Guilds in Elite Dangerous

Would you like support for guilds in ED?

  • No, I would rather ED had no specific support for guilds.

    Votes: 348 61.7%
  • Yes, I would like support for guilds but no guild specific content.

    Votes: 127 22.5%
  • Yes, I would like support for guilds and some extra guild specific content.

    Votes: 79 14.0%
  • Yes, I would like support for guilds and for the game to provide mostly guild centred content.

    Votes: 10 1.8%

  • Total voters
    564
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Off topic: are multiplayer and single player modes interchangeable? That is, if I start a singleplayer game, can I then go to multiplayer with that commander / game? Will doing this 'sync' my singleplayer game up with online events?
Yes as long as your commander is an online one, i..e solo online, not an offline one.

(Nagual got there first :))
 
@ Cosmos - Thanks for your comments. I've been playing online games for a long time and ED's grouping structure is unlike anything I've come across before. I'm inclined to think it will actively discourage social interaction.

As I understand it, the multi-player element of the game is highly optional and at best you can hope for is grouping with your friends to play the game with. What you do if you have no friends is a different issue entirely and one that seems to have been overlooked in the evangelical myopia of avoiding pitfalls of online gaming.

Exactly my worry, and I think this is a big mistake. Having read through the DDF sticky about groups it seems an unnecessarily exclusive system. I can see the value of temporary alliances, but the whole "friends/ignore" structure feels wrong.

It will certainly shield the timid from having to meet other people online, but we could easily end up with a massive gameworld inhabited by individuals and small groups who exist in virtual vacuums and only interact with NPCs and their invited friends. It may as well be an offline game or a player-managed server based game with invited members-only access.

I'm still tremendously excited by ED - so much so that I pledged for alpha testing - but I do think the grouping system as it is will be a detriment to the game. The addition of player managed guilds would at least be a proactive option for expanding one's group of "friends".
 
but I do think the grouping system as it is will be a detriment to the game. The addition of player managed guilds would at least be a proactive option for expanding one's group of "friends".

The closest to a "guild" in ED would be an Alliance.

I believe the grouping system will work quite well - if you are interested in meeting people you can fly in the all-pilots group; if you find people you like you can form an Alliance for the matchmaking system to prioritise you together; and if you want some quiet time you can make a group of just your friends / solo.

Best of all worlds imo.

ETA: You should really look at this thread - it was the one suggested by Bingo
 
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Well I haven't had any experience of guilds personally but from what I've read (happy to be corrected) you could do pretty much the same thing with the proposed setup here anyway.

There were some threads springing up a while ago with people suggesting the type of group they were suggesting and even a name for it.

So it looks like informal guilds will be created on the forums anyway.

But yes - it does seem that you really can create a completely private game within the game for a group of people.
 
The closest to a "guild" in ED would be an Alliance.

I believe the grouping system will work quite well - if you are interested in meeting people you can fly in the all-pilots group; if you find people you like you can form an Alliance for the matchmaking system to prioritise you together; and if you want some quiet time you can make a group of just your friends / solo.

Best of all worlds imo.

ETA: You should really look at this thread - it was the one suggested by Bingo
I too think the proposed grouping system will probably work well.

There is nothing to stop you forming informal guilds/alliances (is there a difference?) with like minded players. I don't know if this would have the same effect as in-game support as I don't have much experience of this.

Also I would have thought that because the game is not exactly an MMO that something like that would be hard to implement.
 
To guild the lily

I'm not sure I've got enough eyesight to play this game, but I'm going to have a xxxxing good try. After playing WoW for awhile I found the game tilted too far to guilds and big groups. Elite has to allow those of us who want to try and be in very small groups or fly solo the chance to do it.

I'm hoping the human element of FD watch for groups useing outside means of forming powerful guilds and useing the game to thwart them. There are already poweful organisations that would see a growing threat from such a group and do something about it... Hopefully
 
I've nothing against anyone wanting to form some form of guild of pilots.. :) If anything I think FD want to see this sort of thing happen, with all their talk of being excited abut the multiplayer social aspect (various dev vids mention this from time to time). It has the potential to be quite interesting, groups of explorers hiring out their skills to check out areas of space for the guild of miners, maybe hiring some protecting from the guild of bounty hunters... etc. etc.

