A writer's thoughts on 'PowerPlay' - Drew Wagar

[JeffRyan]

There are huge numbers of gamers who don't want multiplayer.

That may be, but Elite 4, was always billed principally as a multiplayer game since its first conception (early 2000s). People argued long and hard to get the single player gaming experience in and you could argue that the game has suffered from the attempted compromise.

I'm honestly not sure, I could see an argument both ways. But just because people didn't want a multiplayer Elite 4, doesn't mean their desire is right. The big foul ball here is the attempt at compromise (offline) that ended in disaster.

 

[random_tangent]

I read Drews blog and I thought he made some good points particulary about the seaming randomness of the powers. Its a fair point to raise the DDA as well. Yet I strongly disagree that ED is a single player game, or should be one. The previous games certainly were but time has moved on and one of the main goals of the new game, stated by Braben in KS, was multiplayer. There do appear to be some quarters in this community who, and I say this with no ill will, are stuck in an 80's mindset re games and even Drew said he's not that much of a gamer.

I would say two things to this:

1) Lots of people want it to be a single player game. Wouldn't it be great if all preferences could be accommodated?

2) Arbitrarily making a game shared-universe/multiplayer is not a de-facto pass into the 21st century. Some of the greatest games of the last few years have been single player. Some of the most boring (and yet most hyped) have been MMOs. The truth is, most gamers don't want emergent gameplay at the expense of content at their own convenience. I would wager many still prefer a narrative, engaging, immersive experience, over one which is characterised mainly be competition with real-life players. At the very least, gamers want both those things, and usually in different games. In my humble opinion, as a gamer for many years, the gaming industry has utterly failed to "socialise" the best elements of the experience associated with a great single-player game. The cinematic quality of a game like mass effect, for example, is absent from all multiplayer games I have played. Destiny is the most high profile failure in this regard. Part of the problem is suspension of disbelief. The majority of gamers aren't into strict role-playing, but they DO want to suspend disbelief in a fantasy setting and immerse themselves in a character. That is rendered more difficult in shared universe games. And I say this as a current MMO subscriber, a former Counter Strike veteran, and a lover of strong story-drive content like the aforementioned Mass Effect. So, I ask this with respect: please don't lazily slap the "old fashioned" moniker on people who don't value "social gaming" above all else.

 

[Cody]

Part of the problem is suspension of disbelief. The majority of gamers aren't into strict role-playing, but they DO want to suspend disbelief in a fantasy setting and immerse themselves in a character. That is rendered more difficult in shared universe games.

<nods sagely>

 

[JeffRyan]

I would say two things to this:

1) Lots of people want it to be a single player game. Wouldn't it be great if all preferences could be accommodated?

2) Arbitrarily making a game shared-universe/multiplayer is not a de-facto pass into the 21st century. Some of the greatest games of the last few years have been single player. Some of the most boring (and yet most hyped) have been MMOs. The truth is, most gamers don't want emergent gameplay at the expense of content at their own convenience. I would wager many still prefer a narrative, engaging, immersive experience, over one which is characterised mainly be competition with real-life players. At the very least, gamers want both those things, and usually in different games. In my humble opinion, as a gamer for many years, the gaming industry has utterly failed to "socialise" the best elements of the experience associated with a great single-player game. The cinematic quality of a game like mass effect, for example, is absent from all multiplayer games I have played. Destiny is the most high profile failure in this regard. Part of the problem is suspension of disbelief. The majority of gamers aren't into strict role-playing, but they DO want to suspend disbelief in a fantasy setting and immerse themselves in a character. That is rendered more difficult in shared universe games. And I say this as a current MMO subscriber, a former Counter Strike veteran, and a lover of strong story-drive content like the aforementioned Mass Effect. So, I ask this with respect: please don't lazily slap the "old fashioned" moniker on people who don't value "social gaming" above all else.

Be that as it may, Elite 4 was ALWAYS intended to be multiplayer. Now discuss how well or badly that has been implemented but arguing for a single player game is about 15 years too late. Elite 4 isn't mass effect or Destiny or Skyrim. It's Elite: Dangerous. Now what /that/ is is another question. I believe criticism of the game is completely valid, but this fundamental design choice was always at the heart of its development.

 

[random_tangent]

Be that as it may, Elite 4 was ALWAYS intended to be multiplayer. Now discuss how well or badly that has been implemented but arguing for a single player game is about 15 years too late. Elite 4 isn't mass effect or Destiny or Skyrim. It's Elite: Dangerous. Now what /that/ is is another question. I believe criticism of the game is completely valid, but this fundamental design choice was always at the heart of its development.

