Dust 541 Anybody?

Linkage

Basically, it's a MMOFPS by the same guys who did EVE Online that integrates into the existing EVE Online universe and interacts with the Tranquility server (which as some of you know runs on a single instance shard with a population of about 60,000).

From what I undersand it works like this. Zipp buys Dust and amuses himself with NPC-given missions to amass wealth and train a computer-controlled squad, maybe recruit some other players into his mercenary group, hopping from planet to planet in New Eden and fighting in the ongoing war between the four major powers. At some point, the NPC missions aren't enough for him, so he gets in contact with somebody who plays the spaceship game, me. I supply him with additional funds and equipment, load his squad onto a transport bound for null-security space, and drop him on my planets where he starts shooting at some other guys who've decided they want a piece of my lucrative ice-mining operation.

Here's a video not on that site I linked above, that gives a glimpse into where CCP wants to take this.

Anyway, Dust is in an unusual position as far as spin-off games go, in that by virtue of very design there is no possible way that it can stand on its own. Luckily, it's got one of the largest MMO communities backing it up, but the community is still debating whether PS3 gamers running around shooting their planets is something they want.

From where I sit, there's three ways this could go.

1) Ground warfare relies so heavily on Dust players that EVE players can't get anything done planetside unless they either own a copy of Dust, or know people that do, or can afford to pay them. Anti-orbit cannons regularly snipe passing ships and annoy the crap out of EVE players. EVE regresses to two years ago when you couldn't do anything with planets. Dust is initially a hit, but flops as EVE players abandon their operations and there's no "end-game" content for Dust players to work.

2) Between orbital bombardment from dreadnaught fleets and the massive buying power of high-end capsuleers, ground warfare becomes impossible for Dust players unless they know the big movers and shakers in the EVE universe. Frustrated with this seemingly insurmountable obstacle, Dust flops and EVE continues on its merry way.

3) CCP manages a delicate balancing act between the spaceship game and the mercenary game so that each interacts and relies on the other, without making things unfair for any one side.

Personally, I'm hoping for #3 but expecting #2.