Players losing it all and quitting - sure, their fault but not good for the game.

[Katkon]

Hi folks,

Over and over again we see players in the facebook group and here coming on to say that for whatever reason they we operating without the rebuy funds, something happened and whammo... back to square one. Most seem to quit thereafter.

Now it's very easy to take the lofy moral ground and say that it's their fault for taking the risk they did. But the long and short of it is, it's not good for the game. This game is designed for humans and we have to consider how they are, not how they should be.

You could just ignore this issue and be high minded about it, but I believe the game will suffer.

Amazingly, I have even seen posts where people claim not to have known they could lose everything, although I find that hard to comprehend. People can be caught out too... for example a new module is bought and the calculations fail to take the increase in rebuy cost into account and the player is shy of the rebuy cost without realising it.

Personally, I never fly without the rebuy cost. I don't even risk my trading capital (mostly, have risked it a few times). You just need one-glitch when docking... a bump in the slit... whatever... and it's all over.

Are there plans to do anything about it? I'm not suggesting we dumb the game down, but perhaps there are simple things that could be done without removing the risk management aspect of things.

For example, you could have a system of accounts and you could move credits between them... for example, to put your rebuy cost aside.

Or, a simple message when your funds would drop below the rebuy cost after a transaction.

Or, your insurance excess is zero but you pay a premium. Or let the player decide the risk by having a premium that is related to the insurance excess.

Thoughts?

My hypothesis, which I cannot prove or disprove: many of the self-proclaimed rage-quitters aren't quitting at all, but simply venting frustration on the forum, and continue playing the game quietly behind the scenes. Maybe they take a couple of days break, but I'm confident they're still playing.

Why? Because many of them have lost a lot in a fairly short timeframe which suggests dedication and heavy time-investment in the game, which further suggests enjoyment and fun. And so, it won't take long for withdrawal symptoms to set in and for them to quietly return. Except this time, they'll fly with insurance!

So in short, I'm not in the slightest worried about rage quitters. Besides, I also believe they represent a very, very small vocal minority. So even if I'm wrong - it doesn't matter.

 

[Alox]

My hypothesis, which I cannot prove or disprove: many of the self-proclaimed rage-quitters aren't quitting at all, but simply venting frustration on the forum, and continue playing the game quietly behind the scenes. Maybe they take a couple of days break, but I'm confident they're still playing.

Why? Because many of them have lost a lot in a fairly short timeframe which suggests dedication and heavy time-investment in the game, which further suggests enjoyment and fun. And so, it won't take long for withdrawal symptoms to set in and for them to quietly return. Except this time, they'll fly with insurance!

So in short, I'm not in the slightest worried about rage quitters. Besides, I also believe they represent a very, very small vocal minority. So even if I'm wrong - it doesn't matter.

I think that the true quitters wont bother with a rage post. So how many there are is quite hard for us players to discern and FD is not likely to tell us. But whatever they implement I guess we can take as a hint of that data.

 

[Alpha November]

I think that the true quitters wont bother with a rage post. So how many there are is quite hard for us players to discern and FD is not likely to tell us. But whatever they implement I guess we can take as a hint of that data.

Good point. I don't think rage-quit is the issue probably. It's silent-quit that may be more of a long-term threat to the game. Anything that helps keep the maximum amount of people playing safeguards the future of ED.

 

[Blake_Dragon]

A friend of mine once said :"I don't really want to kill all the stupid people in the world, I am just for removing all the warning labels and let the problem sort itself out" wonder if he works for FD now

 

[CMDR Crustatious Cornelius Pig]

It's not a subscription based game, Frontier already got their money. Who care if they stop playing?

Personally I am fine with the steep curve but adding a warning in spots.....kind of like they should do for the following

 

[Mr Duffo]

"Take control of your own starship in a cut-throat galaxy."

wouldnt be so cut-throat if death wouldnt be harsh. Even now it feels quite easy for 10mil ship with fitting to pay only 400k

 

[MADmanOne]

I don't think adding clarity to a very important aspect of the game would be dumbing it down. A message is shown when you've bought an item that needs to be adding to a Firegroup, so why not if you've bought an item that means you don't have enough to cover the Rebuy cost?

Yeah, a warning or even a confirmation dialog would be ok. But I believe some players still would click OK, blew up soon afterwards and open a whine post here in the forum

It's not a subscription based game, Frontier already got their money. Who care if they stop playing?

