The evilness of Omni

[Simplehead]

Omni=Quality
Clan=Quantity

[Quool]

Clan = Good if you believed everything they say in the character creation process.

Omni = Good if you have read the timeline, "Prophet without Honor", and have actually thought about it.

Yes, employees of Omni-tek have done ignorant and evil things in the past, but what happened to them? They went clan.

Rubi-Ka is a worksite, and the clanners are a bunch of ex-employees that went "postal".

As for the "appearance" of things in the Shadowlands, do you look exactly the same as your shadow? Perhaps the shadowlands will act as a mirror for our souls, a reflection, but also reversed.

Without the actions of the Unredeemed, humanity never would have travelled to Earth. The Redeemed would have turned Rubi-Ka into an "Omega Planet", where it simply survived forever, without change.

Then again, maybe Omni = Darth Vader, but didn't he do something good in the end? Seems a bit too shallow and obvious of a comparison, to me, though.

[Bionitrous]

You know, the more I think about it, the more there actually does seem to be some devious behind the scenes work wherein the 'Clans' are actually the evil terrorists that many portray them as.

I just think about Simon Silverstone and his evilness (check the interview at Stratics) and Phillip Ross who actually seems to be a thinking man. I see many undercurrents that may indicate things are not as they seem at face value.

I can't yet however reconcile any of this with Prophet without Honor. The Omega founded FarmaTek, depopulated Earth, and then founded Omni-Tek.

But, wait ... was depopulating the Earth such a bad thing at the time they did it? Hmmm ...

(mumbles something about Noah)

You know, we may be on to something here. Absolutely brilliant if they can pull it off. Would serve the general game populace right as well considering the morals of the two factions at the moment. Oh, man. Payback is a bitch. I can see all them goat headed pre-teens turning into pillars of salt. Would be hilarious if FunCom was actually leading the unrighteous down the path to their demise by dangling phat lewts and easy XP in their faces.

The appearance of 'good' and 'evil' is all relative ... wrapping on the package so to speak. It's only important what's inside. One of the two fruits is rotten inside. I guess we'll find out eventually which it is ... even if it isn't readily apparent.

[Tech]

I hope you're right bionitrus, it would be great if FunCom had a twist like that up their sleeve. But I really, really don't like the way Gaute is talking about the story these days: Now it's no more shades of grey. Either you're with the good guys or you're with the bad guys.

That is not the way we experience it ingame, or in RL for that matter. People are not all bad or all good. Everyone got some skeletons in the cupboard, everyone does something to help the greater good from time to time. Saying that in AO it's supposed to be all black and white makes it less realistic and I fear it will make it more unbalanced as well.

Tech

[Bionitrous]

I'll tell ya one thing for sure. The original Anarchy Online had the feel of a creation by an intelligent and creative man. Everything that has come out in the last 6 months and even the implementation of Shadowlands seems like it's being done by a 16-yr old comic book nerd for his junior year in high school Computer Science project.

No originality. Predictable gameplay elements. Classic flaws in mass psychology manipulation. Catch-22 traps with the potential to be disasterous.

Everything smacks of 'Hey, this sounds like a cool idea. Let's do it!' which is followed by absolutely no analysis of the concept as to its affect on the game or 'real-world' result.

I simply can't get over Notum Wars and how utterly juvenile both the practical implementation of the battles and more importantly the benefits were put into the game. It's like how my little nephew would put together a game:

'OK, we shoot each other'

'If I kill you, I get a bigger gun.'

'Then we try to shoot each other again'

'If I kill you, I get a shield'

'Then we try to shoot each other again'

'If I kill you, I get to have 2 friends to help me next time'.

That is such a classic example of a game that's over at the first step. And yet FunCom expects the players to continue enjoying it during all the ensuing steps. I'm simply flabbergasted that they let it continue in its current form having seen how Notum Wars has degredated to little more than a status quo where the only real action that occurs is between alternate characters for which nobody has a stake in the game at all.

And when all is said and done, who really gives a damn? We pay to have fun. FunCom seems to have forgotten this. They seem to want to have two arbitrary 'teams' who just shoot at each other for 5 or 6 years or until whenever the servers shut down. Yah, that's thrilling ... until the next game comes out. They seem to have forgotten the part about entertaining us and seem to think we'll be happy entertaining ourselves or each other.

