News: PlanetSide 2 Backstory Part 3, Joe Walsh

[HELLFISH88]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

Yeah, not so fast champ.

1. If anything the scientists would be less open, because they'd be smart enough to realize that the disembodied voice telling them to kill everyone just might have some ulterior motives and not be trustworthy.

2. The backstory is supposed to be creating three factions that have radically different philosophies and ideas of government, but who can all make reasonable arguments as to why their way is right. That way people will choose the faction that best resonates with their personal beliefs, and feel more invested for having made the choice. "Be stupid insane and do whatever the voices tell you because you are a brainwashed half-wit" does not resonate well with any significant portion of the population.

Your assuming I'm on the Vanu crazy Train. I'm not, I just think they are wrong. There is a difference between being Zealous and being crazy, however they often overlap. Crazy itself is such a vague term as it is. As a New Conglomerate player I dislike the Vanu sovereignty because they are giving themselves over to some mysterious alien voice. I don't trust the Terran Human government to rule, why then would I trust an even more foreign body such as an alien race controlling a "cult"???

I agree with you about the direction of the plot itself. I'm elated that each side has it's own vibe that is suppose to resonate with individuals; I think it's part of what makes it planetside.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

1. If anything the scientists would be less open, because they'd be smart enough to realize that the disembodied voice telling them to kill everyone just might have some ulterior motives and not be trustworthy.

Maybe for mainstream scientists. But the VS are in their own echo chamber, isolated from earth, surrounded by relative morons that are hell bent on war. If there is a telepathic alien that showed them the path to immortality via rebirthing, it's safe to assume they could turn cult-ish. Scientists aren't immune to evil, just look at eugenics around WW2.

[Traak]

"...60 thousand citizens..."

That part was the best part, to me.

And this was one of the worst: 2 Phoenix missiles?

"Jimmy Dorsey fired launcher one. His brother set off Launcher two. Walsh and the others set off the rest. Rockets careened down alongside Lavastorm’s wall and exploded. Four T.R.s, broken and lifeless, were thrown from cubby holes."

[HELLFISH88]

Originally Posted by Raymac

Maybe for mainstream scientists. But the VS are in their own echo chamber, isolated from earth, surrounded by relative morons that are hell bent on war. If there is a telepathic alien that showed them the path to immortality via rebirthing, it's safe to assume they could turn cult-ish. Scientists aren't immune to evil, just look at eugenics around WW2.

Exactly. Scientist's tend to be more progressive thinking people for the most part. From their perspective and with their secret newfound knowledge the Fighting amongst the TR and NC(not to mention being trapped on Auraxis) is both madness and suicide. The Vanu entity could be offering them some sort of solution right out; or perhaps the sovreignty wants to take advantage of the situation as best they can seeing it as their only alternative/savior. At this point i would never call the Vanu Sovereignty itself "evil". It probably has shades of Evil as the other two factions do; but evil is also subjective and therefore determined by the individual perceiving it.

[Talek Krell]

Originally Posted by HELLFISH88

Your assuming I'm on the Vanu crazy Train. I'm not, I just think they are wrong.

That's the problem, I'm on the crazy train and I think they're wrong too! The idea that a group of intelligent, educated, rational human beings would learn one cool thing from an alien and then blindly follow his advice to murder the remainder of their species is ridiculous. It would be like a PhD physicist taking candy from a stranger and then getting into the van, but the van is labeled "rape-mobile" and has a giant rubber dildo strapped to the roof. Normal people detect these warning signs.

My concern is that at this rate we're going to have 2 flawed but understandable empires and 1 raving loonybin.

[Halseth]

Originally Posted by Firefly

I don't know about anyone else, but I strongly disagree. This isn't fanfiction.net, this is Planetside 2. I don't consider myself a literary snob - I consider myself a fan of the English language, which includes the proper usage and employment thereof. I'm also a paid writer for a video game developer - if my work has errors, I expect my fellow writers, fellow employees, and QC editors to find them. Which is why I try not to make mistakes in the first place. And if they don't catch it, I know fans will - and I expect them to send feedback saying "This is incorrect". I'd rather not get to that point, though. I don't want the fans going "Whoever put this in here is retarded, why would they hire an idiot?" The key word in all of this is "paid writer". Do you get paid to do a half-assed job? Will your boss say, "Hey pal, those fries are still half-frozen!" or will he say "Sell that shit, son!" I very much doubt the latter happens.

Just like people judge you on the internet wehn u make misstakes liek this lol cuz u type liek u txt lololol... expect people to judge a body of written work based on A) its content, B) its accuracy, and C) its proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. And by accepting shoddy amateur work we are devaluing a professional product. To say nothing of setting the stage for further shoddy work elsewhere with the product.

Absolutely this. Heck, Private Edmund goes from being named Ken in one sentence to Ben in the very next. The sheer number of errors is embarrassing. I've been trying to overlook them, really, but when characters are being incorrectly named in the same paragraph that they are introduced, it's a little bit excessive.

