Mike asked a question on twitter.
I liked this question. When I started Eve I knew very little about it. I knew that it was not a kind game. I knew that I could die at any time. I knew that there were loans and scams and banks that had stolen all of their money and run off into the night. I knew surface things about Eve but I did not know the game.
Because of that, I assumed that Eve was like any other game that I tried. That means when I was met with the racial selection screens I sat down and did my research.
#tweetfleet I wonder if the race you choose to play in-game says something about your play style and social skills?
— Mike Dawe (@Mikeazariah) January 4, 2015
I liked this question. When I started Eve I knew very little about it. I knew that it was not a kind game. I knew that I could die at any time. I knew that there were loans and scams and banks that had stolen all of their money and run off into the night. I knew surface things about Eve but I did not know the game.
Because of that, I assumed that Eve was like any other game that I tried. That means when I was met with the racial selection screens I sat down and did my research.
Amarr
The Amarr Empire is the largest and oldest of the four empires. Rules by a mighty Empress, this vast theocratic society is supported by a broad foundation of slave labor. Amarr citizens tend to be highly educated and fervent individuals, and as the culture Amarr adheres to the basic tenet that what others call slavery is in fact one step on a indentured person's spiritual path toward fully embracing their fiath. Despite several setbacks in recent history, the Empire remains arguably the most stable and militarily powerful nation-state in New Eden.
Caldari
Founded on the tenets of patriotism and hard work that carried its ancestors through hardship on an inhospitable home world, the Caldari State is today a corporate dictatorship, led by rulers who are determined to see it return to the meritocratic ideals of old. Ruthless and efficient in the boardroom as well as the battlefield, the Caldari are living emblems of strength, persistence, and dignity.
Gallente
Champions of liberty and defenders of the downtrodden, the Galente play host to the only true democracy in New Eden. Some of the most progressive leaders, scientists, and businessmen of the era have emerged from its diverse peoples. A pioneer of artificial intelligence, the Federation relies heavily on drones and other automated systems. This is not to detract from the skill of their pilots, though: the Gallente Federation is known for producing some of the best and bravest the universe has to offer.
Minmataronce a thriving tribal civilization, the Minmatar were enslaved by the Amarr Empire for more than 700 years until a massive rebellion freed most, but not all, of those held in servitude. The Minmatar people today are resilient, ingenious, and hard-working. Many of them believe that democracy, thought it has served them well for a long time, can never restore what was taken from them so long ago. For this reason they have formed a government truly reflective of their tribal roots. They will forever resent the Amarrians, and yearn for the days before the Empire's accursed ships ever reached their home skies.
Amarr - Nope. The age was appealing. Then I got to the Empress, the theocraticness and the slave labor and noped my way over to the next race. No way I could pretend to be Amarr or do anything other then roll my eyes and punch my screen at the inevitable videos and pretentious talking.
Caldari - Nope. I was not a Caldari. I'm not particular patriotic. I am loyal but I am not loyal just because I am from something. I'm not a business type. While I loved the silver and blue the Caldari did not appeal to me at all. I'd fail in that society. I'm an introvert. I suck at sales. I do my worst under a heavily statistical environment. The Caldari were not for me.
Gallente - Now that sounds fascinating. I'm a champion of liberty and can get onto downtrodden defense. Democracy, science, AI's... I can see this being me.
Minmatar - Not bad. I'm all about grr freedom and people willing to fight for their independence. I could get behind that. They were a bit bitter but I could be bitter and stoic.
Well I liked the Gallente and the Minmatar. The Gallente felt more like me and they had a green background. I like green more than red. I selected Gallente. When I got to the bloodline selection I decided to go Gallente again. I felt that I could be a core citizen of this group. "The Gallente value freedom and individual liberty above all else," said the text. I was this person. "Founders of the only true democracy of New Eden, they have created an ethnically diverse, culturally rich, progressive society that encourages enterprise and initiate in its citizens. While slow to anger and occasionally indecisive, they are also capable of harnessing enormous military and economic resolve when truly tested.
Hell yeah. I was Gallente, Gallente. I could get behind whatever this choice was going to mean. I had no idea about Eve at the time but I was damn excited to give it a go. Let's do this. And so I created Chella.
Decided WAY before they dropped the racial bonuses. so I cannot exactly remember why I chose Amarr.
ReplyDeleteEve - Best game to read about and never play.
I chose Caldari precisely because they're not my usual type of people to play. Otherwise, I would have chosen Gallente, but this time I wanted to change things up :)
ReplyDeleteFun question :)
ReplyDeleteFirst char was Caldari -> Achura because every guide I read said they were the best overall... After a month or two when I realized said guides were wrong and that the first character wasn't going to be easy to remold into something different, I started another, my current main. (This was during the 1.6m sp accelerated learning time and learning skills...)
After trying for awhile to make a reasonable looking Amarr guy back in their 'creepy old guy phase'... I switched to the girls. For her, I chose Amarr -> Khanid. Amarr because my faith is important to me, but Khanid because the regular Amarr are definitely not my style of faith. For too much rigidness, ritual, and persecution of others for their beliefs or ways of life. Khanid seemed like a good choice, they seemed more progressive and willing to tolerate differences.
Many others have been made since, but few have the same regions behind them. Most were made because I 'didn't have one of those people yet' or wanted to have an alt in that area of space.
Originally I always gravitated towards Gallente when making characters. My reasons were pretty much the same as your reasons. Interestingly, in the last couple of years as I have lost my fear of PvP I started picking Minmatar as they feel more like warriors than the Gallente do.
ReplyDeleteToday I have 3 Gallente pilots and 3 Minmatar pilots. I have a single Amarr pilot which I chose as I wanted to sculpt a particular face.
