Thursday, December 6, 2012

It's a Show About Nothing: BB41

BB41: Director’s Cut

The universe of EVE is not without its drama and epic stories, both in and out of game. Imagine a publisher, movie studio or television network asked you to prepare a pitch for a new brand of EVE-flavoured entertainment. This could be your big break, what would be your synopsis to bring New Eden to the wider audience?

Imagine a program in which you watch people tell stories and take part in them. They involve group drama, schadenfreude, comedy, bumbling idiots, triumphant moments, blatant irreverence, myopic world views, and endless ironic snobbery and elitism.

Yep. It's "Seinfeld" in space, y'all.Welcome to EVE Online.

This really is a game about nothing. Oh sure, there are spaceships and planets and stations and ermagherdlazors. But at the end of the day, nothing happens in this game unless we make it happen. The game itself is literally about nothing. Ok, that's not quite fair. The "game" is about us. We the people, capsuleers across the heavens. Moreover, it's about our adventures. So I guess the game is at its heart about the adventures we create.  And some of the best parts of creating your own stories and having your own adventures are sharing them with your friends. Usually over coffee or some other beverage. I'm not sure about you, but it happens to me in EVE all the time.

"So I almost tackled and killed a Harby last night."
"What happened?! You didn't kill him?"
"Nah, I had a long point fit so he pulled range and got away."
"He got away?! Why didn't you have a short point?!"
"I don't like the short point."
"Why don't you like the short point?!"
"It's too short."
"Too short?!"
"Too short. They should have a medium point. You could call it a mid-point."
"You can't call it a mid-point. Other things are already called mid-points."
"What if I called THIS my mid-point and called other things 'other things?'"
"What if I called YOU 'other things?'"
"How would I know? I wouldn't know you were talking to me..."

You get the idea. Seinfeld. Space. The neat thing about this metaphor is that it already gets the ratio of men to women right, when you factor in all of the side characters and Elaine. And the characters are already familiar. Every corporation has a Jerry. Every corporation has a George and a Kramer. Most alliances have at least one Elaine. It's sounds like a terrible idea until you consider it's based on one of the most popular American television shows of all time. Which in turn was based on, well nothing.

We'd fly together. We'd fight. We'll be doing this anyways. We need  to do it. Otherwise, we'd have nothing to talk about.

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