation and the gas pressure giving a damping effect.

Now take this fact into space, where we meet temperature and pressure differences that can vary in the best case by thousands of degrees and the situation gets very ugly for the sensitivity of the neural burner.

As for how cloning will work with DUST's ground troops, that's yet to be seen. I've heard talk that it's going to be based around pre-mission soft scan backups to retain memory and skills, rather than mobile neural burning equipment. Hell, they could even do a wierd take on Avatar and use clones remotely controlled from the war-barge if they wanted to. A lot of it is up in the air right now.


So in closing, as I've said, this isn't attempted as me flaming you, please don't consider it as that. This is just me taking a look at where PF meets and clashes technologically with what you've written, from the perspective of a qualified and experienced Engineer out of game.

I can accept that some things are perfectly fine to hand wave and hell, I love to see people getting creative with their RP, but there is a line with how much we can bend the rules of prime fiction and it's best not to tread the far side of it if you want your character to be treat in any other way than being a bit crackers. I think that a lot of people have considered you as crossing that line, and that's where the hostility stems from.

What needs to be remembered is that RP is about immersion, and heavily contradicting prime fiction with your character means that a lot of people will simply treat you as crackers, because it breaks their immersion and dilutes or completely dissolves their RP experience.


As for the end of your posted quote, sure... some people might come across to you as elitist asshats. I hope that I haven't, I've tried to be as direct and to the point as I can about why people might see your character as a complete breach of prime fiction, and might negatively respond to you.

As for my own character, Yeah... he'd interact with Nikita without an issue, purely because of the fact he's met some serious nutjobs in his time and can just shake his head at it.

He'd think that Nikita was an absolute delusional nutjob or a serious booster abuser, but that wouldn't stop him from being pleasant and interacting with her. I value and enjoy RP just as much as the next person, so if someone wants to be creative with it, I'm not going to hold it against them and deny they even exist.

Besides, we all go a little mad sometimes. 



General note : I've given my opinion and perception of PF in this response, it's not gospel, it's my interpretation of how I see the technology from prime fiction working. If you don't agree with me, please don't shit up this thread with your arguments against it. This is Nikita's thread not mine, and my perception of PF is not the subject here, it was only added in an attempt to assist the player her in understanding where I was coming from and why people might be treating him or her with hostility.

[Casiella]

Nikita, as you can see, I think most folks understand that of course you have the right to play however you see fit. Nobody can enforce any sort of "rules" upon you, nor should we, which makes all the input really just suggestions and guidelines. People who suggest that you are "bad" and "stupid", or imply it as closely as they can without calling you that, probably shouldn't.

On the other hand, you should understand that a character design such as you've outlined runs counter to the fictional universe that most of us understand (along the lines of Verone's extensive interpretation and explanation). So when that happens, we can do one of two things: change how we view this fictional universe, possibly introducing incoherence or at least inconsistency, or simply choose not to interact with your character as such (I include treating her like a nutcase here).

Really, you need to decide whether your commitment to your interpretation is strong enough to overcome this sort of community pressure. If you want to run with that, by all means, do so! But if you want to adapt her somewhat to have more consistency with the widely-accepted information on the EVE universe, we can certainly help you do that.

Either way, as long as you're having fun and nobody's violating the ToS in their interactions with you, that's all that really matters.

[GoGo Yubari]

Hmm. Others have raised good and relevant points, with me pretty much agreeing. I just want to ask one question and it's not sarcastic, snide-licious, but just genuinely interested in seeking understanding.

As per Verone's post, the PF is pretty well established (I'm not sure that I agree entirely 100% with all of Verone's ideas/propositions, but he certainly is on the right track). It gives us the basic starting point for all our characters. You can go in a million different directions from there.

Why choose to be so different as to go against the PF? Why is it so important? Why does your character need to control her ships' in this manner? You can be special in a million different ways, introducing whatever peculiarities you want into your character via myriad different options, without breaking the PF so blatantly. It's an MMO and we have to play with others after all.

Hence, while I don't think what you're doing is "wrong" in some cosmic sense ("all is allowed, nothing is forbidden" and all that..), I simply don't see why you would choose this.