I was having this conversation with some of my corpmates the other night. What does a person's race say about them. It was kind of joking at first, but turned into some really deep thoughts. When we choose our race in New Eden is that who we really are? Most the time I'd say no, but if you look at it in the context of Faction Warfare, it becomes more fuzzy than just a simple, yes/no. This post is for more for people are just starting and looking at the different races and wondering how they are played out in the game. While in PvE I'd say who cares, in the context of Faction Warfare, which faction choose might say a lot about you.
The first two we will look at are the Amarr and the Minmatar. Often this is seen as a black and white fight. Good vs Evil. After only sociopaths want to be Slavers, and everyone of wants the chance to raise up against our oppressors. While it could be an interesting story line, it tends to have a negative effect on the war zone, as the Amarr spend most the time fighting outnumbered, because of a Slaver label.
Amarr Empire:
While the chronicles set the Amarr as some kind of over religious Empire, and the 24th Crusaders help with the image, when I look at Amarr I see pilots that want order. They want to control the space around them. To this end, it was FWEDDIT that tried to bring order to FacWar right from the start. While not a Nullsec alliance at the time, they brought the same mentally and personality to FacWar. Doctrine Fleets, Ship Replace Programs, and even a Meta game were all brought to FacWar by Fweddit. They would give the usual party line, "I love Slaves", while they sought to create order around them.
Even the non militia Amarr guys that I know tended to be guys that wanted structure around them. They wanted doctrine fleets, they wanted battle comms, they wanted order in this crazy game. Unfortunately for the 24th Crusaders the Slaver tag, turns many people away. As a militia it is almost always the smallest.
The other thing that this idea of control and order does is it prevents large scale "Civil wars" inside the militia. It does happen last November for a brief time there was an Amarr. Most the time the pilots inside the 24th Crusades play nice and stick to the plan, war zone control.
An Amarr Pilot should be some who wants to control the space around them. While they are "slavers", they are more looking to give a sense of order to the cluster. These pilot also know that they'll have to fight outnumbered and this drives them to become better.
Minmatar Republic:
If you have Slavers then you need Slaves right? This slaves tag is what defines Minmatar pilots. They see it and think, "oh Slaves, they must be the good guys. They are Under-Dogs." Although Minmatar have some of the best ships in the games and had more good PVP ships than any other race per tiercide re-balance. But this under dog thinking is what drives pilots of the Tribal Liberation Front. And while the tide of farming alts have shifted to the to Amarr, due to recent war zone success, most the time the Minmatar have 500-700 more pilots than their Amarrian foes, but still they want us to believe that they are being oppressed.
But this fierce Under-Dog sprite comes at a cost. While Amarr Civil Wars are rare, Minmatar Civil Wars are almost a year thing. Each one can be boiled down to simple boredom inside themselves. Because there is often more Minmatar pilots they tend to overwhelm the Amarr. After they achieve zone control teir 4, they began to break down. That is when the Civil War occurs. It is these Civil Wars that breathe life back into the Amarr, and they are about to began their climb back up the zone control ladder. After all if you put 10 dogs in a room with a pig, they work together and kill the pig. Once the pig is dead, they turn on themselves to see who gets the bacon.
Minmatar pilots are the forever underdog, in spirit. In truth most the time there are more slaves than masters. While their ships look ugly they are great in all solo, small gang ,and fleet pvp. When given a common foe they are relentless in their attacks, but once that foe retreats the look for enemies within.
I am not saying that is 100% accurate. And I imgine that more than a few people will post and scream at me. That is fine. What I am saying is this what I have seen in Faction Warfare over the last two years, I have been part of it.