It takes maybe five minutes at most to read over each of the short stories they've put out thus far, yet it seems like they've just been releasing the first drafts to the fanbase without ever giving the content a second look. It gives off the perception that they haven't put even the slightest bit of effort into checking them for accuracy and / or clarity, and at least for me shows a lack of commitment in achieving their goal of making the backstory as important of a component for Planetside as they had originally stated they wanted it to be.

The content isn't bad, it's simply horribly marred due to what seems like an unfortunately nonexistent editing process. Individually, these are very short pieces of fiction, yet all of them so far have been released with errors that went beyond simple grammar and spelling mistakes. Errors which ultimately had to be brought up by the fanbase before they were corrected. If they want these stories to be taken seriously they need to put some actual effort into ensuring their quality. I want this to be amazing, and I think it could be, but not if this trend keeps up.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

My concern is that at this rate we're going to have 2 flawed but understandable empires and 1 raving loonybin.

"Saving the planet" is an understandable reason.

I mean you VS are still a bunch of loons, but you've always been that way.

[HELLFISH88]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

That's the problem, I'm on the crazy train and I think they're wrong too! The idea that a group of intelligent, educated, rational human beings would learn one cool thing from an alien and then blindly follow his advice to murder the remainder of their species is ridiculous. It would be like a PhD physicist taking candy from a stranger and then getting into the van, but the van is labeled "rape-mobile" and has a giant rubber dildo strapped to the roof. Normal people detect these warning signs.

My concern is that at this rate we're going to have 2 flawed but understandable empires and 1 raving loonybin.

That's the thing, is it really as crazy as we are making it out to be here? Do we know that the messages and motives this Vanu entity is pushing ARE in fact outright genocide? I don't think so. I agree with your notion that such men would not be so easily manipulated. I think they are actually being convinced in the face of the alternative. The Vanu sovereignty want to surpass the Terrans and conglomerate entirely by transforming the human race into something Superior to its current incarnation.

Even IF the Vanu entity turns out to be malicious; I really doubt it's spouting obviously sinister messages. Evil things tend to disguise their intentions.

[Xyntech]

Remember the scientists working on the atomic bombs that we intended to drop on axis forces in WWII?

Those are the scientists of the Vanu Sovereignty. We must do a terrible thing, but we know that it is the only way to preserve the future of Auraxis.

I would bet that the VS recognize the horror of their actions more than the other two sides combined. The TR and NC were so ready to fight, while the VS wanted to avoid it as long as possible.

Now there is but one path left.

Kill them all.

[Captain1nsaneo]

I'm in agreement that the quality of what we're reading now isn't that good. Names are changing, weapons that we've not seen before are showing up, and dialogue feels stiff. Yet this was done by a professional and a veteran. I can see only two ways of rationalizing this. First, that this ISN'T finished content we're seeing here. It's what ever was sent in to marketing or dev team as an early draft. Second, this isn't the writers work. I've read better formatted and consistent fanfiction. (then again there's some REALLY good fanfiction, hail Emperasque) I'd treat these like when we first got the news about the deli variants, wait until they're on the beta test to judge.
Still, that this would be chosen to be released makes me worried.

As for the VS, while I like being on the crazy train [Woo Woo], I can understand the complaint about people following the voice in their head to kill-murder-maim I mean, I hear voices, but I don't do what they tell me. I'd actually say that not only has Vanu been telling the VS how to attain immortality but also how to play around with plazma and a dozen other really awesome things. So now it's telling them to eliminate the other two sides in their way. The thinking goes "Hey this awesome thing told me to do some weird stuff and it turned out to give me immortality! Wonder what this will bring." Heck, the voice might not legitimately be evil. However, the voices in head to evil ratio tends to be parity in fiction, would love to see that trope bucked though.

Either way, I look forward to using the scientific method to see if my gun works.

[Traak]

I want each empire to have its leader, the only leader, that talks to the whole empire on CSR chat.

Vanu for the Vanu
Ronald Reagan for the Republ... Terran Republicans
Somebody who symbolizes rebellion against oppressive old government for the NC... Ron Paul?

[MgFalcon]

Originally Posted by Traak

I want each empire to have its leader, the only leader, that talks to the whole empire on CSR chat.

Vanu for the Vanu
Ronald Reagan for the Republ... Terran Republicans
Somebody who symbolizes rebellion against oppressive old government for the NC... Ron Paul?

Clearly you're talking about Osama Bin Laden for the NC... since they're terrorist scum and all!

[Talek Krell]

I hope you guys are right about the Vanu. I realize it's early yet, I just feel like they're hardest to get "right" and the, uh, production values so far have not filled me with confidence.

[Traak]

I like how the Vanu seem to sacrifice their humanity to become a MAX unit. I would like to see more of that in the regular soldiers.

[2coolforu]

Technology is amoral, it is neither evil nor good. It is the applications people put it to that are evil or good.