not to be redundant or anything, but I also posted this in this thread:
http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...566#post515566
Alot of folks are missing the point entirely. The whole good vs evil thing was handled amzingly well by funcom, in my opinion. Yes, omni tek is SUPPOSED to be evil, but in truth from what I've read, it's so much more complex than that. It plays out alot like it would in the real world, you just have to look at the finer points. Omni has a leader that shows compassion towards both sides of the conflict. War, to philip ross, is a last resort measure. However, we get the feeling that philip ross is truly in the dark about much of the shady business going on in omni tek. He didn't strike me as the type of man who would knowingly commit some of the atrocities that omni tek is upposedly guilty of.....or is he? We never know, funcom has not given us all the details, and that's how it should be. We should not know all of the details.
Sometimes corruption exists in the higher echelons of a hyper corporation such as omni tek, and sometimes the corruption is focused at the bottom....let me explain. The formation of the clans happened as a direct result of a mining accident in which several atroxes were killed, and also a result of "poor treatment" of mining workers by omni tek. But did it really happen that way, or is that folks' perception of the event after years of retelling the story? Now lets suppose that's exactly what happened. Omni tek treated its miners poorly, so many quit and formed the clans. Does that make omni tek evil, or the omni mining supervisors? Think of it as working at walmart. You have this horrible boss that treats you miserably. Do you think his boss told him "treat your workers like crap, so they will quit and rebel against us". Of course not! It's in a company's best interest to treat its workers properly, to increase morale and work production rates. This is, im sure, what the higher ups at omni tek wanted.
The negative actions of the mining supervisors were there own to make and do not reflect properly of the company as a whole. Because some low lvl supervisors decided to abuse their employees, they now have a planet wide rebellion on their hands. But wait, omni tek was founded by evil omega beings.... So at the very lowest and the very highest levels of omni, we have evil, which would put philip ross (who strikes me more as a figurehead than anything else) and other good intentioned omni-tek employees somewhere in the middle. They probably don't even realize what's going on at either end of the totem pole.... or maybe they do. Ask any employee at Microsoft (heh, im a former employee) and there is no doubt that they know they are working for the devil of the software industry. but they'll tell you like i tell you "Im just trying to make a living. I don't want to get involved". So sure, maybe they are just an engi fixing a coffee pot, but they do it knowing full well ahead of time that they are working for the "bad" guy. But like anything else, it's easier to comply than fight back. Most omni employees are just like you or I, good natured but to complacent (like we are with the IRS). But is "going with the flow and keeping your head down" the right thing to do if you know that the company you work for does bad things? (this is much like how american citizens know that the government does some shady business, misallocates funds, etc). Remember that sloth is one of the "even deadly sins".
I think that making omni employees look evil while in the shadowlands opens up a whole new door of realization. If shadowlands were real, many of us who think of ourselves as typically good people would show up as devils in the shadowlands. But not ALL clanners should show up as angels and not ALL omni tek should show up as devils. Because after all, just because the clans are fighting for freedom, it doesn't make them the "good guys" automatically. Clanners are typically lax, don't like taking orders, lack structure and organization, so this would be the reason that MANY folks would choose to be clan. Sure, you don't get the cheap prices and easy road that omni tek does, but you can lay around in the sun all day if you like. It's pervasive enough to actually work in the real world.
But I feel that your physical representation in the shadowlands should be a combination of profession and "good or bad deeds done in game", perhaps based on the types of missions we accept. If we choose alot of assassination missions or show a careless disregard for life by ganking others, we would show up as evil. But if we choose the "recover stolen item" or "make contact" missions and pvp mostly in self defense or in the arena, we should show up as good. That way, we could have "evil" clanners, good clanners, evil omni and good omni and many shades in between. To know what im talking about, look at the game "black and white". your hand icon and pet creature changes its appearence based upon choices you make in game. This would also give a purpose to the "good and bad" slider on the mission booths. the downside is this would be extraordinarily difficult to implement. But if Funcom is dedicated to AO and its paying customers and wishes to not only make AO thrive, but also justify the cost of the expansion, I feel strongly that they should make this extra effort and I'm hoping they agree with this.
I think in terms of storyline, stepping into the shadowlands will cause omnitek to re-evaluate its views and perhaps unite with the clans against a common evil, perhaps FROM the shadowlands. The game wont end with omni tek "losing" per se, but rather with omni and the clans uniting and defeating a common foe, initiating a long standing peace on rubi ka. In the end, there won't be clans and omni tek, but humans united against evil.
how does that sound?
We get bullied around by everyone, but hell, we are free to do what we like, when we like, and go where we like...can't say the same for the Clans or OT on that 
Re: Re: Except...
.