No Single Player offline Mode then?

[dcndnts]

At the very least, I expect that 150k to double within 2 years.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Once Star Citizen launches this game will be more of a Ghost Town than it already is

 

[SJT]

What the are you smoking?

If it were a loss making company we wouldn't be having this conversation! Over the last year or so the numbers have been skewed due to investment in ED, but they are in no way a repeatedly loss making company..

Christ this thread is getting silly ...

TBH, he is right.

EDIT: I mean BadBoy is right. We hate each other but I can't deny the facts here.

 

[Diziet Sma]

Mike, can you clarify at this time, what is the funding model concerning the end user? Is there any plans to implement premium service, subscriptions, or any of that?

Nothing has changed on that front.

Michael

Michael, can you elaborate, (in more than your usual one-or-two lines, please) on the following section in the Elite: Dangerous EULA, please?

In your reply, please address each of the following questions.

1. Is this part of the intended/planned funding model for Elite: Dangerous?
3. Specifically, how is this envisaged to work?
5. Where, when, and how often will these advertisements be displayed in-game?
7. What kinds of products and/or services are expected to be advertised via this in-game advertising technology?
9. Would you not agree that such supposedly "appropriate" geo-targeted advertising, as described below, would be disruptive, and hence contrary, to the immersive gaming experience Elite: Dangerous is supposed to offer, and that Frontier Developments claims it wishes to provide?
11. If you do not agree that it would be immersion-breaking to see advertising for 21st Century products and/or services in a game set in the 34th Century, please explain why not?
13. How much additional bandwidth overhead will this advertising delivery mechanism require?
15. Do you not find it ironic, or at least unfortunate, that this section of the EULA itself suggests that unplugged, offline play is entirely possible?
17. Given that offline play is no longer possible, do you intend to provide an alternative means for players to opt-out of viewing such advertising?
19. Are you aware that every previous attempt by a gaming developer/producer to introduce such in-game advertising has been met with overwhelming hostility and rejection from the gaming community?
21. Do you believe that the reaction from Elite: Dangerous players will be any different, and if so, why?

Please be advised that your failure to address each and every one of these questions satisfactorily (said satisfaction to be judged by this community, not Frontier Developments or its representatives) will be viewed in an extremely dim light by many here, and would likely lead to further negative publicity for both Elite: Dangerous and Frontier Developments.

8. In-Game Advertising
The Game may incorporate technology (which may be provided by Frontier or third party service providers engaged by Frontier (each a “Dynamic Advertising Provider”)) which enables advertising to be uploaded into the Game on your PC, and changed while the Game is being played on-line. In order that the Dynamic Advertising Provider is able to direct advertising appropriate to your Game and geographic region, as well as to the correct location within the computer game, certain non-personally identifiable data and information may be retrieved and retained by the Dynamic Advertising Provider including your I.P. address, geographic location, in-game position, and information concerning the appearance of advertising visible during your gameplay (for example, the length of time an item of advertising was visible, the dimensions of the advertisements). In addition, the Dynamic Advertising Provider may assign a unique identification number which is stored on your PC and which is used to monitor and calculate the number of views of dynamic advertising during gameplay. None of the information collected for this purpose including the identification number can be used to identify you.

The technology employed by Dynamic Advertising Providers may be located outside your country of residence (including outside of the European Union).

Where a Game incorporates dynamic advertising technology, the technology which serves the provision of dynamic in-game advertising is integrated within the Game. This means that if you do not want to receive dynamic advertising, you should only play the game when you are not connected to the Internet.

 

[mckayi]

For the first time FD have broken a promise they made to us at the beginning of the development. If fact they have broken several promises

1. They will not as PROMISED have 25 ships available at launch. (They get around this by offering an extra 5 at some point and one available for free to make us feel better)

2. They are dropping some features aimed at release and may or may not implement ten after release...in short the game will not be finished as PROMISED on release. And yes we know their are adding coming after release but putting features into this category that should have been implemented upon release is shameful behaviour.

3. And finally the elephant in the room. No offline mode which was PROMISED from the start!! Perhaps FD should make the game WE and MR BRABEN want and hold off the release until next year so they can get it right...I plead to FD please re think this, put in an offline mode for those that want to just cruise the Galaxy withou the need of an Internet connection. I for one will not be asking for a refund but am hanging my head in despair at your decision.

