Not necessarily. Space is not exactly what it seems to be... I believe anyone who relies on visual impression (what you can see) and not reason (maths/geometry) will get fooled.
Most people don't know this controversy exists, but... let me explain.
Grab your tinfoil hats folks, here comes the EU Space Conspiracy Theory of the Century!
Every good theory is based on
some empirical evidence. Good starting point is space walk. Walking speed should be extremely slow compared to a vehicle like quad, right? That's common sense, there should be difference by a magnitude. On the planet all vehicles are faster than fastest avatars on foot, but inside atmosphere spaceships have to go slower. In Space they can go at full speed, much faster than planetside - not to speak compared to the measly walking speed. Right?
And here comes our first clue. Walking speed in space is about the same as quad's speed. I don't know if it's possible to outrun a quad but in reality both speeds are more or less the same. Bummer!
This is something that defies common sense, so we shouldn't be able to find it out. To prevent this the Space server(s) constantly checks if:
Code:
AvatarInsideVehicle==True?
If not:
- Immobilize
- Start a timer and kill this avatar (before he finds out! )
- Respawn on SS, privateer or MS
- Return the vehicle (quad or sleip) to the Inventory
- Release the immobilizer (you can walk again)
How to test space walk?
No system is perfect, sometimes the server check (described above) fails. Usually while crossing the server border or when you drop out of the game and reconnect. On FOMA/CP it's easy to replicate, just relog while in dome and you're standing outside on it's roof. Regretfully that's really no use to us here, 'cuz it doesn't give you floating open space walk experience. I don't know how to bypass the server checks in open Space intentionally. Sometimes it just happens.
So, anyway, we have established that in Space, all speeds are actually many times slower than they appear to be. But they appear to be incredibly fast! How's the illusion achieved?
Very simple. On 2D screen all that gives you impression of speed is the relative size of objects and how fast it changes when you get closer:
- If you move slowly: object gets bigger slowly but constantly.
- If you move fast: object stays the same very long and once you are very close suddenly gets bigger very fast.
This is all you need to create an illusion of super fast movement speed and huge distances. Add some bells and whistles, a speed counter that shows astronomic units flashing by at blinding speed... and make sure there is no way to compare the speed to anything but other vehicle. Done.
I believe this Conspiracy is shared by all games that have Space component. It's not just EU, this is a true global conspiracy!
* * *
Conclusions.
If above is true, the geometry in Space must also be fake. Not totally fake, mind you, just skewed a little.
Our DonQuiote in Space is imagining he's racing in the rocket ship at supersonic speeds while actually he's enjoying a nice slow ride in the park on he's antique bicycle.
Which means, managing the Space geometry using human eye may not be so impossible as it seemed before.
In the end, it doesn't matter if my theory is correct or not. It should at least succeed in one thing - making the first crack in our beliefs about whats real and whats not in a video game.
Never believe what your eyes tell you unless you have tested it in practice!
(Hinduism says this is true not only in video games... lol)