Steam forums - Neggative publicity for Elite / no mods

[GluttonyFang]

Frontier, please deeply consider moderating steam forums
Certain ppl start daily threads that try to channel all neggative that can be found about the game
to the point of making the game look like an utter garbage, to any potentional customers

It's your money that you lose "thanks" to the steam community,
and it's doing you anti-service to have the game on steam, since when ppl travel on long journey,
they open up Steam discussions to see what's new or if anyone needs something,
and they find mostly troll based threads, nothing Lore friendly, nothing worth of reading

Um... as long as the negative reviews aren't full of unnecessary profanity and are legitimate criticisms, why would you moderate them again?

Are we bringing back the era of censorship fully?

I bashed the crap out of FD on Steam, btw.

*Chuckles in the background*

 

[Elazar Keon]

People put weight in steam reviews?

I don't think the reviews themselves are very helpful... BUT, the aggregate of the reviews, which Steam was very good at putting together...



They do a good job of at least giving someone who isn't familiar with the game a good impression. I personally take into heavy account the steam reviews when I spot a new game [on steam]. In the end however, I have bought (and enjoyed) games with horrible steam reviews. It really comes down to personal preference.

 

[sqzbox1]

Yeah - I don't think I'd be too worried if I were FD - not my call of course but just sayin'. There are fanboys (of which I proudly confess to being one) and anti-fanboys. But I'm also critical of things that need work. The difference is, I believe it will happen plus I've been playing for a year and a half and I've been well entertained (and continue to be so). But I'll enjoy more content when it comes. But I think as far as Steam goes, most sensible people understand what it is and how it works so I doubt that it will influence people much in the long run.

Blatant lies should be forced to retract - I'd agree with that. And troll-type negativity - again the mods should be all over those (are they?). But generally speaking if you are going to associate with the great unwashed of the world then you are going to get a little dirty - fact of life!

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

Number of hours has very little to do with if it is a good game or not.
I have 400+ hours logged on ED and I would call ED a solid "OK game" most of the time I spent "in game" feels more grindy than fun. Lots of games have a grind, this one has grind and that's about it as far as I can tell. As soon as I tell myself ok I got a decked out Python now, I will call that good, I'm done grinding. there isn't much left to do. Ok so I guess I will grind out an Anaconda now, Ok I got an Anaconda now, the best ship in the game so I am done grinding, now I can get to the gameplay.......I am drawing a blank here yet again, Ok well I guess I could use a class A powerplant for my Anaconda .....grind commences yet again. I keep "playing" and racking up the hours on the old steam counter but it certainly isn't loads of fun. But I try to like it

This type of response is what I don't get. I have been a steam member for 10 years. The game with the most time played is warband at 260 hours (a game I consider to have played a lot), a game I've owned for a hell of a long time. Why do you devote so much of your free time to something you dont enjoy?

 

[SlugwormX]

This type of response is what I don't get. I have been a steam member for 10 years. The game with the most time played is warband at 260 hours (a game I consider to have played a lot), a game I've owned for a hell of a long time. Why do you devote so much of your free time to something you dont enjoy?

Because in E D you keep looking for the rainbow... It's just not there - yet. You try exploration, mining, combat and trading to see if there is any real meat. I sorry to say I personally found bones.

I suspect that a lot of the positive reviews are based on what might happen. FD are great, they'll do this and they'll do that... I will wait and see. So far the fleshing out of the CORE game has yet to occur.

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

Because in E D you keep looking for the rainbow... It's just not there - yet. You try exploration, mining, combat and trading to see if there is any real meat. I sorry to say I personally found bones.

I suspect that a lot of the positive reviews are based on what might happen. FD are great, they'll do this and they'll do that... I will wait and see. So far the fleshing out of the CORE game has yet to occur.

That doesn't answer my question. 400 hours is a hell of a long time to do anything. If you didn't enjoy it for the first 100-200 hours what made you think the next 200 hours was going to be different?

Life is precious, stop wasting it doing something you don't like. The time you have spent would be far better spent elsewhere.

 

[LetoAtreides2]

This type of response is what I don't get. I have been a steam member for 10 years. The game with the most time played is warband at 260 hours (a game I consider to have played a lot), a game I've owned for a hell of a long time. Why do you devote so much of your free time to something you dont enjoy?

SlugwormX answers this quite well, but I'd like to add that once you exhaust the content in all the small-to-medium ships, it gets very tempting to turn to the larger ships in effort to "experience the content in new ways." So, you have to grind to get that small morsel of novelty. This takes an immense amount of time, and it isn't quality time well-spent.

