Everyone needs to switch their perspective of ED from game to simulator.

I have been reading thru the threads and noticed a lot of people complaining about game content, and saying they are bored etc. etc.
I think people need to switch their point of view and instead of looking at ED as a game and start viewing it as a space simulator. Now I am not saying it is completely accurate representation of what it would like to travel thru space, but it does attempt to give you one point of view how it might be eventually.
So lets compare ED to say Flight simulator X or X-plane or train simulator. I am a big flight simulator X fan so I will compare it to that. FSX gives you a bunch of planes, a bunch of airports to fly from and to and a very complex simulation to imitate flying (and FSX isn't 100% accurate either). So once you learn the ins and outs of how to fly a plane getting from point A to point B can seem pretty boring for some, but not unlike ED the user is meant to insert a little imagination. For example when I fly FSX, I imagine I am delivering cargo, or passengers to my chosen destination, plan a complex flight plan and make sure I fly my ILS points and communicate with the tower adding, all which emersion for me in the game.
ED has that same feel for me, with quite a bit more simulation aspects in it. An actual way of carrying cargo, dogfighting, and other options to fill in more of the blanks for me then FSX.
Maybe the ED community has been approaching ED from the wrong perspective.
If you want a dog but you get a llama instead, you probably won't be happy with a llama.

This is not a bust on anyone's point of view it is just an observation, I think the people who seem to be enjoying the game the way it is more then likely are simulator fans, and bought ED because it is a simulator. The rest maybe expected something different and got a simulator.
 
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a simulator. When I bought that I wasn't promised a living universe, blazing my own trail, the possibility of being a street pirate, bounty hunter, trader, miner.

In ETS2 if I'm sent from Poland to Spain I'm paid according to the distance. In ED if I'm sent in a mission to deliver something to a station 90Ls away or to Hutton Orbital 0.22Ly away I'm paid the same amount.

The thing is, ED can be many things, but in each aspect of what it can be there are this kind of issues that shouldn't have been there, that should work in a more logical way, but they don't.
 
I've never really been a fan of the "it's a simulation, not a game!" argument for things like Elite. It sounds like people are just using it as a shield against criticism. In a sci-fi setting even if you are making a sim, you have the room to take a few liberties.

That said, I also refuse to consider a game highly immersive if I need to headcanon 90% of it. From the looks of your OP, it's gone beyond adding "a little imagination".

Still like the game overall, though.
 
It's hard to see ED as a space simulator because of the speed limit\acceleration cutoff at one end of the spectrum, and the multiple times faster than the speed of light at the other.
 
Heh. Most of the things I mislike about ED are due to it being not quite as simmy as I would like. Bloody gameplay concessions. :)

Seriously, though, most of the things I'm looking forward to should make life better for both simmers and gamers. Clearly ED stands with one leg in both worlds, and benefits from it, IMO.
 
Elite: Dangerous - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elite: Dangerous is a space adventure, trading, and combat simulator

Elite: Dangerous - GameSpot
Elite: Dangerous is a space simulation game


Elite Dangerous - MMO Space sim you can enjoy now ...


Kotaku
''Don't be That VR Guy," I keep thinking. I've spent the last couple of weeks playing Elite: Dangerous, a PC space-sim that works with the ...

At the very least, it seems like the internets consider it a space sim...
Not that I think this should be an excuse for problems and lacking features in the game. Why should that be excused? The problems should be pointed out and solutions prooposed in a constructive manner. Then they should be solved.
Personally, I think I would call ED a game with simulation features.
 
It's too unrealistic and there are too many omissions for it to be a simulator. And even if it was a simulator, it would be a very bad simulator for the same reasons.
 
For me it is both a sim and a game.
The galaxy is pure sim, I don't think anyone can deny that, while the flight mechanics are a hybrid of sim and game mechanics that take some liberties with reality to provide an enjoyable game.
I feel that the mix is about right, if they had gone for the full flight simulation the game would have been lacking, possibly frustrating and may have been side-lined as just another 'Flight Sim' which is a pretty niche genre.
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Elite feels right, currently a bit feature light, but right all the same...I have hopes that go beyond what it is now and feel it will eventually be greater than the sum of it's parts.
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I think we need to see it as what it is not what we think its should be
 
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With WWII flight mechanics in space? You must be joking.

This is nonsense. Following your logic there couldn't be any space sim because fighting in space is unrealistic in general.

So I could call it a Sci-Fi sim and you can't prove me wrong because the flight mechanics are part of the fiction ;)


For me ED is a sandbox. I would compare it to games like Mount & Blade, which is kind of a sim aswell and has many of the same problems. But I love both games...
 
People keep starting threads about how they're seeing so many other threads complaining about lack of content/depth.
This is because there IS a serious lack of content/depth.

Nah ... there are so many threads about lack of content/depth because the people who don't feel like there is a lack of content nor depth are actually playing Elite: Dangerous. Those who complain are instead roaming forums for a game they apparently dislike instead of playing something they DO like.

And then of course there are those who would like to play but can't right now ... /tips fedora-less head
 
for me it is a space sim with some "game-mechanics" which make it more interesting. Personally i just find the whole thing very relaxing and when i come home from work a couple of hours being CMDR Xeelee Qax is a great way to unwind after the day. I am Llooking forward to planet landing and being able to walk around stations meeting people in missions. But for now exploring and a little trading is a good way to waste a few hours. :)
 
People who are bored with or don't like elite will not suddenly become entertained or happy with it by mentally changing what it is. They either like it or they don't. You cant enjoy eating soil by trying to convince yourself its cheese any more than you can start to enjoy something you think is dull by telling yourself its not.

Simulation or game its meant to be entertainment and much like any entertainment you'll either like or or you wont, it you do then crack on, if you don't then move on. It really is that simple!
 
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As a Falcon 4 and Orbiter veteran, I find it quite funny that people would call ED a simulator.
I'd say the closest space shooters got to the simulator genre, in the fact that they at least tried to maintain some believability and consistency, were I-war and Starshatter.
 
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As a Falcon 4 and Orbiter veteran, I find it quite funny that people would call ED a simulator.

Well to be fair, the term ''space sim'' is not really the same as other sims. If calling it a ''simulator'' is right is something we can discuss, but the fact is, that ''space sim'' actually seems to be an accepted term for space games that aren't simulators at all.
Orbiter is referred to (by Orbiter) as a ''Space flight simulator''.

You're still right though, it is kind of silly to call ED a simulator. Wikipedia refers to a ''simulator'' as the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. which I think is a pretty good definition.
 
ED is a space-sim.

In the same way as...

Grand Theft Auto - the awesome driving simulator.
Starwing - the space combat simulator

and let's not forget...

Doom - the classic running around and having your face eaten off by Martian demons simulator.
 
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