And finaly let me remind you that we all love this game and want it to grow on for the future and an offline mode is what it needs to be a immortal product just like its predecessor

 

[xStatiCa]

I am pretty disappointed too. I just found out about this on slashdot and have had access to beta 1. I haven't even played the current game but maybe 5 minutes because I am wanting to wait for the single player experience. I don't play online stuff much. I go to areas where I don't have internet connectivity sometimes. I was really hoping for a game that I can play offline like Frontier Elite 2. I still fire up that game and play sometimes.

Will this make me want a refund? No... but I am certainly disappointed. I can load up Frontier Elite 2 and play it without any server infrastructure by Frontier. I really want to be able to load up this game 20 years from now and play it or maybe even show my grand children. I very seriously doubt they will still have server infrastructure still up then. I certainly am not a fan on online only games.

 

[mbpoblet]

Y'know, I would GLADLY hand over more money for this and please read all of the text and think before replying ...

A version of Frontier: Elite II (let's call it for the sake of calling it something "Frontier: Elite II-A" [for Adavanced]), based on the COBRA engine.

You could probably take bits and pieces from what FDEV have done for ED and use that as a base. Bung in some PG goodness that was used in the original, and so on.

Develop it as a seperate project after ED is released of course. Keep ED the way it is without an offline mode, and there you have it - you'll have your offline version of Elite with updated graphics and something resembling Elite II that people like me have been hoping for.

I don't know if this would be everyone else's idea of a compromise, but for me personally it would be.

Rgds.

Where do I have to sign!?

 

[JughedJones]

I have waited for this from the first time I launcged from Lave all thos years ago. I feel cheated that they have pulled the off line scenario. I dont want to have to keep dodging intent on shooting me up as I trade my way through the galaxy as I did in the original Elite.

Seriuously upset I parted with my money as I never believed such a basic off-line requirement be ditched.

Lesson learned Mr Braben, lesson learned, I no longer trust you or anyone else on kickstarter.

So many people still don't get it, do they?

You don't have to play with anyone, you can play solo.

Yesterday somebody created a thread and got laughed down because they wanted to make sure people understood that Solo play is still an option.

Case in point... people still don't get it. You don't have to dodge any [redacted]

 

[littleminxundr]

First time post by one of the kickstarters.

As a lawyer and a citizen of EU I will use every legal way available to get a TOTAL offline mode in the game I already payed for (the only reason I want the game is to play it by myself without any interference by other humans) or if that proves to be impossible a refund.

I will not visit this forum anymore.

Regards,

JF

God speed, my friend. May your coffers be bottomless.

 

[Johnny Kelso]

DB: Things are too quiet. We really need something to get the media excited about just before our launch next weekend.

MB: Well, we still have a few hundred mugs we can send out to them.

DB: No .. No .. We need to try something explosive .. something dangerous.

MB: Theres no way I am getting in that g-string again!

DB: In Fridays newsletter, I want you to slip in something quietly that will ruffle a few feathers.

MB: Ahhhhhh .. the Thargoids awaken .. I like it.

DB: No, Sweenys still struggling with their HOTAS grip.
DB: We need to break them down, before we can build them up.

MB: Huh?

DB: You sir, may be a imaginative writer, but your blind to your dark side. We tell them that something has been pulled ... umm, like that offline version.
DB: Then we sit back and wait.

MB: But we finished implementing that offline module even before the Beta started. Thats why we never tested it.

DB: Yes, but they don't know that. Then we sit back and enjoy the show.

MB: But that will be a disaster which will cause irreparable damage.

DB: Normally it would, but I have recently aquired a rather unique shinny artifact which can work PR miracles.
DB: Once a fews days have passed, the BBC will get aboard, and whip them into a frenzy, ready for us to strike!
DB: I can even get Drew to prepare a story on the disaster.
DB: <evil laugh> Our own private War of the Worlds!
DB: With the world's media attention focussed on us, at the official launch we announce a sincere apology and ask our loyal backers for forgiveness.
DB: We then inform them that we, through our own personal funds, will work night and day to ressurect the offline version before Christmas.
DB: We will be lauded beyond belief, and will be seen as Legends. You might also be knighted yourself, or at the very least be delivered a truckload of pizza.

MB: Thats so crazy, it might work.

DB: It is destined to work my dear fellow. Now get to work ... we have history to make.

LOL This is really funny! ..... It's not true is it?

 

[Adept]

I bought a release version of the game. While the developers have promised it offline mod. I rarely subscribe to the forums. I find it difficult to communicate in another language. My native language is not English. I signed up as soon as he learned the news.
Honestly I register in the hope that this news will fake, but. But I'm still not fully decided to return to me the game or not.
I do not like, but I'm afraid that will have to(

Ok. The "has not delivered" confused me a lot. I personally think you are making a mistake, but if offline is the only acceptable thing, then you've been told how to seek the refund. Hopefully you got the copy from their online store, not at the kickstarter.

