Ten Ton Hammer- ED needs social tools

[Dai]

You can use voive on vent or teamspeak for group play. In quite a few other games I've seen chat is mostly for spam or scamming, but having chat channels you can join for various things including live help from other players seems to me to be essential.

what he said, In most of the other games I play they give all the chat etc and we still play using teamspeak etc and the in game chat is for spamming. Not what we want. The idea of going to a space station and having idiots making noises the whole time sends a shiver down my spine

 

[Seonid]

At the moment, ED needs to significantly improve either its multiplayer aspect, singleplayer aspect or both, because at the moment, the game is both a poor singleplayer game and a poor multiplayer game.

At the moment it's not a released game, more than happy to have that conversation again when it is.

 

[LukeP]

All Commanders are automatically in a "Guild", the Elite Federation of Pilots, players will also gain and lose reputations as they play, we've already had Commanders named in GalNet feeds for all to see, for a variety of actions. Be careful about making direct comparisons with EVE, other than both games are set in space, that's where the similarity ends and using that as a basis of perspective, will likely lead to misleading perspectives.

We are not in EFP. At least not those of us who are under "Dangerous". Are you?

If you look at fiction, within such guild there are sub-guilds. Like the Dark Wheel.

Pilots Federation is umbrella term. Ranking and public face. Just like Capsuleer in EvE. Guess where EvE got that?

And if we take E|D branded fiction, we have constant stream of mentions of Grid, which translates to FTL internet. So I take lack of it immersion breaking

Also , way i understand it, come this evening we are in feature freeze. Or we will be in 2 days.

 

[Theodrid]

Personally, and I've posted in similar threads before, I am against a 'system wide' chat, I could possibly be convinced concerning 'station chat' but for me that would need to either be 'off' by default or need to be 'opened' on a pilot to pilot basis. The problem with the 'don't want it, don't use it' argument is that if, for example, 'station chat' became the default place/channel to group, to discuss problems in the system etc then it would almost have to be used whether you want it or not. A better solution to grouping up for a difficult NPC for example would be via a pilot message on the bulletin board, on acceptance you would be able to comm the pilot who posted it no matter what system they were in and you would be able to form a wing, (of sorts). The 'make the galaxy feel alive' argument, (in relation to system wide chat), holds some validity but falls down for me as soon as it turns into 'HODOR', 'Chuck Norris x, y, z', 'shut up noob' and the like, which, sadly, it will inevitably do so. That doesn't 'feel alive' to me, it feels like every other MMO, it feels like I could be stood in Stormwind from WoW, or the Republic Fleet in SWTOR or any other MMO 'hub' you could care to mention. As others have said, you can form your groups/guilds/clans to some degree in the 'groups' section of these forums, you can post your TS details on there, or, if you want them more private, pm them to each user, to a large degree your 'guild chat' is sorted right there, of course some do not want to use voice comms and I'm not sure how to address that tbh.

As for guilds, as others have said, the main 'guilds' in this game are the factions, I realise this is not ideal for some, the counter of 'well I was in the Horde in WoW and still in a guild' is of course valid. But, and this is the big 'but', the one pilot, one ship element in this game is vital to what they are trying to create in terms of atmosphere, in terms of an, (occasional at least), sense of isolation in the vastness of the galaxy, and, I believe, in terms of the importance of feeling alligned with your faction should you choose to back one or the other. I'm not sure a guild 'flying under one banner' within the context of a larger banner, (Empire, Federation, Alliance), really fits, though, I get others do not share that opinion.

I'm sure there will be some more coming in terms of 'grouping' in Elite Dangerous but I doubt very much you are ever going to feel like you are stood in the central square in Stormwind, and I for one, say thank god for that!.

 

[Daeron]

Actually, it would help to look at what other games tried, what worked and what didn't. EVE in particular. There's a reason why so many people play EVE despite it shortcomings, and if ED could adopt what EVE does right, it would become a better game for everyone. After all, there's enough room in the galaxy for both singleplayer carebears and PvPers.

It is all about the ability to disengage from one game, when entering another one. It takes some practise, but there was once upon a time *very many titles* available, and they were very different from each other. Maybe you remember that, maybe not. But the lesson from that time was one of adaption, as opposed to that of conformity to one Holy Standard. For when it comes down to it, there is not one singular path to success, that dark alley only leads to *very few titles*, and the odd "kickstarter revival". Which this is all about. And that is why we are here. Not for the glory of your love over there. Actually.

 

[Seonid]

We are not in EFP.

All human players are, only human players have CMDR in front of the name, only human players show as hollow icons on the scanner, your rank within the EFP will change but you are in it.
If people are specifically looking for a deep-rooted cooperative environment and a fully featured Guild/Clan/Corp framework with multiple aspects and subtle facets, there is already a long-running game with that, and more.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I don't mind more options for interactions, i think they would be useful for those who want. eg: Short range broadcasting.

However, just keep the word social out of it. Otherwise i get images of things like:

Commander XYZ has just found a new planet.

You, Commander James, and Commander Fred like this!

Click here to share!

and

You will not believe the things this Commander found on Planet X. Click here to be astounded! It will change your piloting experience forever!!!!!!

 

[trekman]

I don't see the harm in adding such a functionality if you are able to block out all the spam and immaturity.

You'd be blocking a lot of immaturity if the 'offline mode' thread on the forum is anything to go by.

We should Definitely have station chat, where the station is the chat room. Place to meet and then decide to undock together. That would fit with the universe.

I plan to explore and dont want chat rooms of any kind in the game. If people want chat rooms there are plenty elsewhere on the internet.

At the moment it doesn't really mean anything, but if we hit gamma and still don't have groups and some basic chat functionality, it's going to be cause for major concern.

If i understand the newsletter correctly then beta 3.9 will have basic group and chat functionality. People should also remember that this is a beta and these features will improve over time.

How about social tools that require you to turn them on to use?

That way you don't even have to turn them off if you want to be anti-social.

I would be in favour of a chat on/off toggle. Its not that I am anti-social but I would rather just explore and see what's out there rather than have to spend time chatting to individuals who probably just want to be annoying and continually complain about features that have been removed or features they think should have been included no matter what which is what I fear will happen.

 

[OillyRag]

Noone is interested in playing together.

I think you've already answered yourself TBH.