Player-created tin foil hat role-play events are great and I'm personally grateful for them. But they are still no substitute for actual game content, and should not be accepted as such. And all I 'begrudge' is 'some people' (who aren't licensed novelists) who apparently have access to privileged information like the details of forthcoming CGs before they happen, and simply change the subject when you ask them where they're getting their information from. Especially when the information directly undermines a current player-created event in which I am personally involved, as if deliberately designed to so do. And I don't find it funny.
Lets be clear on something. CoR have not and do not get privileged information. We've never asked for it and would never expect it. When FD dropped the whole Rift/Salome thing last year, CoR became pretty much full on roleplay as thats all that was left. Since then the whole thing is back on FDs agenda and CoR have been used as a vehicle to bring parts of the story alive, in-game, via interaction with Salome (who friends anyone by the way), and the snippets of GalNet articles that everyone has access to. CoR *may* get a hint that there's a chance to roleplay an upcoming event that ties in with the story, but it does not get any meat and bones about where things are heading before anyone else does. Other groups who put the dedication and work in have also been included in the roleplay aspect of bringing interaction and events to the game (I think the Raan Corsen story arc is linked, but he is not part of any CoR roleplay initiative).
People have been told that this is a player driven narrative, and thats what CoR and others try to do via the the events they hold and content they create. So far we haven't seen any evidence of that, despite the obscene amount of hours the Rifters and ourselves have dedicated to the Rift mystery, and more recently in trying to effect Salome's plight.. with some events going back over 6 months (and some CoR-only ventures dating back over a year). But we keep trying, because what's the alternative for groups and individuals who want to participate and be active in the story?
You'll get no argument from me regrading FDs lack of actual in game content to work with and how roleplay is no substitute for actual hands on substance, nor no argument on the snails pace things are rolled out (try keeping a group interested and active when there are weeks and months of nothing new to go on!). So sometimes roleplay
is the only substitute that fills the gaps (I'm talking from a player group perspective here).
Drew is probably as frustrated as anyone since FD call the shots at the end of the day, but at least things are beginning to move. Lets hope today is the start of actual activities that have visible consequences we can all recognize further down the line... then maybe the roleplay aspects can better work in tandem with the story, and not be a substitute for it.