 

[zaccheus44]

No it's been answered, you just didn't like the answer

This is simple, they aren't going to change their mind. The reason for which is almost certainly that it would take many more months to get offline mode ready. They just aren't going to do it at least "short term". Maybe in an expansion, who knows, but definitely not in the original release.

If that's true then FD is incompetent and this game will fail. Seriously they don't have the time and resource management skills to include an offline component of their game? Especially since they were given a large portion of the resources up front by the backers and those that preordered? Would you give a med student a degree if he passed all courses except pharmacology because "he couldn't study that course without sacrificing his B grade in embryology". I'm pretty sure you'd agree he had failed and most likely wouldn't trust him as your physician. If their excuses are true they are incompetent if not then it's a scam. I vote snake oil but at this point it's too late. They clearly have no interest in what their supporters say or want. Blaze your own trail as long as it fits the path we want you to follow

 

[Phil Lee]

Well this is great. I had no intention of playing Elite online so this means I've wasted £50.

 

[Dave Leestir]

DB: Things are too quiet. We really need something to get the media excited about just before our launch next weekend.

MB: Well, we still have a few hundred mugs we can send out to them.

DB: No .. No .. We need to try something explosive .. something dangerous.

MB: Theres no way I am getting in that g-string again!

DB: In Fridays newsletter, I want you to slip in something quietly that will ruffle a few feathers.

MB: Ahhhhhh .. the Thargoids awaken .. I like it.

DB: No, Sweenys still struggling with their HOTAS grip.
DB: We need to break them down, before we can build them up.

MB: Huh?

DB: You sir, may be a imaginative writer, but your blind to your dark side. We tell them that something has been pulled ... umm, like that offline version.
DB: Then we sit back and wait.

MB: But we finished implementing that offline module even before the Beta started. Thats why we never tested it.

DB: Yes, but they don't know that. Then we sit back and enjoy the show.

MB: But that will be a disaster which will cause irreparable damage.

DB: Normally it would, but I have recently aquired a rather unique shinny artifact which can work PR miracles.
DB: Once a fews days have passed, the BBC will get aboard, and whip them into a frenzy, ready for us to strike!
DB: I can even get Drew to prepare a story on the disaster.
DB: <evil laugh> Our own private War of the Worlds!
DB: With the world's media attention focussed on us, at the official launch we announce a sincere apology and ask our loyal backers for forgiveness.
DB: We then inform them that we, through our own personal funds, will work night and day to ressurect the offline version before Christmas.
DB: We will be lauded beyond belief, and will be seen as Legends. You might also be knighted yourself, or at the very least be delivered a truckload of pizza.

MB: Thats so crazy, it might work.

DB: It is destined to work my dear fellow. Now get to work ... we have history to make.

This is so inaccurate: "Well, we still have a few hundred mugs..." - while in fact there are thousands of us.

 

[GolemXIV]

First time post by one of the kickstarters.

As a lawyer and a citizen of EU I will use every legal way available to get a TOTAL offline mode in the game I already payed for

There are to many lawyer in this world.

 

[OriginalBadBoy]

I wish I could shake your hand, I really do. Thank you for a well written post that pretty much sums up what many of us old timers feel. If I were a moderator, I'd make a sticky out of it. I really wish all the people who insist on defending this awful decision would at least try to make the effort to understand the things you just wrote: that for us, the magic of Elite was that it was a personal experience, a private science fiction epic that owed a lot of its magic to the fact that it was, as you so touchingly explained, "the only true space in my life that was truly mine (all mine!) and the only place that at this point (or that point) in my life I could affect or influence in any meaningful way, it was my escape, it was selfish but it was mine and I was the only one watching and the only damn one in it".

I guess you will just have to learn to share your 'space' then (terrible pun I know) ..

Can we not pigeon hole old timers as having this attitude. Some of us have learned to share as the years have gone on ...

(Don't get mad BTW .. I totally understand what is being said, I just dont agree with it thats all).

 

[SJT]

Ok. The "has not delivered" confused me a lot. I personally think you are making a mistake, but if offline is the only acceptable thing, then you've been told how to seek the refund. Hopefully you got the copy from their online store, not at the kickstarter.

One day the law will catch up with Kickstarter and it'll be in the same league as Wonga.com and pyramid schemes.