Man, this is really off topic. I'm just bitter that nothing really matters in the game. Having Notum Wars as a shining example that even that diversion is really just a time consumer really hurts. It's like they didn't want to put any balls into the game, so they slapped together some kind of an excuse for people not to notice a critical decrease in the efforts to increase depth in the game.

I just threw a tennis ball at a guy walking past my office and hit him in the ear. Am I evil? Did my act matter? Is it Story?

The bastard didn't even try to hit me back with it. Said he was going to rollerblade in the county park.

That's Notum Wars and the Storyline in a nutshell.

[Skeena-]

I wholeheartedly agree with the last four posts. The original storyline left a lot of room for interpretation of the various shades of grey and I'm not terribly impressed with the black and white approach to SL.

However, one of the most mysterious, yet never elaborated, elements of the original storyline is what has been going on in the outzones. I always felt that there were many potential plot twists that could arise as the layers were peeled back and we began to understand what lies out there.

For example, we have been led to believe that the Dusters are based somewhere in the wilderness outside civilized Rubi-Ka. What is the extent of their presence and what machinations are they cooking up beyond the reach of Omni-Tek?

The cyborg encampments, on the periphery of Mort and PW, would also appear to be a beachhead for some type of military or mineral operation. Are they harvesting notum as well and, if so, to what end? Since they escaped from their clan creators, what new motivations are driving them?

And, what of Sol Banking Systems? They have been positioned as a pivotal, yet clandestine, player in the conflict on Rubi-Ka. I would be interested in knowing what activities they have been engaged in outside the terraformed areas. Perhaps a little terrafomring and mining of their own?

To me, these seemed like intereting stories in their own right. I would have rather seen the game evolve along these lines rather than into a parallel dimension holding the "secret of the cradle of civilization" or whatever is being proposed in SL.

/babblemode off

[Jellobiafra]

Even if I were bashed upon the skull by a sledgehammer that had fallen from a yalm, and decided to even think about going clan, the filth and stink of your average clanner would quickly turn me away.

"I find your lack of soap disturbing"

[RVWinkle]

Have you guys ever worked for a big company? I have to fill out 5 forums just to use the restroom!

...Pure Eeeeeevil

[Yumaddar]

I use the intro for the base of my time playing that game. In life there is not always a black and white. Something is not always either right or wrong. The "clans" are trying to restore democracy in RK. They want a government of RK that is run by the people. Omni is not evil either. They believe that what they are doing is for the best, and that they are helping the world that they themselves live in. They dislike that clanners for attacking there authority, that they themselves think is their right by law.'

Plz reply as i live for replys.

edit: Also I have to say that it pains me that I have come so late. From what I have heard, I assume that the story is not half as good as it used to be.

[Quool]

Originally posted by Yumaddar
The "clans" are trying to restore democracy in RK.

There has never been democracy on RK. There can be no "restore". Due to the nature of life in the the 30th millenium, democracy is no longer a viable form of government. With whompas, travel throughout the galaxy, and grid travel, why should somebody be entitled to something (such as a vote) just because they are physically present?

One would assume that a "democracy" would allow individuals to own property, such as land or stock in a corporation, without it being stolen. One would assume a "democracy" would allow it's citizens to work for an employer of their own choice without being killed, and having their bodies looted.

The clans are terrorists and thieves. Once they get control of an area, they fight amongst themselves for control. Once they get a hold of a natural resource on Rubi-Ka, they sell it to the highest bidder to profit only themselves.

The goals of Omni or Clan are not good or evil, but the way they go about achieving them is.

[Yumaddar]

That was my point actually...well sort of...you see the clans would need to be organized to do anything, but they want basically freedom, which IS possible. Someone now has the right to vote because they exist. Why should it be any different in that environment? Also why should someone have the right to rule just because they have money? This is why the clans are fighting omni. Also you are right about the clans going about it the wrong way. They are divided. They are "clans" not "clan" therefore, they are doomed to go back and forth against themselves even if they manage to take down omni. What the clanners would need to get any further was a strong leader. Someone to unite them all. Unfortunately their is no person like that...at least not one that is known.


PS I meant restore democracy period. I assumed democracy was dead in that time period.

[Wisewise]

Ok, this is how I see it.
The rebel Clans think of themselves as liberators, democrats, freedom fighters, nature preserves and so forth. They think of Omni-Tek as oppressing slavedrivers, soulless people with no concern for others lives, profit-crazy miners, etc.

