It's not necessarily a thing of the past, but more and more people prefer the canon-RP factions. Those factions seem to be very static, if you ask me. Take the LN for example:
Undock.
Kill pirates.
Kill terrorists.
Fine smugglers.
Send in cap support.
Bla, bla, bla.
But with so many people wanting to join factions, we'll have generic RP all the time, with exceptions like the [HF] and Bs|.
I don't mean to advocate indies here, but primarily being one, people can pursue more complex, non-canon, and overall interesting stories without factions at all, what with the faction rules and whatnot.
Notable indy characters:
Probably anything by Zapp, Unselie, or Orin.
LNX_ThunderBay
Many others that I'm too lazy to look up...
There's a lot of terrible factions out there, in my opinion. The Harvesters are a lame excuse to blow up traders that attempt communication, and the Phantoms are just "Hehe, blood" *pew pew*.
The CR and Keepers, however much I dislike their characters, have excellent RP behind them, and they're not exactly what you would call canon. The nomads don't go around blaring ***Light...we want light!*** And things like that.
But with the good and bad, we have mediocrity as well. Factions like the [CCS] and [WT] weren't necessarily needed, and they aren't fantastic, but they're here, and they're respected to a degree.
I wonder if that made any sense...
A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay,
brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