 

[Morbad]

Since I started playing Elite: Dangerous in early September 2014, I've put over 1200 hours into the game and have never suffered for lack of content. I don't play for what might be, I play for what is. Of course, I've always seen it as a sandbox where player interaction is the real meat of the game, and despite matchmaking/instancing never having been ideal, there has never really been a lack of opportunity for this interaction.

Not that I'm particularly aware of what goes on with regard to the Steam forums, not having been a Steam user since 2004 (I don't like the platform, or Valve's pseudo monopoly on distribution, and I think Steam is probably the most singularly negative thing to ever happen to PC gaming), but if these Steam reviews are honest assessments of the game, there is no need to moderate or censor them, no matter how unfavorable some may be.

SlugwormX answers this quite well, but I'd like to add that once you exhaust the content in all the small-to-medium ships, it gets very tempting to turn to the larger ships in effort to "experience the content in new ways." So, you have to grind to get that small morsel of novelty. This takes an immense amount of time, and it isn't quality time well-spent.

The whole grinder's approach to entertainment is foreign to me; it feels completely counter intuitive.

What could possibly happen once you've achieved your "larger ships" that would fundamentally change what the game is, or make an unenjoyable journey to such a goal worthwhile?

It took me a relatively long time to be able to afford a decked out Fer-de-Lance, but it was never an overriding goal, and I was never not having fun on the way. I can now afford any ship in the game, but I didn't race to this point and I still go back to my Viper quite regularly, because that's an experience I have always enjoyed.

 

[LetoAtreides2]

The whole grinder's approach to entertainment is foreign to me; it feels completely counter intuitive.

What could possibly happen once you've achieved your "larger ships" that would fundamentally change what the game is, or make an unenjoyable journey to such a goal worthwhile?

It took me a relatively long time to be able to afford a decked out Fer-de-Lance, but it was never an overriding goal, and I was never not having fun on the way. I can now afford any ship in the game, but I didn't race to this point and I still go back to my Viper quite regularly, because that's an experience I have always enjoyed.

Tell me, though, what elements of the game did not become repetitive to you as you meandered your way up to a FDL? Is there something I must have missed?

I did everything in the game - and the number of things to do (along with the variety of scenarios to do them in) are extremely low in number. Some things I enjoyed (e.g. combat), some other things not so much - but my point is, it all became repetitive at one point. No game has truly infinite content; it's just that for a sandbox game, Elite: Dangerous' content is glaringly finite, and is bound to become repetitive.

I honestly want to know what keeps people occupied without supposedly "grinding" - because I really had given the game a chance, and really wanted to like it.

 

[OnePercent]

Moderation does not equal Censorship.

 

[drorelith]

Tell me, though, what elements of the game did not become repetitive to you as you meandered your way up to a FDL? Is there something I must have missed?

I did everything in the game - and the number of things to do (along with the variety of scenarios to do them in) are extremely low in number. Some things I enjoyed (e.g. combat), some other things not so much - but my point is, it all became repetitive at one point. No game has truly infinite content; it's just that for a sandbox game, Elite: Dangerous' content is glaringly finite, and is bound to become repetitive.

I honestly want to know what keeps people occupied without supposedly "grinding" - because I really had given the game a chance, and really wanted to like it.

This game is what you make it. (i'm a strong believer in that)

Something becoming repetitive is entirely possible depending on why your doing it and your end goal in doing it. (trading comes to mind but i've never been much of a trader in any game)
Hey I want this faction to expand cause of this or that. It is a personal goal and someone possibly in that system you expanding into doesnt want your faction there and opposes you. That is the freedom this game gives. There is no guiderails or linear way to do things at all. You are free to do as you please. Several people have woven thier own stories or fantasies with this game and enjoy it deeply.
The grinding for credits or just doing anything for credits is beyond my grasp honestly as I see no point in it. That is where I think many players mess up. They think they need that conda or python to do things when they really dont. I prefer the cobra actually.
I'll admit this game needs work in certain areas to feel complete but like I said in the begining this game is what you make of it.

 

[LetoAtreides2]

Hey I want this faction to expand cause of this or that. It is a personal goal and someone possibly in that system you expanding into doesnt want your faction there and opposes you. That is the freedom this game gives. There is no guiderails or linear way to do things at all. You are free to do as you please. Several people have woven thier own stories or fantasies with this game and enjoy it deeply.

Any time you are seeking to make a faction expand, you will inevitably be doing repetitive stuff (with the exception of, possibly, a player opposing you - but that would certainly be a rare occurrence).