I'm shallow. Khanid chicks looked the nicest, so I went Khanid.
ReplyDeleteMy first character was Amarr, I have no idea why but I just liked the way she looked when I was done with the sculpting. Plus I tend to like playing the "evil" characters, so might be a reason why I picked Amarr too.
ReplyDeleteAfterwards I made a Gallente because of the industrial ships they had and I was going to make an industrial.
I have a bunch of Pilots now but for some reason never made a Caldari.. Wonder why..
Welcome to team Hull Tank
ReplyDeleteRead up before starting. Apparently in Eve PvE missiles are best (7 years ago). Went Caldari.
ReplyDeleteI can’t speak for others but Chella’s self-assured bearing intimidates the hell out of me.
ReplyDeleteLol. I think shes lovely. I spent hours sculpting her and then used a resculpt because her chin was to pointy and jawline not complimentary. :P
DeleteOh I agree. Chella’s absolutely stunning. Still those eyes pierce through me as if she is pondering whether or not to eviscerate me. Not due to any particular grievance but rather because innards are interesting.
DeleteAmarr felt too much like my boss, the kind of upper class that I never wanted to be. Minmatar was a little too "earthy". Caldari felt too corporate but Gallente seemed far too much like the IRL folks whose "love of personal liberty" just means "I can do whatever I want, don't care if it hurts you", rather than the collective personal liberties... so I chose Caldari.
ReplyDeleteI knew from the get go, I wanted to be a space Roman with lasers.
ReplyDeleteI chose Caldari for a few reasons. One is their description: I liked the bit about being ruthlessly efficient on the battlefield because it made me envision them punching above their weight class. I also seem to remember the description implying the Caldari were more technologically advanced, which I liked. I didn't care for the extreme corporatism though, and the Gallente democracy was a strong alternative.
ReplyDeleteThe second reason were the stats. I had read about things like skills modifying ship performance and inventing upgrades for your ship. I read that the memory and intelligence attributes were best for that, so I chose the Caldari Achurans because they had high base stats in intelligence and memory. The invention implementation was not what I envisioned and was a little disappointed, but I had found I was good at industry so my stats were not wasted.
The last and probably most important reason for choosing my character's race was looks. I simply didn't care for 95% of all the various races and bloodlines. The Caldari Achuran females simply looked the best.
Matarii... once I read the backstory I was sold. Warriors, fiercely loyal, roots in family and tribe... and the whole causa belli... having been enslaved recently and nearly as a whole... well, if I wanted something to give me a reason t fight, that beat all the others hands down... seemed reasonable in a PvP game.
ReplyDeleteAnd, well.... GUNS and SPEED and duct tape and rust man! what's not to love? I see the Matarii as the Klingons of New Eden... only without the weird head thing goin on... =]
My fav quote about Flying Winmatar...
"Flying a Minmatar ship is like rolling down a flight of stairs in a wheelchair while firing two UZIs and screaming"
All of my mains have been Sebiestor.
ReplyDeleteI was attracted to the aesthetic (the new avatars may have more pixels but the old ones had a lot more *character*), because they looked cool and had a racial narrative that appealed to me.
To answer Mike's question about playstyle and social skills, I am a -10 solo PVPer in a corporation full of like-minded individuals who like to socialise but rarely engage with concepts such as 'teamwork'. Over half of the corporation is Minmatar, over 1/3 of us are Sebiester.
It is a very interesting question indeed, quite a range of reasons people chose their first char for.
ReplyDeleteFor me it was pure style, the punisher decided my race inparticular, gold is just marvelous.
Though i have a roleplaying background that came into play a bit later and was a reason i strayed away from EVE a few times, amarr have in that part just much more range since the slaver part has to be thought of when really embracing them. As such one can spot half assed ones faster then with the other races.
Having first come to EVE from Earth and Beyond after its cancellation, I was looking to recreate my character from that game. As a former Terran Enforcer (missile pilot), Caldari seemed like a good fit. I don't recall all the decisions made in my creation process, but I was intending to be a military combat pilot, so I distinctly remember making choices that boosted Perception and Willpower (this was back when race, bloodline, and background actually counted for something!).
ReplyDeleteAmarr = religious fundamentalism so not an option.
ReplyDeleteGallente = space French so not an option, they seem so full of themselves.
Minmatar = nutting wrong with these.
Caldari = meritocracy, efficient, persistent, dignified. Seems perfect.
Ingame benefits: Caldari use missiles which eliminates all the tracking, range, orbiting and other mechanics. missiles look to be my weapon system of choice.
They mainly fly shield tanked ships which also seemed better.
So int he end it wasn't a difficult choice to play Caldari.
Ofc it didn't tame me long before I created a second account with a minmatar main because everyone knows minmatar are pvp gods.
Your character is hot!
ReplyDeleteHm. I went Amarr not just because Lasers!, but also at the time when I started, Amarr were kind of the underdog. Caldari had the Drake and a near-optimal ISK/hr skill plan, Minmatar had the Rifter and its bigger brothers, Gallente had their blaster boats, while Amarr had the need for a wingman or ten.
ReplyDeleteThe lore aspects reared their head only afterwards.
My main ended up being Amarr, just to let me rebel and immediately join up with the Gallente Federation.
ReplyDeleteLater I made a PVP-alt who also ended up Amarr, just because I wanted at least one character to be a CYBERKNIGHT.
My industry-alt and her little helper ended up as Gallente-scientists, while my two PI-alts are Minmatar and Caldari. But since their names are in-jokes and they're literally chained to the wormhole-system they're stealthily doing PI in, I guess I shouldn't count Caldari and Minmatar. :V
So, Amarr and Gallente then.