Beitrag von: Aura am Mai 21, 2013, 10:23:06 Vormittag
It's not Studio Ghibli's strongest work, the message is given in a heavy-handed manner, but it is amusing with respect to tanuki mythology. There are a lot of testicles in this film. The tanuki have magical and mystical ballsacks (not unlike my own ballsack), which they use to great effect when battling the human interlopers. I was prepared for and expecting testicular wonders, having read Tom Robbins' Villa Incognito a few years prior, a novel which begins with a tanuki parachuting to earth via ballsack (similar to the image above.)
All that said, Pom Poko serves as an apt metaphor for the new DUST 514 planetary conquest addition to the Molden Heath region.
Molden Heath is a bit of a backwater region. It's not overly populated, but a number of small pirate organizations do call the region home. Amongst themselves, they engage in a lot of small-gang warfare. They're active. They all enjoy what they do. And even though they call each other enemy, there is a lot of respect and camaraderie among the groups.
Why CCP Games chose Molden Heath to showcase DUST 514's planetary conquest system is unknown (edit: maybe not so unknown, see comments), but CCP Games may have "gifted" Molden Heath with planetary conquest as an apology for removing static DED sites. Back during the Retribution expansion, 1/10 and 2/10 DED sites were removed from the game. The residents of Molden Heath were the most vocal in their dismay at their removal. For the pirates in this region, DED sites were often used as static beacons for PvP. So with planetary conqeust, Molden Heath receives district beacons and an increase in PvP targets as compensation. CCP probably thought they were doing the pirates a favour. Some would agree. Some would disagree.
The influx of players into Molden Heath has been overwhelming. Quite a few large alliances have moved large staging fleets into the area to support their DUST 514 counterparts. Fifty and seventy person fleets have become too much to handle for corps used to flying in groups of ten. Some of the pirates have been camped into station by the newcomers, and when they can fly, they can rarely match the numbers of these new interlopers.
At least one pirate group has packed it up and moved from the region. The rest are trying to fight the battle on their own. There has been some talk of the original Molden Heath groups banding together, but so far that has not come to pass. Some of the pirate groups are altering their usual playstyles and have begun using guerrilla tactics on the newcomers, hitting where they're weak, avoiding larger forces at all costs. Guerrilla warfare is having some small effect.
Much like the tanuki of Pom Poko, the pirates of Molden Heath are fighting a losing battle. For the time being, things are likely to get worse before they get better. Planetary conquest is a new feature, thus there's a lot of initial excitement about it, and a lot of players wanting to try it out. Come May 22, that interest will likely increase again, as the planetary conquest bonuses will come into effect.
Over time, the new car smell associated with planetary conquest will die down. The Molden Heath landscape is definitely changed for good, there's no going back to the old way of life. A lot of industry is going to move into the area for keeps, because the bonuses are POS and manufacturing related. But this initial influx of players will be a peak population. Eventually it will start to decrease, level out at some new number. For the time being, the old guard of Molden Heath will just have to weather the initial storm.
Some groups have seen planetary conquest as a curse and have moved elsewhere. Some are seeing it as a blessing. The initial struggles have been difficult, but they're adapting to new doctrines and being somewhat successful at guerrilla action.
I'd say it's a good thing that CCP chose Molden Heath to run their trial. Change is, more often than not, something that should be embraced in games. It pulls people out of old habits and ruts. The pirates of Molden Heath are playing a new game now, adapting to new threats, learning new things in the process.
Source: Molden Heath and Planetary Conquest: Blessing or Curse? (http://)