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[Louella Dougans]

Well it looks like the sky is falling, again.

IGS forecast for the next few months: Histrionics and calls for everyone to drop everything ever to combat the Reapers.

Drifters then become the new PvE LP/loot pinata content. Normalcy returned.

i like how everyone has suddenly completed a doctorate in relevant subjects, despite never having mentioned this before.

I'm sure there are Galnet PhD degrees your character can complete for a low enrollment and processing fee.

Maybe, but it's still a bit jarring when people announce having degrees and stuff that they completed several months or years previously, in subjects that didn't even exist before the expansion that introduced Thera in December.

[Gwen Ikiryo]

I agree that this arc is pretty stale on CCPs part, and OOCly it's hard for me to get excited or really see it as meaningful. Though it's hard for me to do that with anything to do with this game recently.

However, I think that if one reaches the point when ones OOC exhaustion with CCPs plotting makes taking it seriously IC difficult or impossible for you - And this is a Serious Thing, ICly, even if we know out of context it's probably going nowhere amazing - You should probably step back from roleplaying, because being that jaded with the setting at such a underlying level means you're just going to kill what small amount of fun people trying are going to get out of it. I don't mean that in a judgemental way. It just doesn't help anything.

[Aelisha]

Well it looks like the sky is falling, again.

IGS forecast for the next few months: Histrionics and calls for everyone to drop everything ever to combat the Reapers.

Drifters then become the new PvE LP/loot pinata content. Normalcy returned.

i like how everyone has suddenly completed a doctorate in relevant subjects, despite never having mentioned this before.

I'm sure there are Galnet PhD degrees your character can complete for a low enrollment and processing fee.

Maybe, but it's still a bit jarring when people announce having degrees and stuff that they completed several months or years previously, in subjects that didn't even exist before the expansion that introduced Thera in December.

Ignore them?

Its pretty hard to be an academic if no one takes your work seriously.

[Lyn Farel]

Lyn:

I think the "giving away the mystery" bit works best when the mystery is something really simple with huge implications.

Ever seen "Ju-On"? Its premise gets explained right at the start.

Ju-On is a curse left by one who died in the grip of a terrible rage. It haunts the places it knew in life. Those who encounter it become infected by it and die, and the curse spreads.

Simple. Direct. Horrifying. They start with that premise and stick to it (it's when they start varying from it, in the sequels, that it gets messy). The rest is an intimate examination of the consequences: a series of tragedies, lives touched by the curse, all hurtling, wittingly or not, towards oblivion. Nobody escapes.


The Other, on the other hand (ha) smacks of "Hey, guys! Look at this really neat plotline we've got going on that none of your characters are aware of! Isn't it cool?"

Or, alternatively:

"We've switched the regular Empress of the Amarr with an emergent artificial intelligence. Let's see if they notice!"

Yes.

I haven't seen that movie. But another example that comes to mind is Hyperion (the novel). The huge revelation with the AIs and jump portals thingy that gets revealed late in the book was a colossal surprise to me. The author manages to tell it all in one single sentence of a few words.

I had to re-read it several times before grasping all the implications. Well maybe I was young so it might have impressed me more than it would now, but I still vividly remember it as impressing. If the author had written it like the Other and we knew everything about it from page 1, it would have been so meh in comparison...

I agree that this arc is pretty stale on CCPs part, and OOCly it's hard for me to get excited or really see it as meaningful. Though it's hard for me to do that with anything to do with this game recently.

However, I think that if one reaches the point when ones OOC exhaustion with CCPs plotting makes taking it seriously IC difficult or impossible for you - And this is a Serious Thing, ICly, even if we know out of context it's probably going nowhere amazing - You should probably step back from roleplaying, because being that jaded with the setting at such a underlying level means you're just going to kill what small amount of fun people trying are going to get out of it. I don't mean that in a judgemental way. It just doesn't help anything.

Personally i'm still enjoying it a bit : there is still the fun of the novelty and mystery and discovery to be had ICly, even if we know what it is OOCly. At least it creates RP content, and a certain IC emulsion that gives an atmosphere. No matter what will be the later negative implications of all of this... At least I can try to have fun right now.

[Halcyon]

At least I can try to have fun right now.

This.
Who cares if it's going to be the next farmable thing? Who cares if this is all done before. Most things have been done before. If there's no value to it purely on that basis we might as well shut down most creative media. Have fun with what we've got and make some new rp from it.

[Lyn Farel]

That's not what I mean. I care about all the shit that's already going out of it. But trying to get a bit of fun out of an incoming shitstorm is better than no fun at all. :/

[Halcyon]

Lyn, I was agreeing with you

[Aelisha]

Agreed with Halcyon and Lyn on the fun right now point.  Everything will be old, boring and algorithmically optimised in the future.  Dwelling on that eventuality the moment a new thing appears doesn't achieve much beyond making the new seem dull and progression seem superfluous in the face of grinding, depressing inevitability.  New is new, regardless of the fact it will become tired and old sooner or later.

