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[Silver Night]

See it here: http://www.eveonline.com/background/potw/default.asp?cid=15-06-10

Seems interesting. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the degree of control over planets it implies Capsuleers have now.

[Casiella]

First thought: the art is badass.

[Louella Dougans]

Omvistus is a char ingame... 1month 26 days... possibly how long ago the chron was written?

[Svetlana Scarlet]

Uh...seriously...what?  I admit I'm not the biggest fan of the "capsuleers as demigods" meme, but I think this is really just ridiculous.  Codifying stuff that is game mechanic shorthand and makes no sense in reality (like everything being automated, capsuleers having absolute power over government officials for no reason, etc) seems like a really bad rabbit hole to go down.  Cloning was one thing, this just doesn't make any sense at all.  Put me down as another person that does not understand why anyone puts up with capsuleers at all if they are all overentitled megalomaniacs.  You gotta sleep sometime.

If everything can be automated to such a degree, why doesn't everyone do it already?  What is the point of a government that cannot ensure the safety of its citizens (unless they cross a very strangely drawn line, in which case the hammer of god comes down and smites them from the heavens)?  Consistency is a good thing people...

[Ken]

I think chron art is usually pretty good.  Interesting how the capsuleer in this story has chosen to make himself look like a Strogg.   

Will have to agree with Silver on the implications of this particular depiction of PI.  I could buy a capsuleer behaving that way in nullsec with a colony inside his own alliance's sov, but in empire space threats of that kind could never be fulfilled.  While it's possible that they're serious about making the "nuke it from orbit" part of Dust 514 a big deal and killing millions of planetary residents to make a couple ISK will be both possible and typical of capsuleers, I think the planetary administrator in this chron was just a spineless moron.  Creepy Amarrian pod pilot spooked him and he folded before the flop.

[Ghost Hunter]

Somehow I get the trillions of people in EVE is going to be seeing a population cut in the next year or so.

[Saede Riordan]

Uh...seriously...what?  I admit I'm not the biggest fan of the "capsuleers as demigods" meme, but I think this is really just ridiculous.  Codifying stuff that is game mechanic shorthand and makes no sense in reality (like everything being automated, capsuleers having absolute power over government officials for no reason, etc) seems like a really bad rabbit hole to go down.  Cloning was one thing, this just doesn't make any sense at all.  Put me down as another person that does not understand why anyone puts up with capsuleers at all if they are all overentitled megalomaniacs.  You gotta sleep sometime.

If everything can be automated to such a degree, why doesn't everyone do it already?  What is the point of a government that cannot ensure the safety of its citizens (unless they cross a very strangely drawn line, in which case the hammer of god comes down and smites them from the heavens)?  Consistency is a good thing people...

this this this.

It makes no sense for capsuleers to given this much power with no oversight, its fine for gameplay purposes, but in fiction its just a huge throbbing wound. It makes the empires seem retarded, powerless, and useless. No sane government would allow any one group that much reckless freedom, its just absurd.

[Casiella]

I posted in the comment thread and it might be good if others did so as well, if for no other reason than to let Hjalti (Abraxas) know we're paying attention.  

[Vikarion]

From the government's perspective, a capsuleer developing the planet (notice, by the way, that he said that the emplacement of facilities was automated, not the operation of them) is a wonderful thing. It's infrastructure development with no overhead for the government. Jobs will be created, etc.

Now, was the capsuleer's threat a bluff or an actual intention? I'm going to go with "bluff". After all, capsuleers up to this point have been characterized as often inhuman, impatient, selfish bastards. This fits right into that: the pilot can't actually bombard the planet without a CONCORD response, but the planetary administrator doesn't know that. He's not a pod pilot, he doesn't know the rules "we" live under.

So the capsuleer threatens, the reputation capsuleers have works for him, and he gets his way. Selfish, petty, powerful, and without ethics. That's not a new story device.

[Svetlana Scarlet]

A capsuleer developing the planet is good if they get anything from it.  If what they get is an asshole stealing everything he can take and threatening the governor at gunpoint to do obey his every whim, the government has essentially become redundant.  It is worthless.  Why can CONCORD vaporize a capsuleer if they accidentally catch an indestructible stargate with a microsmartbomb, but CONCORD sits there with its thumb up its ass if a capsuleer threatens to wipe out thousands of people because he didn't get his holoreels fast enough?

[Vikarion]

Because the capsuleer hasn't done it. It's the same way that you can have celebrities talking about how they'd like to see the President assassinated: they might be encouraging an unlawful act, but there's no way that they're going to get prosecuted unless they actually violate the law. Amplify that celebrity power by a bit and...

Capsuleers are not push-overs. They have political connections, money beyond belief, and the empires need them. They're the kind of people that can look at "Bill Gates" figures with a dismissive eye. They can say what they like, when they like, and to whom they like, without repercussion, because of the storm of wrath any government that tried to stop them would entail.

Imagine, for example, what might happen if Roden published a decree stating that any pilot using Caldari ships in the FDU would have his clone contract revoked? What would that do to the Federation war effort? What would it do to planetary development if you had to wait a week to cut through red tape in the Fed, while in Caldari space you got it immediately? Exactly.

[Svetlana Scarlet]

Uhm....the capsuleer certainly has "done it".   Threatening someone at gunpoint is extortion.  And you make this argument like everyone government has to bow to the capsuleers because otherwise they will be fucked by all the others -- except that CONCORD is an entity designed precisely to combat that exact problem.  The capsuleers are entirely dependent on the governments and corporations for their continued "immortality".  It is in no one's interests to let capsuleers behave like this -- certainly not all capsuleers everywhere like CCP seems to want to portray it.  I could buy it if it was one bad apple, but that's not how they are portraying things. 

Even pirates aren't going to give capsuleers unchecked power, because then the pirates just become their victims -- more than anyone, they should realize what happens when you can't keep someone on a leash.  This current trend is just retardedly ridiculous, and makes no sense.  Furthermore, if automation is as good as this chron portrays, why are there human grunt workers at all?  Why do the Caldari insist on having misery factories if automation is so fast, cheap, and easy that they could just have robots do everything?  Are they the villains from Captain Planet or something?  Jesus.

Take 10 minutes and think about where the logical progression of the events in your storylines go, people, and then think whether being "dark and grim and grim and dark" is as important as I don't know, a halfway consistent narrative.

[Casiella]

Vik, I see the example you're trying to make, though I'll note that the example you cite actually is an illegal act and will lead, at a minimum, to a USSS investigation. I speak with firsthand knowledge on this matter. That corresponds decently with Svet's point about extortion.

I like to think that it was a bluff, of course, but the automation bits have troubled me for a long time. I've chosen to treat it as an area where the fictional implications don't bear a close examination and just symbolize what really goes on.

[Vieve]

I did some thinking about logical progression, and posted to that thread.

Likely not a good idea for all parties involved, but, hey, 100-degree fever.

[Akikio L]

I will illustrate the thoughts in my brain while reading the chron:


 
Maybe this is part of setting the stage for pew pew on planets in Dust? Even if it's "lol I blauff u stopid dirtcrawler lololol" it's a bit too much for my taste.