Actually, it's you who just. doesn't. frikkin'. get. it. Here's the scoop - you can't cure stupid. Doesn't matter what you do, doesn't matter what UI changes you make...it simply can't be done. Problem is not that players are unaware of the insurance, problem is that they are "slow and special" enough to choose to launch without it.
Players losing it all and quitting - sure, their fault but not good for the game.
- Thread starter CrazyH0rse
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Actually, it's you who just. doesn't. frikkin'. get. it. Here's the scoop - you can't cure stupid. Doesn't matter what you do, doesn't matter what UI changes you make...it simply can't be done. Problem is not that players are unaware of the insurance, problem is that they are "slow and special" enough to choose to launch without it.
Its not good for gaming that every game is being made pick up and play and designed in a way to stop players with no patience or willingness to learn, or any perseverance, or willingness to suffer any sort of failure or set backs having any possibility of a tantrum.
If a kid throws a tantrum you dont give him his way, or he will always do it, you let him get on with it, eventually he will grow up and motivate himself to learn or persevere, or he puts his lip out forever and does without, and those type of players arent worth accommodating. Thet arent real gamers they are people who accidentally became gamers after stumbling upon facebook games and just thought they were.
If a kid throws a tantrum you dont give him his way, or he will always do it, you let him get on with it, eventually he will grow up and motivate himself to learn or persevere, or he puts his lip out forever and does without, and those type of players arent worth accommodating. Thet arent real gamers they are people who accidentally became gamers after stumbling upon facebook games and just thought they were.
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I usually play with my eyes open. So open in fact that I could easily read page 35 of the frikkin' manual. You can't help people that don't care to know.
Have one, sometimes the customer isn't right.
If the game were made that way, then I would be fine with it. I would also not mind too much if it were made with a "Insurance not covered" warning if you launch without insurance. But I am also completely happy with the way it is at the moment as well. I know that it must suck to lose everything. I know it. (If I were to lose everything tomorrow, that would be a loss of over 100 hours.) But the game was able to drill in my head the importance of insurance in a way that made me respect the Galaxy, while at the same time making me proud about being able to keep it together for this long.
Really, if the mechanic were to change I would still keep playing because I love it, but if the game was made to be less 'dangerous', then I would have a lower sense of achievement.
Hi Cmdrs, as i read this i have only just ( well this morning about 2.00 am ) lost my fully upgraded cobra and 500,000 cr worth of Palladium, instead of going to sleep with a healthy balance and cargo i went for one last trip loaded up and at launch i didnt line up exit before punching it, you guessed it straight into side wall of orbital ( Aristotle) 
Went to bed in a huff but made me chuckle every time i thought about it , Just another hard lesson learnt handed out by Elite, Dont drink and drive or sleep at the controls as nutter says just one error and its "good night Irene" sure as hell didn't want to make me quit, Neither did the mission to hunt down general who happen'd to be sitting in an Imperial Clipper (1st i've encountered one) jumped in and before i could turn and scan him fully lost shields and thrusters, only to be sitting for the next 5- 10 mins spinning around on the same spot deploying chaff and shield banks while he just casually popped away at my hull left me alone when canopy breached though should have took the hull full of Tobacco in first lol, Loving the fact that its NOT so easy and yes one mistake can cost big
See ya out there Cmdrs
Went to bed in a huff but made me chuckle every time i thought about it , Just another hard lesson learnt handed out by Elite, Dont drink and drive or sleep at the controls as nutter says just one error and its "good night Irene" sure as hell didn't want to make me quit, Neither did the mission to hunt down general who happen'd to be sitting in an Imperial Clipper (1st i've encountered one) jumped in and before i could turn and scan him fully lost shields and thrusters, only to be sitting for the next 5- 10 mins spinning around on the same spot deploying chaff and shield banks while he just casually popped away at my hull left me alone when canopy breached though should have took the hull full of Tobacco in first lol, Loving the fact that its NOT so easy and yes one mistake can cost big See ya out there Cmdrs
If it was non compulsory you would still get the same whinging. Probably times 1,000 when it goes wrong cos it will be more likely if its optional. Frontier couldnt have made it any simpler if they tried and they still have requests to lower the threshold further for thew simple fact players are too lazy and want to be pushed in the pram all the way.
There's a big difference between this and the previous Elite games in that you can't go back to a prior save. So considering that, it ought to be beneficial to give some sort of heads up so people aren't unaware that there may be consequences and that they are irreversible. As long as you can turn said warnings off if you wish. People will get used to it eventually, but there's not a lot of games out there these days that have serious setbacks you can't just overcome in 5 minutes.
We. really. do. get. it.
We just dont agree with you. It happens, you know? Improving the UI to make sure the computer takes care of things you otherwise would need to do is exactly 'dumbing down'. Warning a player he is flying without insurance is a failsafe mechanism to counter poor human memory or attention. Likewise, you could have the ship warn you when another cmdr is sneaking up on you. Just in case you missed it. You could have the ship auto-deploy hardpoints whenever another ship targets you, just in case you missed it. There are many things you can do to streamline the UI, all of them 'dumb down the game'.
