Ok your turn! Why wouldn't this work?
** rolls up sleeves **
Has anyone ever suggested simply having a separate version of Powerplay open only for the PvP centric crowd outside of the bubble? Rat Catcher touched on this by suggesting a 4th mode for open only Powerplay.
Frequently.
Richard Garriott, Ultima's creator, is quoted as saying UO was initially a "failed social experiment". To say it failed socially is accurate. One cannot rid player malice from the equation in any game design. It wasn't a failed experiment though because it showed us how to incentivize desired player interactions and attempt to minimize undesired human behavior under anonymity. The best any developer can hope to achieve when designing a game.
Elite's open mode is UO's Felucca. Private group and solo mode are Trammel. UO's Factions PvP system was played in Felucca only. This system wasn't quite as complex as Powerplay but it is essentially the same in concept; a system of competition with rewards. Elite's Powerplay system can be played in both Felucca and Trammel. One side of the playerbase wants it to be a PvP system only, the other does not. This is the root of our problem because..
As an old UO veteran, it would be fair to say that Open mode is like Felucca. Solo/PG is
nothing like what I remembered Trammel to be. There is a cohort of players are simply not fun to play with. Before the split, these players ran rampant as PKs. After the split, this cohort moved to
Trammel and used other ways to mess with other players. Aside from a few instances in the Mobias mega-PG, they simply don’t have access to the players who least want to play with them.
PvP combat in this game is completely optional.
Agreed.
This is an important talking point repeated often enough in this thread. Non-consensual PvP is not the answer. Successful games in that genre must begin advertised and modelled only as such, essentially becoming consensual by the grace of you playing the game at all. Still many fail, adapt, or remain sparsely populated for various reasons. Successful games with both PvE and PvP usually separate the two. Darrack points this out in another thread when I mention PvP as end-game content. Whether that's a vs mode on a console game or a consensual PvP system in an online game makes no difference. I get the argument that Elite fits the bill here for the non-consensual PvP genre because open mode is in the game, therefore it was advertised as such right? It's Elite: Dangerous! However, it's a valid argument only if solo/pg modes didn't accompany the game at launch, or even if they were added later.
The name actually stems from the Elite Federation of Pilots lowering their standards to admit lesser ranks to meet demand.
I guess “Elite: Who let the riff-raff in?” doesn’t have the same edge.
So why not simply copy and paste a version of the Powerplay system somewhere else separate from the bubble? Have at least two new Indy Powers be the wet dream open only, designed solely to be completely stand alone for direct PvP competition. They should only interact with themselves and not with any of the current Powers. Instead of being friendly, amiable or hostile give them a designation of rivalry to each other to accentuate this narrative. They're so focused on their own sweaty neck-bearded try hard conflicts that the wider struggle a few hundred light years over in the bubble doesn't concern them. I'd also throw all the PP modules on a tech broker and revamp the rewards to not include gear. This removes the currently required shopping grind to a level playing field of access. With the current Powerplay layout in the bubble left to the PvE crowd to play, there should be little to no risk of "cross contamination" and both groups of players can engage with the same system the way they prefer, with or without direct player interaction.
I sincerely doubt that would get much traction. In most MMOs I’ve played that are similar to Elite Dangerous Open, special “PvP Servers” withered on the vine. In addition, I think for many PowerPlayers, it’s supporting their Power that’s the main attraction.