I'm actually cool with multiplayer, in principle, provided i don't have to sacrifice immersion or content. I played CS and just CS for about 5 years. Sometimes, to my shame, for about 8 hours a day The excitement you feel in a ranked match is different, but no less enjoyable, than the emotional component of finishing Deus Ex HR.

Indeed so - it isn't mass effect, or Skyrim. I suppose I don't really believe in the middle-ground. Maybe that's just me? I think a game either has to be Eve, or it has to be Mass Effect, or it has to be Counter Strike. ED to me, at present, feels a bit like it doesn't know what it wants to be. I think it suffers for not knowing. It has a crappy mission system, but doesn't have a proper simulated economy. It has PvP, but people don't need to play with others. It has meta-game PP, but incredibly shallow gameplay (in some areas).

 

[SteveLaw]

I suggest caution or this thread will end up dumped in the Solo/Open/Group thread.

 

[JeffRyan]

I suggest caution or this thread will end up dumped in the Solo/Open/Group thread.

So Powerplay is awesome! Other than the fact there's no lore tie-in...

 

[SteveLaw]

So Powerplay is awesome! Other than the fact there's no lore tie-in...

Lore is desperately light (as actually part of the game) in this iteration of Elite, more noticeable considering the masses of Elite lore out there. That's what many of us were hoping for with Powerplay. Some immersive lore-building rather than just pushing coloured blobs round a map.

 

[random_tangent]

I suggest caution or this thread will end up dumped in the Solo/Open/Group thread.

Crap, errr...One thing I would like to see added to PP, and this has been said by others, is some sort of tie in with the mission system. Plus missions related to powers that fall outside the usual templates. Like (broken record) targeting a strategically important station to hobble supply lines ...

 

[Jaeger]

It is worth pointing out that nowhere in the DDF, (which had some fabulous ideas yet to be realised) did anyone, as far as I know, ask for anything resembling ‘PowerPlay’.

It just isn’t Elite. Elite is about space, about staying alive in an implacably hostile universe.

Give us adventure, Frontier, not politics.

This message is right on point.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

It feels most of the confusion arrises from FD focus on MP aspects of the game. I guess many players feel just cast asside for hipster MP crowd.

I think biggest issue is that it feels ED development is so slooow and we want so see all those cool things like ship wrecks sooner. But I understand that in prinicple MP is what sells copies. I just hope for futher clarity regarding PvE/core gameplay stuff.

 

[JeffRyan]

Lore is desperately light (as actually part of the game) in this iteration of Elite, more noticeable considering the masses of Elite lore out there. That's what many of us were hoping for with Powerplay. Some immersive lore-building rather than just pushing coloured blobs round a map.

See if this had been the game plan they should have tied it in better.

Kahina instead of Aisling. You get the backstory to one of the major players.
Gibson instead of Mahon. You get the backstory of his planet and his childhood.
Garry instead of Archon Pirate dude. Background and his politics, not evil guy, but still a pirate.

Instead we've got random people we don't have much idea about who're never mentioned in the impressive amount of fiction released. It would have helped push book sales too.

I love power play, but I'll admit they fumbled this one a bit.

 

[FuzzySpider]

See if this had been the game plan they should have tied it in better.

Kahina instead of Aisling. You get the backstory to one of the major players.
Gibson instead of Mahon. You get the backstory of his planet and his childhood.
Garry instead of Archon Pirate dude. Background and his politics, not evil guy, but still a pirate.

Instead we've got random people we don't have much idea about who're never mentioned in the impressive amount of fiction released. It would have helped push book sales too.

I love power play, but I'll admit they fumbled this one a bit.

It's not just that, it's got absolutely no soul to it.

I've criticised it very harshly. I really have. I started to wonder if I was being unfair, so I decided to take the plunge and pledged to a power. Now my opinion of powerplay is even lower.

If powerplay were at all immersive I would pledged to support someone, to assist them, to work in their army/civilian force and defend them with my life if need be! To take on their enemies, to provide aid to their allies, and to see my fellow faction members as comrades.

Instead I'm being asked to fork over 100,000 of my own credits to get leaflets to carry to other places, on the promise that I might get a few rewards later on. Powerplay feels like Scientology more than a faction. They should rename "Merits" to "Thetans".

 

[JeffRyan]

It's not just that, it's got absolutely no soul to it.

I've criticised it very harshly. I really have. I started to wonder if I was being unfair, so I decided to take the plunge and pledged to a power. Now my opinion of powerplay is even lower.

If powerplay were at all immersive I would pledged to support someone, to assist them, to work in their army/civilian force and defend them with my life if need be! To take on their enemies, to provide aid to their allies, and to see my fellow faction members as comrades.

