What started as people playing a game and getting caught up in the moment soon turned into, get the best gear, kill the most players. Other mods would come along and we would get that fresh and re-vamping feeling, but sooner or later we would "run home to momma" and it became a game of hunting players, their bases, and destroying their toys. The immersion was gone, and it was just a first-person shooter.
The community, in turn, answered the call to fill the void that was missing with people that wanted an immersive experience. Soon role playing servers cropped up with communities functioning strong. Striving for the best immersive environments possible.
That is what I love about Star Citizen. Cloud Imperium games is making an immersive environment that will draw people in, no doubt. People will role-play or at least play the roles they are working through as their in-game avatar. Since the game is immersive, the missions are as well and so is the in-game economy. These living worlds working in tandem with AI, and players are going to be so in-depth that role-playing will happen, even without your invention.
I cannot help but re-tell stories from exploits in game like they actually happened to me. Because in the moment the truly feel like they are real. The very nature of the game forces a functioning and working community that feeds off the experiences shared by each other.
We all have an opportunity here, to see this evolve into a real-life butterfly effect. Where your actions will impact others across an entire virtual universe. Let's say we go into a bar for drinks after doing some space trucking. We get into an altercation and a fist fight breaks out. The heat of the moment kicks off and now someone pulls out a weapon...escalating the situation. They fire a few rounds and run out of the building in a panic.
The three rounds, two of which hit nothing but the wall leaving a couple of holes and the third hitting the window leading into the bar. This destroys the windows, showering glass on a few patrons, cutting them.
They now have to treat their minor wounds. Perhaps go seek medical attention to ensure that everything is okay. The window will need to be repaired, so a mission will be generated for an NPC to fix said window (Players might also get missions like that as well to earn extra money). That window is an item that exists in the world and will need to be created. Therefore a virtual factory will make those windows.
In order for those factories to make those windows, they need to have the raw materials needed in order to make glass. Those materials are going to need to be mined. Factories are going to generate missions for players and NPCs to mine the materials needed in order to make glass.
In order to find the materials that need to be mined, exploration organizations will have to go out and find those resources. They are going to use scanners to locate jump points that have never been found before. They are going to go to the far reaches of the galaxy on missions to find new materials for fuels, building supplies, weapons, ship's hulls, and even food.
Those items are going to need to be shipped once they are mined and refined. There are going to be people and NPCs operating all over the galaxy. There is a war going on that will require materials and people. Nothing in the galaxy will be able to function without the logistics. Space Trucking.
The same Space Truckers that had a barroom brawl, destroying a window and scaring a few people. That is now wanted for arrest, for disturbing the peace. They now have a bounty on their head, all be it a small one, someone wants to be paid. A.I. security forces will be on the lookout and maybe a player will pick up the contract and see to it you are arrested for the altercation.
As a Space Trucker, you have had to deal with a lot worse so a simple fine will cover the cost of this annoyance. After all your job makes the galaxy work, but it also creates another job that hurts what you do. Where there is a need for goods and services, there is a need for people who do not wish to pay for those goods and services. There will be people that want wealth, power, and all the respect that goes with the titles but they won't want to put in 'honest' work. Pirates, scam artists, corporate spies, black market dealers, smugglers, organized crime syndicates, if it exists in the real world it stands to reason it will in the virtual.
All of this, connected in one ever-changing, living and breathing (well virtually living and breathing) universe. That is why I do not worry about Star Citizen going the direction of immersion gained and lost, there is simply too much going on. Too many direct consequences for actions compounded with the thousands of unseen consequences for actions for the "role-play" to die.
So there will be still a need for role-play communities. There are plenty of organizations that promote Role-Playing and the game itself promotes that through its very nature. I know that with so many driving factors pushing in the same direction that we are going to be fine.
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