This purely my own opinion, but based on my own observations it went something like this...
Back in premium beta there were a lot fewer of us, PvP existed but none of us expected it to be a focus of the game. At that point PvP consisted primarily of experimenting with different loadouts, what PvP there was was almost entirely consensual. There were few forum discussions on the subject other than discussing the results of that testing, which led directly to some nerfs and buffs - Viper & Eagle basic parameters, Cobra top speed, Cannons, gimbals - all of these things were adjusted but the forum traffic wasn't "based on pvp" the way it seems to be now it was focused on the game mechanics themselves. The deprecated words "carebear" and "griefer" were almost totally absent, because the vast majority of folks in that phase didn't have the mindset to use either.
Open beta rolls around and the profile of the userbase changes. In that tranche of new players we got a higher proportion of PvP enthusiasts and a dramatic uptick in the number of players posting PvP related "suggestions" - and unfortunately many of them had already been hashed out in the design phase before so a few of them might have got a slightly more "salty" reception than their posters deserved. In amongst 'em were the strident posters of "Where's the PvP? This sucks!" threads, which up until then had been totally absent. Hackles were raised.
Gamma and release happen, again the population takes a huge increase, with the anticipated proportion of PvP enthusiasts, some of which were misguided thinking there was supposed to be more PvP in ED than there actually was, others were metagaming forum-warriors - like we see in other game forums all over the net - laboring under the impression that if they make enough noise on the forums they will get the "More PvP" they want. They haven't been getting a response in-game and they got a pretty frosty reception here so they got louder.
Sad to say, I believe you will continue to see a disproportionate amount of forum threads from these folks until either they realize that it isn't working (and a similar proportion of new players coming in will diminish this effect) or until aggressive moderation puts a lid on it (which I know the mod team are reluctant to do)
In some cases ED is sufficiently "different" to what they are used to that things that these players considered unthinkable is an intentional feature - the single universe/mode switching thing is an excellent case in point. It's so "wrong" in other MMO or PvP settings that it has to be "wrong" here too, right? Well, not so much. It will still be a source of forum noise though, and largely self-perpetuating.
Yeah i get what you are saying Dave, i do. However this game is really no different to any other online game, apart from it lets people play different modes when they log in rather than trying to differentiate between pvp/rp/pve within the game boundaries. I keep hearing people banging on about how different or how revolutionary this game is, but it really isn't. Don't get me wrong i enjoy it, but the freshest thing about it is that its in a genre that hasn't had much in the way of online games, so its a big source of interest for lots of gamers, from all walks of life. Not just backers, not just beta players, and not just people that played previous elite/frontier games. So yeah, ED has had a lot of interest right now, and will have a lot of interest in the coming months. Its a fresh genre, its a cool setting, and its well presented. Now I get what you are saying about new people coming and regurgitating things said months before, but it is what it is. The alternative would be no new people annoying you with it, but then the game would have less support and be at risk.
With that, as you say lots of these people would like to see a lot of pvp. I am not one of them, but i do like the fact that pvp is present and a possibility within my pve experience. In my opinion, its the best way for any MMO to exist, as it makes the environment more dynamic. Sometimes more annoying, but then again, some people are annoying too.
What i don't understand is how and why, some people expect this game to cast off pvp as no more than an afterthought. If you want to limit the games lifespan, then sure. Shun all pvp. You expect people who want both pve and pvp together, to just settle for what the pve players deem acceptable, just like pve players accuse more open style enthusiasts of wanting pve players to settle for being marauded constantly for no real benefit. Its a ridiculous argument.
What people need to remember, this game right now is bare bones. And i am being generous with that. In the future, there is no reason some aspects of pvp can't exist quite happily in this game, they just need to tweak the mechanics and the player related consequences of pvp. Which at the moment are pretty much negligible, but they are tweaking it soon i have read. Its just a first step. Having better player teamwork will also go a long way to make pvp less of the 'dark side' that so many pve players seem to think it is. However. right now, its no secret, that multiplayer co-op functionality is pretty much non existent without major concessions being made by the players. Which in today's gaming industry, is really not acceptable, when a game advertises itself as online 'play alone or with friends'.
Yes i get that they are
going to fix that as well as the other things, but the fact is they haven't yet, and so people that want multiplayer interaction, cant really get it without resorting to pure pvp or the limited pirating capability. Right now the game focus is unclear to a lot of people, myself included.
- On one hand you have the hardcore backer loyalists who keep pulling out archive footage nearly a year old of Braben saying the game 'discourages pvp', which in my opinion is taken out of context quite often. I think he is more referring to straight up organised pvp, like in a lot of other games, and also actual griefers. Not dyanmic pvp, such as pirating and bounty hunting or even straight up killing (some pirates were crazy murderous psychos after all). Also regularly popping up are quotes from the kickstarter/early beta days.
- Then on the other hand, you have recent players who don't see what the fuss is about with regards to pvp, and a lot
who just want it as one aspect of the game, within the overall game experience, which in my opinion is how next gen elite should be played. You also have recent posts by devs saying they are actively thinking about, and changing, aspects of the game with pvp in mind. Add to that, the game's playerbase has had a huge influx. A lot of these people may have different views and opinions on what the game means to them, and why not? They have as much right to input as anyone else. So the argument 'pvp is not important in this game' is simply not a viable comeback anymore. It might be important to a hell of a lot of players now the game has launched.
Beta/backing is a choice not a privelidge. I think people need to remember that.
A good leveller for all this would be if someone made an official statement,
post release on if the game actually has a focus change, and/or what the actual focus is, outside of the actual community. Though i don't think it will ever happen. All i hear right now on these forums, is people saying what
they want the game to be focused about, and repeating age old party lines like dogma, because they so badly want it to be true. The thing is, no one can take anything for granted, in any video game, let alone this one. Look at offline mode and what happened with that. Just saying on a forum 'pvp is not important' doesn't make it true. What makes it true is the devlopers saying that, which they haven't and in fact have recently made inroads to show the opposite of what some people have been bleating on about incessantly.
Its not beta or gamma anymore sports fans, the game has launched. Its out in the big bad world, where lots of people aren't grumpy. Where those people often like online features, and pvp in various forms. With launch comes other issues, such as attracting new players and retaining old ones. Views change, and the devs can easily alter their priorities based on how the game is doing or what they want to innovate in the future. Im not making a DOOM post, or saying the game will die without pvp, its just a realistic view. Lots of people like pvp, and im sure lots more will be coming. No company turns away punters. Its easy to throw party lines out of context and whack them on the forums. Its a whole other matter to put a figures sheet in front of the top table in FD, and say; "ok if we do/don't do this, we could lose XXXX amount of current players and turn away XXXX amount of potential players". They will not so easily write off pvp on a matter of principle, as some people seem to blindly expect on this forum, based on some youtube video discussion that people seem to take as gospel truth and a binding contract. If they do ill eat my mouse mat.
