Empire not intended to be the galactic "bad guys?"

DukeIronHand

D
I posted this question in the thread about DB's Rolling Stone interview but deleted it as to not derail it. And geesh. Title should be "Empire not intended to be the galactic "bad guys?"

As I said there I guess my "surprise and take away" from the interview was all the Empire talk.
As a Federation guy I always thought and assumed that the Empire in ED was intended to be the galaxy's "bad guys" (and some of my least favorite Cmdr's here embrace it so that doesn't help) but after reading the interview my impression now was that it was not intended or the game plan and that ED's Empire is supposed to be a clone of the Roman Republic/Empire to give the game more flavor and nuance?

Or am I reading too much into the interview?
 
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Martian Successor

Martian Successor
What made you assume the Empire was the bad guy in the first place?

I'm pretty new to Elite, only started my journey with ED, and after reading the Wikipedia entries on the 3 main powers it was clear that all 3 powers exist in a grey area. None of them are the bad guy nor are they the clear cut good guy. They are simply there for players to have a choice to join and support/roleplay with. Each of them having as many negative societal policies as positive, kind of like some real life political parties/ideologies.
 
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Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Martian Successor said:
What made you assume the Empire was the bad guy in the first place?

I'm pretty new to Elite, only started my journey with ED, and after reading the Wikipedia entries on the 3 main powers it was clear that all 3 powers exist in a grey area. None of them are the bad guy nor are they the clear cut good guy, they are simply there for players to have a choice to join and support/roleplay with. Each of them having as many negative societal policies as positive, kind of like some real life political parties.
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They have slaves, autocrats and hereditary rule. That just doesn't fly with everyone.
 

Martian Successor

Martian Successor
Navigare Necesse Est said:
They have slaves, autocrats and hereditary rule. That just doesn't fly with everyone.
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And the Federation are a future extension of all of the worst traits of corporate Capitalism: corruption, propaganda, buying your way into power, exploitation of the poor. The population are as much slaves to consumerism, greed and financial debt as the Empire's Roman style notion of consensual slavery - that doesn't make any form of slavery okay btw.

Out of all of them I first thought the Alliance were the good guys. But hippies also have their bad traits :)
 
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Gunnet

G
It's a bit redundant to post this after Michael Brookes stepped in. But I've always assumed that ED's setting was supposed to be more realistic than something which would have obvious good guys and bad guys. I recall there being an earlier interview where David Braben described the Empire as space Rome too.

Everybody knows that we Imperials are really the good guys though :D
 

Theodrid

Theodrid
All the major players are fundamentally flawed, almost makes you wonder if they are the love children of Michael and TJ!

:O
 

Geraldine

Geraldine
Michael Brookes said:
Neither and all of them are bad guys - especially the Alliance :)

Michael
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I knew that Alliance was too good to be true! And as for the other two, they are as bad as each other. [yesnod]
I still go my own way and do my own thing just as I've always done in the former Elite games. Independent pilot until the end of my days or until the Thargies turn up, whatever is soonest! :eek:
 
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Mengy

Mengy
Michael Brookes said:
Neither and all of them are bad guys - especially the Alliance :)

Michael
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Ah Michael, good to see you post in the Elite forums! I’d like to take this chance to tell you thanks for all of your posts over the years on Elite issues. Now that you have moved on to other projects I’m realizing just how helpful your presence was, and I miss it now that it’s gone. So sincerely, thank you Michael.



Oh, and of course the Empire are the bad guys, just like in Star Wars. It’s in the name!!!
 

Nutter

Nutter
Michael Brookes said:
Neither and all of them are bad guys - especially the Alliance :)

Michael
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Wooho Michael is back by popular demand! #DoALittleJig

Mengy said:
Ah Michael, good to see you post in the Elite forums! I’d like to take this chance to tell you thanks for all of your posts over the years on Elite issues. Now that you have moved on to other projects I’m realizing just how helpful your presence was, and I miss it now that it’s gone. So sincerely, thank you Michael.
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Seconded o7
 

Martian Successor

Martian Successor
Mengy said:
Oh, and of course the Empire are the bad guys, just like in Star Wars. It’s in the name!!!
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Weeeeell..... Technically the Rebels are terrorists so that doesn't exactly make them "good" guys.

If you lived in the Star Wars galaxy during the time of the Galactic Empire you'd probably think both the Empire and the Rebels are just as bad as each other. And the ones in between are usually unscrupulous gangster organisations like Black Sun or independant smugglers of highly addictive, illegal drugs like Han Solo :)
 

Sitoutumaton

Sitoutumaton
Imperials are straightforward about what it takes to succeed in their society and what the price to get to the top is.

Federation would like to encourage you to think that everyone has a chance to climb the ladder, but all the hidden (and not so hidden) pricetags and caveats will block the have-nots from ascending.

Alliance rejected those two, but has not managed to unanimously agree between themselves, what is success and how to gain it. Unanimous acceptance might even go against their ideals, and this is before all this talk of betrayal comes into picture.
 

[VR] Enexemander

[VR] Enexemander
Sitoutumaton said:
Imperials are straightforward about what it takes to succeed in their society and what the price to get to the top is.

Federation would like to encourage you to think that everyone has a chance to climb the ladder, but all the hidden (and not so hidden) pricetags and caveats will block the have-nots from ascending.

Alliance rejected those two, but has not managed to unanimously agree between themselves, what is success and how to gain it. Unanimous acceptance might even go against their ideals, and this is before all this talk of betrayal comes into picture.
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Imperial Success- be born from the correct womb. If you're born from the incorrect womb, go be a slave.

Federation Success- Climb the corporate ladder (with all the pitfalls that entails).

On balance, yeah, the Imps are pretty backwards and evil.
 

Deleted member 38366

D
Michael Brookes said:
Neither and all of them are bad guys - especially the Alliance :)

Michael
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Hehe...

All that reminds me of this :
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:D
 
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