The worries come in when people think to create a guild focused on upsetting other players ( not using the G word deliberately ) however the in game mechanics and everything else should provide sufficient protection from such abuse.

I'm actaully looking forward to seeing such unofficial elements turning up. Hell, if I had the time I'd start one just now, based around exploring.. ;) However no where near enough data to think about such a creation is there?:S
 
There is nothing to stop you forming informal guilds/alliances (is there a difference?) with like minded players.

Alliances are more like groups in other MMOs - a temporary collection of people joining up to accomplish a short-term goal, and then going on their way. At least the mechanisms the proposal has for Alliances mirror that more than what you'd expect for a guild.

Also, we've heard no word on the limit of members in an Alliance. As has been pointed out in other threads - if you have an Alliance of 25 members all in the same place (and guaranteed to be in the same instance) they're effectively a gank squad if they're able to meet other players.
 
I'm actaully looking forward to seeing such unofficial elements turning up. Hell, if I had the time I'd start one just now, based around exploring.. ;) However no where near enough data to think about such a creation is there?:S

what data would you need?
 
what data would you need?

Well someone could just create a web page with various bits n bobs on it, as they might imagine it all turning out, but without a better grounding of 'how it all works' it's just more speculation. It could be fun to do, but also it could just be a dud.
 
Personally I think not splitting the characters onto PvP and PvE servers was a mistake and has a lot to do with why the grouping system was necessary at all.

Shhh, we don't mention PvP/PvE server here anymore... it was a time of carnage, despair and many committals to lunatic asylums! ;)
 
Well someone could just create a web page with various bits n bobs on it, as they might imagine it all turning out, but without a better grounding of 'how it all works' it's just more speculation. It could be fun to do, but also it could just be a dud.

I guess you are talking about how exploring turns out, but even so Guilds/Organisations/Factions are just collections of players - it's up to you to put the back story and what you might share between yourselves. (I.E. beauty spot found in system X - go to these coordinates and look at the Gas Giant for a great view..., Go to Y for great mining....)

In Game Guilds (Contrary to the general Eve view) can be constructive. The problem with the lack of support in game is that the help will only be available if you have some external mechanism to ask for it... (I need help with a route I can't complete, anyone spare a few minutes / Near the degoba system? This is how the guilds worked in WoW for me...)

This Game and its grouping system doesn't really facilitate cooperation directly. You need to ask strangers for help in the All group or enter into TEMPORARY groups (Alliances) which cease to exist the moment the last player leaves the game. All fine if everyone is friendly...

My Point is, it doesn't really matter how the game turns out, the lack of game support (my Opinion) will force any "guild" to be manual and clunky so if people want to get together they may as well do and plan the future (Teamspeak, IRC(?), Cliqueware(tm) etc...) it'll happen and it will exclude people in game who don't search the web..../ get lucky...
 
I guess you are talking about how exploring turns out, but even so Guilds/Organisations/Factions are just collections of players - it's up to you to put the back story and what you might share between yourselves. (I.E. beauty spot found in system X - go to these coordinates and look at the Gas Giant for a great view..., Go to Y for great mining....)

In Game Guilds (Contrary to the general Eve view) can be constructive. The problem with the lack of support in game is that the help will only be available if you have some external mechanism to ask for it... (I need help with a route I can't complete, anyone spare a few minutes / Near the degoba system? This is how the guilds worked in WoW for me...)

This Game and its grouping system doesn't really facilitate cooperation directly. You need to ask strangers for help in the All group or enter into TEMPORARY groups (Alliances) which cease to exist the moment the last player leaves the game. All fine if everyone is friendly...

My Point is, it doesn't really matter how the game turns out, the lack of game support (my Opinion) will force any "guild" to be manual and clunky so if people want to get together they may as well do and plan the future (Teamspeak, IRC(?), Cliqueware(tm) etc...) it'll happen and it will exclude people in game who don't search the web..../ get lucky...

Yes! Yes! - Thank you Caribou, this is exactly what I've been trying (very badly) to get across. The game is not supporting what can be a great source of social interaction and enrichment of the whole experience for players.
 