Do be honest, I have no problem of players leaving, who are not able to keep money for insurance. Elite is no game which have to make everybody happy. The player have to adapt to the game rules not the other way round.

Disagree with that completely; word of mouth is important.

You, because these people dont buy addons do pay further development of your game ;-)

I think both of you greatly overestimate the rate of players leaving because they have lost everything. Afaik FD has sold 300.000 copies of ED. Even though every day a new whine post is popping up here, they are by far not that numerous to be a harm in any way. But I admit, the sum of all bugs and missing features may add up to a significant number but I don't see that right now.

 

[CMDR Bansidhe]

Your wanted status is shown in the side panels.
maybe you didn't know you hit that guy but you can check your status anytime.

Fair enough. It's nothing to check my side panels before docking. So even that idea works.

Great. You make a thread to propose the changes and I'll back it.

 

[kelticfury]

I think the OP grossly over-exaggerates the perceived problem of rage quitters.

 

[mungy]

knowing what i know now, it'd hurt if i gambled and lost everything. but it wouldn't take me as long to get up to an adder - once there everything becomes much more attainable as it's good at most things, for the price. i don't think making it easier to not lose everything is something that needs to be implemented. though a one time per ship warning that the player doesn't have enough to cover insurance might help save some people from an unfortunate mistake.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I'm not suggesting we dumb the game down, but perhaps there are simple things that could be done

Yes, you are suggesting we dumb the game down, because you feel many people are too dumb for the way the game works now. I agree with the second part and disagree with the first.

People can be caught out too... for example a new module is bought and the calculations fail to take the increase in rebuy cost into account and the player is shy of the rebuy cost without realising it.

Not true, they could just disable that module in the insurance screen.

 

[Morpheus]

New players may not be aware that they don't just respawn with their old ship at the last location free of charge.

A simple warning message, which can be disabled in the options, could tell them when their available credits dip below the insurance rebuy cost of their current ship and modules.

 

[Yokai]

I would not have known about the insurance/rebuy costs if I weren't an avid reader of forums for games that I pick up.

And most players actively stay away from forums. The forum community here is just a tiny percentage of the total playerbase. It also hurts that the main forum (this one) scrolls so damn fast. A post made 20 minutes ago is often on the 2nd or 3rd page already.

So: considering how tempting it is to rage quit when you've spent several hours (or perhaps many more) without mishap only to suddenly discover that you've lost _everything_ and are back to square one? I'm with the crowd here who says that's a wee bit too harsh, and frankly it's weak game design to not force players to see at least one or two proactive warnings about this serious consequence of not paying attention to insurance costs.

 

[SE-Apocalypse]

Hi folks,
Thoughts?

Healthy for the community. Less grumpy people around, so better they leave than they stay here and complain. Overall you generate people who are mot committed to the game this way which should increase revenue via micro transactions. Sounds like a healthy method. Now we just need a way to bring the players who ragequit back to the game with something that generates even more money. We could offer players who lost everything to cover their insurance for $15 fee and restore everything. Sounds good to me and is clearly not pay2win, but pay4fail.

 

[Darian]

Why is thinking about smarter options regarding "informed risk" catering to every whim or whine?
The point is that we need a certain "fanbase" to have an better ED so we need to find ways to keep it without making ED the nanny universe.

Or we are all tough guys in an boring universe because Frontier cancelled the project due lack of users.

 

[Brujah]

Agreed. A simple warning message you have to click if you undock with less money than the rebuy cost of your ship would suffice.

"You have x credits. This is less than the x credits required to rebuy your ship with all its modules. Are you sure you wish to undock?"

 

[Deleted member 38366]

-- Deleted --

 

[Han Yolo]

You, because these people dont buy addons do pay further development of your game ;-)

I think that's just wishful thinking... I bet the addons will each be like some kind of extra game with no connection to ED except some shared trade data or stuff like that. It will be heavily instanced and it wont feel like "one game".

sry, got a bit pessimistic after I realized how bad ED actually is right now and how FD does not even have a roadmap to show for.

 

[kvmetternich]

In Elite is required that people take care of themeself, learn from experience and take the responsability of their choices. Pointed out this, losing everything is a fault of the player...for example buying a ship that you cannot afford is your mistake. You will learn for the next time.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Or just move the rebuy cost to the station greeting screen below your credit balance. That way you always see it.