Now, if I were to design an actual airliner that is EXACTLY what I'd do. Humans inevitably make errors, and a smart designer figures out how to counter that with technology. 'dumbing things down' is the smart and efficient way to approach human-machine interaction. If I were an actual 747 pilot I would love that. I would not prefer to die when I forgot something silly during flight #17546. But this is a game. And I don't want my game to be 'dumbed down'. I actually wish I could remove the 'warning: landing gear not deployed' warning because it is making me lazy. I consistenly forget it because I know I will be warned anyway.
To be fair: I dont like the term 'dumbing down'. It implies that people who prefer a streamlined interface are dumb people. I don't believe that. I even wouldn't mind a streamlined UI as long as I could turn it off for myself. It is just a personal preference, in the same way I would like the 'pre-flight checklist' to be useful every single time you leave a station, and you could occasionally run into a system malfunction that way. It would be a tedious, boring, pointless time sink, and I would like it.
Frankly, in this day and age, the idea of manuals seems a little... archaic. I don't expect games to 'hold my hand', but I do expect that to organically interweave important - nay, fundamental - gameplay aspects into the core of the game so that I have that knowledge at the very start. If I choose to ignore it, then so be it. THAT'S when I have no case to whinge.
I like manuals.... physical ones that is. Good reading when using the restroom.
I know that it might be an inconceivable idea, but some developers may prefer a smaller, more committed audience, encouraging a more engaged community for the long haul, than sheer numbers for the sake of numbers. Effectively, this is what Elite does. It throws off many modern game mechanics because it is not looking to attract and retain the modern game player. If I can be honest, I am really happy that something different exists to excite me again, since modern gaming has become rather lacklustre.
I never leave the station without being able to buy my ship back at least twice preferably 3 times over. I also work in IT support. People can and should be saved from themselves over simple oversights.
When I play WoW I never use the addon GT*O. Personally I think it's dumb and people shouldn't need it. At the same time I know many people that actually benefit from them. Does it make them think they are better players than they really are? No because they realized that they fail at standing in fire enough that they had to have a special made reminder to "GT*O" the fire. On the other hand when I heal I play with an addon called Healbot. Some healers would say that I'm not really healing and hardcore healing only use mouseover with keybindings. But then they run DBM to help them know when some ability is coming.
Now real-life examples. I get e-mails that remind me a bill is do or my bank account is low. Do those things dumb down my life?
The point is we all use reminders and tools to help us remember to do stuff. Whether it's an addon, warning message, Slopey's trading tool, pen and paper, they're all tools to help make the game easier. If something could be swung into the game since it's already managed either by people's minds or some other reminder system then great!
When I play WoW I never use the addon GT*O. Personally I think it's dumb and people shouldn't need it. At the same time I know many people that actually benefit from them. Does it make them think they are better players than they really are? No because they realized that they fail at standing in fire enough that they had to have a special made reminder to "GT*O" the fire. On the other hand when I heal I play with an addon called Healbot. Some healers would say that I'm not really healing and hardcore healing only use mouseover with keybindings. But then they run DBM to help them know when some ability is coming.
Now real-life examples. I get e-mails that remind me a bill is do or my bank account is low. Do those things dumb down my life?
The point is we all use reminders and tools to help us remember to do stuff. Whether it's an addon, warning message, Slopey's trading tool, pen and paper, they're all tools to help make the game easier. If something could be swung into the game since it's already managed either by people's minds or some other reminder system then great!
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Losing a T6 packed with items and having to start over is really only like 10 hours of gametime to recover from.
Now, starting over from a T7 and up is a little different and quite frankly a person whose made it that far should've known better and they took the risk.
Now, starting over from a T7 and up is a little different and quite frankly a person whose made it that far should've known better and they took the risk.
The possibility of losing your ship is one of the weak points of ED, not a strong one as some players believe. The easiest way would be to extend debt for insurance to always cover the loss. Reduced earnings for considerable time is more than enough of a penalty for what often enough is not the players fault.
Of course they could also make it like a real insurance where the premium is paid up front, such as when you purchase the ship or module. Discount if flying without!
Of course they could also make it like a real insurance where the premium is paid up front, such as when you purchase the ship or module. Discount if flying without!
I think its one of the strong points myself.
Sure, your opinion is fact and any other opinion is misguided belief. That is a great way to discuss things, very constructive.
Really couldnt disagree more
the fact that this is such a harsh game is what makes it good
Insurance is really well balanced imo
While you "learn" elite you always have a safety net of a loan
When you have learnt it and don't need a safety net your loan wont cover you - you now need to play the game properly and accept risk
You do pay insurance upfront what you are paying is the excess - don't have it ? don't balme the game