Yes! Yes! - Thank you Caribou, this is exactly what I've been trying (very badly) to get across. The game is not supporting what can be a great source of social interaction and enrichment of the whole experience for players.

We are in the minority here :(

The problem is more that FD are creating more of an FPS game with supporting money-making activities. Despite "missions" and so on this is a game in which you grow your avatar in an effort to equip your ship better, so you can fly it and kill more efficiently.

Many of the people here want Elite to be an FPS basically. Each Space station is like the lobby in TF2 or CoD where you plan your next move, build up your player. You then launch and fly, fight, sell, rinse, repeat...

Your aim is not to die, so much like WoT or Team Fortress 2 you will get better at fighting, tactics and strategy and so progress further in the game. I know someone will come back at this and tell us how traders or explorers can become "elite" and that measuring yourself against others is "pointless" but we all really know what people will do right... The solitary aspect of elite "You and Your ship" is the driver for the lack of guilds and Permanent social structures I think.

So I personally will play this like WoT and play alone/Anonymously (Or at least away from people I know) so that I can be ruthless and advance...
 
Without wishing to offend anyone, I get the feeling that a lot of backers have never played an MMO, or any sort of online game that has guilds.

I have had plenty of experience with Guilds.

Guilds are useful in grouping together like minded people, and with the appropriate support structure (like private chat channels / Email / Guild storages / etc) they can enhance the experience of the game.

They can also be VERY tiring when all you do when you logon is sort out the in-game bickering from disgruntled members .. sometimes that's all it felt like I was doing ;)

However, this is the 1st iteration of ED .. It's not in DB's vision, for now, to include Guilds from the outset (which I think is a mistake). To a modern gamer the social aspect is just as important as the game itself, however the majority of players here who backed ED are from the demographic age group where it's not that important which is why it's not here.

Perhaps in time this will be revisited by DB/FD as an in-game patch / addon.
 
The problem is more that FD are creating more of an FPS game with supporting money-making activities. Despite "missions" and so on this is a game in which you grow your avatar in an effort to equip your ship better, so you can fly it and kill more efficiently.

I'm having a bit of a problem seeing your point here. You just described the core gameplay of Elite. Elite is about having an adventure out in space doing different types of activities to earn money so you can upgrade your ship. How is this a problem? Do you mean that these game mechanics are not present in other MMOs or other games in general for that matter? Because they are...

Many of the people here want Elite to be an FPS basically.

In the sense that we want to be able to directly fly and control our ship instead of clicking the mouse and activating dice rolls with the F-keys, absolutely! :D

Each Space station is like the lobby in TF2 or CoD where you plan your next move, build up your player. You then launch and fly, fight, sell, rinse, repeat...

Same thing in EVE Online...and if you replace "station" and "fly" with "city" and "walk" it also applies to every other MMO out there. Also, future expansions will probably expand on what you can do in stations.

Your aim is not to die, so much like WoT or Team Fortress 2 you will get better at fighting, tactics and strategy and so progress further in the game.

And your aim in other games IS to die and become WORSE at playing it?? :S :p

I know someone will come back at this and tell us how traders or explorers can become "elite" and that measuring yourself against others is "pointless" but we all really know what people will do right...

I can't speak for others, but I will mostly be out exploring, doing missions and trading goods every now and then. Fighting is not my main focus...don't expect me to run away though if you attack me!! ;)
 
I'm having a bit of a problem seeing your point here. You just described the core gameplay of Elite. Elite is about having an adventure out in space doing different types of activities to earn money so you can upgrade your ship. How is this a problem? Do you mean that these game mechanics are not present in other MMOs or other games in general for that matter? Because they are...

Yes exactly... Thanks for proving my point. The post was about why guilds are not core to elite - not criticizing that fact that you boys want CoD in space.... I'm not here to have a religious war about the nature of this game with you or anyone anymore.
 
Yes exactly... Thanks for proving my point. The post was about why guilds are not core to elite - not criticizing that fact that you boys want CoD in space.... I'm not here to have a religious war about the nature of this game with you or anyone anymore.

I don't know about proving your point...saying that Elite is going to be "CoD in space" is waaaaay off the mark IMO.
 
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