The Omni-Tek Corporation think of themselves as guardians of the law, protectors, scientists, organized and civil people that are in their full rights to claim Rubi-Ka as their own as it was leased to them by the ICC and the rebel Clans were just that, rebels, that suddenly started taking over half the planet that Omni-Tek owned from day one. The Omni-Tek Corporation sees the rebel Clans as belligerent anarchists, saboteurs, assassins and thieves (if you read the storyline, you'll see that they stole notum from the mines until they finally got fed up with not getting higher wages and formed their own society) that have no respect for rules and order.

To sum up, Clans stand for rebelling against oppression and forming a society where everyone is in charge.
Omni-Tek stands for keeping order and fighting for keeping what is rightfully theirs.

The way I see it, there's no way of claiming that either one of these is good or evil, as they're both good in their own way. Choosing sides should be about choosing a way of living and not choosing wether you are good or evil, as it sounds like the Shadowlands will change (but of course, there's always the chance that someone was smart enough to make the faction system count for redeemed/unredeemed too so that an Omni-Tek employee can be redeemed and a clanner becomes unreedemed like some people believe).

... lots of text... ^^

[langwiz7]

Heh, with Notum Wars this is simply not the case. Both sides became spurrilous children fighting over a candy bar. Notum Wars caused me to revile the clan hypocrisy of preaching about peace and tranquility and opposing Omni-Tek to get at the notum. Their greed would ultimately re-create a new Omni-Tek if they succeeded in destroying the company.

And Omni-Tek would, through crushing the rebellion, cause a new one within their own ranks. Some Omni don't like killing clanners just as some clanners don't like killing Omni.

Thus I chose neutrality. As neutral, I don't have to buy either sides' dogmatic preachings of the road to attain power. I can follow my own goals and not be in conflict with either side's power grab.

[Xpie]

I should read prophet without honor. I read 8 chapters or so, and it was fairly engrossing, though Ragnar went overboard showing his command of the English language.

*defenestrates*

[Zenthilar]

I my self don´t consider omni and claners neither good or evil.

First about me:I have been omni as long as i know it and all my alts are omni as well. But still i don´t take clan as filth or my soup. And i was teached to play my first char by high lvl Claner. He did some rough times with me but he didn´t pay any attention to our sides difrence.And i still owe him a lot.But enough of this.

When i wached the demo then it did kinda state that the omni is evil and clan is good.But this does not make me feel evil.

When i read the time line i found out that there was a time when clan and omni were fighting side by side against some outside corporation in some huge war(don´t remember exactly). And i found out that omni and clan were at peace and would be now as well if the Dust brigade wouldn´t have mezzed it up.IMO the real evil ones are the cyborgs who just imo wish to whipe out all and declare theyr own ruling over rubi-ka.But the down side of this is that we can´t do much about it.

[Xpie]

Finished reading it now. Fairly good read, though his character development isn't just there yet

[___________Sepulcher]

Extremism is evil, and thus the only good guys are Neutrals.

[_____________Reiella]

Originally posted by Yumaddar
I use the intro for the base of my time playing that game. In life there is not always a black and white. Something is not always either right or wrong. The "clans" are trying to restore democracy in RK. They want a government of RK that is run by the people. Omni is not evil either. They believe that what they are doing is for the best, and that they are helping the world that they themselves live in. They dislike that clanners for attacking there authority, that they themselves think is their right by law.'

Plz reply as i live for replys.

edit: Also I have to say that it pains me that I have come so late. From what I have heard, I assume that the story is not half as good as it used to be.

Just a quick clarification. The clans in general are not tryign to 'restore' democracy. There really was never a democracy in place to restore for one bit, and the ideals of the different factions are simply different in regards to the issue of future government.

Omni-Tek itself supports the eventual democratization of Rubi-Ka (when it's lease runs out). Rome itself was constructed in this vein, the future capital of a democratic Rubi-Ka.

[ Now, most likly that is a calculated risk by Omni-Prime as to how much Notum they are able to mine, their longer Exclusive Notum Galactic Distribution lease, and just the hopes of getting back to the Shadowlands area.

Now personally, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find some of the Clan organizations (Story) result as being Unredeemed. As much as it pains me to admit, that I may end up working on the same side as some dirty clanners in the shadowlands because there's no way I'm going to side with the stinking hippies (Redeemed :P).

Here I'm just hoping that there's more to faction decisions in Shadowlands than killing the enemy. Killing the enemy doesn't espouse any general ethos beyond being violent :P.