We also might be overlooking the fact that CCP Affinity has heavily implied these new NPCs are a progression of the TALE AI that powers sleepers and Incursion rats.  Some have even mistaken them for actors (though they don't reply to you :p).  As the primary limiting factor of live events is man hours, effectively the multiplication of bums on seats and available hours per said bottom.  Replacing people with AI actors that can better multi-task and may even be objective driven, while using what real human assets you have to drive the plot dynamically (changing the objective/sub-goals of the TALE Ai session for example) is sensible and efficient asset management and may actually overcome the cost of storytelling issue CCP seems to have. 

The latter part of that is speculation of course, but it is heavily implied that they are at least making efforts towards providing a supporting system for dynamic NPCs which may be co-opted by CCP staffers and event managers to engage with us more so than ever before, while actually using less manpower to reach more players. 

As the goal of an event is to engage the community (and not the minority of roleplayers such as you and I to the exclusion of the majority), I believe that this is both a sensible and sustainable move, and would love to see where they go with this new paradigm.  AI that can be tweaked by 'expert hands' will potentially revolutionize digital storytelling, and I hope that CCP might be one of the first to truly showcase how artificially intelligent middle men can extend the reach of their community-facing projects. 

In the end it will become old, grey and as bitter/nostalgia inducing as everything else.  But it will be cool at the time, right?

[Halcyon]

I was considering earlier that this AI could work its way into missions rats eventually too

[Aelisha]

It could do, though eve is, at its core, an MMO and therefore will always have some farmable content to keep the market lubricant (ISK) flowing in just in case emergent or dynamic content systems fail to meet quota.  This is probably why Incursions will never change, or if they do, an alternative mechanic will step in to replace that particular faucet. 

Then again clever rats with higher bounties... That could sort a lot of problems while still being 'farmable' (though much more engaging). 

[Halcyon]

Certain missions would require more careful thought if the named rat might warp off somewhere

[Silas Vitalia]

I think more 'intelligent' NPCs are going to run into the limits of eve's combat mechanics pretty fast.

IE:  Combat in EVE has always been more about the planning, organizing, and strategy -before- the fight. By the time you are on field you've already got your ship fitted for 'x' specific sort of contingency and the die is mostly cast.  Combat in EVE is all about the setup to the fight, and not the lackluster game mechanics of the actual pew pew part.

Basically most encounters with NPCs (or pvpers) are decided before any shots are fired based on how eve's pew pew mechanics and preset ship fittings works. There are exceptions of coursea but 90% of the time you win or lose based on what you are fit for in damage, tanking, range, etc and what your opponant brings in the same regard.

I do see those new tech destroyers as an interesting ray of sunlight on that department though, allowing much more dynamic shifting of ship abilities for a changing situation. 

Having more gameplay that is about adjusting on the fly to a dynamic foe rather than leaving field to refit and counter a specific threat is perhaps a good way forward.

[Gottii]

Everything Silas just said.

He's smart yo.

[Veiki]

Well it looks like the sky is falling, again.

IGS forecast for the next few months: Histrionics and calls for everyone to drop everything ever to combat the Reapers.

Drifters then become the new PvE LP/loot pinata content. Normalcy returned.

i like how everyone has suddenly completed a doctorate in relevant subjects, despite never having mentioned this before.

I'm sure there are Galnet PhD degrees your character can complete for a low enrollment and processing fee.

Maybe, but it's still a bit jarring when people announce having degrees and stuff that they completed several months or years previously, in subjects that didn't even exist before the expansion that introduced Thera in December.

I'd say it's normal and expected for people to say their characters have some sudden connection to new events run by CCP. It's the same as when Incursions first came out and then there were all these characters suddenly loyal to Sansha's Nation all along the whole time. Once CCP wound down the Incursion arc they all seem to have disappeared.

[Katrina Oniseki]

I think more 'intelligent' NPCs are going to run into the limits of eve's combat mechanics pretty fast.

IE:  Combat in EVE has always been more about the planning, organizing, and strategy -before- the fight. By the time you are on field you've already got your ship fitted for 'x' specific sort of contingency and the die is mostly cast.  Combat in EVE is all about the setup to the fight, and not the lackluster game mechanics of the actual pew pew part.

Basically most encounters with NPCs (or pvpers) are decided before any shots are fired based on how eve's pew pew mechanics and preset ship fittings works. There are exceptions of coursea but 90% of the time you win or lose based on what you are fit for in damage, tanking, range, etc and what your opponant brings in the same regard.

I do see those new tech destroyers as an interesting ray of sunlight on that department though, allowing much more dynamic shifting of ship abilities for a changing situation. 

Having more gameplay that is about adjusting on the fly to a dynamic foe rather than leaving field to refit and counter a specific threat is perhaps a good way forward.

Intelligent NPCs can get around those limits by simply being coded in a way that allows them whatever tools they need to do the job. There's nothing really stopping CCP from creating an NPC that can effectively make use of almost any function modules currently give us as players, without limit or "prefitting". Drifter needs more cap? Recharge cap. It's not like they have to choose to fit a rig before the fight.

The reality is that "Intelligent NPCs" would really just be "overpowered" NPCs, far beyond anything we can fly, simply because they aren't us.