 

[strangerdanger]

Well this is great. I had no intention of playing Elite online so this means I've wasted £50.

Request a refund! Don't allow FD to get away with this unscathed.

 

[Globusdiablo]

DB: Things are too quiet. We really need something to get the media excited about just before our launch next weekend.

MB: Well, we still have a few hundred mugs we can send out to them.

DB: No .. No .. We need to try something explosive .. something dangerous.

MB: Theres no way I am getting in that g-string again!

DB: In Fridays newsletter, I want you to slip in something quietly that will ruffle a few feathers.

MB: Ahhhhhh .. the Thargoids awaken .. I like it.

DB: No, Sweenys still struggling with their HOTAS grip.
DB: We need to break them down, before we can build them up.

MB: Huh?

DB: You sir, may be a imaginative writer, but your blind to your dark side. We tell them that something has been pulled ... umm, like that offline version.
DB: Then we sit back and wait.

MB: But we finished implementing that offline module even before the Beta started. Thats why we never tested it.

DB: Yes, but they don't know that. Then we sit back and enjoy the show.

MB: But that will be a disaster which will cause irreparable damage.

DB: Normally it would, but I have recently aquired a rather unique shinny artifact which can work PR miracles.
DB: Once a fews days have passed, the BBC will get aboard, and whip them into a frenzy, ready for us to strike!
DB: I can even get Drew to prepare a story on the disaster.
DB: <evil laugh> Our own private War of the Worlds!
DB: With the world's media attention focussed on us, at the official launch we announce a sincere apology and ask our loyal backers for forgiveness.
DB: We then inform them that we, through our own personal funds, will work night and day to ressurect the offline version before Christmas.
DB: We will be lauded beyond belief, and will be seen as Legends. You might also be knighted yourself, or at the very least be delivered a truckload of pizza.

MB: Thats so crazy, it might work.

DB: It is destined to work my dear fellow. Now get to work ... we have history to make.

Absolutely brilliant! Thank you.

I wish I had a crystal ball too.

 

[Warbler]

Been told to post this here, fyi I'm not angry only regrets, but I'd like this post added to this big heap.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do I want to play a game I own and have a right to play but through no fault of my own I sometimes can't?
Do I want to play a game with some corporate monstrosity looking over my shoulder watching my every move?
Do I want to play a game where I can be bullied or ripped off by some quick fingered 12 year old (either directly or indirectly)?
Do I want to play a game where arbitrary rules and conditions are injected into my world that will dictate my freedom to chose what I do and when I want to do it?

I am surprised just how strongly I feel about it, but as an 84er it can't be some sudden snap reaction.

Like many I've also thought long and hard about why I regret the sudden loss of Elite D offline and my reasons actually feel strangely deep and personal, almost spiritual you could say .

Call me mad (yes I'm mad) because I'm not even sure if my regrets are entirely rational:
~
I have regrets because I still think I look cool dancing to Spandau Ballet, but I secretly know I don't.
I have regrets because I still think it's great to have big hair, but when I'm honest, I know it's not.
I have regrets because I still find Blondie absolutely stunning but some now say she isn't.
I have regrets because I still believe I have no responsibilities, but the wife says I do.
I have regrets because I still think I'm young, but my kids keep saying I'm not.

I have regrets because I still hoped that I could be that geeky, sleep deprived teenager playing space games on my own late into the night in my own universe surrounded by a reality that only I commanded, no rules, that felt free from an awful, commercialised, bullying world, that was fresh and that as a young frustrated adult was the only true space in my life that was truly mine (all mine!) and the only place that at this point (or that point) in my life I could affect or influence in any meaningful way, it was my escape, it was selfish but it was mine and I was the only one watching and the only damn one in it.

So now 30 years later, I'd hoped, as an old(ish) man, when the discos over and younger one's gone, even after the lights and servers finally dim, that at least I'd be there sat, left all alone playing in the dark but as happy as Larry in my own bit of space, that I'd thought was all mine.

And now after this week I think that this my last little personal fantasy has gone too.

Reads like a poem, I could not agree with you more. Brilliant stuff!

 

[Adept]

I have waited for this from the first time I launcged from Lave all thos years ago. I feel cheated that they have pulled the off line scenario. I dont want to have to keep dodging intent on shooting me up as I trade my way through the galaxy as I did in the original Elite.

Seriuously upset I parted with my money as I never believed such a basic off-line requirement be ditched.

Lesson learned Mr Braben, lesson learned, I no longer trust you or anyone else on kickstarter.

Solo. Online.

Delivers all you dream of up there.