Instead I'm being asked to fork over 100,000 of my own credits to get leaflets to carry to other places, on the promise that I might get a few rewards later on. Powerplay feels like Scientology more than a faction. They should rename "Merits" to "Thetans".

The immersion for me comes from my story and my fellow players. The subreddits and my own facebook group have really added to the gameplay for me.

 

[Poseidal]

I think Aisling is actually fine. She's young, so hasn't had much happen to have a life-story (nothing massively changing like Kahina anyway), but we do know enough about her.

She is the illegitimate daughter of Harald Duval and (likely) some socialite.
Her mother died of an OD (when she was very young), and her father's brain got wrecked by years of fast living.
We infer by this she was likely raised by servants/slaves, and hasn't had much input from her parents.
Her position in society being daughter of the heir apparent, combined with her looks means she's invited to speak in chat shows (celebrity pets).
Her controversial views seem to come from her young idealism, and her stance against narcotics are a reaction to what happened to her parents.

I like seeing story in undertext, and I think one of the recent community goals (collect aid: food for Aisling and 'clothing' for Arissa) actually speaks volumes about them, or how they operate at least.

What gets me are the mechanics though; they seem a bit forced/artificial, and the way it does it (paying 100k to get another round of delivery; corruption much?) is annoying. You can tell or hint very well through mechanics, in some ways (see Dark Souls).

 

[JeffRyan]

I think Aisling is actually fine. She's young, so hasn't had much happen to have a life-story (nothing massively changing like Kahina anyway), but we do know enough about her.

She is the illegitimate daughter of Harald Duval and (likely) some socialite.
Her mother died of an OD (when she was very young), and her father's brain got wrecked by years of fast living.
We infer by this she was likely raised by servants/slaves, and hasn't had much input from her parents.
Her position in society being daughter of the heir apparent, combined with her looks means she's invited to speak in chat shows (celebrity pets).
Her controversial views seem to come from her young idealism, and her stance against narcotics are a reaction to what happened to her parents.

I like seeing story in undertext, and I think one of the recent community goals (collect aid: food for Aisling and 'clothing' for Arissa) actually speaks volumes about them, or how they operate at least.

What gets me are the mechanics though; they seem a bit forced/artificial, and the way it does it (paying 100k to get another round of delivery; corruption much?) is annoying. You can tell or hint very well through mechanics, in some ways (see Dark Souls).

I agree, she's amongst the most fleshed out. Doesn't change the fact that here was an opportunity for lore tie-in that didn't happen.

 

[Poseidal]

I agree, she's amongst the most fleshed out. Doesn't change the fact that here was an opportunity for lore tie-in that didn't happen.

I wish there were room for more characters (and things about them) who aren't major powers.

I wouldn't mind if they commissioned some artwork for some more of the characters who while aren't powers, do appear in the news quite often.

 

[Moriarte]

Elite, at it's heart, is the game of stunning visuals, audio and a fine space-shooter arcade. *

They will keep attaching small theme-park mini-games to it, maybe even blackjack clubs with hookers on lonely asteroids in the old worlds are coming, stuff that you do for 10 minutes, say "cool" and forget about forever. I have seen no indication of vision of making a serious and engaging political/economic simulation, they seem to be making things up as they go along, experimenting. Let's develop background sim? Oops, didn't work out, to complicated for us to fix and we don't want you to accidentally DO something to the precious balance. Sssoo, instead, here you go - a powerplay minigame, kill at will, you can pay your fines later, no problemo. Or haul. We will paint the dots for ya. Background sim can wait until we figure it out. It's mildly funny and disappointing at times, watching the game develop without direction. But.

The core is strong. *

Will keep flying.

 

[DirkLarien]

Powerplay feels like Scientology more than a faction.

Rofl mate
I did not wanted to say it ... i am glad you did .... That's exactly what i felt after few minutes since joining one side.

 

[JeffRyan]

Elite, at it's heart, is the game of stunning visuals, audio and a fine space-shooter arcade. *

They will keep attaching small theme-park mini-games to it, maybe even blackjack clubs with hookers on lonely asteroids in the old worlds are coming, stuff that you do for 10 minutes, say "cool" and forget about forever. I have seen no indication of vision of making a serious and engaging political/economic simulation, they seem to be making things up as they go along, experimenting. Let's develop background sim? Oops, didn't work out, to complicated for us to fix and we don't want you to accidentally DO something to the precious balance. Sssoo, instead, here you go - a powerplay minigame, kill at will, you can pay your fines later, no problemo. Or haul. We will paint the dots for ya. Background sim can wait until we figure it out. It's mildly funny and disappointing at times, watching the game develop without direction. But.

The core is strong. *

Will keep flying.

Right on Commander!