PowerPlay offers tangible bonuses to control systems - but to me, it just feels like an extremely half-baked attempt at a strategy game. I want to see the powers convoluting together - forming alliances; taking territory. I don't just want to see undulating blobs - I want to see dramatic takeovers. And that is the crux of the matter - the background simulation elements (along with PowerPlay) are all there, but implemented in such a bland, uninteresting way that the only that I can't help but leave it behind in favor of trying out new ships in combat (which requires money). And don't get me started on minor factions - wake me up when Anarchy systems are actually dangerous, and that pirate faction I helped gain control actually did something tangible for the system.

I don't want to be spoonfed narrative in a linear manner, no. What I want are some actual toys in this "sandbox" that have a pronounced effect on gameplay. I want FD to rethink everything that they've purposefully coded as static and nonvolatile (e.g. the economy), and maybe actually let this "simulation" have some breathing room. I don't want to pretend that my actions actually mean something in the game - I want to see them mean something, and experience their effects.

 

[drorelith]

Any time you are seeking to make a faction expand, you will inevitably be doing repetitive stuff (with the exception of, possibly, a player opposing you - but that would certainly be a rare occurrence).

PowerPlay offers tangible bonuses to control systems - but to me, it just feels like an extremely half-baked attempt at a strategy game. I want to see the powers convoluting together - forming alliances; taking territory. I don't just want to see undulating blobs - I want to see dramatic takeovers. And that is the crux of the matter - the background simulation elements (along with PowerPlay) are all there, but implemented in such a bland, uninteresting way that the only that I can't help but leave it behind in favor of trying out new ships in combat (which requires money). And don't get me started on minor factions - wake me up when Anarchy systems are actually dangerous, and that pirate faction I helped gain control actually did something tangible for the system.

I don't want to be spoonfed narrative in a linear manner, no. What I want are some actual toys in this "sandbox" that have a pronounced effect on gameplay. I want FD to rethink everything that they've purposefully coded as static and nonvolatile (e.g. the economy), and maybe actually let this "simulation" have some breathing room. I don't want to pretend that my actions actually mean something in the game - I want to see them mean something, and experience their effects.

On the economy side of the house I agree 100%. Worst econmy sim I've seen in awile. Its very bland and doesn't really change at all.
PP is well not something that interest me. It needs work and the idea behind it is interesting.
What you are saying though is the number 1 thing I hear and oddly agree and disagree with.

 

[Susimetsa]

I tried the first Witcher, just as well skipped based on that. They might have improved it in 2 and subsequently in 3 I suppose, though.

They have. Very much so. I played very little of the first Witcher and skipped the second one completely, but Witcher 3 has really taken me in with its immersive story and characters and varied side-missions.

 

[Antinull]

Moderation does not equal Censorship.

Agreed, when done correctly, as it almost always is on here, but I feel the OP was hoping for a more unilateral approach.

 

[Chann3l]

Number of hours has very little to do with if it is a good game or not.
I have 400+ hours logged on ED and I would call ED a solid "OK game" most of the time I spent "in game" feels more grindy than fun. Lots of games have a grind, this one has grind and that's about it as far as I can tell. As soon as I tell myself ok I got a decked out Python now, I will call that good, I'm done grinding. there isn't much left to do. Ok so I guess I will grind out an Anaconda now, Ok I got an Anaconda now, the best ship in the game so I am done grinding, now I can get to the gameplay.......I am drawing a blank here yet again, Ok well I guess I could use a class A powerplant for my Anaconda .....grind commences yet again. I keep "playing" and racking up the hours on the old steam counter but it certainly isn't loads of fun. But I try to like it

Calling it a grind implies that you don't like the game and only a masochist would play a game for 400 hours if they didn't greatly enjoy it.

 

[Brett C]

SteamCommunity.com has their own rule set. All of the moderators here on our forums (well, most of them anyways), are volunteer moderators on the Elite Dangerous portion of Steamcommunity.com.

The volunteer moderators ultimately enforce the rules of SteamCommunity.com on the Elite Dangerous steam forums. If you are not familiar with the SteamCommunity rules, here you go: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810

Where as here on the Frontier forums, we have our own rule set - you can find our forum rules here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=118626

The moment the rules are broken on either discussion medium, the moderation team will step in and clean it up and apply the proper actions needed.

 

[dreamer1986]

Steam forums seem to be negative for allmost every game.

Not true. The good games have neutral forums, with people asking for advice or grouping up for co op games. Check Borderlands 2, Team Fortress2, Terraria, CsGo, the Total War games, as examples.

 

[Patrick_68000]

The criticisms, negative and positive are important and develop the things. And in conclusion, each is enough intelligent to have the own opinion

 

[Cradle2Grave]

Yes ban all comments that you don't agree with!